Manager: Jim Leyland
Arrivals: RP Denny Bautista, 3B Miguel Cabrera, OF Jacque Jones, SS Edgar Renteria, SP Dontrelle Willis
Departures: RP Jose Capellan, 1B Sean Casey, SP Chad Durbin, IF Omar Infante, SP Jair Jurrjens, OF Cameron Maybin, SP Andrew Miller, SS Neifi Perez*, C Mike Rabelo
Offseason grade: A-
Starting rotation
Detroit's starting rotation gets a lot of buzz now that Dontrelle Willis was added to it, but here's a little fun fact:
Only one member of Detroit's 2008 starting rotation–Justin Verlander–had an ERA below 4.40 last year.
Am I saying that Detroit has a terrible rotation? Of course not. But are they a sure bet? I don't think so.
Of course, Verlander is an excellent pitcher. He's a durable righty with an power fastball that consistently clocks in somewhere in the upper 90's and can easily touch 100. Along with that fastball, he has a devastating curveball and a great changeup that can baffle hitters after they've seen two 99-mph fastballs go whizzing by.
He's won 35 games in the last two years and posted ERAs of 3.63 and 3.66.
And, the scariest part? Verlander is only 25 years old.
Verlander will put up the stats of a top-notch ace again in 2008. But how will the rest of the rotation fair?
Kenny Rogers is 43 and found himself on the disabled list twice last season. Granted, the first time was somewhat of a freak occurrence, as his "fatigued shoulder" was actually due to a blood clot. His second stint came in August when he went on the shelf with elbow inflammation.
If Rogers is healthy, I would expect his ERA to hover around 4 and him to win his fair share of ballgames. However, I'd be shocked if Rogers was to stay healthy for the entire season.
Despite starting last season with a 10-1 record, Jeremy Bonderman had a down year in 2007. Why? Because he went 2-8 with a 7.38 ERA after the All-Star break.
Yikes. Perhaps those numbers had something to do with the sore elbow that landed Bonderman on the disabled list at the end of the season.
However, there's a growing school of thought that believes Bonderman is an extremely overrated pitcher. To back up that claim, they'll show that Bonderman never has had an ERA below 4.00 in his entire career.
I haven't bought into that notion that Bonderman is overrated just yet. He's got incredible talent as a pitcher and is still only 25 years old. But which Bonderman will show up this year? The one that went 9-1 with a 3.48 ERA before the All-Star game or the one that put up those aforementioned horrendous stats after?
I'm not going to go out on a limb and try to predict what Bonderman will do this year. If he gets lit up like the second half of last year, Detroit will have major problems in their starting rotation. If he dominates like he did in the first half of last year, the Tigers will have a rotation that is more than good enough to compete in the division.
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8 months ago
No Cruceta?
from 8 months ago
Cruceta's still stick in the Dominican Republic due to visa issues, so I wouldn't expect him to pitch in the majors until at least late April or May.
8 months ago
I pretty much agree with everything here except about the pitching not championship caliber.
Here is the 2006 compared to the 2008 Pitching Staff :
2006_____________2008
SP Verlander -----> Verlander : He's only getting better +
SP Bonderman ---> Bonderman : If healthy he'll regain perforance, as pre all-star numbers show =/+
SP Rogers --------> Rogers : Okay, he's one guy that will be worse than in '06 -
SP Robertson -----> Robertson : Perhaps he just had a career year, but can get under 4.50 era -/=
SP Maroth ---------> Willis : Definitely an upgrade over him. Willis only had one bad year +
So the rotation is definitely atleast equal to the 2006 version, and probably better.
RP Walker --------> Seay : They are pretty much carbon copies of each other =
RP Grilli -----------> Grilli : Pretty much the same mediocre guy as he was back then =
RP Rodney --------> Rodney : He was effective when healthy, but that's the question -/=
RP Zumaya -------> Bautista : This is a clear regression -
RP Ledezma ------> Byrdak : Pretty similar players, but they got rid of Ledezma for a reason =/+
RP Miner ----------> Miner : Still the long reliever, but was a little better in '06...not much though =
RP Colon ----------> Bazardo : Haven't seen much of Bazardo, but Colon was pretty bad =
CL Jones ----------> Jones : Okay, he's two years older, and his ERA has been going up -/=
Once Zumaya comes back, this bullpen should be as good as the 2006 AL Champion one. Overall, if healthy, the entire pitching staff, personel-wise, is pretty much equal to that of the '06 one, that led the major leagues with a 3.84 ERA
8 months ago
Those are all very valid, well-thought-out points, but don't underestimate the swagger that '06 team had. If this '08 team has that same swagger, then they really could go places, but that team feeling they had in 2006 is something that's pretty hard to match.
8 months ago
Byrdak is a solid righty
He's a lefty.
8 months ago
Whoops. Thanks for the catch.
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