Starting Pitching
A lot of questions lay here. Do they go after a top notch starter? No. Will they trade Dontrelle Willis? I Don’t think so. What will Detroit do with Nate Robertson and Zach Miner? We’ll see. A Rick Porcello sighting? Likely. These are just a few questions and answers that surround this position. Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman and Armando Galarraga all have definite spots in rotation, but the other two are up for grabs.
A mix of Willis, Robertson, Miner, Porcello, Chris Lambert, Eddie Bonine and many, many more will try for those spots. Kenny Rogers filed for free agency and his career in Detroit is definitely over. There is a good chance that they might go after Derek Lowe to add depth to the rotation, but that would be four right handers, so we’ll have to see how it pans out.
2009 Projected Rotation: Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, Derek Lowe, Armando Galarraga, Dontrelle Willis.
Relief Pitching
A ton more questions need to be answered in the bullpen.
It looks that Detroit will roll with two left-handed pitchers next season after they re-signed Macay McBride early on in free agency and still have Bobby Seay on the roster. Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya have secured spots in the 'pen as set-up men or middle relief, since closing didn’t pan out last season.
Todd “Heart Attack” Jones retired, then filed for free agency, so he is out of the picture. I definitely see Detroit trying to sign a top-of-the-line reliever this offseason.
Whether it be Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes or Kerry Wood, anything would be an upgrade. Although they might go after two or more of the following players; Damaso Marte, Jason Isringhausen, Brandon Lyon, Guillermo Mota, Hideki Okajima, Trevor Hoffman or Eric Gagne.
2009 Projected Bullpen: Joel Zumaya, Fernando Rodney, Bobby Seay, Macay McBride, Freddy Dolsi, Francisco Rodriguez, Zach Miner.
Projected Lineup
- Granderson CF
- Polanco 2B
- Ordonez RF
- M. Cabrera 1B
- Guillen LF
- Sheffield DH
- O. Cabrera SS
- Ryan C
- Inge 3B
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