After the 2007-08 offseason, everyone was ready to crown the Detroit Tigers as the best team in baseball. The Tigers had just come off an 87-win season and a year before that they were in the World Series.
They spent huge money and traded blue chip prospects to build their team into what looked like the greatest offense ever assembled.
They added third baseman Miguel Cabrera, shortstop Edgar Renteria and outfielder "JOCK" Jones to a lineup that already included designated hitter Gary Sheffield, right fielder Magglio Ordonez, catcher Ivan Rodriguez, first baseman Carlos Guillen and center fielder Curtis Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrranderson.
By all accounts, they looked like a playoff team but I held out hope for the rest of the league because I questioned the pitching staff as a whole despite the addition of Dontrelle Willis.
As it turned out, just about everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong and Detroit sank to the bottom of the division in 2008.
Cabrera struggled out of the gate offensively and put up the majority of his otherwise outstanding stats when the Tigers were already out of contention. On top of that, he ate his way off of third base, forcing Carlos Guillen to switch to third after already switching from shortstop.
Guillen had an average season by his standards but his overall stats, particularly home runs and RBIs were cut in half.
Renteria was brought on with high expectations but had the worst year of his career.
Jones was cut by the team early in the season because he was so bad and Willis may have been cut too if he didn't sign a contract extension before the season started.
Rodriguez was on another team at the end of the year and still can't find work now, while Sheffield had an abomination of a year that snowballed when the team was close to cutting him.
Did I mention the pitching staff was a mess?
Overall, the 2008 season was an expensive disaster for everyone involved and I'm not sure why 2009 should be much different.
Guillen is changing positions again, this time to left field, while offensively challenged Adam Everett will man shortstop. Light hitting Brandon Inge moves back to third base while the rest of the pieces remain for the most part.
As far as the rotation goes, Detroit isn't even planning on Willis being a part of plans for now and Edwin Jackson is the only new addition. Jackson had a 4.42 ERA for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008.
While there is a good chance Justin Verlander could bounce back I don't see the Tigers being a major factor in anything but the trade deadline in 2009.
Photo Credit: www.mlb.tigers.com
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