Early March, springtime, a (hopefully) bottoming out economy and Tiger baseball. Cautious optimism seems an appropriate tone to take heading into spring/summer months. Gone is the giddy optimism of years past, blockbuster trades, and multimillion dollar contract extensions.
It’s hard not to draw parallels between last year’s Tigers and our rotten economy. Foolish spending, bad decisions from executive leadership and a failure to produce was all the rage in 2008. Now we are paying the price.
We’ve tried to right ship. Renteria and Pudge are gone. Modest signings were made to improve team defense and pitching. We traded away strength (outfielder Matt Joyce) to fill a potential weakness in our starting rotation, landing Edwin Jackson.
The Lyon signing could go either way. But adding a strong arm with upside to our bullpen should be a positive.
I’m lukewarm on moving Inge to third and adding Everett to play short. They collectively hit .204 last year. Short of fielding the position like Spiderman, I’m not sure you can win with limited offensive output from the left side. Hopefully I’m proven wrong.
I do like Guillen in left. If he can stay healthy, along with our starting pitching and bullpen, we may sneak up on people.
So I’m heading into the season with cautious optimism. As long as I don’t watch the news or check my 401k…
Couldn’t get any worse than it’s been going. I mean, all the numbers were horrible and some of these managment moves have been unbelievable . Throw in the changing conditions, and it could go either way indeed.
Wait… am I talking about the Tigers are the Economy?
If Inge is really Spiderman, perhaps he can save both.
Hey dettigers!
I’m glad to see you’re still bloggin’. You insights are on-point and often hilarious. Our household will be tuned in!
Just watched the Tigers go nine innings without a hit or a runner get past second. Larish played short, so I can’t blame it all on Inge. Sheffield had two hits and neither left the infield. I am not all bitter though because it was 75 degrees and mostly sunny , and the palm trees were swaying as the Marlins hit two balls over the fence.
So much for no power from third base!