Please Forgive Me....

Hello!

First of all to the 5 people who read this blog I would like to take the time to apologize for going 6ish months without posting.  I can assure you that that will not happen again, I promise at least 1 blog post per week!

So with that said let's get down to business....

The end of the Tigers 2011 season was bittersweet for many fans and it left us wondering "what if".  What if ALAL could have thrown strikes, what if Mags didn't shatter his ankle again, what if Max could have gotten out of game 2 with the lead, what if Nelson Cruz didn't make me say a string of curses every time he came up that would make a sailor blush, what if Avila and V mart had 2 legs to stand on..you get the point.  Our beloved Tigs were downed in 6 games to Texas in the ALCS.

I think that if you would have asked any Tiger fan back on March 31 if they would have been happy watching the boys of summer play ball into the middle of October nearly every one would have said HELL YA, but might not happen.  It did and it was a magical ride.  Last season was even more fun that the magical 2006 season for me anyway.

Heading into the off season we fans knew that their needed to be some changes to the roster to make us legit contenders, not just to win the Central, but to advance to the Fall Classic.  *Side note, I'm not saying it's a given that the Tigs will be there in in October of 2012*  DD has gone and made some of those changes necessary.  Gone are grizzled old vets who were fan favourites such as Mags, and Guillen.  Penny, Perry,Zumaya, V Mart (for 2012) also will be joining Mags and Carlos in not wearing the Old English D on the field this year.  But let's look into who will be:

1B) Prince Fielder.  It's no secret Prince signed a looooooonnnnnnggggggg deal worth a lot of Pizza's to come here and that sort of set off a musical chairs feeling with some people switching positions, but I think this deal is going to pay HUGE dividends for the Pizza Man and the city of Detroit.  This is the same Prince Fielder who at the age of 12 was hitting moon shots into the RF porch of old Tiger Stadium while wearing Zubaz. 

RP) Octavio Dotel.  Dotel comes in reasonably cheap (3,000,000) and is what the Tigs needed in the playoffs last year, a dependable RHP not named Benoit or Valverde.  Benoit and Papa must have felt like their arms were going to fall off in October last year, but JL had no other options as neither Albuquerque nor Perry could throw strikes to save their life.  We all know the book on Dotel..Low 90's heat with some good off speed pitches to complement his heater.  JL must make sure that he doesn't let Dotel pitch against LHB because those balls will be into the Pepsi Porch quicker than Prince hit play on his Kid 'N' Play cassette back in 1991!

RP) Collin Balester.  I'll admit I know virtually nothing about him other than he rocks a sweet 'stache in his pic and that the Tigs got him from the 'Nats in the Perry trade.  He had an ERA of around 4.5 last year and 2010 is the only year he had an era below that.  I reckon he'll endear the fans of Fifth Third Field with his moustache!  However if he makes the club, he better be good other wise, he'll be my Tiger to hate on this year!  (For those of you who don't know I pick 1 guy on the club each year and pine to my friends about how bad he sucks.  It's usually somebody who takes the position of one of my favs, and Agent P was one of my favs)!

C) Gerald "G Money" Laird.  The only good thing I see out of re signing Laird to a 1 year deal is we'll get to hear Rod say "I see ya G $$$$" from time to time..  See what I did there, I just referenced the Rod Allen Game..if you're reading this..start drinking!!!

So heading into ST this is what the TIgs lineup could look like on any day.

1) Jackson-CF
2) Boesch-RF
3) Cabrera-3B
4) Fielder-1B
5) Young- DH
6) Avila- C
7) Peralta-SS
8) Dirks-LF
9) Raburn-2B

Not a bad lineup at all.  Personally I'd have Santiago at 2B more often than not for his D and his ability to get bunts down and move runners over.  I do like the Left/Right balance that it has now which is something it has been lacking for years!!  I don't mind giving Dirks and opportunity in LF, but I think that if he can't handle it on a full time basis I'd move Delmon back there and get Inge into the lineup at 3B.

I'll do another report on the pitchers tomorrow...How many more days till we get to hear Rod say "I see ya Big Fella"?  The answer: not soon enough!!

1 last thing before I go.  BIG shout out to my homie who helped me recover this post after I thought I lost it  ya'll should follow him on Twitter @majorleaguenerd!