Tigers Weekly 2005 Season

Season Preview

Note:  This was slated to come out Sunday evening. 
While typing, I accidentally hit a button on my laptop
that navigated me away from the page, causing me to
lose a whole bunch of stuff.  Needless to say, I was
livid.  I had other things to work on that evening, so
I had to postpone this issue until tonight.

Can you feel it coming?  Are you ready?  We've sat
through five months of empty stadiums and unplayed
organs.  For hockey fans, the void has been even more 
noticeable.  But worry no more, the season is right
around the corner.  We're back for another season of
Detroit baseball with Tigers Weekly.  The six-month
whirlwind of ups, downs, and arounds begins today. 
There have been a few changes in the offseason and the
Tigers look to improve their win total once more. 
Last season they improved by 29 games to win 72.  This
year we should at least be hoping for a five-hundy
finish.  That would require nine more wins than last
season.  Many experts have the Tigers finishing in
fourth place in the division, but I think that third
is easily attainable and the team could certainly
contend deep into the season.  Opening Day is Monday
at home against the Royals (1:05 on FSD or ESPN2).  It
will be the future, Jeremy Bonderman, going against
the past, Jose Lima (LIMA TIME).  Lima, if you recall,
is coming off a shutout against the Cardinals in last
year's Divisional Series.  He also has some bad blood
with the organization.  Last year was the first time
in a long while the Tigers got out of the gate in a
decent way.  A good start will be the key to success
this season.

The Weekly will be published normally on Monday
nights, at least for now.  The next issue will not
come out until April 11.  

New Subscribers:  Fantasy baseball has earned a couple
of fellows automatic subscriptions to the Weekly. 
They are...

Craig "Rocky &" Boezwinkle
Robby "Robb" Saroni

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www.tigersweekly.com
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This year, thanks to the efforts of Nic "Gilby"
Gilbert (and the monetary contributions of the both of
us) Tigers Weekly has its very own website.  The site
is given above.  On the site are most of (if not all)
the issues from the last two seasons.  Issues from
2005 will be added as they are published.  Now you can
check out old issues to see how wrong I was on
predictions and other issues.  Hopefully I'll get up
with the 2000s sometime soon (I just caved on the cell
phone issue, so I'm up to the late 90's) and get some
pictures up there.  If anyone has pictures they'd like
to submit, they can send them to me and I'll see if I
can get them up there.  Thanks to Gilbert for all his
hard work.

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Up Next for the Tigers...

April 4     Kansas City
April 5     no game scheduled...
April 6-7   Kansas City
April 8-10  Cleveland
April 11    no game scheduled...

Comings and Goings...

Here are the players that arrived this season and the
ones who have left the organization.  Notice the lack
of trading with San Diego and Houston.  This ain't the
Randy Smith era. 

--- In ---
Troy Percival, free agent from Anaheim
Ramon Martinez, free agent from Chicago Cubs
Magglio Ordonez, free agent from Chicago White Sox
Vance Wilson, free agent from New York Mets
Kyle Farnsworth, trade with Chicago Cubs
Matt Ginter, trade with New York Mets

--- Out ---
Alex Sanchez, released - now with TB
Esteban Yan, released - now with ANA
Al Levine, released - also released by SF
Eric Munson, released - also released by MIN
Danny Patterson, released - now with SD (minors)
Steve Colyer, traded to New York Mets

--- Minors ---
Chris Shelton
Gary Knotts
Marcus Thames
Nate Cornejo
other less notables...

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2005 Opening Day Roster...
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The cuts have been made and Trammell has chosen his
twenty-five guys.  There was some debate on whether he
would carry eleven or twelve pitchers, but in the end
Nook Logan made the team and an eleven man pitching
staff was settled on.

--- The Rotation (in order) ---

Jeremy Bonderman
Mike Maroth
Jason Johnson
Nate Robertson
Wilfredo Ledezma

--- The Bullpen --- 

Matt Ginter
Franklyn German
Jamie Walker
Kyle Farnsworth
Ugueth Urbina  (setup)
Troy Percival  (closer)

--- The Outfield ---

LF - Rondell White
CF - Craig Monroe
RF - Magglio Ordonez

Bobby Higginson  (LF/RF)
Nook Logan       (CF)

--- The Infield ---
 
1B - Carlos Pena
2B - Omar Infante
SS - Carlos Guillen
3B - Brandon Inge
Util - Ramon Martinez
Util - Jason Smith
DH/1B - Dmitri Young

--- The Catchers ---

Ivan Rodriguez
Vance Wilson

Thoughts:  Jason Johnson was originally slated to
start on Opening Day, but a rough spring caused
Trammell to swap their spots in the rotation.  Maroth
remains at the 2 spot (as opposed to sliding into
Bonderman's old spot) because he is left-handed and
they don't want their lefties throwing in back-to-back
games.  Ledezma closed out his spring with an
impressive start against the Yankees, and Jeremy
Bonderman could break out this season.  Ugueth Urbina
wants to be traded so that he can have a closers role,
so something may happen in the near future.  I love
him there as the setup man...it makes the bullpen that
much better.  If Farnsworth can work out the problems
that he was having in Chicago and if Franklyn German
can bring some control to the mound, then the Tigers
could have as good of a bullpen as the Twins.  

After the release of Alex Sanchez, the outfield
competition heated up between Logan, Higginson, and
Marcus Thames.  Though Thames had a better Spring
Training than Higginson, the team went with the
veteran.  This could be so that if any team shows
interest in Higgy that the Tigers will be able to
trade him.  If the team were to release him then other
clubs would be able to get him dirt cheap (and the
Tigers would still be paying him over eight million
dollars).  He is still a good defensive outfielder and
is one of the most patient hitters in the game.  Logan
plays a good center field and will be able to step in
if Monroe can't handle the job.  Also, Logan will be a
nice pinch-runner option off of the bench.  Both Logan
and Higginson hit left-handed (Logan is a switch
hitter) making them useful against righties.  

There aren't many questions regarding the infield. 
The starters are solidly in their positions and Smith
and Martinez will give the starters a day off when
they need it.  Martinez hits from the right and Smith
from the left, so that could come into play.  Vance
Wilson, used to playing behind Piazza, will be an
adequate backup for Pudge.
 
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Quick Recap of 2004 Playoffs...
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Well I had many happy Boston Red Sox fans in my life
after the playoffs last season.  While I was a big fan
of The Curse and the good that it did for baseball, I
think that the way that the Sox won the ALCS was a
suitable way for the curse to go.  I found it pretty
funny when Boston was slaughtered in the third game
and had written them off.  They really dug deep and
won their next eight games.  

That said:  Boston, you are now equal with the Yankees
when it comes to excessive spending.  Though the
Yankees' salary is still much larger than yours, your
team salary dwarfs most others of the league.  Now
that you have your championship, expect to be treated
with the same disdain that the Yankees are, because
you acheived your title in true Yankee fashion. 
Steinbrenner would be proud (if of course, it didn't
totally drive him crazy that you guys won a title). 
You have lost your loveable loser status.  It won't be
long before fans get sick of you and the Yankees
always being in the playoffs.

The Twins again succumbed to the Yankees in four
games.  St. Louis vs. Houston was an exciting NLCS, as
was the Astros/Braves series.  LA didn't stand much of
a chance against the Cards.  Only a dominating Jose
Lima in game three allowed them to score a victory.  I
was getting a little sick of the curtain call after
every home run that St. Louis was requiring. 
Hopefully it doesn't carry over into this season.  

Overall it was a very entertaining postseason.  That's
all about that.

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Toolie Scouts Spring Training...
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Earlier in March I returned to the sunny state of
Florida for the first time since I was six years old. 
The folks were using a family friends' condo and I
just couldn't resist the opportunity to escape the
tail end of winter for a week.  The added bonus, of
course, was that half of the big league teams were
sprinkled around Florida holding spring training.  Big
Daddy O'Toole and I made plans to check the Tigers out
that Tuesday against the Devil Rays in Lakeland and
then to see the Tigers take on the Reds in Sarasota on
Thursday.  Both were long drives from Marco Island,
but much shorter than driving from Lansing or
Muskegon.

Tuesday - Devil Rays @ Tigers

Dad and I were up and on the road early as we headed
to Joker Marchant Stadium.  We took a back road route
through the middle of the state and witnessed a good
deal of hurricane damage first-hand (which was a good
reminder of why I'm glad I live in Michigan...lack of
natural disasters).  We also saw many orange groves
and podunk towns.  It was a decent drive.

The Tigers were hot early on, touching former Tiger
Hideo Nomo up for four runs in the first inning.  Both
Craig Monroe and Brandon Inge got Nomo with two-run
shots.  The wind was really blowing on this day, which
would come back to haunt the Tigers.  In particular,
the wind put a major hurt on Alex Sanchez, who
misplayed several balls in center field.  Sanchez was
later released by the Tigers because of his poor
defense and low OBP... and picked up by the Devil
Rays.  The Tigers managed just four hits beyond the
first inning.

Nate Robertson looked good giving up two hits and an
unearned run in two innings.  Since it was still early
in March, pitchers weren't seeing more than a couple
of innings of work.  The next two hurlers, Gary Knotts
and Steve Colyer, had their share of struggles.  It
took Franklyn "Wild Thing" German to stop the bleeding
as he pitched an almost perfect two innings of work. 
Craig Dingman was last to pitch and was lambasted for
five runs.  The Tigers lost 12-4.  I did see John
Keating of FSD but that was about the most exciting
thing that happened.  It was really nice to be
watching a baseball game again.  

Thursday - Tigers @ Reds

After a day of rain, the baseball gods smiled upon us
and gave us a warm sunny day for the second leg of our
spring training excursion.  This time both the 'rents
were along for the good times.  We set out early with
high hopes of getting to Ed Smith Stadium about an
hour before gametime.  However, due to the rainout the
previous day, the game was pushed up an hour and an
extra game was added to the slate.  So we rolled into
Sarasota thinking that we would be quite early and
ended up missing the first two innings.  I was not
pleased.  

More eventful than the baseball was the shenanagins
that went on before we made it into the stadium. 
After parking across the street in a field, my mom was
assaulted by a pack of fire ants.  When I saw her
jumping around I asked if she had ants in her
pants...and she did!  There's a first time for
everything.   My mom eventually won the battle, but
the critters got their bites in.  Warning:  when in
Florida, don't stand in one place for too long.  Now
almost in the stadium, my dad was buzzed by a foul
ball that made it out of the stadium.  The ball
bounced just behind him and a few feet in front of me.
We both just kind of stared at the ball, dumbfounded
at how close we were to getting creamed, and some
other guy ended up with the ball.  Oh well.  

Jason Johnson started this game and had one of his
better starts of the spring (one run allowed in three
innings).  German tossed another scoreless inning, and
then Wil Ledezma gave up one run in two and a third. 
The game was pretty low-scoring.  The Tigers caught a
break in the seventh inning when, after it appeared
that Alexis Gomez would be called out on strikes, the
umps changed their call (can't remember why).  On the
very next pitch, Gomez went over the wall to give the
Tigers a 3-2 lead.  That lasted until the 9th inning
when, with the bases loaded and one out, Jacob Cruz
hit a double-play ball to the shortstop Gookie
Dawkins.  Dawkins proceeded to make his second error
of the game, allowing two runs to  score and the Reds
to take the game.  I was upset for about five seconds.
Strangley, Ken Griffey Jr. was healthy and remained
uninjured throughout the day.  Sadly, I never got a
chance to raz him about his 4K performance years ago
against Justin Thompson.  

The "B" game, as it was called, was less than
thrilling but gave us a chance to relax and catch some
more rays.  We got to see Dean Palmer play one last
time but there wasn't much else to see.  We left after
the sixth inning and headed home. 

Spring training was fun to finally see.  The
environment is very casual, as the managers sit in
seats next to the dugout and occasionally would chat
with the fans seated nearby.  I didn't get to talk to
any players but still managed to thoroughly enjoy
myself.  It certainly was enough to whet my appetite
for the regular season.  I hope to do it again
someday, but I'm in no rush to head down there next
season.

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Poll Question...
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We'll get to steroids and Alex Sanchez next week. 
Comment on that as you wish.  The first issue always
demands that I ask for you predictions for the season.
Here are mine.

Toolie's Crappy Predictions...

AL Division Winners:  Yankees, Twins, Angels
AL Wild Card:  Boston

NL Division Winners:  Braves, Cardinals, Giants
NL Wild Card:  Phillies

Yankees over Twins (again) - Angels over Red Sox
Braves over Giants - Cardinals over Phillies

Angels over Braves in the World Series.  Pujols
finally wins the NL MVP thanks to no Bonds (but Pujols
really deserves it). 
 
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Readers Write In...
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Andy "Lombardi" Karnitz

matt-
where's the weekly? i need a fix! can't believe
they're bringin' higgy back to the copa.  possibly
showcasing him for an injury driven trade?
 
later- andy 

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Chas "Grey Fox" Claus

Baseball season is underway and no Tigers weekly yet? 
What the heck is up with that?  Get cracking or we'll
send you the way of Alex Sanchez.

I would like to humbly submit the following
observations based on the one game that has been
played thus far this season:

1. The New York Yankees will make a very serious run
at 130 wins.  I don't know how they can lose with
their offensive lineup.  Counting the "Big Unit" all
ten of their opening day starting lineup had been an
all-star.  I put the over/under at 127 1/2 wins for
the Evil Empire.

2.  (This one came from my father and I agree): Boston
will not be able to handle success.  They're too
cutesy and full of themselves and making
romantic comedies about last season and I predict they
will suck.  They will finish second in the AL East but
will not be a factor in the Wild Card race (which will
go to the winner of the Oakland/Seattle race). 
Aneheim and Minnesota will also go.

3. The Tigers will have an interesting race this year
- not for a playoff spot, but with the Indians for
second in the divison.  The Tigers will edge out the
Tribe on the strength of 19-game winner Jeremy
Bonderman.

4. Matt O'Toole will lead the league from
start-to-finish in the "Sexiest Man Alive" balloting.

- Grey Fox OUT.

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Toolie's Trashtalk...

Oh how I hate this "Back" button on my keyboard. 
There's nothing worse than putting the finishing
touches on an issue and then losing it.  Enthusiasm
goes in the toilet.  

The AL Central looks to be a good division this
season.  Four of the five teams have respectable clubs
and the top spot is up for grabs.  Until the Twins are
knocked off they are the favorites, but don't be too
surprised if this is the year they get bumped.  They
return most of their lineup from last season and have
ace Johan Santana locked up for years to come. 
Cleveland has young hitting that could conjure up
memories of the Cleveland teams of the mid-late 90's. 
The Tribe took some steps to improve their terrible
bullpen and should be a threat to win.  Chicago has
revamped their look, losing sluggers Magglio Ordonez
and Carlos Lee while adding speed-demon Scott
Podsednik (70 SB last season).  Their ball park is
suited for a power team, so it will be interesting to
see how they play at home.  Kansas City will threaten
nobody this year.  The Tigers have no excuse to win
less than twelve games against KC this season.  

Great first game today.  Bonderman was solid and the
hitters got to Lima Time early and often.  Dmitri with
three home runs!  It beats breaking a leg, eh Dmitri? 

Point of advice:  Don't try to carry on a phone
conversation with a Red Sox fan when there is a game
on.  More than one train of thought was derailed last
night as I tried in vain to chat with Deborah "The
Master" Kent.  I never realized that lazy fly balls
were so nerve-wracking or that it's outrageous that
Johnny Damon might bunt on the first at-bat of the
season!!!  Eh, I'm just having a little fun.  There's
that new Jimmy Fallon - Drew Barrymore movie coming
out soon ("Fever Pitch").  That should be an
interesting one.  

I have to give some love to the MSU Spartans.  The men
had a fantastic run in the tournament and finally
played to their potential.  Wins over Duke and
Kentucky don't come along every day.  The ladies had a
huge comeback last night to beat Pat Summitt and will
meet the Baylor Bears tomorrow in the championship
game.  A good year for MSU hoops indeed.  How does
college football not want a playoff?

OK, I've just gotta get this out right now before I
lose it again.  Plenty to come in the weeks ahead. 
The Weekly is only as good as the readers' replies, so
let your voice be heard.  I'll leave you with the
Tigers Fight Song.

We're all behind our baseball team.
Go get 'em, Tigers!
World Series bound and picking up steam.
Go get 'em, Tigers!
There'll be joy in Tiger Town
We'll sing new songs
When the Bengals bring the pennant home,
where it belongs.
We're all behind our baseball team.
Go get 'em... Detroit Tigers
Go get 'em Tigers!

Let's Play Ball!
 
I'm out.
 





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Play Ball!

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