For years I would right up season previews where I would almost automatically pick the team for 4th place. I didn’t know if they were a legitimate 4th place team, but I’d inject a little homerism to avoid last place. And then 2006 happened. The team was good. Real good. Picking them first or second in the division didn’t seem homer-ish, it seemed prudent after their World Series run. And an 87 win finish in 2007 and a blockbuster trade in the subsequent offseason further solidified those predictions. Then 2008 happened. I’m not ready to go back to picking the team in the bottom half even though that is the prevailing wisdom. I have them at 84 wins and a second place finish this year. And here’s why.
I think everyone remembers last year when the Tigers were pretty much a lock for the playoffs in the minds of many prognosticators. Sure, it was up for debate whether they’d win the American League or the World Series, but they were post season bound. Not so much this year. A number of sites and outlets and experts are doing some predicting and, well it ain’t so pretty.
After re-reading my 2007 season preview, I had to admit I was a little leery of doing another one this year. It’s all just such a crap shoot. And even after digesting the most dynamic offseason in franchise history and tracking the team’s progress over six weeks of spring training, I’m still not [...]
I was asked to participate in a round table discussion at Baseball Digest Daily looking at the Detroit Tigers. The group also included Ian from Bless You Boys and Peter Robbins Brown from Bugs and Cranks.
Baseball America published their MLB previews and predictions today. Unfortunately most of it is premium content. But I will let you know that they have Detroit winning it all, Miguel Cabrera taking home MVP honors, and Justin Verlander finishing as Cy Young runner up.
In other preview news, the Baseball Crank is running [...]
For a stat heavy guy, here is a decidely stat-less look at the season ahead…
Another link round-up while I watch Lost and work on my Tiger preview…
Ticket snafu
Things are kinda hectic for the Tigers ticket department about now. A problem with the printer has season ticket shipments coming at the last minute. Tickets are just starting to arrive today, but the club expects everybody to have their [...]
I’ll be a day late on announcing the DVD Giveaway winners. I promise it will be announced tomorrow night. In the meantime, some stuff worth reading:
PECOTA and the Central
The straight run of Baseball Prospectus’s PECOTA projections for the AL Central put the Tigers in 3rd place with 85 wins. Nate Silver makes [...]
A little bit of this and a little bit of that:
More Curtis
Curtis Granderson opened up his mailbag again. This time he talks about the high socks (love the high socks), his at-bat music, and bubble gum. Hard hitting stuff? Not at all. Interesting? I think so.
I always liked how the [...]
As we’re entering the final stretch of spring training, the 2007 predictions are starting to come with increasing regularity. Here’s what today revealed.
Simulatin’
The Replacement Level Yankee Weblog ran a series of Diamond Mind Simulations. He ran 1000 seasons using each of PECOTA, Marcel, Chone, Diamond Mind and ZiPS. I summarized how the [...]
credit Roger DeWitt
Miller Time
John Sickels has another prospect smackdown, this time it is Andrew Miller vs. Adam Miller. Sickels gives a very slight edge to Adam Miller.
Maybe a SLIGHT edge on intangibles for Adam Miller, Andrew gets a slight edge on tools, Adam gets a slight edge on current polish and performance, even on [...]
The Tigers are better than the Cardinals. I don’t think this even requires that much debate. The Tigers won 12 more games than the Cardinals. That in itself is impressive, but they did it in a division with 2 other 90 game winners while the Cardinals 83 was enough to lead the [...]
Billfer likes long walks in Comerica Park. Check out the 
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