Hello everybody! I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas Eve, and I hope that you all have completed your Christmas shopping! Anyway, let's get to work. Here is today's report card on the Motor City Nine, the Detroit Tigers.
Detroit Tigers:
Record: 86-77 (Second place in the AL Central, one game behind Minnesota).
Batting Leaders:
Batting Average: Miguel Cabrera (.324)
Home Runs: Miguel Cabrera (34)
RBIs: Miguel Cabrera (103)
On-base Percentage: Miguel Cabrera (.396)
Pitching Leaders:
Wins: Justin Verlander (19)
ERA: Justin Verlander (3.45). Bullpen- Brandon Lyon (2.86).
Strikeouts: Justin Verlander (269)
Innings Pitched: Justin Verlander (240.0)
WHIP: Justin Verlander (1.18)
Saves: Fernando Rodney (38)
Highlight of the Season: Taking control of first place on May 16, after a 9-1 victory over Oakland. They would not fall out of first place until the very end of the season.
Lowlight of the Season: Losing to the Minnesota Twins in heartbreaking fashion in the one-game playoff, 6-5, on October 6. This was the culmination of a disastrous final month for Detroit, in which they blew a seven game lead as late as September 6.
The Lowdown:
Even though they won the Wild Card in 2006, Detroit was seeking to accomplish something that they have not done since 1987, and that was to finish in first place. It looked as if the Tigers would get it done though, as they took first place on May 16, and did not look back. The closest Detroit came to falling out of first (before September arrived) was on July 23, when they were tied with the White Sox after Buehrle's perfect game against Tampa. However, Detroit would face the Sox in a four-game series beginning on the very next day, and made their statement, as they took three out of four from Chicago. Once September rolled around, it seemed as if the Tigers could not be stopped, as they took a commanding seven game lead in the division on September 6.
If there is one thing that I have learned as a White Sox fan in the last decade, is to never, ever, ever count out the Twins until they are mathematically eliminated. The Twins put together a furious push in the final month, going 19-7, while the Tigers went a miserable 11-15 in that same time span, to force the one-game playoff in Minnesota. Even though Detroit put up a valiant fight in the one-game playoff, it was not enough to hold off a white-hot Minnesota team, as the Twins won 6-5 in 12 innings, to advance to the playoffs. A season that once seemed so promising, only ended in heartbreak for the Tigers.
Offense:
The Tigers featured a solid offensive attack in 2009, which was led by the hard-hitting trio of Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson and Brandon Inge. Cabrera put together another typical "Miguel Cabrera" kind of season, which is outstanding more often than not. He hit well over .300 again (.324), and pounded 34 home runs to go along with 103 RBIs and a robust .396 on-base percentage. He has clearly shown that his numbers were not just a National League fluke, and that he is indeed one of the best hitters in baseball.
Granderson had a fine year at the plate power-wise, drilling 30 home runs himself, along with driving in 71. He also had 20 steals to his credit, as well. However, his abilities as a lead-off hitter are questionable, as he hit only .249 and had a dismal on-base percentage of only .327. His speed is obviously the biggest reason why manager Jim Leyland places him in the lead-off spot; however, you would certainly like for him to get on base more to set the table for Cabrera.
Brandon Inge had a great season power-wise at the plate, too, as he played in nearly every game for the Tigers this season (he played in 161 out of their 163 games this season). He clubbed 27 home runs, which tied his career-high, and he also drove in a career-best 84 runs. The only downside to his season was his dismal .230 average and .314 on-base percentage, but he has never really been a player who hit for average.
Three other guys who hit for a decent average were Magglio Ordonez (.310), left fielder Ryan Raburn (.291) and Placido Polanco (.285). Ordonez's decent average was the only silver lining to a horrendous season for him power-wise though, as he hit only nine home runs and drove in just 50. This is coming from someone who is usually capable of hitting 25-30 home runs a season, while driving in around 100. This power outage from him is certainly something that has to be alarming many Tigers fans, as he is supposed to be the "right-hand man" to Cabrera.
Overall, the Tigers scored 743 runs as a team, which was good enough for 15th in MLB. Along with this, they finished ninth in home runs (183), 19th in on-base percentage (.331), and tied for 17th in batting average (.260). When you put it all together, they weren't the most fearsome lineup in the bigs in '09, but they were pretty damn good nonetheless.
Final Grade: B
Pitching:
The Tigers featured fantastic pitching from their youthful starting trio of Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson and 20-year-old rookie Rick Porcello in 2009. All three pitchers made over 30 starts, and all three were the biggest reason why Detroit stayed in the pennant chase for most of the season. Verlander led the way in the Tigers' rotation, as he rebounded from a miserable 2008 campaign in which he went 11-17 with a 4.84 ERA. This year was a much different story for him, as he went 19-9, with a 3.45 ERA and a major-league best 269 strikeouts. His 1.18 WHIP was also among the major-league's best as well.
Right behind him was Edwin Jackson, who put together a solid campaign, going 13-9, with a 3.62 ERA and 161 strikeouts. The 26-year-old basically picked up right where he left off in 2008 with Tampa Bay, when he went 14-10 for the eventual American League Champions. This year, though, he saw his ERA go down significantly from 4.42 in '08 to 3.62 this year.
The biggest surprise in the rotation had to be the performance of rookie Rick Porcello. Many people were somewhat surprised that the Tigers were placing him in the starting rotation right out of spring training, considering that he was only 20 years old. Many people feared that they were rushing him up to the big leagues, and that he might suffer as a result. However, Porcello and the Tigers proved everybody wrong, as he put together a spectacular rookie campaign, going 14-9, with a 3.96 ERA in 170.2 innings. In fact, the season he put together was good enough for him to earn the trust of manager Leyland, who let him start in the one-game playoff against the Twins. Even though Detroit would end up losing the game, Porcello put together an admirable performance, giving up only two runs in 5.2 innings, to go along with an impressive eight strikeouts to just two walks. The bright lights clearly did not faze the young man from Morristown, New Jersey, and it is that aspect about him that gives the Tigers, and their fans, a lot of excitement about him in 2010.
Detroit's bullpen was solid in 2009, but there can certainly be some room for improvement in 2010. Fernando Rodney had a pretty good season as a closer, going 37 for 38 in save opportunities this year. However, he had a hefty ERA of 4.40 in the closer's role, and he also had a conspicuously-high walk total of 41 in 75.2 innings pitched. Although he got the job done closing out games this year, he would often give Tigers fans and Jim Leyland a considerable amount of heartburn while he was closing them out. Brandon Lyon also did a solid job in the 'pen in '09, putting together a 2.86 ERA in 78.2 innings. Other than that, the bullpen only received a fair performance from Ryan Perry (3.79 ERA in 61.2 innings), along with a couple of mediocre performances from Bobby Seay (4.25 ERA in 48.2 innings) and Zach Miner (4.29 ERA in 92.1 innings). However, in Miner's defense, some of those numbers were put up in the midst of the five starts he made during the course of the season.
Compared to other teams in MLB, the Tigers' pitching stacked up pretty well. They finished 13th in ERA (4.29), 18th in runs allowed (745), and tied for 15th in "batting average against" (.263). The only negative aspect about this staff was their high walk total of 594, which was the eighth-highest in baseball. However, since their top three starters were in such great form throughout the season, I'll let it pass.
Final Grade: B
Wild Card: Rick Porcello
With Armando Galarraga falling back to earth after an impressive '08 campaign, Dontrelle Willis forgetting how to pitch altogether, and with and with Jeremy Bonderman battling injuries, Porcello's emergence could not have come at a better time for Detroit. His poise on the mound is something that is usually only seen out of veterans instead of 20-year-old rookies. Perhaps the presence of Justin Verlander was of big help to Porcello, since he essentially went through the same thing in 2006, albeit at a slightly older age of 23 at the time. Make no mistake about it though: having him come through for the team like this is much, much bigger than what it seems to be on paper.
Final Grade: A-
Overall:
While this team is not on the level of the Yankees, Red Sox, or Angels, they are still a pretty good team. They are also very fortunate that they play in baseball's weakest division, the AL Central. The only problem that bit the Tigers in '09 was their inability to "finish."
Final Grade: B+
Check back tomorrow for the report card on the Atlanta Braves!
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