2011 was great, 2012 can be better

by johnnygre on Oct 16, 2011 5:15 AM EDT

What a season that was! Frustrating at first when nothing looked good. Then everything seemed to fall in place and the Tigers became one of the best teams in the majors. We've all known off course how good they were. Well now some national sportswriters have finally figured it out as well and the team is getting some well-deserved credit for its achievements. After all it was a season full of accomplishments.

Where to start from? JV's 2nd career no-hitter? Cabrera's batting title? Valverde's perfect saves record? Avila's first All-Star appearance (as a starter too)? The 12-game winning streak? The 95 regular season wins? The spectacular ousting of the Yankees from the ALDS? The guts and hustle of this team when nearly everybody was hurting?

We were not beaten by a better team. We were beaten by a luckier team. That's fair enough for me. Luck is a big part of the game, good or bad and you have to accept that it will not always favor you.

The season is over and for the next four months we will all have our sweet memories of it. But I bet David Dombrowski, Al Avila, Jim Leyland and their associates will start working immediately towards building a team that will compete for several years to come.

The building blocks are here already. Verlander, Fister, Scherzer and Porcello in the rotation. Valverde, Benoit, Coke, Alburquerque (hopefully) and possibly Zumaya in the pen. Avila, Boesch, Cabrera, Martinez, Jackson, Peralta in the lineup. This is a talented team that needs just a few additions to get even better.

Team Owner Mike Ilitch has said he will go after two bats in the off-season. I don't know what sort of bats he has in mind, but I would love to see Placido Polanco back, or at least someone with his skills to play in the infield. I would love to see Delmon Young back too. But I also feel that the team needs a starter, preferably a proven one like Edwin Jackson, because Jacob Turner still needs to spend more time in the minors.

The team does not need to make a big splash and spend boatloads of cash to repeat this year's performance. You cannot buy a World Series berth as any Phillies-Red Sox-Yankees fan will tell you. It needs the sort of carefully thought out moves that brought about this year's success, like spending cash wisely and preserving the best pieces of the farm system. I believe we will see more of this during the off-season. It's a winning formula.

Anyway thank you Detroit Tigers for the wonderful memories this season and looking forward to more glory in 2012

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Bless You Boys writing staff.

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I hope Delmon Young returns

I thought he played very good in the postseason.

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by Detroitnr1 on Oct 16, 2011 8:59 AM EDT reply actions

Texas was better

They had a much stronger bullpen. Feldman, Ugando, Oliver, Adams, Uehara, and Gonzalez. Then they had Feliz as their closer.

(Adams, Uehara, and Gonzalez didn’t come cheap either. At the trade deadline, they traded away some nice talent to get those guys.)

That’s where Texas had a major advantage. If their starting pitcher was in trouble early they had a pen that could keep them in the game. Whereas we were pretty much dead in the water when our starting pitchers struggled.

Texas also had a serious edge in those Extra Inning games. We relied too heavily on Benoit and Valverde. We didn’t have anyone else we could really count on (except for maybe Coke).

by Keith-Allen on Oct 16, 2011 10:05 AM EDT reply actions

Give Texas credit where it's due

The margin for error was zero for the Tigers, and they made the big plays, and got plenty of timely hitting. It all came together for them in the third inning last night, and it all fell apart for us. All the best to them in this year’s fall classic.

In a Tiger fan's world, the Tigers go 162-0 and the White Sox go 0-162.

by Boeschlander on Oct 16, 2011 10:49 AM EDT reply actions

*It should be noted that "they" means Texas

And it sure looked like Jon Daniels constructed that team to go to the World Series. They were on a mission this year, and I had a feeling last fall they would be back sometime soon.

In a Tiger fan's world, the Tigers go 162-0 and the White Sox go 0-162.

by Boeschlander on Oct 16, 2011 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Do people think we're likely to do better?

I’m actually a bit concerned. I think we had quite a few players have monster seasons that won’t be repeated (e.g., Verlander, Peralta, Avila, Valverde, 2nd half Fister), and we also stayed pretty damn healthy in our fragile rotation.

Also not sure we have a lot of cash to play with (to make a big splash) as we have to pick up Papa’s option, give raises to some players like Verlander, and almost assuredly sign DY. I agree with a lot of you that Turner isn’t quite ready, and I’m just going to assume we’re not going to get a whole lot better out of Max and Rick (and to the extent they do, it will be balanced by some Verlander/Fister regression).

FA crop doesn’t look helpful imo, either.

by NickLAwyer on Oct 17, 2011 1:50 AM EDT reply actions

Max and Rick can do nothing but improve

Along with our young bullpen arms Al Al, Perry, Schlereth. That just comes with experience.

Why not AJax, Boesch, and Raburn. DY also if we keep him. If someone like Jacoby Ellsbury can have huge all around improvements, then perhaps one of our OF’s could improve half as much.

Miguel Cabrera might see his power numbers spike if add a few more decent bats around him.

Avila could improve his power numbers as well. He only hit 19 HR’s. I think he could hit 30-35 HR’s during his a career year. That probably won’t be next year though. He should hit 20+ HR’s every year if he stays healthy. His batting average and OBP might decline some, but those production numbers like Runs and RBI’s should go up if he bats lower in the line-up.

Anything is better than Inge at 3B full-time. So we should improve at 3B by default.

At 2B we should improve also.

We could actually do A LOT better next season.

by Keith-Allen on Oct 17, 2011 4:26 AM EDT up reply actions

exactly what i was thinking

regarding Max and Rick. sure, some guys are gonna come back down to earth, but those two will be better. also, regardless whether we bring up Turner or sign a vet for next year, the #5 spot will be better than Penny.

by tealy213 on Oct 17, 2011 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions

We might see a drop off from some guys

But keep in mind that we also won the division by 15 games. I don’t see why we wouldn’t be favorites to repeat next season.

Detroit4Lyfe

by Rob Rogacki on Oct 17, 2011 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions

I'd think the Tigers should be favorites heading into the offseason

but the division is going to look different in March so it’s way too soon right now.

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by Kurt Mensching on Oct 17, 2011 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions

I don't see many blockbuster deals happening

The White Sox are looking to cut payroll, not add on. The Twins are never favorites anyway. The Indians might make a deal, but I think that they are satisfied with letting their young core get a year older (and praying that Ubaldo comes back in 2010 form). The Royals… well, yeah.

Unless one of them pulls a fast one and gets a Jose Reyes type, I think we’ll see a pretty boring offseason in the AL Central.

Detroit4Lyfe

by Rob Rogacki on Oct 17, 2011 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions

and people saw the Tigers as being broke entering 2010 and a third place team in 2011

story lines have a way of changing along the way.

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by Kurt Mensching on Oct 17, 2011 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I had the Tigers winning the division, and posted the reasons why

one of which was that they had some payroll flexibility to make moves on the fly. They needed that to get Delmon, but the Fister deal was pretty revenue neutral at least in the short term. Brilliant move by DD.

We have to be favorites again, though 15 games would be hard to repeat. Someone else will improve. Chicago won’t bring back everyone and may even be looking to unload some salaries this winter. Love to pick up Buehrle if he’d be so inclined. There are more candidates for improvement than there are for regression on the Tigers, IMO.

I don't care what the Chinese say, 2011 is the Year of the Tiger!

by Tigerdog1 on Oct 17, 2011 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Agreed

I think the team will be improved over 2011…even if it’s just having our holes plugged sooner.

I’ll predict the Tigers for 1st place by 10 games. After that, will be a pure battle for 2nd place. I think 4 games will separate 2nd from 5th.

The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. ~Bryant Gumbel, 1981

by momotigers on Oct 18, 2011 7:49 AM EDT up reply actions

the way the "favorites of the AL Central" end up...

i DON’T WANT TO BE!!! ;)

(Un)Official President of the Team Jacob Turner Fan Club
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by DetroitTigersGeek on Oct 17, 2011 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Bedard, if we can upgrade over Young do it and Reyes, Betancourt

I know Bedard is on the DL a lot but when he pitches he easily a number 3 guy. He played for only 1M last year. This gives JTurner more time at AAA. Young does lack range in LF so we could upgrade there. Reyes at ss and moving Peralta over to 3B would be great. Peralta would be good at 3B with some range. You could move Inge behind the plate against lefties and support Avila. VMart too important in the line-up for him catch even though I like to see catch 15 games or so. betancourt would be great for a 7 inning guy and keep developing AA and Perry.

by Barry2 on Oct 17, 2011 1:23 PM EDT reply actions

Reyes

Should be our top target. Peralta moves back to 3rd giving us a better infield and Reyes can take over leadoff in the line-up and move AJ down to 8-9 until he proves if he can overcome the sophomore slump at the plate. I’d also love to bring Polly back to play second base.

by Sutelc on Oct 18, 2011 11:59 AM EDT reply actions