With Spring Training set to begin on Saturday, plenty of articles will be highlighting the most pressing questions surrounding the Tigers as the team reports to Lakeland. I don't think I'm exactly going out on a limb by saying the biggest story will be who wins the fifth spot in Detroit's starting rotation.
But Dave Dombrowski might have complicated that story a bit by saying that some in the Tigers organization think Rick Porcello could pitch well enough to make the team. Would that say more about how well Porcello pitches, or how poorly Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson are throwing? And what about Zach Miner? I guess we'll have to see.
How well has Jeremy Bonderman recovered from the thoracic outlet syndrome that required surgery?
Will the competition for the closer's job be another question? I think this has already been decided, and unless Brandon Lyon loses it, he's the guy. But what if Fernando Rodney out-pitches Lyon?
Speaking of the bullpen, can Ryan Perry make the major league roster? Dombrowski was talking him up, too.
Is Gary Sheffield's shoulder fully healthy? If so, does he have one last stand of a season left in him? If not, will that become apparent during the spring?
So maybe this gives us too many choices for this week's poll question, but I'm going with it, anyway:
Which Tiger will be the biggest story of Spring Training?
Of course, your comments on the subject are also welcome. Is there anyone we forgot to include?
You can find the poll on the right sidebar below the FanPosts block. Or you can click here to vote. And if you have suggestions for future poll questions, shoot me an e-mail.
Last week's poll was kind of a goof, but we got some decent discussion out of it. I guess the real question was how wide the margin would be.
Are the Tigers better than the Royals?
85% Yes. They only finished one game behind KC
14% No. They finished one game behind KC!