This year, I thought we'd grade the players. This is something I haven't done before, or if I did do it I did so all in one post. I thought it would be better if we took things a little slower, looking at a new player each day and seeing where he succeeded and where he fell short.
Of course, this is going to be subjective. The grades will be my own, but it's going to be incomplete without you guys weighing in with your comments. I plan to look not just at this season, but what this season might indicate about 2011.
So who gets included? Twenty-one position players and 20 pitchers saw action, after all. Emphasis will be placed on players who competed the entire season or finished the year with the team, and who have a possible future in Detroit. What's that mean? We'll talk about outgoing Tigers Gerald Laird and Johnny Damon still. But I want to shy away from prospects like Andy Oliver or Danny Worth, as I prefer to leave that for our minor league guys. Don't expect me to talk too much about Dontrelle Willis or Adam Everett, either. They failed to complete the season in Detroit, so you can just pencil in "F" on your report cards.
I'm going to go through these, one a day during the weekdays, in the following schedule (sorry pitcher lovers, position players come first):
Oct 11 -- Alex Avila
Oct 12 -- Brennan Boesch
Oct 13 -- Miguel Cabrera
Oct 14 -- Johnny Damon
Oct 15 -- Brandon Inge
Oct 18 -- Carlos Guillen
Oct 19 -- Austin Jackson
Oct 20 -- Gerald Laird
Oct 21 -- Don Kelly
Oct 22 -- Magglio Ordonez
Oct 25 -- Jhonny Peralta
Oct 26 -- Ryan Raburn
Oct 27 -- Will Rhymes
Oct 28 -- Ramon Santiago
Oct 29 -- Scott Sizemore
Nov 1 -- Casper Wells
Nov 2 -- Jeremy Bonderman
Nov 3 -- Armando Galarraga
Nov 4 -- Rick Porcello
Nov 5 -- Max Scherzer
Nov 8 -- Justin Verlander
Nov 9 -- Phil Coke
Nov 10 -- Eddie Bonine
Nov 11 -- Ryan Perry
Nov 12 -- Brad Thomas
Nov 15 -- Robbie Weinhardt
Nov 16 -- Jose Valverde
And if I left off someone you'd really like to see graded we can add them at the end. Just let me know in the comments. I'll be putting this list on the left sidebar, by the way, so you can check back anytime throughout the offseason. Bonus: At some point I'll do a look at manager Jim Leyland, and you can expect an update to last year's feature at Mack Avenue Tigers looking at GM Dave Dombrowski.
So enjoy the series, and be sure to participate! Thanks!