As the Tigers prepare for next week's winter meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., they don't appear to have a lot left on their to-do list.
Their first order of business after the season ended was signing Brandon Inge to be their third baseman for the next two, perhaps three, years. Less than three weeks later, they re-signed Jhonny Peralta to be their shortstop. Like Inge, Peralta has a two-year contract with a club option for a third year.
Manager Jim Leyland said before the season ended that the Tigers needed some help in the bullpen and that was the team's next move. On Nov. 19, they signed Joaquin Benoit for three years. Benoit was lights-out for the Tampa Bay Rays last season, leading all AL relievers with a 1.34 ERA, .147 batting average against and 6.12 base runners per nine innings. He walked just 11 batters in 60.1 innings pitched.
That same day, the Tigers also signed another right-handed reliever in Alberto Albuquerque, who spent last season in the minor leagues.
Finally, the Tigers signed the big bat they were looking for when they made a deal with Victor Martinez to be their primary designated hitter/part-time catcher. Martinez, whom many Tigers fans might remember from his days with the Cleveland Indians, has a career .300 batting average and .469 slugging percentage.
Martinez is a four-time All-Star and won the Silver Slugger Award for catchers in 2004.
As president, CEO and general manager Dave Dombrowski said in his official statement regarding the signing, "We are thrilled to add a premier hitter like Victor Martinez to the Tigers organization. Our top off-season priority was to add a proven bat in the middle of our lineup, and Victor is an established .300 hitter and run producer at the major league level."
Martinez generally hit third last year (363 at-bats) with the Boston Red Sox, batting in front of Kevin Youkilis. In that spot, Martinez hit .309 with 14 home runs and 59 RBIs. He also had 91 at-bats in the fifth spot, batting .308 with five home runs and 17 RBIs. So whether he bats before Cabrera or after, he should do well.
It's looking more and more as though Ryan Raburn will be the Tigers' left fielder next season, barring anything unusual happening in spring training, like Brennan Boesch rediscovering his pre-All-Star break swing or Casper Wells hitting everything he sees.
Once Magglio Ordonez got hurt and Raburn became a mostly everyday player, he hit well. In his 251 at-bats after the All-Star break, he hit .315 with 13 home runs and 46 RBIs. Raburn literally hit in every spot in the lineup last season, with his best numbers batting fourth (.346, one home run, five RBIs), fifth (.342, two, 10) and second (.302, two, eight). He did hit .400 batting eighth, but that was in just 15 at-bats.
Austin Jackson, who should have been the American League Rookie of the Year but finished second behind Texas Rangers closer Neftali Feliz, will lead off again.
Penciling in Raburn in second, Martinez third, Cabrera fourth (that's in pen), what about the fifth spot? Peralta is one option, the oft-injured Carlos Guillen is another. Peralta had most of his at-bats in the fifth and sixth spots, batting .224 at five and .277 at six.
In limited action, Guillen hit .294 in the fifth spot and .261 in the sixth spot. In the last three years, Guillen has a .266 average batting fifth and .298 batting sixth. If Guillen stays healthy, we'll put Guillen in fifth and Peralta sixth for now.
The seventh, eighth and ninth spots in the order will be comprised of Inge, Alex Avila and whoever plays right field, unless it's Magglio Ordonez. If Ordonez comes back at a reduced rate, he'd move things around a bit. But with Scott Boras as his agent, Ordonez probably won't be making a quick deal. This part of the lineup could also change if Guillen were hurt and Scott Sizemore, Will Rhymes or Ramon Santiago plays second base.
Starting pitching should be a strength of the team, with Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello being the top three. The Tigers are moving left-hander Phil Coke to the rotation. The fifth starter could be Armando Galarraga or young lefty Andrew Oliver.
The bullpen has Jose Valverde returning as closer and Benoit his new set-up man. One can only hope that Benoit's season last year can be somewhat duplicated. The Tigers may need to find another reliever as they designated Zach Miner for assignment and did not re-sign Eddie Bonine.
They'll probably sign Joel Zumaya again, even though they cannot count on him. Zumaya looked like his old self until he broke a bone in his right elbow and went on the disabled list -- again. It would help a lot if hard-throwing Ryan Perry could take a big step forward in his development. So far the lefties are Brad Thomas and Daniel Schlereth.
So that's where things stand. You never know what can happen when the games start, but certainly the addition of Martinez should help generate more offense.
The Tigers will need a young player to step up like Jackson did last season -- maybe Boesch or Wells, hopefully Porcello. They would also love repeat performances by Jackson, Cabrera, Martinez, Verlander, Scherzer and Benoit, plus better overall health if they want to unseat the Minnesota Twins in the Central Division.
Dec. 1, 2010
