I am going to have to admit, I am really sour on the Detroit Tigers’ offseason so far. This team had almost $70 million come off the books after the 2010 season and the best they have done so far is sign Victor Martinez, overspend on a middle reliever, and re-sign a bunch of aging free agents.
Perhaps my expectations for what the Tigers were going to do was too high. I thought the Tigers were going to make some major splashes. VMart was a good signing, but I thought they were eventually going to pair him with someone like Jayson Werth or Carl Crawford.
The Tigers didn’t sign any other major free agents, but instead filled out their roster with guys like Magglio Ordonez. The Tigers re-signed Ordonez to a one-year, $10 million contract on Thursday.
Ordonez will be back for his seventh season in Detroit and if his ankle is healthy, then the Tigers know what they are going to get out of Ordonez at this point. For those of you who don’t remember, Ordonez fractured his ankle back in July.
Ordonez is a guy who will bat around .300 with 10 to 15 home runs and have around an .830 OPS. Certainly not bad for someone who will be turning 37 next year and certainly not bad for $10 million. Between those offensive numbers and his average defense in right, he should be able to produce more than the $10 million he is going to make in 2011.
With Ordonez back in the fold, the Tigers lineup might look something like this on Opening Day:
1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Will Rhymes, 2B
3. Victor Martinez, DH
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Magglio Ordonez, RF
6. Jhonny Peralta, SS
7. Brennan Boesch, LF
8. Brandon Inge, 3B
9. Alex Avila, C
It’s not a bad lineup, but it’s not that great either. On the days when Martinez is behind the plate, Carlos Guillen should be the DH for Jim Leyland’s club.
I just look at this lineup and besides Martinez and Cabrera, nobody really scares me. Besides those two, everyone can be pitched to and unless Boesch reverts back to his first half of 2010 form, there are a lot of automatic outs in this lineup.
Unless the Tigers make a surprise move towards the end of the offseason, I see them as a third place team in the American League Central. I still don’t think they are better than the Minnesota Twins or Chicago White Sox.
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