Looking Forward
The 2006 season has started with a bang for the Detroit Tigers. As the team continues to play well, it brings up some interesting questions as the season unfolds; questions the likes of which Tigers fans have not had the luxury of pondering for a long time.
I want your comments/thoughts on the following questions:
- Jim Leyland said during spring training that the Tigers lacked swagger. Has the team gained that swagger now? If so, when/how have they shown it? If not, what’s missing?
- During spring training, it was said that if the team showed that they could be competitive, Tigers’ owner Mike Ilitch would be willing to spend some money and/or make some key acquisitions to put them over the top. Have the Tigers done enough for Mike Ilitch and Dave Dombrowski to be willing to pull the trigger? If not, what does the team need to do?
- If Mike Ilitch/Dave Dombrowski do make some moves/acquistions to put the team over the top (as described above), what position(s) will be addressed? Which players do you think will be moved or otherwise displaced by their decisions?
Provide me with your thoughts/comments and I’ll provide mine sometime this weekend.
IT’S FUN AGAIN! Good Start Builds Buzz in City & Nationally
Pudge says that this team has the talent to go to the World Series this year. Detroit is becoming cautiously geeked about their baseball team’s hot start.
mlblogsaaron
I think the Tigers have best shown the swagger by just taking care of businss, then acting like it’s no thing. That quiet confidence of “yeah, we expected to win” can be pretty powerful.
But Zumaya’s done a pretty good job of doing the vocal part.
I think Illich will be willing to open the purse strings this summer if it’s needed. It might be. But I’d rather he be a spender — taking salary off someone’s ands — without the Tigers giving up any prospects. There’s no reason to get excited over one half a season and mortgage what looks like it could be a great future. I still think it would be another starting pitcher added, but it’s possibly another bat could be in the mix. I like Thames and the rotating DH works for me, but it still seems like a weak point.
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Hopefully the rotating DH thing will come to an end when Dmitri returns and starts hitting.
mensching has a distinct point here, though I don’t know if it’s always, or ever, a case of “Yeah, we expected to win.” Simply going out there with the attitude of “We know we’re gonna do our job here, and we’re gonna do it together as a team,” can work wonders. “Yeah, we expected to win,” starts smacking of hubris; and the gods have a habit of dropping a millstone on the heads of the overconfident.
Having said that, Da Boys definitely have that air of confidence right now — one built of success. Nothing fosters success like success to build on, and they’re doing it quite well. If Ilich is tying his purse strings to this factor, then I am tempted to say we might be seeing a few high-power purchases coming in around June or July.