Where were you when that happened??

With Spring Training just 9 days away I wanna ask you Tiger fans whats your most memorable Tigers moment? Mine would have to be when Granderson robbed Wily Mo Pena of that HR. I coulda went i several directions with this, but as long as I live I will always remember the Highlight reel he put together for us, you will be missed Grandy and hope the best for ya over in New York just as long as that doesnt come back to bite us in the ass in the playoffs.

2010 Opening Day Lineup

Bring your arguments!!!!!!! Now that Johnny Damon is in the lineup, what does our opening day lineup look like? Here is my guess:

LF Damon
2B Sizemore
RF Ordonez
1B Cabrera
DH Guillen
3B Ingel
C Laird
SS Everett
CF Jackson

Could it be an other way? I wish we had another guy with power so we had a true 5 hole hitter to hit behind Cabrera, we need one. With what we have though, this is the best we can do! You have to have a LH hitter behind Miggy if you can't have a power guy! Someway somehow, if we are going to win, we need to force opposing teams to throw to Cabrera.

The big question .... what number will Johnny wear?

Since coming into the league in 1995 Johnny Damon has wore #18 every year except 2! In his rookie year 1995 he wore #51 as Joe Randa wore #18 (in case you were curious, Vince Coleman wore #29 that year for the Royals, LOL) and in 2001, he wore #8 with the A's but ... noone else was 18 and that number was not retired. So, that made me think Did Johnny really want #8? I looked back at the rosters he was on and found out that he couldn't have worn #8 anywhere he has been. When he got to KC, Gary Gaetti was #8, the next year he could have taken it but, why switch your number. In Oakland he DID wear 8. In Boston, that retired number 8 belongs to Yaz and in NY #8 is Yogi Berra's and noone elses!

So .... is Johnny gonna wear the open #18 or is he gonna fight Gerald Laird for it? Gerry is not afraid of a brawl haha! OK, it is gonna probably be 18 but, it was fun to think about!

PS, the last #18 on a Tigers Jersey belonged to Heath Murray in 2001 ..... who????

The waiting game is over....Finally!

I wanna say about time Johnny what the hell was the hold up? You know youre not gonna get anymore then a 2 year deal with anyone, and you waited so long to sign that it went from a 2 year contract to a 1 year deal. I am happy we only committed to him for 1 season just in case for some awful reason we are out of contention mid season or trade deadline and we could trade him and pick up some young talent in return, I dont like we gave him 8 million for 1 year, but if he is the missing piece that we need to get back to the promise land then I wont complain, but only time will tell. Even though that gives us a much NEEDED leader in the clubhouse I cant help but wonder that just makes us even older now, when is it time to let the kids play Raburn,Clete, Casper?

Valverde impressing already and not just with his arm..

I was reading a few blogs and MLB headlines and tid bits yesterday and I came across an article about our new closer Jose Valverde one of the most dominate closers of the last few years (when he's healthy). It said from the time he arrived yesterday from the Dominican he has already started joking with the guys and talking to his fellow Dominicans and feeling loose and feeling good already like he fits in. He took the mound yesterday and it just seemed like after seeing him hit the high 90's and having control of it and then dropping his off speed stuff in there for a strike that we mighta hit a home run with this signing we got something we have been missing for a long time!, and thats a dominate closer with that nasty heat and the off speed junk to compliment it. For the first time in a long time I feel safe handing the ball over to our closer with a 1 run lead and 2 outs and 2 men on and facing one of the leagues better hitters at the plate. But on a semi non related baseball note I guess you can call it, after he arrived in Lakeland he was listed on the Roster as #46 that soon changed as everyone well knows he has worn #47 his whole career but since no one has worn that number since Jack Morris he opted to go with #74, he said he feels really good this season and that he feels like he could possibly save 74 games this year, I LOVE that kinda attitude, and then in the next breathe he said if he can't save 74 he will definitly break our club record of saves. But what I am getting at here is not even a member of the Tigers for a day he understands the tradition of what number an old great Tiger had worn, Kudos to you Jose. And on my closing note lets just hope his number change doesnt match the last closer we had that wore that number, can you name that Tiger?

Off Season moves

In a whole I think we had a very productive offseason I think we cut payroll and we locked up our ACE for the next 5 years and with the emergance of Porcello and the additions of Scherzer and Schlereth I think we have one of the top staffs in the AL. But the thing I dont understand is why didnt we look for a shortstop during this offseason?? We coulda went with Orlando Cabrera all the guy does is win, Or we coulda went after Orlando Hudson and tossed him at short. And I think we need a DH as well, and I really dont think Damon is the answer at DH. I think personally we shold have inquired about Jermaine Dye that way we can platoon him in RF and LF and even a little bit at 1B oe even go back and sign Frank "the cat" Catalonatto bring him back or go grab Thome(minus the huge contract) or even go get Mike Jacobs (beisdes him striking out more then he gets on base) Iam very excited to see what this team and season brings to the table lets just hope we can keep contending and stay close enough to win the division because we know it'll be tough to get the Wild Card away from the Yankees or Red Sox or Twins.

My Predictions for 2010

Pitchers anc Catchers have only been in camp for less then a week and I'am already gonna go ahead and make my bold predictions for this season. Some of these might come across as very homer (but isnt that what we are here for?) Here are my picks for Division standings and winners in both the AL and NL and I will also go as far as choosing my MVP, CY young, and ROY.


AMERICAN LEAGUE

EAST

1.) Red Sox- With the addition of Lackey and a healthy Dice K they take the division
2.) Yankees- Very close but just to many pre-madonnas wont mesh well
3.) Rays- If they hang on to Upton and Crawford I see them making a serious push
4.) Blue Jays- Very young staff and a decent lineup but still a few years away
5.) Orioles- Way too young to comepete for a few years

CENTRAL

1.) Tigers- With a sober Cabrera and a good young staff they take Twins without a playoff
2.) Twins- With the addition of Thome and the O-dog thats huge but its all about pitching
3.) White Sox- Good good team very well managed but way too many Leftfielders on roster
4.) Royals- I see the Royals competing in the next 2-4 yrs as longs as Greinke stays healthy
5.) Indians- This team is just a mess they have Sizemore and thats it. Austin Kearns anyone?

WEST

1.) Rangers- With the 3 big guns healthy and a revamped staff iam seeing good things here
2.) Angels- All i gotta say is NO Figgins, Lackey, and Vlad its gonna be hard
3.) Mariners- good offseason moves I like what they did but wont overtake Halos or Rangers
4.) A's- I wanna say with Sheets signing here to anchor a young staff 2-4 years away still


NATIONAL LEAGUE

EAST

1.) Phillies- With the addition of Doc thats huge and they dont lose anyone another NLDS
2.) Braves- Its Bobby Cox's final season i'd like to see him go out on top
3.) Marlins- This was a hard choice but I have faith in the Young gunnin Fish
4.) Mets- Again spent too much money on mediocre over the hill players and still need P help
5.) Nationals- Strasburg will be up midseason and will have Wang midseason as well I like it

CENTRAL

1.) Cardinals- With Holiday coming back Its hard to pitch around Albert, but what bout Pitching?
2.) Brewers- LOVE LOVE the Fielder and Braun combo but just no pitching
3.) Cubbies- They have the nucleus to win and the hitters to contend but no pitching!
4.) Reds- This is actually my sleeper team right here, like the gold glove INF defense wins games
5.) Astros- The killer B's are gone and Berkman and Oswalt havn't been the same
6.) Pirates- The have pieces to win but not enough to contend bright spot Pedro Alvarez

WEST

1.) Dodgers- With the emergance of Ethier and Kemp this team is hard to beat
2.) Giants- Gotta have more help for Sandoval score more runs ,best 1-2 pitchers in west
3.) Rockies- Love Tulowitzki and Hawpe and if Ian Stewart can come into his own watch out
4.) D-Backs- Withe Webb, Jackson, and Haren its tough to put them this low just dont see the O
5.) Padres- Iam at loss for words with this team they are THE worst team in Baseball


NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFF PICTURE

Phillies vs Brewers- Phillies win in 3 games
Dodgers vs Cardinals- Dodgers win in 3

Dodgers vs Phillies- Dodgers win in 7

AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFF PICTURE

Red Sox vs Twins- Red Sox win in 5 games
Tigers vs Rangers- Tigers win in 3 games

Red Sox vs Tigers- Tigers win in 7 games


WORLD SERIES

Tigers vs Dodgers- Tigers win in 5



AL MVP

Joe Mauer

AL CY YOUNG

Justin Verlander

AL ROY

Austin Jackson


NL MVP

Prince Fielder

NL CY YOUNG

Matt Cain

NL ROY

Jason Heyward


I know its very far fetched that we make it to the World Series this year but you gotta keep remembering what we did in 2006 no one ever in a million years thought we would make it and we did so I hope the pitching stays strong for us and Austin Jackson proves to be the true big time stud he has been labeled and we finally bring home another title...This one is for you Ernie..