Every spring, hope springs eternal for every MLB team and their fans that this is the year the team will win a World Series. All teams are undefeated, and all clubs believe they have made the right changes to the roster to improve on, or continue the success of the previous season. Logic tells us however, this scenario will not be the case for every team. For the Detroit Tigers, they are hoping that the numerous roster moves they have made this offseason, combined with Jonathan Schoop, Javy Báez, and Spencer Torkelson being able to substantially improve from their 2022 performances, that this year’s version of the team will evolve into a successful 2023 season.
In order to boast about this upcoming season being a success, I believe the Tigers need to finish with a record around .500. This means winning ten to twenty more games this season, 10 would be considered good and 20 would be exceptional. Can the Tigers pull anything like this off? The odds makers say no. They have them winning 69 games. In order to prove Vegas wrong, our new acquisitions, as well as, the foundation of our team need to perform well. It is imperative that Javy Báez perform at the level of a guy making $140 million over 6 years should. No longer can he strike out 147 times and lead the league with 26 errors. Likewise, Jonathan Schoop needs to return to his 2021 form, when he had 84 RBIs and batted .278 in 156 games. Along with this, new additions like Nick Maton must duplicate his spring performance, where he accrued a .313 batting average. If the Tigers are able to get better production from the big guns, and others on the squad are moderately successful, this team is destined to outperform expectations.
To further bolster the team’s chances of improving on a dismal 2022 campaign, the Tigers need to vastly improve their defensive statistics. When your supposed best defensive player led the league in errors in 2022, that is not exactly a recipe for success. Not only did Javy Báez have 26 errors, but many times he had difficulty throwing the ball accurately, which could have led to many more miscues. Despite his error prone habits, the Tigers ranked near the middle of the pack in defensive play. In fact, they happened to rank 12th of 30 teams in defense. Just a modest improvement in defensive prowess is bound to equate to increased victories.
Unlike last season, the team is hoping that injuries are kept to a minimum this year. Already, however, new starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen has found his way to the injured list. Unfortunately, the pitchers were decimated by injuries during last year’s campaign. Despite this, the compilation of pitchers were able to compile a 4.04 ERA, while notching 38 saves. The Tigers hope a mostly healthy starting pitching staff this season will help them build on the successes that were seen last year. If improved play occurs, along with a good performance from a healthy pitching staff, more overall success is not far behind for the Tigers.
The fan base for this team has waited for quite awhile to see this team have sustained success again. Due to woeful underperformance, multiple rebuild attempts have been undertaken with no success. Players that were expected to lead this team to success year in and year out have not panned out. Though Miguel Cabrera had many years of success, for the last several years, he has fell far below expectations. With the advent of a new General Manager, are the Tigers now on a path to be a perennial winner? This season will go a long way to answer that question.
3 comments:
Very good insights
How much longer do they have Miggy under contract? Is it still worth keeping him around or will they be looking for some fresh players to make up for Miggy getting older?
Miggy’s contract is up at end of year, and he is retiring.
Post a Comment