The team with the fourth-highest payroll in baseball didn’t make the playoffs in 2016, so you might have figured the Tigers were going to have an off-season fire sale, or at least make a few big changes. Well, they didn’t. Detroit is forging ahead, hoping this veteran-laden and stacked core can lead them back to the playoffs.
As we approach the 2017 season, we’re previewing what’s ahead for each of the 30 MLB teams. The Detroit Tigers are next:
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Up-and-coming player to watch
We were watching Nick Castellanos’ breakout season last year—and then he got hurt. But the third baseman, who will be referred to as Nicholas this season on game sheets and in broadcasts (but he says we can still call him Nick), is coming off a career year, his third at the MLB level. Castellanos, now 25, continued his upward progression, posting career-high numbers in just about every offensive category, with 18 home runs and a healthy .496 slugging percentage. His season was derailed when he hit the DL for the first time in his big-league career: He broke his hand in early August, and was out of the lineup for nearly two months.
If the right-handed hitter can post another year of career-bests and stay healthy, the Tigers will have another strong bat in an already potent lineup.
What a successful 2017 season would look like
It would look like 2016, in many ways. The Tigers got a rebound season from 2011 AL MVP Justin Verlander, the right-hander who finished runner-up for the AL Cy Young last year. Michael Fulmer was named AL Rookie of the Year. Closer Francisco Rodriguez’s 44 saves were second-most in the AL. Miguel Cabrera slugged 38 homers with 108 RBI and finished among the league’s top ten in on-base percentage (.393) and slugging percentage (.563). At age 34, second baseman Ian Kinsler came close to posting his third career 30-plus home runs season, with 28. Young arms like lefties Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd had strong seasons. And outfielder Justin Upton tied his career-high in homers, with 31, and had an especially strong finish to the season. Not bad, right?
But the key difference would be health. The Tigers lost their third baseman for nearly two months, and outfielder J.D. Martinez missed more than a month-and-a-half with an elbow injury. Right-hander Jordan Zimmermann, a key in the Tigers’ rotation, battled an injury-riddled season en route to a disappointing 4.37 ERA in just 18 starts. If all goes well for the Tigers in 2017, everybody stays healthy and the team that finished 2.5 games outside of the playoff picture last year gets back into that picture.
It’d be a nice tribute to Mike Ilitch, the team’s longtime owner. who passed away in February. The Tigers will wear “Mr. I” patches on their uniforms this season.
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Biggest remaining question
Health is the big question mark for a team relying on big seasons from aging veterans. Their closer (Rodriguez) is 35, their ace (Verlander) is 34 and their biggest bat (Cabrera) is 33. But, of course, health is a key question for any lineup.
The more pressing question early in the season, at least, is who fills the hole Maybin left in centre field. It’s probably the only starting position that’ll look different for the Tigers compared to last season. Maybin’s departure means guys like JaCoby Jones, Mikie Mahtook, Tyler Collins and Anthony Gose will be contending for the middle of Comerica Park.
Jones, 24, is an athletic rookie with speed and power, but he has just 13 games of MLB experience (he managed six hits in 28 at-bats). He could be the future of the position. Collins, 26, split time between Detroit and Toledo with the triple-A club last season, and has only played in a handful of games at centre field. Mahtook played 65 games with Tampa Bay last season, and had a .231 OBP, with 36 hits in 185 at-bats. Gose, the former Blue Jay, is a huge question mark. In 2015, he hit .254 in 140 games. Then last season his batting average fell to .209, he struck out a ton (38 times in 91 at-bats) and was sent to the minors, where he had a spat with the triple-A manager and then finished the year in double-A. Centre field is seemingly wide open for a Tigers lineup that will look very much the same in every other area.