Who needs a groundhog? Two weeks until pitchers and catchers arrive in Lakeland for Spring Training.

I never doubted for a minute that the Tigers would sign Justin Verlander to a long-term contact, did you? Given the questionable extensions of recent years — Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson to name two — the Tigers were due [...]

Yes, I want an iPad, of course I do.

I wonder if Dave Dombrowski thinks of Johnny Damon in Detroit and only sees Jacque Jones.

I couldn’t see the Tigers making room for Jim Thome without eating another big contract — and we know that isn’t happening. Still, it would’ve been fun to see him play at [...]

ESPN highlights available here.

The Score: Tigers 6 – Indians 5

The Gist: Justin Verlander struck out 11 over seven innings to give the Tigers a 6-5 win and a three-game sweep of the Indians. And Fernando Rodney tried to give it away. Well, not quite, but if you missed the game trust me when I say, [...]

ESPN highlights available here.

The Score: Tigers 11 – Indians 3

The Gist: Hey-yo! The Tigers showed no mercy on Justin Masterson, the Indians, Eric Wedge or the drum-beat guy. Instead, they dropped 11 runs on Cleveland — thanks to a pair of Carlos Guillen homers and a 440-foot missile from Miguel Cabrera — and Rick Porcello [...]

Well, so much for Matt Holliday joining the Tigers. I’m sure Carlos Guillen will be a suitable Plan B.

Jeremy Bonderman to the bullpen, eh? Whatever works.

I’ve decided to go old school today and listen to the Tigers on MLB.com rather than watch on DirecTV. Call it The Guillen Factor. I can’t stand to see Ozzie [...]

The Skinny:

7-5, Tied for 1st Place in A.L. Central with Chicago and Kansas City
Streak: W2
Home Record: 4-1
Road Record: 3-4

Streaks:

Last 10 Games: 7-3
Last 5 Games: 3-2

Who’s Hot from the Past Week:

Josh Anderson: .545 avg., .615 OBP, .818 SLG, 4 RBI, 2 SB
Miguel Cabrera: .455 avg., .478 OBP, .591 SLG, 10 H, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Gerald Laird: [...]

The Skinny:

4-3, 1st Place in A.L. Central, .5 games ahead of Chicago
Streak: W3
Home Record: 3-0 / Road Record: 1-3

Who’s Hot:

Miguel Cabrera: .520 avg., .586 OBP, .960 SLG, 3 HR, 10 RBI
Placido Polanco: .346, .393 OBP, .462 SLG
Gerald Laird: .318, .400 OBP, .455 SLG
Brandon Inge: .304, .448 OBP, .870 SLG, 4 HR, 7 RBI
Who’s Not:

Carlos Guillen:.182, [...]

Carlos Guillen #9

Height: 6′ 1″ | Weight: 215
2008 Stats: .286 – 10 HR – 54 RBI

You can’t blame Carlos Guillen if he’d like to forget the 2008 season. After being tapped as the starting first baseman, Guillen lasted there only a few weeks before moving across the diamond to third, where his lack of range [...]

When I began pulling together this list over the past month or so, it became clear that possibly the only positive story to come out of the Tigers season was the emergence of Matt Joyce. Joyce finished the 2008 season with a .252 average, 12 homers and 33 RBI in 92 games.
At long last, the [...]

Just three weeks into the season — or perhaps sooner — Jim Leyland realized that Miguel Cabrera was no Brandon Inge at third base and, at the same time, knew that Carlos Guillen was not Sean Casey at first.
So what do you do when you have to immovable objects on the corners of your [...]