Detroit Tigers

Last week: 2-4
This week: TEX (April 11-13); at OAK (April 14-17)

So, What Happened?

Buzz saw, meet the Tigers; Tigers, meet the buzz saw.

The Detroit Tigers will be honoring their former manager, Sparky Anderson, by retiring his No. 11 jersey later in the season. The Tigers will also honor him by wearing a commemorative patch and raise a banner. 

For many Tigers fans, this is a long time coming. Baseball in Detroit is making a comeback and everyone remembers Sparky Anderson. However, the Tigers should have done this a long time ago. It would have been nice for Anderson to see his numbers raised into the rafters.

Detroit Tigers (2010 Record: 81-81)

The Detroit Tigers finished the 2009 season tied for first place in the AL Central (86-76) after having relinquished a seven-game lead to the Minnesota Twins during the last four weeks of the season. They then lost a one-game playoff in the Metrodome in 12 innings, sending the club into the offseason on a down note.

Lost amid the drama of the Miguel Cabrera DUI, the decision on the starting second baseman and the battles for the final roster spots is the fact that Justin Verlander had a dominating spring.

Verlander ended the spring 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA and 23 Ks and only three walks in 28 innings. He was utterly dominating and bucked his trend of mediocre springs over the last couple of years. If the Tigers are going to be serious contenders, they need Verlander to move up from a quality ace to a top ace.

Last Year: 81-81, Third in AL Central 

Manager: Jim Leyland 

PROJECTED LINEUP 

C- Alex Avila (L)

1B- Miguel Cabrera (R)

2B- Will Rhymes (L)

3B- Brandon Inge (R)

SS- Jhonny Peralta (R)

LF- Ryan Rayburn (R)

CF- Austin Jackson (R)

RF- Magglio Ordonez (R)

DH- Victor Martinez (S)

2B- Carlos Guillen (S) (start season on DL)

Mid-April of 2011 will mark the 35th anniversary of Mark Fydrich's MLB debut with the Detroit Tigers, and it will also mark the second anniversary of his death.

A few years before Larry Bird became a well-known sports figure, Fydrich was “The Bird,” the one and only original.  Like Dizzy Dean, he had a brief and luminous stellar season, marred by a freak injury.

They are the Frick and Frack of baseball in Detroit. Some would call them Laurel and Hardy; on a good day, they're Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

It's gotten to the point that when you see either Dave Dombrowski or Jim Leyland, you're half-surprised not to see them joined at the hip.

They're two peas in a pod. Twin sons of different mothers.

According to Jason Beck via Twitter, Detroit Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland has named Will Rhymes as the starting second baseman to start the season.

Nowadays, when you ask someone young if they remember Cecil Fielder, the response is usually something along the lines of “Do you mean Prince?” For those of us old enough to remember Prince’s father, there is a tale of triumph and tragedy.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.