Basically the same team with a few nips and ticks.. no overall facelift
Gone noticeably is Carl Crawford... Not huge off season signings, and a couple people promoted
C - Travis Tartamella - The 9 hole wonder bat. Nothing really special to look at ratings wise, but a career .328 hitter who had 30 steals as a catcher - 8-7-7-5-4
1B Casey Kotchman - Steady Eddie with great defense - 8-8-8-9-6
2B Jose Reyes - Locked up for plenty of time for him to get the career steals mark - 7-10-6-7-6 9 speed 9 steals (down from 10 and 10 last season)
SS Yulienski Gourriel - Last year's 30 year old import ROY - 8-8-10-9-7
3B Edwin Encarnacion - Finally hitting better after all this time - 8-9-10-6-5
LF Julius Leday - Promoted from the bench, hoping for him to hit that 9 contact - 8-7-4-9-6 8 speed 9 steals
CF Cameron Maybin - The 5 tool guy in the 4 spot in the lineup - 8-9-10-7-4 9 speed 9 steals
RF Curtis Granderson - The batting wonder is still going strong - 8-10-7-6-5
DH Jeff Larish - Power hitter who knows how to drive in runs - 7-5-10-7-5
Bench:
C Jason Jaramillo - 8-6-6-6-6
2B/SS/3B Anderson Hernandez - 9-6-2-5-5 9 speed 8 steals
SS Jerome Potvin - 8-5-4-6-6
3B/LF/RF Mark Teahen - 8-8-7-6-5
CF Daniel "Rainmaker" Warf - 8-10-4-7-8
LF/CF/RF Gorkys Hernandez - 8-8-7-4-6 8 speed 8 steals
Rotation:
1) R Jair Jurrjens - Though he never seems to be able to get that 3rd 10 in rating, he is still coming off a 22 win season and in the top 10 in ERA - 10-9-10 8END 59%GB 93-96MPH
2) L Andrew Miller - The second part of Detroit's dynamic duo, coming off a 20 win season - 9-9-10 8END 52%GB 93-96MPH
3) R Rick Porcello - Also coming off a 20 win season, and seems to be getting better - 10-9-8 9END 53%GB 93-96MPH
4) R Justin Verlander - Just a consistent performer in the 4 slot - 10-7-8 8END 58%GB 95-99MPH
Bullpen:
Mopup 1) R Enrique Gurrola - Still only 24 and should improve, but poor stats put him in the mopup role - 10-6-7 54%GB 91-94MPH
Mopup 2) L Hong-Chih Kuo - Newly signed hopeful bullpen anchor. Good ratings, needs to perform to them - 10-7-8 7END 46%GB 95-99MPH
Middle 1) R Luke Putkonen - Coming back from major injury and needs to regain ratings to match talent - 10-6-7 7END 61%GB 91-94MPH
Setup 1) L Pedro Duran - Former closer filling in the much needed lefty setup role - 10-7-9 36%GB 87-90MPH
Setup 2) R Grant Balfour Jr. - 21 year old former 1st round pick in his first full season. Did well in his late season debut last year - 10-6-8 62%GB 95-99MPH
Closer) Joel Zumaya - The 100MPH wonder stays at closer after his return to form last season - 10-8-6 46%GB 100+MPH
All in all, we're a bit down on offense with losing Crawford, at least until one of the youngsters steps up... Depth is good... We'll be about the same in power, because Crawford's power #'s went down even though his ratings had not... SB should remain about the same (around tops in the league).. And we should be in the top 3 in runs scored again, if not #1 again
I think We're a tad better on pitching with the addition of Kuo in the pen and with Putkonen back.. The rotation should be as solid as any in the league... Hopefully top 5 or 7 in ERA
We should be competing for the top spot in the AL Central again.. playoffs are the definite goal