At Home Plate - 2007 Season Postmortem: The Detroit Tigers

2007 Season Postmortem: The Detroit Tigers

Written by Daniel Paulling (Contact & Archive) on November 17, 2007

Regular Season Record: 88-74
Second in the AL Central, 8.0 games behind Cleveland Indians

Offensive leaders:
Home Runs: Magglio Ordonez 28
Average: Magglio Ordonez .363
RBI: Magglio Ordonez 139
Runs: Curtis Granderson 122
Steals: Curtis Granderson 26

Pitching leaders:
Wins: Justin Verlander 18
ERA: Justin Verlander 3.36
Strikeouts: Justin Verlander 183
IP: Justin Verlander 201.2
Saves: Todd Jones 38

Highlight of the season: The Detroit Tigers were in the race for the postseason, but there was no stretch in which they absolutely dominated. Therefore, the highlight of the season came when staff ace Justin Verlander threw a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers. He showed the baseball world just how dominating he really is.

Low point of the season: Sept. 26 was the date the Tigers were eliminated from postseason play. They had been fairly competitive during the season, but the Indians began to run away with the division title, while the New York Yankees were white-hot from the All Star break on to take the Wild Card. The Tigers just couldn’t win in late September.

Key Player: Magglio Ordonez. The outfielder had a career year, hitting .363/.434/.595 with 28 homers and 139 RBIs. He sure showed the critics who resoundly questioned the Tigers for handing Ordonez a five year, $75 million contract. Now, Manager Jim Leyland has to follow through on his promise to shampoo his star player’s lengthy locks; the skipper made a bet that if Ordonez hit over .300, he would do that for his star player.

Up and Coming Player: Cameron Maybin. Maybin, an outfielder, should be ready for the major leagues sometime in 2008, and he’ll push a very good center fielder in Granderson to a corner spot. Maybin’s glove is excellent, but he can contribute in all five fantasy categories. It’s a wonder he fell to 10th overall in the 2005 draft.

What went right: The Tigers had two star players in Ordonez (discussed above) and Verlander. Verlander, a right hander, developed into a good number two pitcher, and if he continues to take steps like this, he’ll eventually develop into a staff ace.

What went wrong: Not too much went wrong. Joel Zumaya and Kenny Rogers both missed significant amounts of time due to injuries, but these are the types of things team can expect to happen. An 88-win season is nothing bad, especially after playing the Indians and Minnesota Twins 38 times.

Offseason Preview: It’s going to take an overhauling of the pitching staff for the Tigers to reach the postseason once again. Their rotation for next season features Verlander at the top, a pitcher who is better than what he did this year (Jeremy Bonderman), and then three number fives. As it stands now, Nate Robertson, Chad Durbin, and Zach Minor fill out the remainder of the rotation.

But the bullpen needs some work as well. Zumaya’s 2008 season is over after injuring his shoulder, and his career of being able to throw over 100 mph might be done as well. Todd Jones and Fernando Rodney strike no fear in the hearts of opposing hitters. Therefore, the Tigers would be well-served to sign Francisco Cordero as their closer and try to find a good LOOGY to battle the Travis Hafners and Justin Morneaus of the division.

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