Detroit Tigers 2011 Preview

The Detroit Tigers acquired a couple veterans that might mix pretty well with the rest of their veteran lineup to compete throughout the season with the Twins and White Sox for the AL Central crown. C/DH Victor Martinez came over from Boston after just a one season stint in Beantown to try and make the Tigers back to a winning baseball club in Motown. Free-agent RHP Brad Penny came over from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jim Leyland enters his 20th season as a major league manager. He also spent six seasons as a major league scout for the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Through five seasons in Detroit, Leyland is 424-387 with as World Series runner-up finish in 2006 to those same Cardinals that he scouted for the previous six seasons. In a nutshell, Leyland gave Tony LaRussa a hand in beating Leyland's Tigers 4-1 in the '06 World Series. He also won the 1997 World Series in his first of two seasons as the Florida Marlins manager. He's quite the experienced, seasoned manager and will someday be a Hall of Fame inductee. From 1986 to 1996, he led the Pittsburgh Pirates to four winning seasons, including three playoff appearances in 1990, 1991 and 1992. All three of those appearances resulted in losing the National League Championship Series to the Reds (1990) and the Braves in '91 and '92.

The Tigers' starting pitching rotation should be decently solid this year. Ace Justin Verlander will get things started on Opening Day when the Tigers head to Yankees Stadium for the first MLB game of 2011 at 1:05 on ESPN. Verlander will be followed in the rotation by Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello, Brad Penny and Phil Coke.

The bullpen might need some help, but might also be okay when it comes down to it. Joaquin Benoit, Ryan Perry, Daniel Schlereth and Brad Thomas will pitch in to be the middle relievers. Joel Zumaya seems to be back to good health and hopefully we'll see some more 100-plus m.p.h. pitches out of him as he'll be the set-up man for Closer Jose Valverde.

The starting lineup in the field might look a little different than most Tiger die-hards are used to in recent years.

C Alex Avila
1B Miguel Cabrera
2B Carlos Guillen
SS Jhonny Peralta
3B Brandon Inge
LF Ryan Raburn
CF Austin Jackson
RF Magglio Ordonez
DH Victor Martinez

AL Central prediction for the Detroit Tigers: 3rd place