Paging Pitchers and Catchers

It's officially the 2009 baseball season!! Well it'll be my baseball season in 1 hour and 3 minutes..so 10 am, but still. So today Lakeland, Florida will be graced by the presence of a pitching staff the entire city of Detroit is praying can rebound from a pathetic collapse of respectability last year. This Spring Training brings with it the hope that the arms of Jeremy Bonderman and Joel Zumaya are healthy and not days, weeks, or minutes away from another season ending injury. Including the fate of the pitching staff though, there are several questions probably weighing--excitedly and nervously--on the minds of all Detroit Tigers' fans.

1. How will the starting rotation shake out?
4 of the 5 starting spots should be accounted for with only one new name entering the usual Tigers pitching fray. At the start of the season we're looking at a hopefully healthy, slider-ready Jeremy Bonderman, a newly re-signed Justin Verlander, hopefully not just a rookie sensation Armando Galarraga, and the newcomer Edwin Jackson. Now this leaves one spot open for one of 3 players...none of whom is Kenny Rogers--a pitcher Tigers fans will have to get used to not seeing this year. Jim Leyland and new pitching coach Rick Knapp are going to have to decide between Zach Miner, Nate Robertson, and the massive disappointment Dontrelle Willis. It's a toss-up, probably wholly dictated by health on the part of Willis. One thing is for sure is that fans are not going to be tolerant of continuous shake ups which were such a part of last season's disappointment. A decision..a consistent decision..is going to have to be made in the coming weeks. It's hard to tell which side fans are going to fall on, but they've gotten used to Miner's consistency coming out of the bullpen, and Nate had a bad season last year, but is still a fan favorite, and could be useful in the bullpen as another left-handed option along with Bobby Seay who the staff became a little too reliant on last season that he wore his arm out.
2. Will this year be characterized by incessant shifts in positioning on the field?
Fans across Detroit are screaming "Please God NO" to this question, since many believe that the obsession of constantly switching up players positions-especially Carlos Guillen-led to the inconsistency of the offense. 2009 should hopefully bring stability with some of the off-season transactions. Barring any problems during Spring Training, opening day should yield a diamond looking something like this--C Gerald Laird (acquired from the Rangers), 1B Miguel Cabrera, 2B Placido Polanco, SS Adam Everett (stolen from the Twins), 3B Brandon Inge (returning to where he belongs with the acquisition of Laird), LF Carlos Guillen (the biggest shift but hopefully where he'll stay), CF Curtis Granderson, and RF Magglio Ordonez.
3. What about Sheff?
Well, amazingly 2009 opens with Gary Sheffield as still part of the Tigers roster despite the rumors flying since last July that Sheff was unhappy with his responsibilities of being solely the DH, but that seems to be where he's staying..for now. If the start of the season brings with it the lack of production characteristic of Sheff in the dog days of summer (and spring and fall) from last year, fans will be calling for the enstatement of Marcus Thames as the permanent DH, maybe taking up LF with Guillen as the DH on off-days.
4. Who's closing?
This will probably be the most talked about competition in the Tigers camps for the next month and a half. With the much celebrated retirement of Todd Jones, the Tigers find themselves without a closer, a job that was consistently rotated throughout August and September last year. So what's going to happen and who's up for the job? There are 3 bullpen guys vying for the most controversial job on the roster. 1. Fernando Rodney--originally named the Tigers everyday starter after the All-Star break last year whose pitching was unbelievably inconsistent, leading him to be boo-ed more times than one can count in Comerica Park. Again health will be the biggest question here as well. 2. Joel Zumaya--Zoom hasn't seemed to be the same guy since 2 non-baseball related shoulder injuries over the past 2 years--Tigers' fans have grown to fear Guitar Hero and moving boxes leaping out and attacking the triple-digit fast ball hurler. He may be the most likely candidate if he can find a groove and keep from destroying his baseball career with rambunctious video game playing. 3. Brandon Lyon--picked up by the Tigs in the offseason after Rodney's collapse down the stretch last year. He's labeled right now as the favorite by the staff since that's what he was brought in for, but if Zumaya steps up there could be a heady race ahead.

Needless to say the stories coming out of Lakeland over the next few weeks should be interesting, and hopefully this few days with only the pitchers and catchers will give the staff a good start at working out last years kinks. We're down to 17 minutes and counting, but only time will tell if the Tigers are doomed to return to the baseball joke bin, or restore their 2006 cloat with stability and consistency.