Crown the champion already

One game from crowing a Major League Baseball champion and I’m already looking forward to next season, partly because it means my deployment will be over and partly because I feel good about the 2012 Detroit Tigers being back in the thick of things.

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Dombrowski and Leyland don’t have a lot of offseason work to do this year, unlike previous seasons.  They’ve cleared out most of the bad contracts and have the bulk of their quality everyday players coming back.  A couple of positions are question marks including second base where a literal platoon of players held the spot.  The tough part is that the free agent market for second basemen doesn’t seem to offer any players you could consider and upgrade from the guys we have.

The other positions seem set with some better than average bats that all have a little pop.  I’d expect to see another stellar year for Cabrera and look for Avila to continue his role as key contributor in the box and behind the plate.  Right field may be another opportunity for one of the farm kids but the Tigers have a great bench of utility guys to use in the event the right free agent or trade isn’t there.

Depending on how the back end of their starting rotation looks in March, they may even be looking for a little help there as well.  The bull pen on the other hand looks pretty solid though it’s probably time to call it quits with the Zumaya experiment, disappointing as it is for everyone.  Adding to the optimism in the pen are the anchors, particularly news that the team just exercised Jose Valverde's 2012 option.  It’s rare a guy can end a season with more than 40 saves and even rarer to put up a zero under the blown saves statistic.  Strange as Valverde may seem on the mound he is one of the more steady closers in the game.

Much to be excited about but what might look good on paper can quickly fade away with a key injury or two, or more off-field shenanigans.  The Tigers had a let-down after their 2006 World Series appearance but honestly, their 2011 team was much better, which bodes well for a great 2012 and quite possibly another run at the big game in October.