2008 Detroit Tigers Predictions & Season Preview

With the Tigers picking up Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis and Edgar Renteria in the offseason, they are the clear-cut favorite to win the AL Central Division once again. The Tigers are happy about having Jim Leyland to guide this team in the right direction, but Tigers' fans are even more excited about the weapons that have been given to him. Leyland says they look great on paper, but these guys will still have to play and set their egos aside if this team is to live up to expectations.

Starting Rotation:

The Tigers have the best young staff in the business, basically the same staff that led them to the World Series a few years back. But there are serious questions about these young guns and veteran Kenny Rogers. Can Rogers stay healthy at 43 considering he couldn't last season at 42. Jeremy Bonderman missed the last 3 weeks of the 2007 season with a sore elbow. How will that injury pan out this year when he still tries to throw his 100 MPH fastball. Is Dontrelle Willis the 22-game winner he was in 2007, or will his 5.17 ERA from 2007 get even worse now that he has moved into the American League? Can Nate Robertson, now 13 games under .500 in his career, suddenly turn into a consistent winner? The one guy there isn't any questions about is Justin Verlander, that is unless you are guessing what kind of big money he is going to make later in his career. Verlander won 17 games as a rookie and 18 in his sophomore season, including a no-hitter, so 20 games won this season is not far out of reach. The Tigers had to use 12 starters in 2007, so it will be key for these other four starters to stay healthy if anything else. They definitely have enough talent in store if they do go without injuries.

Bullpen:

It would be great for Leyland and the Tigers if their offense could just score enough runs to win every game in a blowout so that they didn't have to worry about their shaky bullpen. Closer Todd Jones has been steady, but getting games turned over to him has been a disaster. Their most reliable guy in Joel Zumaya is sidelined at least until midyear. Fernando Rodney will likely be the setup man. Rodney was good in 2006, but not so much in 2007 while battling injury. Zach Miner and Jason Grilli are other options from the right side, while Tim Byrdak and Bobby Seay will come in as lefties. Jones got his 300th save in 2007, but he will turn 40 early in 2008 so his career is definitely winding down. The bullpen is clearly the weakness of the Tigers heading into the 2008 season.

Line-Up:

You won't find many weaknesses in this line-up. Curtis Granderson is one of the best leadoff men in all of baseball. Granderson posted a 20-20-20-20 season with a .302 batting average as well last season. That is 20 steals, homers, triples and doubles. He is just an extra-base machine with his wheels. 2B Placido Polanco is the first second basemen to go an entire season without committing a single error. He is a great leader on this team and can get it done in the batter's box with timely clutch hitting. The next part of the line-up from the 3rd through 8th hitters is the most dangerous in baseball. Miguel Cabreara has averaged 31.5 homers, 115.3 RBIs in four full seasons in Florida. Gary Sheffield is a hard swinger that needs just 20 homers to reach 500 for his career. Magglio Ordonez is fresh off his season as the batting champion last season. Carlos Guillen put up big numbers at shortstop and will move to first base this season to make room for Edgar Renteria. SS Edgar Renteria is a career .307 hitter with runners on and he will have plenty of runners on in front of him with this explosive line-up in 2008. When Ivan Rodriquez is batting in the 8th spot, you know it's a dangerous batting order. Rodriquez is a 14-time All-Star and a 13-time Gold Glover. Jacque Jones rejuvenated his career in Chicago last season and comes over to Detroit to add even more pop into this line-up. Jones will play LF and bat 9th after he hit .346 with 37 RBIs in August and September last season for the Cubbies. The Tigers even have a deep bench with some power hitters and contact hitters ready to step in. Marcus Thames has hit 44 homers over the last 2 seasons in limited time. Ryan Raburn was a gem through the farm system as 7 of his 27 RBIs last year came in one game. He can fill in at almost any position.

Tigers 2008 Predictions:

Just as the odds indicate below, the Tigers are the favorite to win the AL Central and they should be. Detroit is our choice to take the AL Central Crown back from Cleveland in 2008. Obviously there are questions in the starting rotation and the bullpen. There are also questions about injury to some of these players that are just passing their prime. But the Tigers will gladly take this chance with the line-up they intend on putting on the field every day. If you ask nearly any other organization in the league if they would swap every player with Detroit, most teams other than the Red Sox and Yankees would do it at the drop of a hat. This team is stacked on paper and we expect it to pan out for the Tigers as they take home the AL Central this season.

Larry Cook finished with the #5 World Ranking with his baseball picks in 2007 last year. Hard work with research, analysis and starting pitcher breakdowns gives Larry the edge over your sportsbook and bookies. You won't believe the kind of profits you can make by signing up for any of Larry's long-term packages. By doing so, you will get in on all of his winning MLB action this season. Larry will guide you to profits you have never seen before once he makes his move up to the #1 spot in 2008.

2008 Detroit Tigers Odds:
Odds to win AL Central: 5/6
Odds to win 2008 AL Pennant: 3/1
Odds to win 2008 World Series: 5/1

American League Central