Wow, good news travels fast. As I was trying to watch SuperBad last night, my cell phone begins to go crazy.  My one friend is practically yelling into the phone and all I can make out is him screaming, "Are you ready to get Miggy with it?" 

Absolutley confused at this point, I switch over and talk to my brother who actually could tell me details of the trade between the Tigers and Marlins.  So the Tigers get Dontrelle Willis AND Miguel Cabrera for 6 minor leaguers.  Giving up studs Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin does hurt a little for Tigers fans, but not giving up 1 major league starter in this trade?  Dave Dombrowski works his magic again.

Let's look at the Tigers projected lineup:

1. Curtis Granderson- He's still getting better

2. Placido Polanco- Whatever you need him to do, he does it

3. Miguel Cabrera- Might be an MVP candidate now that he plays with a winning team and plays in a winning atmosphere

4. Magglio Ordonez- A-Rod put up crazy numbers to win the MVP last year, Mags wasn't too shabby though

5. Gary Sheffield- Injuries kept him down last year, he wants retribution

6. Carlos Guillen- When you have him batting sixth, yikes

7. Edgar Renteria- Oh yeah, another pickup for Dombrowki

8. Ivan Rodriguez- Pudge is slipping a bit, but doesn't need to be the offensive force he once was, not with this lineup

9. Jacque Jones or Marcus Thames- You're not exactly pitching around these guys either

Who wants to take an estimate on opposing pitchers ERA's against the Tigers lineup? 

With that lineup, the pitching doesn't need to be lights out.  Justin Verlander is an ace.  He's just filthy.  Nate Robertson shows signs somedays, and then flops on other days.  Jeremy Bonderman needs to stay healthy.  Dontrelle Willis just needs to pitch like he always has.  Kenny Rogers also needs to stay healthy and provide the leadership he has.  Looking at that starting 5, there are 3 lefties, which can only be an advantage.  The guys in the bullpen took a beating last year, primarily because many of them had to change roles due to all the injuries.  If Joel Zumaya is able to pitch at all this year, that's just icing on the cake.

The Tigers had an amazing run in 2006.  2007 saw injuries and the red hot Indians.  2008 looks to be a fun year in Motown. 

So Santa, about those season tickets.................................PLEASE!>

Rumors have it ( and we all love rumors) that one of the potential landing spots for Alex Rodriguez could be in Detroit.  As a Tigers fan, I have mixed feelings about this.

Pros:

Ticket sales would be thru the roof.  The Tigers didn't have many empty seats last year and with the addition of A-Rod, tickets would be hard to come by in 2008 and beyond.

Getting one of the best players ever definitely has it's perks.  The numbers alone for A-Rod are unreal.  Pile those numbers with the numbers of Magglio Ordonez, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Guillen, Edgar Renteria ( welcome, Edgar) Placido Polanco and Curtis Granderson.  It could be record setting.

The Tigers and Scott Boras know each other.  Magglio Ordonez and Ivan Rodriguez were two huge signings when it wasn't encouraging to be a Detroit Tiger.  Boras knows how to deal with the Tigers and Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski knows what he's getting with yet another Boras client.

Cons:

Okay, I tried hard to come up with more positives than negatives, but I couldn't. 

As good as A-Rod is, his next team will be his fourth team.  It says something about the best player in the game when his past teams did not decline after he left.  It's highly debatable if he makes his teammates better.  Like I said, if he's THAT great, why didn't anyone beg to keep him?

The Tigers have a good nucleus right now.  They're going to be fighting for the American League pennant whether A-Rod wears the olde English D or not.  Jim Leyland has done an incredible job turning the Tigers attitude into a winning one.  Who knows what happens when you add A-Rod to this team.  It could go either way.

Where would A-Rod play?  Obviously if you sign him, he's going to demote somebody.  Will it be Edgar Renteria who the Tigers just acquired Monday?  Will it be Brandon Inge, who is nowhere near A-Rod offensively but is better defensively?  Will A-Rod DH sometimes?  Then what do you do about Gary Sheffield?

My gut says, A-Rod will not be a Tiger next year.  There are some things working in the Tigers favor, but I doubt anyone can say with 100% conviction the Tigers would be a better team in 2008 if they add Alex Rodriguez. 

I tried to convince myself they would be better, but I couldn't.

What do you think?

" Honey, why don't they smile more?"  A question asked to me constantly by my now 91 year old grandmother about 10 years ago.  You see, my grandma is a Tigers fan.  A serious Tigers fan.  If she knew how to work the Internet,  ( I now quote grandma " You don't need that computer, just buy a newspaper"....lol) she said she would be looking up everything Detroit Tigers related all day long.  I believe her.

Back to grandma's question though.  You see, in the late 90's and early this decade the Tigers were horrible.  Lousy.  Pathetic. They set an American League record with 119 losses in 2003.  But as grandma would always say " They get to play baseball and get paid quite nicely, why don't they smile more?"  She knows they are under pressure to win.  She knows losing isn't fun.  But, they do get to play baseball for a living.

My allegiance to the Tigers is like many other fans reasons.  One of the main reasons we support OUR teams is geography.  I was born and raised halfway between Chicago and Detroit.  If you travel to Lake Michigan in the summer , it's like you're at Wrigley Field.  South Haven, Michigan is a pretty quick boatride from Chi-town and a great town to spend a weekend in.  Many "uppities" from Chicago spend a great amount of time and money each summer in South Haven while supporting all kinds of Cubs memoribilia.  I like the Cubs, but I love the Tigers.

Restore the roar.  Who's your Tiger?  Two catchphrases now popular with Tigers fans. 

Restore the roar.  What a great slogan.  The Tigers and their fans went thru some pretty rough times from the mid-90's to 2005.  It was hard to watch the team sometimes.  You questioned how the owner of the Detroit Red Wings, Mike Illitch, could own a dominating sports franchise with the Wings and then also own an afterthought of a franchise in the Tigers.  How could he have so much success with one team and not with the other?  To make a long story short, a lot of it had to do with poor upper management, scouting and player attitudes.  That's all in the past now.

2006.  Arguably one of the most memorable seasons in Tigers history.  Although they did not win the World Series, the Tigers and their fans made the rest of Major League Baseball be known that the roar has been restored. 

Here are just some of the great Tiger moments from 2006 and 2007.

2006- Jim Leyland ripping his team in April after he saw some guys mailing it in.  This was the start of the ride.  You had the PHENOM Joel Zumaya throwing 100 mph heat and scaring the pants off of guys.  You had Kenny Rogers proving the doubters wrong.  You had Jim Leyland and G.M. Dave Dombrowski working their magic like they did with  the Florida Marlins.  AND THEN.....you had the Tigers beating the Yankees in the A.L.D.S.  You had Magglio Ordonez winning the A.L.C.S with a walkoff homer in Game 4 against Oakland, what a moment.

2007- The hype of the Tigers.  People want to be Tigers fans again.  It's great to see Tigers billboards, hats, shirts, and anything you can imagine people sporting with Tigers on it.  The Tigers had three starters in the All-Star game. Justin Verlander tossed a no-hitter in June.  Gary Sheffield was a huge addition last season.  We've seen glimpses of phenoms Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin. 

Who's your Tiger? A great marketing campaign by the team.  They ask who your favorite Tiger is.  Is it Brandon Inge or Jeremy Bonderman, two guys who suffered in their young carrers and now see what being a team is all about?  Is it Carlos Guillen or Placido Polanco?  Two of the best at their positions who will run thru a wall for you?  Is it the new addition Sheffield? Is it the A.L M.V.P. candidate Magglio Ordonez?  Or my pick, is it Curtis Granderson?  A guy who came up thru the Tigers farm system and may be the next big thing in M.L.B.  Granderson struggled so much with strikeouts last year and has improved dramatically this year.  I'm telling you, he's going to be a stud for years to come.

So, do I have to convince you to become a Tigers fan? Admit it, you thought it was awesome when we beat the Yankees last year and we threw a Detroit party, ( because as someone once said, A DETROIT PARTY NEVER STOPS!).   You better know who said that.  Admit it, you love the history that is the Detroit Tigers.

You love:

Tiger Stadium

The fact the Tigers logo is the old English D.

The players: Ty Cobb, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Al Kaline, Jack Morris, Hank Greenberg, Kirk Gibson and countless others.

The fact the Tigers will pack Comerica Park for years with fans, as ESPN put it earlier this year "The team which may dominate M.L.B. before you know it". 

So, I really don't have to twist your arm to become a Tigers fan do I?  Our past speaks for itself and the future is bright.

So, who's YOUR Tiger?

Recently, ESPN has produced a "Who's Now" contest in the world of sports.  It's a bracket format having athletes go against each other in an elimination tournament.  It's a popularity contest using success both on and off the field to determine who is " Right Now".  I'm thinking Tiger Woods will win.

This contest made me wonder about baseball's best rivalries right now.  Sure the Red-Sox-Yankees, Giants-Dodgers, Cubs-Cardinals will always have tradition and history when they play.  None of these rivalries is exactly riveting right now though.

Who's Now?  And could be for a long time?  Look to the the Midwest for the answer. There are two young teams who could build quite the animosity, bitterness and become baseball's next big rivalry if they haven't done so already.

So who are those two teams?  It's " The Mistake by the Lake" versus " Motown".  Maybe you prefer Indians versus Tigers.   The two top teams in the AL Central begin a three-game set in Detroit tonight with the Indians holding a two game lead over Detroit for first place in the division.

The Indians and Tigers both have talent everywhere you look on their rosters.  Both teams also have positioned themselves with a mix of veterans and young players to make a run at a championship now and 5 years down the road. 

Geography is also key to this budding rivalry.  You've probably all heard of the other rivalry between these 2 states.  Something they like to call Michigan-Ohio State.  The Tigers and Indians would probably never come close to the rivalry, but a few championships and playoff series between the Tigers and Indians would make the disdain, dislike and dissing between these two states just more intense.  Home games between these teams draw numerous visitng fans just to add even more to the atmosphere.

Who's Now?  The standings say Indians and Tigers.

Hopefully you already realized this, but it's never too late to appreciate greatness.

I could be getting a little ahead of myself, but the Detroit Tigers are good.  No, I mean real good.  Even better than last year.  Some buddies and I are taking the 3 hour trip east on I-94  this weekend to catch a couple games.  Hopefully we don't bring the Tigers bad luck.

The Tigers just finished an 8-1 "road"  trip.  ( I put road in quotation marks because you could see, and definitely hear a huge amount of Tigers fans in the cities of Philadelphia, Washington and Atlanta. Not exactly in our neck of the woods either. ) Our starting  rotation is just plain nasty.  You've got the young studs Verlander and Bonderman.  And phenom Andrew Miller is fitting in quite nicely.  Rounding out the rotation are Kenny Rogers and when he gets back from the DL, Nate Robertson.  The starting pitching is so deep the Tigers traded lefty Mike Maroth to St.  Louis because they had too many starters.  Nice problem to have, huh?

The area of concern is the bullpen right now.  As much as everyone loves to rip Todd Jones, he still gets the job done the majority of the time.  Joel Zumaya is probably out for the year, but if he comes back for the stretch run, the Tigers would be set up quite nicely.  Chad Durbin can fill in for injured starters or give you quality innings from the bullpen.  Jason Grilli, Bobby Seay, Fernando "I really need to start putting my hat on straight" Rodney, are some of the key set-up men to get to Jones.  The bullpen has been weaker then last year, but last year they remained quite healthy.  Maybe all the injuries will payoff when the Tigers can know any of those pitchers can take the mound knowing they now have the experience and confidence to come in to the game and shut down the opposition.  Even if they give up a lead, guess who is there to back them up........

The offense.  Magglio Ordonez is batting .381 with 68 rbi's.  Curtis Granderson has MUCH better patience at the plate and has 13 triples already.  Placido Polanco will bunt or get a key base hit.  Brandon Inge broke his toe and is now playing BETTER.  Gary Sheffield is still, well, Gary Sheffield.   And then to fill out the lineup, you have Carlos Guillen, Ivan Rodriguez, Craig Monroe and Sean Casey.  Two words:  Run support.

These 2 tidbits I caught watching ESPN's coverage of the Tigers and Braves last night. Washington Nationals 3B Ryan Zimmerman was asked the other day if the Tigers were the best team the Nationals have played this year.  Zimmerman's response was "  It's not even close."  Atlanta GM John Schuerholz was asked the same question and said he agreed with Zimmerman.

Granted, it's late June.  The Indians and Tigers are going to battle for the divsion title all the way until the regular season ends.  The loser probably still gets in via the wild-card. Injuries are always a possiblity.  The Tigers are not going to stay this hot.

But come playoff time, if you had to choose, it has to be the Tigers!

Are you 100% confident in an NL team?  Will the Indians finally live up to their potential?  Will the Angels/Red Sox/Yankees pitching and offense match up with the Tigers in the postseason? 

I believe come October, the Tigers will prove they have some unfinished business to attend to. 

The roar has been restored and it's getting louder.  And the scary thing for other teams?  It's getting better.