Jim Leyland today announced that Justin Verlander will be the club's opening day starter on April 6th in Toronto, and I'm sure that surprised very few.  There is no doubt that Verlander is now considered the ace of the Tigers staff, notwithstanding last year's stats.

For Verlander and the Tigers, 2009 is a big season.  Justin is determined to return to his 2006-2007 form when he was throwing no-hitters and overpowering line-ups to the tune of 35 victories in those two season combined.  With uncertainty surrounding much of the rotation this year, Verlander is one of the few in the starting five that Leyland has no worries about. 

So what went wrong for Verlander last season?  His walks were up and his strikeouts and velocity were down.  Justin admitted that because of a different off-sason program prior to last year, he was at about 85% of where he needed to be on opening day.  Many have said that a guy with his ability to overpower hitters tried to work the corners too much and the result was more walks, higher pitch counts and not enough starts in which he went into the 7th, 8th and 9th innings.

After a slow start this spring it appears that Verlander is now gearing up for that opening day match-up against Roy Halladay.  Justin domintated the Atlanta Braves today in Lake Buena Vista.  He used all three of his pitches and more importantly threw them all for strikes.  He also got a lot of outs early in the count today and that is important to note when you consider that one way to make sure you stay in the game longer is to minimize your pitch count.  And, if that means striking out fewer hitters, than so be it.  Expect Verlander to challenge hitters more this season and utilize an improved defense.

Verlander fired seven innings of shutout ball today and in his last three spring starts his numbers are sparkling:  18ip 5h 1r 1er 6bb 9k

Verlander-Halladay promises to be a great one on opening day.  Just don't blink.

With Team USA and Team Venezuela officially eliminated from the WBC, the Tigers will very shortly have all of their players back in spring camp.  The question is, what kind of shape will they be in when they return?  While the virtues of the WBC can be debated until we are all blue in the face, the fact remains that Jim Leyland must now find a way to assimilate his WBCers back into camp.

Leyland will not publically say how worried he was about the threat of injury to any of his horses, but it was evident that it was a major concern.  Now that Armando Galarraga, Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson and Carlos Guillen escaped the injury bug, the skipper can breathe a little easier.  While everyone is healthy, there are some concerns in terms of how much work his players received the last two weks.

For example, Curtis Granderson had just 17 at bats in the tournament.  While he was away, the Tigers played 14 games, which would have given Leyland plenty of opportunity to to get him more than the paltry 17 at bats he received.  By comparison, other starters such as Placido Polanco (47 at bats), Adam Everett (40 at bats) Brandon Inge (38 at bats) and Gary Sheffield (37 at bats) have all received plenty of work.

Guillen, Ordonez, and Cabrera did each receive around 30 at bats each, so it is not as much of an issue with them.  However, a big part of spring training is the mundane drill work that focuses on fundementals.  Pickoff plays, rundowns, pitcher's fielding practice and running the bases are all an important part of getting a team ready for the season.  WBC participants have missed out on those drills the last two weeks.  The good news is, there is still a good two weeks of camp remaining.  That should be enough time to get everyone caught up, including Galarraga who pitched only seven innings in the WBC.  By comparison, other Tigers starters have gotten a lot more work, including Edwin Jackson (17 innings), Justin Verlander (20 innings) and Nate Robertson (14 innings).

The WBC is a great tournament and a terrific vehicle to enhance the poularity of the game.  While I am a fan of the Classic, it is hard  to ignore the impact it has on every club's ability to get ready for the season.

Encouraging news from Lakeland today as Nate Robertson makes his fifth appearance and third start of the spring season today.  Nate was hoping to piggyback this outing with three scoreless innings of work his last time out against Toronto.  Good news, Robertson was very good and it was an encouraging sign to see two straight good outings.  Four innings of 2-hit ball with five strikeouts was great to see, but it was the stuff that Robertson featured that was even more encouraging.  Nate's slider had more bite and his fastball was in the upper 80's.

Based on Dontrelle Willis' struggles last night, Robertson appears to be seperating himself from the other contenders for the fifth spot in the rotation.  It will be interesting to see how Rick Porcello pitches against the Yankees in Tampa tomorrow.  With Bonderman's strong showing last night, and the way Porcello has been throwing, Jim Leyland has to be feeling a litle better about his rotation.  And, some tough decisions may have to be made in the coming weeks.

Here is the latest from the skipper's office...Rick Porcello is set to make his next start on Saturday at Tampa against the Yankees....Leyland feels that if he is a legitimate candidate to make the team, then the bigger stage of Tampa playing the Yankees will be a good test.  That is subject to change however depending on how Porcello feels.  He was hit on the finger during PFP and it is coming along slowly.  If the finger has healed, he will go on Saturday.

The Astros are in Lakeland today and there is plenty of talk surrounding the pending signing of Pudge Rodriquez by Houston.  Jim Leyland described his relationship with Pudge like this:  "I had only two run ins with him in three years, that's pretty good for a superstar player."  Leyland said that Pudge played hard and he played hurt and that there was a mutual respect between the two.

Marcus Thames is getting better.  He took batting practice today and may be ready to play this weekend.

Today was a big day in Tigers camp.  Jeremy Bonderman and Joel Zumaya were scheduled to throw in an intrasquad game on the minor league fields at Tigertown.  As it turned out, it was a mixed bag of news.  Bonderman threw 30 pitches this morning and responded extrmemley well.  Jeremy reported no pain and threw free and easy in his session.  He was throwing 88-91 which was great for basically his first spring outing.  Jim Leyland was very pleased.  "I was tickled to death today, but tomorrow is the test," the skipper said.

Tthe real test will be how Bonderman feels tomorrow morning.  There were no phisical limitations on him today and if everything goes according to plan, he will pitch in our televised game on Thursday from Disney against the Braves.  The hope is that Jeremy will throw between 30-35 pitches.

The other half of the pitching plan this morning was shut down.   Joel Zumaya was also scheduled to throw today, but could not go because of a cramp/spasm in his neck and shoulder area.  Jim Leyland could not provided a timetable for his return.   Meanwhile Ryan Perry continues to stick in big league camp in part because of Zumaya's uncertainty.