What About This Series Coming up?

[DetroitWhat]

DetroitWhat, what were the overall expectations of the Tigers from the Tiger fan base, generally?  And, how did Tiger fans view the Maggs signing?

 

I like Bonderman, but a lot of us Sox fans never really bought the Tigers being contenders.  And, while 16 games or so certainly isn't enough to make a real good judgement from, I can't see the Tigers competing throughout the year just because of a lack of pitching.  Bonderman seems like he might turn into a real good pitcher in the next few years, but other than him, I don't see anyone that stands out.

 

And, as far as the Maggs signing -- the Tigers only out was if Maggs hurt his knee.  So, he could injure himself anywhere else, and the contract would still be in play.  On top of all that, even when Maggs was healthy, I never really saw him as a 5/$75 type of guy.

 

I hope I don't come off as a guy who's just piling on, because you could certainly do the same to me (us) in a basketball or hockey conversation (for that matter, baseball too -- who am I kidding, were the ones who haven't won a title in 80+ years) -- but, do you have any thoughts?

 

The overall expectations were around .500 probably. There were plenty of fans that thought this team could contend, based on the fact that they weren't considering health and age issues. On paper this Tigers team is good...Urbina, Percival, and Farnsworth all have pretty good track records (well...I don't know about Farns), and we were expecting the bullpen to be pretty solid. That hasn't worked out so far. Everyone knew the lineup was going to be solid, as it has been, even without a healthy Maggs. Overall, there were too many question marks with this club and many of the Tigers fans saw it, thus realizing that somewhere around 81 wins was the best case scenario. Thus far the bullpen has struggled. Maggs in unhealthy. We haven't been able to score runs late in games. While it is early I see a lot of these factors being recurring problems with this club.

 

I was skeptical about the Maggs signing and thought we overpaid. The only thing was that this offseason it seemed like every ballclub was overpaying. With that in mind I knew that if he produced like he was capable of this Tigers team may be able to contend, but in the back of my mind I felt like this thing was going to be a disaster. Well, look what happened. It has turned out for the worst.

 

Again, the Tigers have too many question marks coming off of last season. Guys like Robertson and Maroth performed well, and that just hasn't been the same last year. Urbina came to play last year, and that hasn't happened this season. It seems like this pitching staff has taken a step back this year, and I think it is mostly growing pains.

[Capn12]

Nice synapsis Detroit. You guys go smack around Minnesota the rest of the year and you'll have lots of fans on this board

 

I hate to see it, but that Maggs signing is just turning out to be a horrendous situation. Bonderman has some great stuff IMO, Maroth I know can bring it at times. Not sure the Tigers have the starting arms to get it all together this year though.

 

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