Warm Florida sun shines down through palm trees as you’re enjoying Detroit Tigers baseball. There’s something about seeing the boys with the Olde English D on their caps, eating some seeds, catching a sun tan and enjoying watching some major-league baseball players tune up in preparation for a long, enjoyable summer at Comerica Park.
There’s something about spring training baseball.
Two years ago, I blew off a week of my senior year in high school to go on my brother’s college Spring Break. Loving the game of baseball, we went to Lakeland, Fla. to watch our Tigers. Leaving at midnight during the middle of a snowstorm maybe wasn’t our best decision, but we did. After doing a 360 on Southbound US-23 — thanks, black ice — it dawned on us that we had forgotten the tickets we had bought online. About 20 minutes into our trip, we turned around.
Our fabulous mother met us halfway with the tickets in the middle of the night, even though she had to work the next day. That also meant she saw for herself how bad the roads were – but after some pleading and fast-talking, promising we’d get there and back in one piece, she let us go.
And after about 20 hours of driving, we escaped the Michigan winter and entered the world of palm trees, orange juice and sunshine. Staying in a cheap hotel, my brother Brad and I were ready for some Tiger baseball, and we weren’t the only ones. Thousands of fellow snowbirds came south to see them, too. It was like being in Michigan with all the Tigers following.
Brad and I finally made it to Joker Marchant Stadium, winter home of the Detroit Tigers.
We saw Miguel Cabrera’s first at-bat as a Detroit Tiger and Todd Jones throwing in what would be his last spring training. This kind of baseball was unlike any game I’d ever been to, including the Mud Hens. Pitchers would get done throwing and run around the warning track — in the middle of the game!
We even helped Jacque Jones warm up in left field before an inning, throwing back and forth over the fence. Before the game, we found ourselves running into Tigers General Manager Dave Dombroski. After games, we ran into Curtis Granderson. During games, we could play catch just beyond the outfield in the grass.
Although most of the trip we had to be frugal, dining from fast-food menus, when we splurged we did it right. Unable to find a Buffalo Wild Wings in a 30-mile radius, we stumbled into Hooters across the street. When we sat down for some wings, Tigers closer Fernando Rodney noticed our apparel and said hi.
After taking pictures and telling him he has to be healthy for Opening Day, Rodney began to make fun of two drunks about to fight. Who would have thought? Rodney sipping on wine at Hooters and cutting it up with us about some drunks.
After watching the Tigers play two meaningless games (though memorable for us), we went on to visit family (and free beds) for the rest of the week-long trip.
We got an autographed baseball, but that was worn out from playing catch before we even got back to Michigan. We didn’t care about a signature on a baseball, but getting time to meet some of our Tigers and enjoying a couple days of Michigan-like summer in the middle of a Florida winter was priceless.
Today, I look back clothed in jealousy of that trip. Now, strapped for cash and stressed with college and work, I’ll be lucky to even visit my brother, Brad, during Spring Break. He’s living in Virginia now.
For a few days, we had lived like kings playing catch with Tigers, eating and laughing with them. Right now, I’d settle for just playing catch with my brother and sharing some of our memories of our amazing trip.
So much has changed since that fateful one-game playoff with the Minnesota Twins last October. That was game No. 163, a winner-take-all with the playoffs at stake that ripped the hearts out of the Tigers and their fans.
There have been plenty of changes made to the Tigers since then. After falling just short last year, some new faces will look to improve during spring training as positional players report Feb. 22.
Since then, General Manger Dave Dombroski pulled an earth-shattering trade, giving up All-Stars Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson. It didn’t stop there as the Tigers decided relief pitchers Brandon Lyon, Fernado Rodney and second baseman Placido Polanco were too expensive to re-sign.
Not all was lost in the winter. As the Tigers were cutting back some expenses, they still picked up some contracts. Jose Valverde was signed from Houston, where he posted a 2.33 ERA and saved 25 games out of 29 opportunities. Pitchers Max Scherzer, Phil Coke and Daniel Schlereth (son of former NFL lineman Mark) were all brought to Detroit after the trade.
Scherzer will have a spot in the pitching rotation for years to come. The 26-year-old went 9-11 last year, starting 30 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Schlereth will give Valverde, Ryan Perry and Joel Zumaya (until the injury bug bites again) some help in the back-end of the bullpen.
The youngsters who may ultimately decide the Tiger’s year, and future, both haven’t even taking a major-league at bat yet. That’s worrisome, but Dombroski and manager Jim Leyland have had luck with young players in the past.
Rick Porcello almost won AL Rookie of the Year as a 20-year-old kid one year out of high school. Leyland had no problem making Granderson the lead-off hitter his rookie season. Granderson helped lead the Tigers to the AL Pennant.
Jackson, who the Tigers acquired from the New York Yankees after the Granderson deal, will have to get his feet wet going up against big-league pitchers. Scott Sizemore, who the Tigers are calling up from the Toledo Mud Hens, is in the same boat.
Both have mammoth shoes to fill in Detroit. Granderson was may be the most beloved Tiger this decade, playing center and hitting leadoff. Jackson will be asked to roam center and also hit leadoff. Sizemore will be coming into Comerica Park and take over Polanco’s position at second base.
With so many new faces, it will be a reason to keep tuned into what goes on in Lakeland, Fla. over the next month and a half. Big questions will follow the Tigers this camp.
Can Jackson uphold expectations of hitting lead-off? Who will round out the pitching rotation following Justin Verlander, Porcello and Scherzer? Can Zumaya, Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman actually stay healthy and productive? Who will set-up Valverde in the eighth inning? Which left-handed bat the Tigers so desperately need will step up?
Some questions will be answered in Lakeland, some won’t, but more questions will surface with the new faces.
