OriginalUsername

As someone who has watched Porcello and the Tigers a lot, I would say I would not pay him that much. It seems to almost be a running theme with Porcello. After another season of being a mediocre back of the rotation starter, fans would say he's still only 23, or 24, or 25. I would say at age 26 it is time to prove yourself. Porcello seemed really interested in playing in Boston. It may have been better to let this season play out, make a qualifying offer, and re-sign him. I doubt he would have left. Porcello tends to get gassed after 100 pitches and fades quickly in games. Farrell will have to understand he is not a 120 pitch per game pitcher. He also doesn't have a great variation between his fastball and off speed pitches. The Tigers have generally had poor defensive teams but Doug Fister pitched well in front of that defense being a pitch to contact, ground ball pitcher. It seems like Porcello also has the tendency to unravel quickly. If it's in the 5th or 6th inning and he's given up a couple hits in a row, have to get him quick.

Tigers have seen Peavy a lot and have been fairly successful against him. I wouldn't make that an automatic win. Tigers also have had good success against Lester.

You should've listened after the game three loss to Oakland. Everyone needed to be fired and the team had no heart.

Where have I said the Red Sox couldn't beat the Tigers? In fact, I have predicted the Red Sox to win the series because the Tigers issues are more with an offense that has gone cold. Martinez is better at catching than you are giving him credit for. He looked good in the few games he did play defensively.

Martinez is a better defender at 1B than Fielder. You would still play Cabrera at 3B but at least 1B would be improved. Martinez is an option defensively. He has caught this year and did fairly well catching. The entire left side of the field would be improved simply by catching Martinez.

LOL you can't sit Martinez who has been the Tigers hottest hitter the second half and into the playoffs. If anything, Martinez should play 1B and Fielder should DH.

I have a sneaking suspicion he may start at SS. I think the Tigers may have soured on Iglesias's hitting a bit. Peralta just lacks the range at SS. He makes up for it by his excellent positioning and good hands. He's not a total liability at SS but he's also no Iglesias.

The weakness in throwing out runners is really on the pitchers. Scherzer and Sanchez are not good at holding runners on. Verlander and Fister are ok. It's not like Avila is throwing them out so Martinez can't be much worse. I would sacrifice the defense at catcher to improve 3B and LF. There is no way the Tigers can sit Peralta so he has to be worked into the field somewhere.

Martinez being able to catch. It is indeed a forgone conclusion he will catch in a potential World Series. The Tigers total defensive numbers are skewed negatively by the bad corner infielders. The Tigers did upgrade their defense by bringing in Iglesias. The stolen base issues are really on the pitchers. Anibal Sanchez is about the worst I have ever seen at holding on runners. I'm really surprised though no one mentioned the real issues with the Tigers such as having terrible team speed and Jackson's penchant for striking out now.

I don't know if the Red Sox are equipped to handle the Tigers. I'm not really a Red Sox fan. There does seem to be a lot of misinformation about the Tigers and the exaggerations about their defense.

It was really one game where the Red Sox ran up the score on relievers who aren't going to be on the playoff roster. The Tigers have a history with Peavy and it's not to good for Peavy. Oakland crushed the Tigers in a four game series late in the season at Detroit. Would've swept the series had the Tigers not rallied from 3 down against Balfour. That really didn't matter for the playoffs.

Well Tigers are 4-3 against Boston and 17-15 against the East vs. the Red Sox 19-15 against the Central. The Guardians had 92 wins and the Royals had 86 wins so the division wasn't as bad as people had thought going in. The Tigers defense is being overblown here, plus the Tigers set the major league record in strikeouts so that will help a suspect defense.

Jackson actually had a down year defensively. Dirks has been the Tigers best OF defensively. It seems like everyone likes to use UZR, and Infante had a 2.0 UZR and was not below average. Hunter has been some what disappointing but still rates closer to average. For all the talk about Peralta at SS, he had a 3.5 UZR this year and 11.5 last year.

Ok I'll rephrase. If Martinez is healthy it is a forgone conclusion he will catch in the World Series.

Nobody on the bench is going to start and/or play ahead of Torii Hunter in this series unless he is injured. The assorted part just seemed odd.

Yes it is. They wouldn't have caught Victor Martinez in the final series of the season after having clinched the division if they had no intention of catching him in the World Series.

What is assorted about RF? It's Torii Hunter.

It's a forgone conclusion Martinez will catch if the Tigers make the World Series. The issue with stolen bases isn't the catchers. The Tigers pitchers are not good at holding runners, especially Sanchez.

Actually, Martinez has caught 3 games this year in inter league play, the most recent coming in the final series of the season against Miami. He can catch.

The Tigers relievers pitched the fewest innings in baseball. Their starters work deep into games which can mask a suspect bullpen. Benoit has been really good all year. Smyly has been dominate most of the year except for a recent shaky stretch. On about 90% of teams in baseball, Smyly would be in the rotation. He was the Tigers 5th starter last year as a rookie, but the addition of Sanchez forced him to the bullpen. The Tigers also have Porcello working out of the bullpen. Coke has been ineffective and wasn't even on the post season roster this last series. Rondon was starting to have a good season before he went down with injury. Jose Veras was acquired in a traded but has been a little shaky recently.

The Tigers defense isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Most of the Tigers pitchers are flyball/strikeout pitchers. The real issues with the Tigers defense is at the corner infield spots with Fielder and Cabrera. If the Tigers wanted to, they can juggle their lineup and get a good fielding team and not sacrifice offense. They can catch Martinez, shift Peralta to third, play Dirks in LF, and DH Cabrera. Peralta at SS is not that bad. He obviously lacks the range of Ilgesias, but he has good hands and positions himself well. He's really underrated as a defender at SS.

Brett Gardner can take over CF and there will be plenty of corner OF available that could replace Swisher.

So what was the excuse in 2011 and 2006?

I would've declined the option on Granderson, made him a qualifying offer, and let him walk and collect the draft pick.

Hmmm, in the last two consecutive postseasons they were eliminated by the Tigers. Maybe they just ran into good pitching? Either way I'm glad the Yankees chose to melt versus the Tigers.