The 98 Tigers will hit some and pitch some and that might be enough in this league.
Offense: 4 players have ore than 20 homers, Tony Clark (34), Bobby Higginson (25), Damon Easley (27) and Luis Gonzalez (23), but no one else is in double figures. Of the original 25 man roster, only one hitter is under .250 and that is the back up catcher. There is some speed at the top of the order with Bryan Hunter but otherwise this would be the typical "wait for the three run homer" Tigers.
Pitching: Justin Thompson (11-15, 4.05) and Brian
Moehler (14-13, 3.90) are steady at the top of the rotation, but the rest of the rotation is made up cheese cloth and tidy wipes. The closer is Todd Jones (1-4, 4.97, 28 saves) in his first go around with the Tigers. This is a typical Jones, lots of saves and an era of nearly 5. Doug Brocail (5-2, 2.73) will be the number one set up man and who knows, maybe the closer by the end of the season.
Intangibles: Comerica Park is being built and Tiger Stadium has one season left. The ball park is falling down and the team is complementing it. The nostalgia one feels for the corner of Michigan and Trumbull is not for the the crumbling edifice with its poor lines of sight, posts, lousy sanitary facilities and poor concession layout. Its for the days of summer, 
watching the likes of Kaline, Lolich, Cash, Horton, Freehan and even McLain. This isn't those days and this isn't that team. Robert Fick becomes a legend next season hitting the last homer in Tiger Stadium (and wearing Cash's #25 while doing it) but he is the only one remembered from this squad. It will be 8 years before the Tigers post a winning season and go on to the World Series. Fick, Higginson and Clark might have been able to play for the 2006 Tigers but no one else -- not even this version of Todd Jones.
--submitted by Tom “Crash” Davis--
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