I’m not sure what the Detroit Tigers did to piss off the gods of debilitating injuries, but it’s too late to sacrifice a live chicken on the mound at this point. So Detroit needs MacGyver if it wants any chance of staying in the hunt until Brandon Inge, Magglio Ordonez and Carolos Guillen come back.
But let’s be honest. Starting a paper clip, some duct tape and a box of bubble gum in the infield (yes, that’s about how talented the Tigers infield is right now, even with the addition of Jhonny Peralta) won’t lead to a division championship, even in a division that teams desperately try not to win every year.
So at this point what are the Tigers supposed to do?
Well, nothing. They can’t do anything.
They have too many key injuries and not enough depth in the farm system to either A.) Replace the injured with competent ball players or B.) Trade for competent ball players to fill in for the injured.
By H. Jose Bosch
That falls on the shoulders of Dave Dombrowski, who clearly knows how to evaluate good talent, but hasn’t demonstrated he can build a strong farm system while he’s been in Detroit. Mike Illitch can also be blamed for creating an atmosphere of throwing money at players to win now. It sounds like a great idea at first, but the Tigers can never be the Yankees or Red Sox, not in the Detroit market. So developing homegrown talent has to be as much of a priority as signing big name players.
And let’s be honest, Miguel Cabrera is the only big time free agent the Tigers have signed since Dombrowski has been here and he benefitted from having him under contract through a trade. Mags and Pudge don’t count because when they were signed people thought they had seen their better days. Outside of them, who else have the Tigers signed that has wowed you?
That’s why it’s a shame that the Tigers have practically no farm system and such a high payroll for a team that, at their best, is just an overachiever. The 2006 season was amazing, but that wasn’t a great team. That was just a good team that benefitted from many of its parts having monster years.
This season we’re truly seeing the fruits of Dombrowski’s labor. This triple A ball club they’ve been forced to field isn’t a group of up-and-comers over their head. Many of these guys are in their late 20s and actual career minor leaguers who are in over their heads. This is what we’ve been building for?
This was the future we had to look forward to?
The Tigers are still barely relevant in the chase, miles ahead of where they were at this point of the season six or seven years ago. But it’s pretty clear: barring collapses from Minnesota and Chicago (which I’m still holding out hope for) this season is lost and will not end well.
So if you’re a fan, look forward to 2011, arguably the most important one in the tenure of Dave Dombrowski. Plenty of big contracts come off the books and while the Tigers probably won’t lure in the cream of the free agent crop, they have the money to sign from the next tier of players. It’s pretty much the only thing to look forward to the rest of this season.