​Detroit media talk Tigers expectations

Cavitt spoke with Terry Foster, a columnist for the Detroit News and radio personality on 97.1 The Ticket, Lynn Henning from the Detroit News, Anthony Fenech from the Detroit Free Press (also a CMU alumnus) and Tom Gage from Fox Sports Detroit.

The Tigers open up their season against the Minnesota Twins Monday at 1:08 p.m.

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Q: What is the biggest storyline heading into the season?

Foster: The biggest storyline is can someone pass the Tigers. Is their (Tigers) reign of terror done as far as winning that division. We always assume that they’re going to win the division and see if someone is going to challenge them. To me that’s the biggest storyline because it’s something new and I think even though some of the divison races have been close I think for the first time there will be a conversation where we don't know what will happen.

Henning: Right now and I mean it’s fresh but you’ve got injured pitchers, which is the last thing they (Tigers) could afford. Justin Verlander for the first time is the disabled list, although it doesn't look serious. Even losing him for the first week here I tough because that means you probably have to go to your bullpen even earlier than anticipated because of Verlander’s ability to eat up innings. With a bullpen that’s so frayed with the news that Bruce Rondon now is on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis. He (Rondon) was one of the few really good arms who looked like he could strike people out. That’s what you need back there is guys that can strike people out. Now he’s gone for a couple weeks. For the first week at least you have two premier pitchers down and you win with pitching so that to me is the biggest storyline.

Fenech: The biggest storyline is probably how will the back end of the bullpen will come together. Besides the bullpen the story with (Alfredo) Simon and (Shane) Greene is that they are unproven guys. Simon has not pitched that well but I think Greene is going to be very good. He’s got good stuff. Simon is going to be their (Tigers) fourth starter. I don't think there are any plans to put him in the bullpen. The Tigers are log jammed in the bullpen with how many right-handed relievers they have right now.

Gage: I think pitching has to be the biggest storyline. There was a bullpen concern whether or not it was going to be deep enough and now with the Bruce (Rondon) injury. I would say (Justin) Verlander is going to be ok. If he misses his first scheduled start its no big deal. With Rondon and the tendinitis he won’t pitch until he’s feeling no tenderness. Who knows when he will pitch next? It just makes a suspicious bullpen even weaker to start the season. That’s a big set back.

Q: What are your expectations for this team?

Foster: I still think they are a good baseball team. We have (Miguel) Cabrera, V-Mart (Victor Martinez) J.D. Martinez. You have a good core however you still don't have a bullpen and there are still questions about Miguel (Cabrera) and Victor (Martinez). I have to believe they will win 85 or 86 games and that puts you in a dangerous situation as far as winning a division where maybe one teams gets hot. That’s where I would put them. I still think they are obviously an above .500 team. If everything goes right they could win 90 games but things don't always go right so I’m going to put them in the mid-80s range.

Henning: I’ve been on the fence with picking them (Tigers) third and second in this division. It was a questions of whether they could beat out the White Sox for second. I finally said this week that maybe by a game Detroit could win maybe 85 games and finish ahead of the White Sox. I’m not sure now with the pitching in utter disarray that I could pick the Tigers for second. I think this could be a team that gets closer to that 75-81 win level as opposed to the 85-90 level that I thought they could be with a decent pitching staff. I don't see how this bullpen can hold up. I don't see Alfredo Simon as a guy that's going to go really deep. That bullpen can get chewed up very rapidly and that to me early in the season with so many division games could leave them in a really bad position.

Fenech: I think they are a good team and will definitely challenging for the division. I think it’s going to be a tight division race. The White Sox will be more of a threat than the Indians. A lot of how the Tigers finish in this division falls on how the starting pitching holds up. The Tigers lost a really good pitcher in Max Scherzer. While Shane Green has looked good you still can’t feel as confident with him as opposed to a guy like Rick Porcello.

Gage: I think they (Tigers) will win the division and win 89 games. I don't think it’s a 90-win team or as strong as it was in the past. With the division being more competitive it’s not going to take 90 games to win it. I like the division, I just don't see any great teams in the division. I see a lot of very good teams. I don’t have as much confidence in him (David Price) as I did Max Scherzer. I like Sanchez as a pitcher. He just doesn't win as much as you think he would. Any team that has David Price and Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez can win. I think (Ian) Kinsler is a vastly underrated player. He is fun to watch. The Tigers have a lot of talent. I don't think Kansas City is as good as they were last season. I like the White Sox more than I did and with Cleveland I’m not sure. There are a lot of teams that can win 83-88 games.

Q: What are the biggest weaknesses and strengths of this team?

Foster: I’m going to be specific. The biggest weakness is at closer because I don't have any faith in Joe Nathan. I’m not even sure if he’s going to be there. He didn't exactly light it up last year. If they have success in the bullpen it’s going to have to be some wild card that comes out of nowhere and lights up Major League Baseball. I don't have faith in (Joakim) Soria or (Joe) Nathan. The strength of this team is still the lineup. I still think Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera and J.D. Martinez are going to be really, really solid along with (Yoenis) Cespedes. That’s the core right there. If all those pieces are working they (Tigers) have a shot. If we’re going to be talking about injuries all year long then they’re pretty much done.

Henning: The bullpen is the biggest weakness. All along they (Tigers) should have had a better one coming out of here. They have enough arms. When (Joel) Hanrahan was lost to the second Tommy John I think that was a big loss because he had a chance to really help the bullpen. The kid (Angel) Nesbitt is good but he’s going to show his years. To me the only way they (Tigers) have a chance was if (Joakim) Soria is the new closer and Bruce (Rondon)was the set-up guy. I don't think Joe Nathan can pitch big league baseball anymore. With the Rondon injury he (Nathan) probably heads north and makes the team. I did see Nathan being released before the injury. The fact that they (Tigers) have really good starters and a good lineup with better defense, that to me are the strengths of this team.

Fenech: The biggest weakness is the bullpen because there is just uncertainty across the board. The lineup has definitely gotten better with the (Yoenis) Cespedes in there. The biggest thing is will J.D. Martinez continue what he did last season in terms of hitting. He is a really good hitter. I don't think he will hit over .300 but I think he has a lot of power. This lineup is very, very powerful and it’s going to be hard to get through because everyone has the ability to take you out of the park. (Nick) Castellanos has improved too and that’s great.

Gage: Our biggest strength is the combination of (Miguel) Cabrera and Victor (Martinez) but I can tell you after a week at spring training I did not like the way Martinez was running. It looked like something was still bothering him. If he is strong right out of the gate I’d be surprised. If the knee isn’t feeling well I hope he doesn't change his swing to accomadate that. The weakness is who is going to save a game? I kind of feel badly for Joe Nathan because he has been a popular guy and kind of a media darling where he has been. Now he hasn't been able to do much of anything whether it’s on the mound or with his words.

Q: Which player(s) had the best spring training?

Foster: The one person that has stood out has been J.D. Martinez. I thought he was on fire. He looked great from the limited things I saw. One of the disappointments has to be (Jose) Iglesias. He looked shaky in the field. Maybe he’s just trying to get back into form. Those two things stood out to me.

Henning: I think other than the expectations that you would have on (Justin) Verlander and Anibal Sanchez I think the surprise is how good Shane Greene has been. This guy has looked really, really good. The other surprise would be Jose Iglesias playing with perfect health down in Florida with no re-occurances of his shin condition. I think the team gets an enormous plus out of that and he’s going to hit ok. I would add that Cespedes has been so good that they’ve (Tigers) really picked up immensely in left field.

Fenech: I would say Anthony Gose. He has been getting on base and is an improvement on the defensive side. He just gets on base and then defensively he covers a lot of ground and has a great arm. If he can do anything offensively that would be bug because of the way that he can run and steals bases. He puts pressure on the defense.

Gage: I don't much attention to stats during spring training because it’s easy to have a Ryan Raburn type of spring where you just hit every fastball. Again, I like Cespedes. I like (Alfredo) Simon’s presence on the mound. He looks like kind of a take-charge guy. I don't know if his stuff wil hold up but he looks like he has all the confidence in the world when he throws.

Q: Which player(s) have the most to prove this season?

Foster: Even though he’s very good I’m going to say (Yoenis) Cespedes. I think Cespedes is a good player but he’s a clown. Now he’s around professionals and I think being around a Cabrera, a Victor Martinez and Ian Kinsler who are baseball professionals will wear off on him (Cespedes). Even though everyone knows he can play he will try and take it to the next level.

Henning: I would go with (Nick) Castellanos. I think he’s going to hit .275-.285, somewhere in there. His defense is a step better this season. I think he is going to hit 20 home runs. I think off the bat I would say he has the most to prove.

Fenech: The lineup as a whole has the most to prove with the addition of Cespedes. With an addition like that you want to see the offense produce more consistently. Alex (Avila) and James (McCann) will be adequate enough behind the plate and both have to prove themselves this season.

Gage: (Nick) Castellanos looks like a confident hitter. He also just looks bigger physically. I think he is going to be a force offensively. To me he looks like a future home run hitter. I think he is a future 30-35 home run guy. I don't see quickness there defensively or a quick first step. He is just not a quick guy. I think he will only be a adequate third baseman but an adequate third baseman who can hit.

Q: What impact will Yoenis Cespesdes’ have on this lineup?

Foster: If he’s (Cespedes) right he can turn this lineup from a jet airplane into a rocket. He can hit for power and hit for average. He can really be that wild card, that fourth professional power guy that can really turn you into a really dangerous team.

Henning: I wasn’t sure about him (Cespedes) at first but having watched him now for six weeks I can see that he can really play baseball with great speed and a really fast bat. He can get the extra-base hit and hit a ball over the fence. He’s really going to hit well at Comerica Park because he hits the ball hard and with his speed there is no concern about scoring him from a particular base whereas you had that problem with guys on this team for the past few years. I think Cespedes translates immediately into a big, big gain for this team.

Fenech: Cespedes just adds to that power threat. Opposing pitchers will really have trouble working around anyone. He is just going to add another level of power to that lineup.

Gage: I love the addition of Cespedes. Not only will he have an impact on the lineup but the lineup will have an impact on him. It’s the best of both worlds. He is around guys now that he admires and looks up to and because of that it will have a good effect on him. I’m really intrigued by what he will produce. He gives the team depth after Miguel (Cabrera). He (Cespedes) probably won’t score a lot of runs and maybe might not knock in a bunch of runs but I think he is going to be a force. I like his defense as well, he goes at it hard. I worry he may go at it too hard. I hope he can hold up. I like the added dimension he gives the lineup.