127 0 All The Olde English Ds Upcoming Schedule and Starting Pitching 2/23/06, 12:24pm Hello BGeeks, Well spring training is picking up and the excitement for the upcoming season is mounting. Glad to have the Ghost of Chet Lemon on board. Hopefully we can get more Tiger’s fans and others involved. Today will outline the scheduled positional analysis for the Bengals during spring training. This week’s focus is on the starting pitching and the Tiger’s starters are compared to the other teams in the tough AL Central. The Olde English Ds Blog Schedule for spring training February 20-26: Starting Pitchers February 27- March 5: Relief Pitchers March 6-12: Infielders March 13-19: Outfielders March 20-26: Bench March 27-April 2: Coaching Staff April 3: Opening Day at Kansas City The drama over the #1 starter role ended early this year under Leyland’s direction. Last year fans waited patiently for the announcement of Jeremy Bonderman as the young pitcher ever to start an opening day for the Tigers. What a difference a year makes. In 2006 the Detroit squad features the oldest opening day starter in team history with 41 year old Kenny Rogers. This gives the Tigers something they have been lacking in a quality veteran pitcher to lead the staff. Bonderman is slated to start the second game of the year against the Royals and follow that up with the home opener against the World Champion White Sox on the 10th of April. Not too shabby for the 23 year old that already has experience at the top of the rotation and will return to the position in a matter of time. These two give the Tigers a strong top of the rotation. Rogers should have about the same success as last year and win 14-15 games and maintain a solid ERA in the 3-4 range. He will eat up close to 200 innings again and help the team significantly. Bonderman is only going to continue improving. As he continues to learn his ERA will only drop. Jeremy’s win total should lead the team. He will surpass last year’s total and win between 18-20 games with an ERA below 4. Trading Jeff Weaver for this guy was a steal. The 3 and 4 spot in the rotation will make or break the Tigers in 2006. Nate Robertson and Mike Maroth are fairly steady average starting pitchers. Maroth is a crafty lefty depending on pitch placement and deception to get hitters out while Robertson is a harder throwing lefty with a fast ball in the lower 90s. Both pitchers are 28 and pitch a lot of innings. Maroth was 14-14 with a 4.74 ERA in 209 innings showing good control with 51 BB. Robertson went 7-16 with some tough luck losses posting a lower ERA of 4.48 in 196.2 innings but did not have as good of control walking 65. The question is how much improvement fans can expect from these guys. Maroth has spent four years in the Tiger’s rotation with ERAs floating between 4.3 and 5.7. He is a decent pitcher, but is a better fit as a lower end of the rotation guy with an ERA closer to 5 that can pitch a lot of innings for you. Robertson appears to have more upside, but the last two years he has started strong and tailed off toward the end of the year. A good sign for Nate is his ERA has decreased each year he has pitched in the majors, the past two as a regular on the Tiger’s staff. If he can improve his stamina through the year and develop consistency he could lower his ERA to around 4 maybe into the high 3s and pitch over 200 innings. With three lefties in the starting rotation it would not be surprising if one of these guys were moved to make room for one of the younger arms coming along, such as a Zumaya or a Colon. This is nothing new for Maroth, who is a great guy, but continually the subject of trade rumors. The fifth spot is Verlander’s to lose. If Dombrowski was not willing to trade this guy for Josh Beckett as was report than he will be given every chance to pitch in the majors. He has nothing to prove or gain from more time at the minor league level. If Verlander is as good as advertised he will be the number 5 starter in name only and quickly move up the #3 spot. Others to watch at this spot include Roman Colon, who was acquired from Atlanta in the Farnsworth trade and Joel Zumaya. Reportedly both have impressed in camp. Don’t be surprised if both end up making the team as relievers. Speculation continues that Zumaya could be the closer of the future as the article CL’s Ghost reference pointed out. However, the potential big three of Bonderman, Verlander and Zumaya each throwing in the high 90s is intriguing. A name that has disappeared is Wilfredo Ledezma, the rule 5 pick from a few years ago with great stuff, but who struggled with control when given a shot at the #5 last season. Watch to see if he turns out to be the desired second lefty out of the bullpen. The AL Central has some of the best starting pitching in all of baseball. Here is how I think they stack up. 1. Chicago White Sox 2. Minnesota Twins 3. Detroit Tigers 4. Cleveland Indians 5. Kansas City Royals The Indians and Tiger are very closely matched in their starting pitching. Obviously I am biased so feel free to tell me so. However, in my opinion the Tiger’s rotation has more potential upside with the quality of the young arms. The White Sox are easily the class of the division with the Twins not far behind. I expect Radke and Silva to rebound with better years. Let me know your thoughts on the break down of the Tiger’s starting rotation and how they compare to the rest of the AL Central. OE Out [The Olde English Ds from Whitmore Lake/MI] Replies: 17 20 21 22 26