Full on panic mode should not come until at least one of the series with the Chicago White Sox. That will happen this weekend, and once again we see our beloved Detroit Tigers in an offensive slump. They have now lost two games in a row to teh Kansas City Royals, last night losing the game 1-0. For an offense featuring Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder it is simply unacceptable. For a team with a top five payroll these offensive funks are unacceptable. As a life long Tigers fan I am seriously ready to give up on the 2012 season. The simple fact here is this team just isn’t that good. It is too top heavy, and the supporting cast need a major upgrade.
Worse than that is this lineup wasted a great start by Anibal Sanchez. Maybe the best start since he came to Detroit, and since he will only be here for the next month or so, and considering what this team gave up to get him that is simply no acceptable. If Mike Illitch wasn’t as old as he is, and if the team most likely will be sold by the Illitch family after he passes, I would say fire the managerial and front office staff immediately and get ready for a rebuild project.
Since there are those factors, and given the fact that Victor Martinez will come back to the team in 2013 giving them a 3-4-5 of Cabrera, Fielder, and him. I am willing to give this combination of management one more year to get it done. After that, or if this team is out of it by the trade deadline in 2013 I would trade away Fielder and look to rebuild.
While it’s nice to have a team that is at least in the race for the playoffs, 2012 has been a very disappointing year for me and many other Tigers fans. Really we should have seen it coming. The big moves on the first day of free agency were to resign Brandon Inge and Jhonny Peralta. Now significant upgrade was added, and even Fielder was added only after Victor Martinez was lost for the season. I could argue that makes the signing of Prince not a true upgrade for 2012. That hopefully changes for 2013.
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