Miguel Cabrera And Victor Martinez Ready For Opening Day
By Tony Fischer
With the final cuts made and the 25-man roster mostly set the Detroit Tigers are ready for opening day. In what is great news for the Tigers there are two names on that list many thought wouldn’t be available for opening day.
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Miguel Cabrera is expected to start on opening day after recovering from offseason ankle surgery. For Miggy to be available for opening day is a credit to his ability to rehab. The orignal timeline for Miggy to see major league action was mid April but Cabrera was able to get it done ahead of schedule. It seems every aspect of his game has returned. Miggy has been able to play solid defense while showing is elite power stroke hitting 3 home runs this spring including one in the preseason finale.
Victor Martinez after surprise knee surgery this offseason, Victor Martinez is also ready to start the season on time. V-Mart had a slow spring batting just .138 with one home run and two ribbies. A veteran player like Martinez will come around when the first pitch of 2015 is thrown and as long as he stays healthy he could make a bid to repeat his career season of 2014.
One Roster Spot Remains
You may have noticed used the phrase “mostly set” when describing the Tigers roster earlier. That is because the Tigers are leaving one roster spot open to give them flexibility when dealing with Justin Verlander. Verlander has been sidelined this week after injuring the tricep muscle on his throwing arm.
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The injury has most speculating that Verlander will start the season on the DL but there is an outside chance he won’t have to if he could be ready to pitch on Sunday. According to a tweet by beat writer Chris Iott the Tigers are keeping that spot open to give them flexibility if they have put JV on the DL.
If they are 100 percent sure Justin Verlander will be able to start April 12, they'll add reliever. If not, they'll add a starter.
— Chris Iott (@Chris_Iott) April 3, 2015
There was wide speculation Friday morning that the Detroit Tigers were going to make a move to acquire a reliever but Dave Dombrowski said there is no truth to the rumor that the Tigers will look outside the organization for another arm.
"“I would be shocked if that were the case,” Ausmus said. “I would be shocked if someone came from outside the organization.”"
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