Who is the Worst Team in the AL Central?
We have almost made it! After nearly three and a half months without any baseball, we are only one week away (Feb 17) from the “general reporting date” when players start funneling into their Arizona and Florida camps. Assuming that the pandemic cooperates and the MLB is able to figure out how spring training/the regular season will be laid out this year (big “ifs”, to be sure), we can hopefully get some normalcy leading up to the usual 162-game full season.
In this installment of The Worst Teams in Baseball, we will be discussing a squad that will need as much practice and “training” as they can get: the Detroit Tigers.
Despite their mediocrity, I do think the Tigers are a fun team to watch. While their record hasn’t been above, or even close to, .500 since 2016, you can see that they are making a genuine effort to be competitive year in and year out. However, I envision a lot of the same this year. I project the Tigers to win somewhere around 60 to 70 games in 2021 simply due to the fact that a lot of teams, especially in the AL Central, are better than they are. David Adler of mlb.com also agrees with me on this stance projecting the Tigers 2021 record to be 67-95 with a 0% chance of them winning the division.
Digging deeper into the AL Central, the revamped White Sox are looking to improve even more so than last season and show that they will be the kings for years to come. The Indians are returning some stud pitching with decent bats, the Royals will be improved and competitive, but still a couple years away, and the Twins will be a top ten team in the league with a complimenting roster full of vets and young making their way to Minneapolis. That doesn’t bode well for poor Detroit. Here are my official predictions for the AL Central in 2021:
- Minnesota Twins
- Chicago White Sox
- Cleveland Indians
- Kansas City Royals
- Detroit Tigers
2020 Rewind
The Tigers rounded out their 2020 season with a 23-35 record under now retired manager Ron Gardenhire. “Gardy” did as much as he could with the inexperienced roster that was given to him, but it wasn’t enough to be relevant, garnering a 5th place finish for the second straight year. The downfall to this team in 2020 was catastrophic pitching mixed with very mediocre and untimely hitting. Someone who did manage to perform well was breakout third baseman turned first baseman Jeimer Candelario, leading the way with a .297 batting average with 7 homeruns while centerfielder Victor Reyes and shortstop Willi Castro burst onto the scene showing that they are big league talent. Aside from those three, Miguel Cabrera performed well in his age 37 season and is continuing to show that he still has a little bit left in the tank blasting out 10 homeruns with a .250 batting average in the process.
The Tigers fortunately were able to bring up some of their young talent in 2020, such as 21 year-old third baseman Isaac Parades, right fielder Daz Cameron, and starting pitchers Tarik Skubal and 2018 1st overall pick Casey Mize. While these prospects may not have performed the best this past year, they gathered great big league experience offering new regulars in the Detroit lineup/rotation and showing a glimpse into their bright futures ahead.
Looking Ahead at 2021
The rebuilding Tigers, as alluded to earlier, will not be good this year. Their young talent, whether up at the major league level or down in the minors, will have to continue to develop before we can seriously talk about the Tigers being contenders again. Parades, Cameron, Skubal, Mize, and any other young players who could make the team will continue taking their lumps in adjusting to the big leagues this year.
The Tigers made a few moves in free agency this year, adding 33 year-old catcher Wilson Ramos, 31 year-old left fielder Robbie Grossman, pitcher Jose Urena, and obtaining Rule 5 outfielder Akil Baddoo from MIN to the fold, plus also resigning second baseman Jonathan Schoop. While I do think those are decent signings and will win the Tigers a couple more games this season, it doesn’t move the needle enough for me to move the Detroit up to fourth place in the division, sorry Tigers fans. Adding those potentially declining players to a roster flush of mid to lower-tier players just isn’t going to get it done. Here is the Tiger’s projected 2021 roster, pending anymore last second moves, according to FanGraphs:
Catcher: Wilson Ramos, Grayson Greiner
First Base: Jeimer Candelario
Second Base: Jonathan Schoop, Greg Garcia
Third Base: Niko Goodrum
Shortstop: Willi Castro
Outfield: Robbie Grossman, Victor Reyes, JaCoby Jones, Harold Castro, Akil Baddoo
Starting Pitchers: Matthew Boyd, Spencer Turnbull, Michael Fulmer, Jose Urena, Tarik Skubal
Relief Pitchers: Bryan Garcia, Gregory Soto, Buck Farmer, Jose Cisnero, Joe Jimenez, Daniel Norris, Derek Holland, Tyler Alexander
The Future is Bright
I am in love with the Tiger’s farm system and future (ranked #2 on the MLB Pipeline Farm System Rankings). They selected 3B/1B Spencer Torkelson (ranked as the #3 overall prospect in the MLB) with the first overall pick last year in the 2020 draft, who looks to be a superstar in the making. Alongside Torkelson, the Tigers still have RHP Casey Mize whom has been brought up throughout the article ranked at #11, OF Riley Greene (#21), LHP Tarik Skubal (#24), and RHP Matt Manning (#25) all in the top 100 prospects in all of baseball. Detroit also has guys like C Dillon Dingler and OF Daniel Cabrera whom were drafted last year entering the fold and expect them be on this top 100 list in the near-future. I feel that the Tigers took a once pitching-focused farm system and transformed it into a balanced group who look to take the league by storm in the coming years ahead, Detroit fans should be excited.
So, 2021 will be another poor year in Detroit, but don’t lose hope, better things are coming in MoTown! The Tigers are going to continue transitioning to their younger talent this season and it is going to be entertaining to watch.
