Click here to return to the general 2010 MLB Season Preview. The Tigers were in first place for 142 days 11-16 from September 8th on and lost two of three against the White Sox on the final weekend of the season to force a one-game playoff against the Twins. Detroit's offense was ranked 14th in OPS at .747, which was behind Minnesota and Cleveland, and they there were ranked 13th in ERA at 4.29. The Tigers had a huge anomaly with their home/away splits, with a record of 51-30 at Comerica Park, but just 35-47 on the road. 2009 Opsera Finish: 18th What Happened In The Winter Dave Dombrowski has been the king of the 'interesting winter' tag ever since his arrival in Detroit. He has had some misses, such as sending Jair Jurrjens to Atlanta for Edgar Renteria, the Dontrelle Willis extension, but he also converted 277 .831 plate appearances of Matt Joyce into Edwin Jackson, shrewd underrated trades for Carlos Guillen and Placido Polanco, along with the blockbuster for Miguel Cabrera. This winter, he shed the salary of Curtis Granderson and the closer to free agency Jackson in a deal that netted him a superior starter in Max Scherzer, the very talented Austin Jackson and lefty relieve Phil Coke. They were unable to keep relievers Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon, but they instead inked Jose Valverde, though it did cost them a pick. Detroit also lost Placido Polanco to free agency when he signed with Philadelphia, though they like Scott Sizemore to replace him at second base. The Tigers placed a cherry on top in Johnny Damon, in a one-year deal worth $8 million in late February after his market completely evaporated. Detroit's righty-heavy offense was 10th against lefties and 19th against righties in OPS in 2009. They really didn't do much to change that, though the late addition of Damon does offset the loss of Granderson's lefty bat. Tigers Offensive Preview When the Tigers acquired Cabrera before the 2008 season, I thought that lineup with Magglio Ordonez, Curtis Granderson, Carlos Guillen, Edgar Renteria, Polanco, Ivan Rodriguez, Marcus Thames and Brandon Inge as a super utility player to score over 900 runs. They started slowly, scored 821 runs and won just 74 games with a pitching staff that went from 9th in AL ERA to 12th. Of that lineup, only Cabrera, Ordonez, Guillen and Inge remain, with less than threatening names like Adam Everett, Gerald Laird and Sizemore filling in the bottom of the lineup. Cabrera hit for a very good .942 OPS in 2009, but his season was marred by multiple incidents with alcohol. He has seemed to do everything right now that he has stopped drinking and I expect him to have a monster season with a lot to prove on that $152 million contract. Damon's numbers should slip with the move from Yankee Stadium to Comerica Park, but his .365 OBP in comparison to Granderson's .327 will be a nice upgrade in that specific department. If Austin Jackson can keep his strikeouts down, he will be a very good top of the lineup table-setter ahead of Damon. He doesn't have a ton of power right now, but his skill-set at the plate suits the ballpark dimensions. Guillen should rebound from his injury-plagued .757 OPS season, as should Laird's .626 OPS in his first season out of the hitter-friendly confines of Texas. Sizemore hit for an OPS of .851 in Triple-A in 330 plate appearances and he should be fine at second base, while Everett is of course more needed for his glove than his light-hitting bat. Ryan Raburn can play quite a few positions and his bat will be strong enough (.891 OPS, 16 homers in 261 at bats in 2009) to find a place into the lineup on a frequent basis. Ordonez's production has decreased from his runner-up MVP level of 2007 with a 1.029 OPS, down to .869 and .804. But he rebounded very nicely in the second half with a .978 OPS in 224 plate appearances. He is in a walk year and has been looking very good in the spring, making the possibility of a .900 OPS season a good one, even if he finishes with fewer than 20 homers again. How he performs in the middle of the lineup will be the difference between a respectable offense and one that consistently gives its pitchers sufficient runs to work with. The other big factor will be whether the Tigers can get timelier hitting, as they were ranked just 20th in OPS with runners in scoring position. Tigers Pitching Preview I really like Detroit's starting pitching, especially if they were to reach the postseason in a situation where they can shorten the rotation. Justin Verlander is as much of a Cy Young caliber ace as any other in baseball, while Scherzer should be an All-Star playing in the AL Central and in that ballpark. They are power, strikeout pitchers and should each have an ERA around 3.50 or better. The other half of the rotation has some high-end arms, but are also question marks. Rick Porcello clearly knows how to pitch, but his anemic K/9 rate is disconcerting. There aren't a lot of starters who can have an ERA under 4.00 with a K/9 rate under 5.0 as he did when he finished third in ROY voting. He is extremely young at 21 and has enough promise to increase that strikeout rate in time given his stuff and his command. The wait for Jeremy Bonderman to finally deliver on his promise continues through injuries, but he has felt healthy, which is more important than what his ERA looks like in his spring work. Nate Robertson is looking like their fifth starter after Armando Galarraga struggled horribly in 2009. Backing up Valverde in the bullpen will be the enigmatic Joel Zuymaya, along with lefties Bobby Seay, Daniel Schlereth and Fu-Te Ni. What Are Their 2010 Chances? The Tigers have more than balance and high-end stars to win a relatively weak AL Central. Minnesota has the vastly superior lineup, but the front end pitching in Detroit makes them the more lethal postseason foe if they are able to get out of their division for the first time since 2006. I see the Tigers ending up a close second bend the Twins, but I was just in Vegas and saw that they were 26-to-1 odds to win the 2010 World Series, which was the most attractive prop on the board in my estimation. Click here to return to the general 2010 MLB Season Preview.