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One could reasonably argue that all five rotation spots should improve from last year. Justin Verlander, entering his third season, could emerge as the best pitcher in the American League. Jeremy Bonderman was a borderline All-Star before an injury derailed him last year; if he's healthy, he should be a frontline starter. Nate Robertson is only 30 and should rebound from a down year. Kenny Rogers was hurt in 2007, and Dontrelle Willis was in Florida, so just having them in the rotation is an upgrade

If the Tigers resemble any team in recent years, it's the Yankees. Their lineup is so great, they are sure to be in contention into September. They might have the pitching to win it all, but we won't know about that until the season unfolds.

Bull pen could fail which could bring the season down

"He's making progress. Right now, there's no indication anything's going to affect the way John is to start the season. We've had a lot of times, as with [Jarrod] Washburn, where you'd have to fold them into the back end [of the rotation]. We don't anticipate that [with Lackey], but we have that flexibility."

The best thing Cabrera could do is sign a deal to stay a decade in Detroit, where he'd benefit from the wisdom of stable, mature stars such as Ordonez and Guillen, the positive influence of legendary manager Jim Leyland and the love and admiration of their baseball officials, including GM Dave Dombrowski and top assistant Al Avila, who as Marlins executives nine years ago discovered the 15-year-old baseball genius in Venezuela and beat the Dodgers and Yankees to sign him to a then-record bonus for a foreign amateur player, $1.8 million.

Cabrera and his new team have begun to talk, and it's possible that a coming deal could be for close to 100 times that first signing bonus. Considering the perfect fit, he shouldn't quibble over nickels. "I'd like to stay here. I'd love to play for this team for a lot of years,'' Cabrera told SI.com. "I'll learn a lot of baseball here. They've got a lot of experience here and a great manager.''

Pistons#1 wrote:Good effort trying to be the nastydaddy of the Tiger forums.

Im gonna go ahead and sticky this topic as a counterpart to similar threads on the Pistons board.

Commissioner Bud Selig visited Scottsdale Stadium on Saturday and told the assembled media that he had met directly with Giants managing general partner Peter Magowan, while members of his staff had interviewed Brian Sabean, the longtime San Francisco general manager.

That confirmation came a day after Magowan said that he had been interviewed by the Commissioner, regarding allegations made about the climate of performance-enhancing drug use in the Giants' clubhouse that was revealed late last year in the Mitchell Report.

"I'm going to beat you to the punch, I guess, regarding investigations and everything else," Selig said to a small group of writers assembled in the rear of the press box during the second inning of the Giants' blowout loss to the A's. "I noted that Peter Magowan said yesterday he had met with me. Also, investigators have met with Brian Sabean. But other than that, I don't think I'll have any other comment, because no other comment is appropriate."

m23uza1hem36 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Yep, this thread/forum should grow and I'll be proud to help as much as I can:)

Jones suffered the injury while taking swings from the left side of the plate before Sunday's game against the Astros at Disney's Champion Stadium. After feeling the discomfort, the veteran third baseman walked immediately under his own power toward the clubhouse.

Once he reached the dugout, Jones threw his bat into a rack and exclaimed, "Stupid."

"Hopefully it's nothing serious," said Braves hitting coach Terry Pendleton, who was outside the batting cage when Jones suffered the injury.

Over the course of the past three seasons, he has made four trips to the disabled list and never played in more than 140 games. Two of his three trips to the disabled list in 2006 were caused by left oblique strains.

The Mariners have approached right-hander Felix Hernandez about signing a multiyear contract, his agent said Saturday.

The 21-year-old Hernandez, who pitched two scoreless innings against the Padres in Saturday's Cactus League game at Peoria Stadium, reached agreement on a one-year contract after the outing, becoming the last player on the 40-man roster to be under contract for the 2008 season.

The Mariners had imposed a Sunday noon deadline to get a deal done, or they would've renewed Hernandez's '07 contract. Hernandez had his '06 contract renewed on March 2 last year for $420,000 -- an $80,000 raise. Financial terms of the latest one-year deal were not announced, but he probably received a hefty pay hike again after posting a 13-7 record and 3.92 ERA in 30 starts last season.