It is definitely going to be an interesting year in Detroit. I have been meaning to write this post for a while now, but I never quite got around to it. In that time new information has come out and it is going to make this post even longer. I apologize.
At the end of the season in 2020, the "new" coach for the Detroit Tigers Ron Gardenhire (formerly of the Twins) announced his retirement. It was pretty abrupt, but apparently there were some health concerns.
I was pretty sad about that because he seemed like a pretty cool guy and there was at least some hope he could turn things around for the Tigers.
After a much anticipated and talked about search, the Tigers eventually landed on A.J. Hinch.
Now, I honestly don't know a ton about Hinch, but the most glaring thing that sticks out at me is the fact that he "left" the Houston Astros and was suspended for a year due to his part in the sign stealing fiasco down there.
Call me crazy, but it just feels like a bad look to hire a guy that was recently embroiled in such a scandal. Sure, he won the World Series, but unfortunately that whole season is called into question now. The person I feel the worst for is Justin Verlander.
He spent some fantastic (and some not so great) years in Detroit doing everything he could to bring home the pennant. Finally, he gets traded to Houston and wins the ring he has so desperately deserved all these years. Only now there is a huge asterixis by that. Could they have won if they weren't stealing signs? I guess we will never know. We do know they came up short against the Nationals the next year.
Anyway, this is what the powers that be down at Commerica Park decided to give us. Meanwhile, the Lions do some much needed house cleaning as well. Patricia is gone and most of the front office staff as well. It looks like I could be a rebuilding year for most of the Detroit teams. Maybe it will carry over to some of the derelict parts of the city...
Finally, one last kick in the groin, their starting third baseman Torkelson cuts his finger at his rental home down in Florida and has to get some stitches. Am I crazy in feeling like all the freakishly benign yet impactful stuff happens to my favorite teams?
So Spring ball started on February 28th and so far things haven't been going too bad. Spring is exciting to finally see action back on the diamond, but I have realized it is a pretty poor indicator of how well a team is going to do during the regular season.
Sunday the 28th saw them head home with a 10 to 2 victory over The Phillies. They followed up on Monday with a 4 to 5 loss to the Yankees (man I hate the Yankees). Finally, yesterday they hammered home a 6 to 1 win over the Pirates. So Detroit basically owns the state of Pennsylvania now if you were wondering :)
Just kidding. I am sure during the regular season we will be forced to give it back along with the whole upper peninsula and Mackinaw Island or something like that.
Anyway, I am pretty excited for the regular season to start back up. April in Detroit used to be such a great time with the Red Wings, Tigers, and Pistons firing on all cylinders. We haven't had that excitement in a while and with Covid finally starting to be in our rear view mirror, we definitely need it!