Positioning for 2013

The Tigers have had an eventful beginning to their winter. Dave Dombroski continues to press to win Mike Illich a world series before he passes. The money seems to be endless and the desire present, but is continued spending on free agents the way to win one for the pizza making gipper? 

Torii Hunter

He received a two year, twenty six million dollar deal from the Tigers. He batted .313 with an .817 OPS for the Angels last season, contributing 16 homers and 92 RBI. He was particularly effective in the No. 2 spot, batting .343 with an .854 OPS in 381 plate appearances, where he will likely hit for Detroit. It isn't his numbers that the Tigers viewed when signing him to this, potentially his last, professional baseball contract. It is his leadership. The Tigers were missing this key piece on their roster last year. With Martinez down, there was no fitting veteran on the roster to hold a steady posture of leadership to take the team to the highest level. Hunter, along with Martinez will provide this in 2013. 

Anibal Sanchez

Sanchez reminds us of the depth of Illich's pockets. After the Fielder signing, many mourned at the "money suck" of the deal. Would we be able to sign and re-sign players with all that we had committed to Fielder??? The Sanchez deals tells us... yes. Five years and eighty million dollars later, the Tigers have locked up this righty who is 48-51 with a 3.75 career ERA. The numbers are fine, but were strengthened with Sanchez's post-season ERA last year at 1.77 ERA. The concerning note on Sanchez is his injury history. In 2003 Sánchez suffered an elbow injury that required surgery to move his elbow ligament. The whole season was lost. In 2007 he had a tear in his labrum that required surgery and missing several starts. At 28 years old he has the experience of one much older. This is good news. The bad news is the reality that his career will probably be cut short due to his health history. Hopefully his ending doesn't come before 2017.

Acquiring Hunter and Sanchez lifts our roster on paper. No doubt about this. Will they be able to bring cohesiveness to the clubhouse... This is the question. For a game so focused on the one on one match-up between the pitcher and the hitter, baseball is ultimately a game of bonding. Just ask the last three world series winners. Twice the SF Giants and once the St. Louis Cardinals. All three teams looked worse on paper than the losers of the series. Winning is ultimately about good pitching and timely hitting. To execute these two essentials, it seems that the bond and cohesiveness of the team pulls the eventual winner to the champagne, not the names on the roster with multiple zeros behind their contracts.