Victor Martinez (Tigers photo)
No reasonable human being expects the Detroit Tigers to be very good this season as the team undertakes a major rebuild.
After several weeks of a field-level view at spring training in Lakeland, Fla., Detroit News columnist Lynn Henning urges patience:
This, most likely, will be the cratering-out year in Detroit’s baseball reconfiguration. Expect a hundred or more losses. Better to focus on the sideshows, which will hint at what should begin to show up sometime next year and beyond. Detroit has the first overall pick in June’s draft. A farm system that got some badly needed greenery last summer will get lusher once June’s draft and some inevitable trades add a bit more flora to what was a wasteland...
Avila knows he has arms percolating on the farm. But they are, in most cases, at least a year away and more like two or three seasons from being able to help dramatically.
The lineup isn’t quite as suspect. But it’s lower-grade than in 2017 and not about to offset some scary pitching. Miguel Cabrera is healthy and taking Cabrera-like cuts. Nick Castellanos is evolving into a star hitter. Jeimer Candelario, the new man at third, has talent.
