Prince Fielder To Tigers

Does the addition of Prince Fielder to the Detroit Tigers make them grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat?

Last year the Detroit Tigers made the playoffs and lost to the Texas Rangers. How can adding Fielder hurt? Vegas jumped the Tigers up to an 8/1 odd to win the World Series showing that the addition of him does make them a contender.

On paper this team is going to be tough to beat. Take a look at their projected opening day line up.

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Delmon Young, DH
6. Jhonny Peralta, SS
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Ryan Raburn, LF
9. Don Kelly, 2B

P: Justin Verlander

A team that has Fielder and Cabrera alone can be scary, insert Justin Verlander on the mound and Avila and Peralta in the line up. That's five all-stars from last year. A line up that I guarantee no pitcher will want to face.

A couple of big questions come about though for the Tigers in their accusation of Fielder. Will he be able to stay healthy and fit? Will Cabrera move to 3b or will him and fielder share 1b and the dh?

Fielder has only missed one game in the last three seasons playing in the national league. He has shown he can be durable but will he be able to stay durable. There is a lot of concerns through out baseball that he will gain weight and lose power and durability causing his numbers to decline. I can see Fielder packing on the pounds as he gets older and the extra weight and the aging itself will cause him to become a struggling player. Do I see it happening in the next couple years? No. I think with his move to the AL he will be able to stay healthy and put up good numbers being able to take some nights off from the field and just hit. As long as management doesn't allow him to slack off and become lazy he should be fine until he gets out of his prime.

The other question out there is Cabrera at 3rd. This would be a great boost for the offense if he can play 3rd allowing another big bat in the lineup as a DH. I think putting him at 3rd makes the Tigers defense vulnerable though. You don't see a lot of small ball in the game anymore but the shots up the line and having him cover the gaps would cause some easy hits that could lead to frustration on the pitching staff. With Peralta at SS and Raburn in left I think for now they would be able to help fill the gaps and have Cabrera's back, but an injury to either could cause for some nightmares on defense.

I think the move to get Prince Fielder was a good move for the Tigers. Not only do you have the addition of a great bat and a pretty decent glove at first with some already good sticks and a dominant pitching staff. You have a player who many old timers in the organization are familiar with because of his dad Cecil playing for the Tiger from 1990-1996, and a young Prince always being around the club house. This is a team that made playoffs and lost to a good Texas Rangers team, except now in my opinion has the edge.

I think they have the right tools on paper to be able to compete for the a trip to the World Series. Having a good team on paper is useless unless that team gels. With Prince Fielder being a great clubhouse guy and from what I've read a great asset to any team I think there will be no issues with this team coming together. So just like Tony the Tiger this team should be Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat.