Travis

As in, watching on-ice chemistry? Probably not many. Because of all of the team representatives being in one place for the whole weekend? A large number.

"This is a dream come true", said Fielder upon being announced as a member of the Tigers on Thursday. "This is awesome," Fielder said. "I just never thought this could happen."

If you aren't concerned about cost much, I would stay at Greektown. Rooms are nice, there are plenty of places to eat in and around the casino and there is a $1 round-trip shuttle to and from the Joe.

So it's been 24 hours and I'm still mostly in disbelief about this. The greatest 3-4 hitter combo in the game, plus Miguel Cabrera's trainer tweeted this photo: Cabby's looking lean (and absolutely jacked). Obviously there will be quite the learning curve over at 3B, but having him play there routinely - like 2-4 times a week should be great at preparing him for Victor Martinez's return as the full-time DH. GoWings, I like your line-up - but I project mine like this: Jackson - CF Boesch - RF Cabrera - 3B/DH Fielder - 1B Young - LF/DH Avila - C Peralta - SS Santiago - 2B Then the 9 spot rotating between Inge (3B), Kelly / Raburn / Dirks (LF) depending on who is DHing that day. And as greedy as it may be, this move does leave the Tigers open to sign someone with little pop but high OBP like Juan Pierre to play LF while Young DHs. That said, I still think Cabrera will be spending a lot of time as the DH while he transitions into the 3B role and platoons with Inge.

Howard. Without a shadow of a doubt.

Venezuelan sporting outlet, Líder has the following: "I will return to third base," adding that Cabrera was not surprised by the signing. "It was something we were talking from the fan fest. Return to third base - that is my natural position. Fielder's arrival will benefit us."

MLB.com is reporting that Cabrera will likely DH with Victor out, but I'd be happy to see Cabrera move to 3B. He'll need to get in better shape, of course, but I think it'd be a waste to DH him. Let's not forget that the Tigers were already toying with this - having him field 3B last year in the event of a World Series birth. Additionally, his splits show him batting much better when he plays the field than when he doesn't. So much for thinking Derrek Lee would be good. Leave it to Dombrowski to blow us all away. Illitch is motivated for a Tigers World Series and not even the biggest doubter can say that now. If they do hold on to both Cabrera and Martinez, you're looking at the best 3-4-5 in baseball and someone like Young - who often hit 2nd and 3rd - batting 7th or 8th.

!!!!!!!! 9 years / $ 215 million to wear the Olde English D.

Agreed. That might be the most bad ass song of all time.

I love Journey and Don't Stop Believin'. Especially the South Detroit part. That aside, I think they only play the chorus from 'All I Do is Win' and then go into 'The Good Ol' Hockey Game'.

I think the most attractive free agent option for DH has got to be Derrek Lee at this point. He had a rocky year last season bouncing between the AL and NL, but was good for 19 HR / 59 RBI despite having a terrible time in Baltimore. He's a career .281 hitter and could provide the pop and offense that we'd miss if we signed someone like Damon. I agree that I'd rather have Young ahead of Cabrera than behind and am really fine with either he or Boesch hitting in the 2 or 3 spot. As long as one of them gets on base so Cabrera can do what he does. Going: Jackson Young / Boesch Boesch / Young Cabrera Lee Avila Peralta etc etc Scares me a lot less than some of the other possibilities out there. Maybe at this point, even Cespedes. I've heard similar things about him not being ready and I'd hate to have our big signing not make an impact until half-way through the year. That said, they should still sign him. ... Buster Olney just posted SPECULATION (his caps) from a baseball VP that the Tigers and Prince Fielder could make a 1-year deal happen, since Prince apparently hasn't quite found what he's looking for on the market yet. Obviously this is super far-fetched, but they go on to talk about how the Tigers could offer him a boat-load of cash since they get as much as 75% of Victor's contract back in insurance. I'd be surprised for a million different reasons if the two sides could agree on anything, but damn that would be cool.

Oswalt has informed the Tigers that he is not interested, per Danny Knobler. Knobler also reports that the Tigers are (obviously/understandably) underwhelmed with the market for replacement of Victor Martinez. Interestingly, however, he does contradict Morosi's reports - saying that the Tigers are not all that interested in Johnny Damon and are more so interested in the likes of Matsui or Ibanez. Personally, I'm not thrilled with any of the options. I would choose Derek Lee over any of the above if I absolutely had to, but I wouldn't rush out to overpay him. He also reports that the Garza-to-Detroit deal is a real longshot. At this point, I'd be fine with Jacob Turner rounding out the rotation, though he likely won't provide us the innings that you like to get out of a 5 spot guy - it'd be a nice introduction to the show for him. Going into this season, I thought a bat would be their biggest necessity and that fact has only been magnified by the absence of Victor. There isn't anyone from within the organization that can fill that role unless they are packaged up and sent elsewhere. What does our opening day line-up even look like at this point? Jackson Boesch Young Cabrera Avila Peralta Santiago Inge Laird ? Yikes.

I don't think Peralta, Avila, or Young is going to convince anyone to pitch to Cabrera. I would have really preferred Pena to anyone else on the market, but he's a Ray now.

According to Bless You Boys – Jon Morosi reports that the Tigers are showing interest in Johnny Damon and are 'on the fringe' of talks with Roy Oswalt. I would really hope to see more production out of our DH than I think Damon could provide, given what he did in 2010. That said, leadership and base running are pluses for him. I worry, though, that his signing still doesn't protect Cabrera unless they go Damon, Jackson, Boesch and slide Young down to bat behind Cabrera. Even still, he's not as dangerous as Victor Martinez. Sigh.

Lightning bug?

What's up with the Wings lid?

Switch St. Louis and Chicago and I'm with you. The Blues have (obviously) been good, but I'm at all not convinced they'll keep up the pace throughout the rest of the season.

I think I'd be pretty surprised to see Oates don a sweater for the game. It'd be really great if Fischer could get even so much as a shift.

The Winter Classic winners from '08 - '10 also lost in the Stanley Cup Finals the years they won the WC.

I was disappointed to read that. Amadio has been great as a leader on the team and is the most active Griffin in the community. Business is business, though.

Yeah, his attempts to get out of the way sort of turned it into a stomp. Side note, that's ******* gnarly looking.

Full article on ESPN

I was going to say this. The drive across isn't bad really, just over 2 hours from Grand Rapids if the weather co-operates.

I don't see anything wrong with Kane's goal as it's defined in the rulebooks. That said, maybe it's time to re-word those things once and for all to get the language as clear as possible. Like was said previously, it's not like it's an indefensible move - Backstrom just blew it.

Today I crafted my 'perfect world' scenario and it plays out like this: Sign Yoenis Cespedes and put him in LF where Delmon Young would play. Move Delmon to DH and keep him in his spot in the order. Then (begin fantasy), trade Drew Smyly, Avisial Garcia, and whoever else to the rebuilding Cubs for Matt Garza and Alfonso Soriano. Garza would bolster the rotation in a major way and Soriano - who has plenty of 2B experience in his career - can protect Cabrera in the line-up without creating a logjam if Victor Martinez can return this season. Obviously, Soriano is not the 2B of old and has been playing OF for many years, but he's certainly better all-around than anyone who would play the position regularly. It will also lessen the need for a bat at 3B. The only issue with Soriano is that it's feast or famine. His BA and OBP were low (.244 / .289), but he also hit 26 doubles, 27 home runs, and batted in 88 runs on a team that was, for lack of a better term, terrible. I know it's a total pipe dream but I'd love the Tigers to field this on Opening Day: CF Jackson LF Boesch DH Young 1B Cabrera 2B Soriano SS Peralta C Avila RF Cespedes 3B Inge Depending on numbers, Cespedes could also lead off and the Tigers could bat Jackson 9th to roll the order over. and our rotation would be Verlander Fister Garza Scherzer Porcello Just hand over that AL Central title.