Detroit Tigers

Miguel Cabrera should not be playing baseball in 2011. Let's be clear about that right away. The fact that we are even discussing this is sad.

Cabrera has a problem—a really, really serious problem. If he does not get this figured out and straightened out, it won't matter how many home runs he hits or how many runs he drives in. It won't matter because Cabrera the man will be dead.

Let's get one thing out of the way right now.

Miguel Cabrera is no Bobby Layne.

Layne, the liquor-guzzling quarterback for the Lions in the 1950s, was a drunk, but a happy, functioning drunk.

Layne's drinking binges were legendary and almost romanticized.

Last season, Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera was one of baseball's best stories. After blowing more than three times the legal limit after a domestic dispute with his wife in October, Cabrera underwent treatment, cleaned up his act and had a career season, finishing second in the AL MVP voting behind Josh Hamilton.

He is the Tigers' mystery man. His uniform ought to be covered with question marks, like The Riddler.

Another spring training is on the horizon. The thought of it alone should warm those cockles in your heart.

But it's becoming a ritual every February around Tigertown.

Every year around this time, we ask: Will Carlos Guillen be healthy? How much can he play? WHERE will he play?

It was one of the most famous newspaper leads in sports history.

It came the day after Don Larsen pitched his perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

“The imperfect man,” New York columnist Dick Young wrote, “pitched the perfect game.”

It was true, for sure; Larsen was an average pitcher who had the day of his life.

But so was it true for many of the pitchers in MLB history who, for one game, were unblemished.

The Detroit Tigers begin the 2011 season with the goal to win a championship. However, if they want to be able to claim their first World Series title since 1984, they have some work to do.

On January 24th the Detroit Tigers traded Armando Galarraga to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a couple of low level prospects.  This is a risky move that officially ends the Tigers' rollercoaster relationship with the occasionally talented, soft-throwing righthander best known as the poster boy for good sportsmanship following Jim Joyce's blown call on his almost perfect game last summer. 

The Boston Red Sox have been one of the most active teams in the Hot Stove Season of 2010-11, with the signing of free agent Carl Crawford and the trade for Adrian Gonzalez. Crawford will give the team a new legitimate base stealing threat and a bookend left fielder who can cover a lot of ground, while Gonzalez provides a much needed lefty power bat and is a gold glove fielder at first. 

The goal for every fantasy manager is to find the proverbial diamond in the rough, a player who provides early round production despite being taken in the latter part of the draft. These players are not easy to find due to the unpredictable nature of the sport, however it is important to use some late round picks on possible breakout players to help fortify your lineup. 

Since Jim Leyland took over as the manager of the Detroit Tigers in 2006, the Tigers have followed a disturbing trend in every season except 2008 (when the heavily favored Tigers finished in last place and were never in contention).  Each season the Tigers started hot, only to fade quickly after the All-Star break.

A team collapse once or twice happens, but four out of five years definitely warrants concern among the fan base.