Detroit Tigers

Phineas Taylor Barnum was a born showman. He was placed on this Earth to sell tickets, fill houses and count receipts. He was the Columbus of show business—P.T. discovered acts and freaks—sometimes they were one and the same.

Barnum had a wonderfully simple explanation of how he was able to become a millionaire with traveling shows that featured lizard boys, bearded women and the “Feejee” mermaid (a creature with the head of a monkey and the tail of a fish).

How did ole P.T. do it?

Late last week the Tigers re-signed third baseman Brandon Inge to a two-year, $11.5 million contract (with an option for 2013).  He showed significant power in 2009, but the numbers just weren’t there last season:

Cross another would-be free agent off the list.

Sometimes, heck, most of the time it's hard to believe that the same Miguel Cabrera, the eight-year veteran who has 247 home runs, nearly 900 RBI, and a career batting average of .313 is only 27 years old!

By all accounts, however, Cabrera had one of the finest seasons of his career in 2010, and definitely one more than worthy of Bleacher Report Featured Columnist's Silver Slugger Award at first base.

Tigers RHP Armando Galarraga missed out on a perfect game against the Indians on June 2, 2010 due to a blown call by first-base umpire Jim Joyce with two outs in the ninth inning. Galarraga was perfect through 8.2 innings and coaxed a grounder to first base out of nine-spot hitter Jason Donald. The throw from Miguel Cabrera was on time, but Joyce missed the call and ruled Donald safe.

After all these years we still don’t know what makes an MVP in Major League Baseball. Is it the player with the best stats, the player that does the best on a playoff team or the player that is most indispensable to his team.

Well Cabrera has options one and three sewn up.

Some will still make the case for a Josh Hamilton, Robinson Cano, Jose Bautista, or even Paul Konerko, but none have Cabrera’s stats or are more important to their respective teams.

Carlos Guillen has been one of the finest Tigers in recent memory.

A great teammate, a perfect gentleman.

They've moved Guillen all around the field, the Tigers have, both to create space for other players, and to try to protect his body. The former has worked much better than the latter.

The switch-hitting Guillen isn't all that effective from the right side of the plate, but he still gives you more flexibility because of batting righty and lefty.

It’s hard to call Scott Sizemore anything but a disappointment in 2010.  Thought to be a sleeper second baseman entering the season, he lasted until mid-May before being sent back to Triple-A.

He was solid while there, hitting .298 with nine HR, 37 RBI, 49 R, and two SB.  With injuries piling up in Detroit, the Tigers ultimately brought him back to the majors, though they were still hesitant to depend on him.

About a month ago, I wrote a prediction for next year's Detroit Tigers starting lineup. But my how things change. 

The Tigers are still out of the playoff picture, but are currently playing with no distractions and no worries about choking down the stretch. 

It makes me chuckle.  Really, it does.  I sit back and listen to people, both fans and broadcasters whine and moan about instant replay in baseball.