Spring Training Opens

The gates of Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland have opened and, on day one of spring training, Skipper Leyland's plate is full.

He'll have to get by without Victor Martinez, who tore his ACL in January while working out and is lost for the season.

To replace V-Mart's .330 and 103 RBIs, the Tigers, who had kept free agent Prince Fielder at arm's length all winter, signed the ex-Brewer to a nine year deal worth $214 million.

Now THINK, sports fans ...

Before V-Mart's injury,  the Tigers were ready to open the season with second and third base staffed by committee, and question marks at the outfield corners.

Owner Mike Ilitch wants to win a World Series but is also a businessman, and Tiger fans have showed him they will buy tickets and cable TV and support even an ordinary team if it stays in contention. And, again this year, the AL Central is weak and a record not much better than .500 could win it.

Good enough was thus good enough until Martinez was lost. Then, as if by magic, Fielder's $214 million appeared.

The money was there all the time. The owner just didn't want to spend it. He knew that fans would fill Comerica to watch Ryan Raburn play second base on skates, Brandon Inge not hit his weight, and a succession of part time players shuffle in and out of those two positions and the outfield corners.

Spend it he did, though, and Leyland's springtime dilemmas are those any manager would welcome.

Will Cabrera start at first and Fielder DH? Or the opposite?  No one wants to be a full-time DH, and Cabrera's glove skills have improved since he made the move from third to first upon joining the Tigers in 2008. If they split the positions, how much playing time would each get at each? Or does he sacrifice defense for offense by making Cabrera the full-time third baseman? And what about Governor Inge?

As Florida baseball signals the start of another season, the word is that Cabrera will play third, Fielder first, Delmon Young DH, Andy Dirks left field, the healed Brennan Boesch right field, and Hinge has been unhinged unless the absolute horror of horrors becomes reality: the appearance in the box scores of INGE 2B.

The resident managerial genius, one of the game's most respected judges of double-knit talent, actually thinks Hinge can be a major-league second baseman. 

He's not the Governor anymore, like he was when the Tigers were burning their way through AL Central opposition last summer, on the way to 95 wins and a division title. He's now the Tiger equivalent of Newt Gingrich; the guy who makes news for the wrong reasons, even if what he says isn't newsworthy. And no one knows what to do with him.

If the Tigers start Hinge at second, between Cabrera re-learning third and the bulky Fielder at first, opposition strategy changes. Instead of trying to hit it over the wall, hit it to the infield, on the ground.