Tigers Without Identities

Miguel Cabrera. Justin Verlander. Victor Martinez. Three guys that helped the Detroit Tigers make a World Series in 2012, and helped cement a near-dynasty over a five-year period in Detroit.

One's injured. One's in Houston. And one hasn't been playing especially well since 2014. What's more, the people they thought that the new era of Detroit baseball would be resting on, like Jose Iglesias, Michael Fulmer, Jordan Zimmermann and James McCann, haven't even come close to delivering, especially this season. Even if the team's in third, they're still ineffective, and trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.

There have been some minor breakthroughs- Jeimer Candelario has been a fixture at third, while journeyman utility player John Hicks is covering mighty well for Cabrera. Meanwhile, Matt Boyd is beginning to ascend to ace status in Michael Fulmer's place, while Niko Goodrum and JaCoby Jones are finally beginning to hit in the majors. Things are far from perfect, but the mid-2010s team is beginning to make way to the team that will make up the better part of the next decade. And this, of course, means learning to live without Miguel Cabrera, which will unfortunately have to happen soon.

Fortunately, the bridge between both of these teams is Nicholas Castellanos, who came up as a strong third baseman in the playoff teams, then got switched to the outfield, watched his bat finally come alive, and became one of the few highlights of the lineup. He's doing pretty well so far, and may be relied upon to carry the team in the absence of Candelario and Cabrera, which he can certainly do.

It's not looking great in Detroit, but it's not horrible either.

Coming Tonight: One of the new outfielders in Milwaukee who've been doing pretty well so far this year.