Robbie Rotten

 The Tigers are trying a new approach this year, it seems. And said approach seems to be 'flood the roster with dozens of young callups from the last 3 years with a few veterans, and just take a picture on the last day of camp and just go with that as the lineup'

Because my gosh, the Tigers have somehow bungled a gradual rollout of their farm system. Instead of just letting a prospect loose and seeing if they work, they've had to just bring up several young players at a time and test them out in tandem. This wouldn't be happening if the Tigers had strong players left from previous regimes- next to Miguel Cabrera, the longest-standing veteran might be Niko Goodrum or JaCoby Jones. But you have young people like Willi Castro, Harold Castro and now Renato Nunez fighting for Goodrum's old spot. And then Victor Reyes, Daz Cameron, Jorge Bonifacio and Christin Stewart are fighting with Nomar Mazara for an outfield spot. 

And it's not like most of these people can be brought down, because a lot of them are running out of options to begin with. Plus, most of them haven't entirely made a strong case for a position, hence why so many of them are running around looking for roster spots. And a lot of them are good [Harold Castro, Victor Reyes and Willi Castro all have potential], but none of them have really had moments that scream 'okay, they're the starter for 5 years' yet. So we just have this...scramble for a bit.

And it must be alarming to some of the veterans who have starting spots hammered down, like Robbie Grossman, whose A's numbers will likely keep his job sustained until at least July. Same with Jonathan Schoop, brought back as a goodwill re-signing for his superior work last year. Jeimer Candelario is looking at another strong season after he FINALLY figured out how to hit for average.

And the rotation, despite some additional youth shakiness, also seems pretty set in stone, especially considering that Spencer Turnbull's injury opens the door for Jose Urena. Mize and Skubal have rotation spots, but really need to earn them this year, especially Mize, who's yet to really show any of his minor league promise. Boyd has an ace job until the inevitable midseason trade, and Fulmer has a rotation job until he craps out again and joins Matt Harvey in Baltimore. 

And yet despite all the tumult, this Tigers team might be better than last year's. I still expect them to finish in last, but not quite as painfully. Or maybe they lose 100 games again, I dunno.

Coming Tonight- Hey, wanna see the guy that might have the top rotation spot in Pittsburgh? What do you mean 'no'?