If you want to be sold on the 2022 Tigers as a potential playoff team, if you want to believe in a remake of 2006, take it from MLB insider Jon Morosi who was asked Tuesday on the Karsch & Anderson Show whether it's fantasy talk to think about the Tigers returning to the postseason for the first time since 2014.
"No, I think it’s real talk," Morosi said. "It really is."
Six teams from each league will make the playoffs under baseball's new CBA, including three wild cards. The Tigers won games at a near-playoff pace for the final five months of last season and play in a division that, in Morosi's view, is full of question marks. If Detroit can survive a tough schedule in April and May, it should be a team to watch this summer.
The White Sox are the obvious favorite in the AL Central, but they also just lost reigning Cy Young finalist Lance Lynn for at least the first month of the season due to knee surgery. The Indians could be on the brink of a major rebuild; All-Stars Shane Bieber and Jose Ramirez are trade candidates this summer if the club gets off to a slow start. The Twins won fewer games last season than the Tigers, who are probably a year or two ahead of the Royals.
The loss of rising star Riley Greene is a setback for Detroit, whose rotation will also be without free agent acquisition Michael Pineda to start the season, but "the Tigers right now have fewer questions than almost any other team in the division," said Morosi. "And that’s what this is about."
"Yes, to some extent you think about the Red Sox and Yankees and Blue Jays when it comes to the wild card conversation, but you gotta be better than the teams in your division," Morosi said. "And if you can win one of the wild cards and Cleveland goes into a dramatic rebuild or Minnesota doesn’t click and suddenly there’s all this drama about, ‘Will they trade Correa?’ -- there are a lot of questions about the other teams in this division.
"If everything clicks for the White Sox, they’re still the best team, they’re still the most talented team. But there are many scenarios that exist where the Tigers wind up in the playoffs, and I believe that wholeheartedly because their young pitching is ready."
To Morosi's point, Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize both looked terrific this spring, Skubal in particular. Matt Manning learned some valuable lessons in the bigs last season. And veteran Eduardo Rodriguez has arrived to lead the rotation, along with two-time Gold Glove catcher Tucker Barnhart. Detroit's last Gold Glover behind the plate was a Hall of Famer by the name of Pudge in 2006 and 2007.
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"There are some similarities (to the 2006 team), there really are," said Morosi, also pointing out a young Curtis Granderson won the starting job in center field that spring much like Greene had this spring prior to his foot injury. "And you think about how quickly a team can dramatically change, just look at the rotation. If you compare the way their rotation looked a year ago to the way it looks right now, with Rodriguez and then the three young starters who are all ready to flourish, none of that was true a year ago.
"You also have in Barnhart someone who has been the catcher of a playoff team who the Tigers really like from a receiving and game-calling perspective. Barnhart is someone that pitchers are really drawn to. They trust him, they gravitate to him, he’s able to manage them through challenging innings. He had a very talented staff in Cincinnati with some incredible young arms. He gets it. He understands what it takes to make the playoffs.
"And then you have a manager in A.J. Hinch who took an (Astros) team (to the playoffs) in 2015 who might have been a year ahead of schedule with some young position players. It is not hard at all for me to talk yourself into believing this is a playoff team. It’s easy, it really is easy."
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Have we mentioned the arrival of two-time All-Star shortstop Javier Baez? How about former first overall pick Spencer Torkelson? And to help cover for Greene, the Tigers just traded for an outfielder who's garnered MVP votes two of the last three seasons in Austin Meadows, which "really conveys that this team is serious about winning," said Morosi.
"It’s even to the point where they’re saying, 'Listen, we’re not so much worried about how this roster looks when Riley Greene is ready. We’ll figure that out in May or June whenever he’s ready to play,'" said Morosi. "They just want to have the best start they possibly can."
And that might be the toughest task for the Tigers, who play nine of their first 13 games and 19 of their first 40 against playoff teams from last season. Then again, they measured up to those teams last season as well as almost any club in the majors. If the Tigers emerge from April near .500, "I think you're fine, especially in this division, (because) I don’t see any team as being a 98-win juggernaut," said Morosi. "I don't see any team that really scares me."
"So for me, the prescription for the Tigers is, just get through this month," said Morosi. "Certainly the Greene injury was devastating because I thought he was their best player in camp. He was that good this spring. But just keep this team near .500, keep the pitching healthy, you’ll get Greene at some point and the division is not going to run away from you.
"My message to Tigers fans is, 'Be optimistic, but also be patient.' If they start out a little slow, as long as they’re around .500 by late April, early May, they’re going to be fine because this team is going to get better and better as the months go forward."