After the conclusion of the 2011 season, Detroit Tiger fans were excited about having made another playoff run and hoping that 2012 would bring a World Series back to the city.
But now, the World Series seems a little bit more out of reach. The designated hitter (DH) for the Tigers, Victor Martinez, tore his ACL during an offseason workout and will likely miss the entire 2012 season.
After not really filling in the gaps that the Tigers have in the third base, second base and starting pitcher roles, they also have to find a new DH. With only a couple of months until Opening Day, it seems almost impossible to fill these holes.
Brandon Inge will most likely be the everyday third base. Ramon Santiago and Ryan Raburn will share the duties at second base. It’s not a great situation, offensively and defensively at these positions.
When it came to offense, Martinez was the go to man. It would be a clutch situation and Martinez would get a hit. He was the pop the offense needed to get going in some games. His .330 batting average and 103 RBIs will be hard to replace. Now, the organization has to try to find someone who can bring that to the Tigers offense for only one season.
There are very few players out there that can product those kinds of numbers hitting behind Miguel Cabrera. Some players the Tigers could consider as a one-year replacement are Carlos Pena, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Carlos Lee.
It’s still not 100 percent that Martinez will be missing the entire season. It hasn’t been announced by the organization, but with the information the Tigers have provided we can come to the conclusion that he is going to have to have surgery and will miss the season.
I’m just hoping that no matter what happens between now and Opening Day, the Tigers are able to make a playoff run again because there is nothing like playoff baseball and the boys in Detroit deserve it.
