The Tigers have placed pitcher Roman Colon and shortstop Tony Giarratano on the DL.  Colon is on the 15 day DL as he continues to recover from neck surgery.  Colon is going to miss a huge chunk of the season as he will likely need to spend a whole month in the minors after he’s cleared for rehab.

Tony Giarratano was placed on the 60-day disabled list.  He had right shoulder surgery in the off-season and he’s been very slow to recover from it.  He likely will miss at least half of the 2007 season.

The Tigers have placed Vance Wilson on the 15-day DL with a sore right elbow.  They hope that shutting him down for a couple of weeks will get him back to close to 100%.  In the meantime, look for Ivan Rodriguez to catch almost every game because Mike Rabelo is his backup and he’s had a poor Spring with the bat in his hands.

Lefthanded starting pitcher Kenny Rogers has surgery to remove a blood clot from his left shoulder.  He will miss at least three months of the 2007 season.  Rogers was the leader of the starting rotation as the young Tigers’ starting pitchers looked up to the old man.  He will be missed on the field and in the clubhouse.  This is a major loss to the Tigers and it could hurt them big-time in the 2007 season.

Jim Leyland took charge of the Tigers from Day #1 and he led them to a 95-67 record and a World Series appearance.  Look for the Tigers to do well again this season and they might just win it all as Leyland seems to know which buttons to push to get his team to play all out for him.  In 15 years as a manager Leyland has compiled a 1,162-1,195 record during the regular season.  He has a 27-22 (.551) post season record and he won a World Series Championship in 1997 with the Florida Marlins.  He also has won 3 Division Titles. 

The Tigers have lost Jamie Walker but they got everyone else back.  The fact that Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney dominate lefty batters will lessen the blow of letting Walker leave in free agency.  Soon to be 39 year old righty Todd Jones will be the stopper again this season for the Tigers.  He was 2-6 with 37 saves, a 3.94 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP in 62 games for the Tigers last season.  Batters hit .276 last season against Jones but he minimized the damage by only walking 11 batters in 64 innings.  Jones was also 4 for 4 in save opportunities in the post season for the Tigers.  Look for Jones to keep the job as stopper for one more season before Joel Zumaya takes over the role in 2008.  Jones will save 30+ games again this year for the Tigers.

22 year old flamethrower Joel Zumaya bursted onto the scene as a rookie last season and he dominated the American League.  He was 6-3 with 30 holds, 1 save, a 1.94 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in 62 games last season for the Tigers.  Batters only hit .187 against Zumaya last season and he held them to an amazing .270 slugging %.  Zumaya was equally dominate against both lefty hitters (.183 batting average) and righty hitters (.188 batting average).  The only weakness in Zumaya’s game is that he walks too many batters (42 in 83.1 innings) but maybe that adds to his dominance as he’e effectively wild.  He whiffed an amazing 97 batters in 83.1 innings last season.  Zumaya will be the best set-up man in baseball in 2007 and become the best closer in baseball in 2008.

30 year old righty Fernando Rodney finally put it all together last season as he was 7-4 with 18 holds, 7 saves, a 3.52 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP in 63 games for the Tigers.  Batters only hit .196 against Rodney last season and he whiffed 65 batters in 71.2 innings.  Rodney was equally effective against righties (.192 batting average) and lefties (.202 batting average) last season.  His only weakness was the fact that he walked 34 batters in 71.2 innings, but that’s something he will likely be able to fix.  Look for him to have another good season for the Tigers in 2007.

The Tigers signed 40 year old righty Jose Mesa to handle the early part of the bullpen in games this season.  He was 1-5 with 19 holds, 1 save, a 3.86 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP in 79 games for the Colorado Rockies last season.  Mesa still has a good fastball and he should have one more decent season in him.

26 year old lefty Wilfredo Ledezma will likely be the only lefty in the bullpen for the Tigers this season.  He was 3-3 with 2 holds, a 3.58 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP in 24 games (7 starts) for the Tigers last season.  Look for Ledezma to concentrate on being a reliever this season and look for him to excel in that role as he has good stuff.  Lefty batters hit a weak .241 against him last season so if Leyland only uses him against lefties, look for Ledezma to have the best season of his career.

30 year old righty Jason Grilli was the mop up man last season for the Tigers and it looks like that will be his role again in 2007.  He was 2-3 with 9 holds, a 4.21 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP in 51 games last season for the Tigers.  Look for Grilli to have another season like he did in 2006 as he will likely be pitching in a lot of low pressure situations for the Tigers in 2007.

27 year old Roman Colon is a tease.  He has a great arm but hasn’t gotten much in the way of results.  He was 2-0 with 3 holds, 1 save, a 4.89 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP in 20 games (1 start) for the Tigers last season.  Batters hit .303 against him last season and he gave up 6 homers in 38.2 innings.  Don’t expect much out of Colon in 2007.

21 year old lefty Andrew Miller was rushed to the majors as he only pitched 5 innings in the minors before the Tigers called him up last September.  He was 0-1 with 1 hold, a 6.10 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP in 8 games for the Tigers in 2006.  Miller looked nervous on the mound as he walked 10 batters in 10.1 innings last season, but batters only hit .205 against him. Look for the Tigers to start Miller out in AA or AAA this season and give him a call if he pitches well down there.

25 year old righty Jordan Tata pitched in 8 games for the Tigers last season and he was 0-0 with a 6.14 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP in 2006.  Tata had a solid year in AAA ball as he was 10-6 with a 3.84 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP in 21 starts for the Tigers team in Toledo.  Look for him to get a chance at some point in 2007 for the Tigers.