27-year old righty swinging 1B Miguel Cabrera and 32-year old righty reliever Jose Valverde have made the A.L. All-Star Game. Cabrera will be making his fifth All-Star Game appearance of his young career. Cabrera has played in 77 games for the Tigers so far this season and he is 98 of 289 (.339 avg, 1.048 OPS) with 59 runs scored, 20 homers and 69 RBIs. Look for Cabrera to be a finalist for the A.L. MVP Award at the end of this season. Jose Valverde has been unhittable this season. He has pitched in 35 games (0 starts) for the Tigers this year and he is 1-1 with 18 saves, a 0.51 ERA and a 0.71 WHIP. Valverde has only given up 11 hits in 35 innings so far this season as he has been a true lockdown closer. This will be Valverde’s second All-Star appearance.

34-year old righty swinging 2B Placido Polanco finished 25th in the MVP voting for the A.L. league right ahead of Felix Hernandez and Rangers’ 30/30 man Ian Kinsler! It had to be the writers from Motown that gave him those votes. He played in 153 games for the Tigers last season and he was 176 for 618 (.285 avg, .727 OPS) with 82 runs scored, 10 homers, 72 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. It’s a shame that it was probably Polanco’s last season in Detroit as they will miss his steady bat and outstanding glove at 2B in 2010 and beyond. Polanco has now played in 1,465 games in his 12 years in the majors and he is 1,671 for 5,511 (.303 avg, .761 OPS) with 826 runs scored, 90 homers, 579 RBIs and 71 stolen bases.

26-year old righty swinging 1B Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers finished 4th in the MVP voting of the A.L. Cabrera played in 160 games for the Tigers last season and he was 198 for 611 (.324 avg, .942 OPS) with 96 runs scored, 34 homers, 103 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. The thing about Cabrera that is downright scary for opposing pitchers is that he is nowhere near his prime yet. He has played in 1,040 games in his major league career so far and he is 1,220 for 3,921 (.311 avg, .925 OPS) with 630 runs scored, 209 homers, 753 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. There have been rumors that the Tigers might be willing to part with Cabrera over the winter in a trade to relieve them of his salary but you heard it here first…….that would be idiotic!

Jim Leyland somehow got some votes for this award even though his team imploded in September missing out on the playoffs in game #163 vs. the evil Twins. Leyland led the Tigers to a 86-77 record (52.8%) last season. He has now compiled a 343-306 record (52.9%) during the regular season in four years with the Tigers. There were whispers that the Tigers were going to can Leyland after the year but in the end they decided to keep him and that was a good move.

21-year old righty starting pitcher Rick Porcello finished third in the voting for the Rookie of the Year Award in the A.L. behind Andrew Bailey and Elvis Andrus. Porcello pitched in 31 games (all starts) for the Tigers last season and he was 14-9 with a 3.96 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Porcello will likely team with Justin Verlander at the top of the Tigers rotation for a long time giving them a great 1-2 punch.