Fantasy Preview: Detroit Tigers

To get you ready for draft season, Fantasy FanHouse will be running through each major league team, covering lineups, rotations and sleeper/busts.

Meet the ...
"Playmakers." And I don't mean in game either. I mean, sitting around in the offseason, and someone in the front office said, "we need to make a damn play". And that's how the Tigers ended up shipping uber-stud Cameron Maybin to the Marlins for already-stud Miguel Cabrera and overrated sidewinder Dontrelle Willis. Of course, the Tigers make plays in games too -- Boston aside, this might be the most fantasy friendly roster in the bigs. The lineup is straight up stacked and the rotation combines a lot of youthful upside with some solid consistency. Oh, and some chicken. Giddeyup.

The Breakout
There's no one in either the starting lineup or the five man rotation that can be considered under the radar enough to really be called a breakout. However, Jeremy Bonderman is not getting a ton of love this year. That is probably because of his 2-8, 7.00 plus ERA second half of an egg that he laid last year. He got shut down early, pitching only 174 innings and ended up with a 5.01 ERA on the season. Bear in mind though, that Bonderman was coming off a 214 IP season in 2006 and spent the entire portion of the season that he struggled fighting through injury. Biggity, biggity bounce back.

The Bust
Magglio Ordonez is going too high in most fantasy drafts this year. That's because he hit a ridiculous AL leading .363 last year while smacking 28 taters. He will still be good this year, but if you draft him expecting last year's totals, or pay the auction price he will command, then you are going to be at the very least disappointed. Maggs' health used to be an issue, so that's a small risk, but more than anything it will be just too hard for him to repeat 2007.

The Lineup
Curtis Granderson, CF
Placido Polanco, 2B
Magglio Ordonez, RF
Miguel Cabrera, 3B
Gary Sheffield, DH
Carlos Guillen, 1B
Edgar Renteria, SS
Ivan Rodriguez, C
Jacque Jones, LF

The Rotation
Justin Verlander, RH
Kenny Rogers, LH
Jeremy Bonderman, RH
Nate Robertson, LH
Dontrelle Willis, LH

The Bullpen
Todd Jones, CL
Fernando Rodney, SU
Jason Grilli, SU

The Skinny
Tons of people to draft here. I actually think Granderson is overrated as well, just because his hit rate was high last year and he absolutely stinks against left handers. Polanco is a late round two-bag addition at best. Miggy Cabs is a first rounder. Verlander you can get in the mid rounds and he's worth the investment. Expect Guillen to have another very good year, and playing first will help in terms of wear and tear, but he won't lose the SS eligibility for fantasy purposes. Renteria is a nice upper middle SS option but beware his AL struggles. Sheff is a decent later round pick but don't spend anything too early on him. Big Todd Jones is just too risky for my tastes. I wouldn't touch Rogers or D-Train, but I've never liked Willis all that much and Roasters is just too old.