Man, it’s been a while since I wrote.  Sadly, I really have no excuse other then I’ve gotten out of the habit.  Work has slowed down a bit this past month and it almost seemed like I was more busy enjoying the season then I felt like writing about it.  This year I went to six Tiger games (a record for me, I live 45 minutes away from the park so it’s not easy especially with having my son half the time) and I went to four other ballparks (three Minor League parks and I went to White Sox game) so I got my share of baseball.  I’m happy about that but I also want to keep this site going so bear with me.

2011 was a good year for Tiger fans and I definitely enjoyed it.  The second crash never happened and the team thrived in the final couple of months.  Of course that appeared to take a toll and the Tigers looked spent going into the playoffs.  I felt tired just watching Alex Avila up there swinging.  The playoffs also pointed to some fundamental flaws that the Tigers had.  I also wasn’t happy about some of Jim Leyland’s stategies but that’s nothing new.  We will always agree to disagree there.

At this point, I’m just riding out the season taking in as much baseball as I can that’s left.  I’m glad this series will go at least six games.  I’m also looking forward to an off-season that should see the Tigers make some plays in the free agent market once again.  Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez’s contracts come off the books and that should free up enough money for the Tigers to make some moves.  They also had five home playoffs games so hopefully some of that money will be put back into the team.  i don’t think the Tigers will make a big splash with another big name but they definitely need to fill in some of the gaps that exist in some of the more unglamorous parts of the roster.  I know a backup catcher and middle relief doesn’t get a lot of attention but if we had some both this year we might be playing in the World Series right now.

I’ve talked about him before, and while I know he had a good post-season, but I hope the Tigers don’t sign Delmon Young to a long term deal.  He has one more year of arbitration eligibility and while I wouldn’t mind seeing him roaming left field next year, I don’t see him as a long term solution.  In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s the one guy that actually ends up at the arbitration table during Dave Dombrowski’s tenure but we’ll have to wait and see there.

It feels like yesterday that the Tigers were opening their season.  Yes, I’m getting old and that changes your perspective on time but it just seemed like this season flew by.  Lets hope that the offseason goes by just as fast.  It’s already weird not having the Tigers around and it’ll feel equally weird not having baseball in general to listen to.  I do have some things planned for the offseason so I do hope you stop by or at least subscribe to my feed.  Or you can find on Facebook (and yes, I plan on doing more with that as well).

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