Lineup:
1. Grossman - RF
2. Schoop - 1B
3. Candy - 3B
4. Baez - SS
5. Miggy - DH
6. Baddoo - LF
7. Barnhart - C
8. Greene - CF
9. Clemens - 2B
It appears the Detroit Tigers aren’t going to add to the starting lineup with another big splash in Free Agency. They took care of two glaring needs before the lockout when they acquired Tucker Barnhart from the Cincinnati Reds and signing Javier Baez to a 6-year deal. There’s a lot of speculation around the top-2 prospects in the Tigers system, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson. It is my belief that Greene will get the immediate call and will start the season with the big club in centerfield. Recently, Craig Monroe put out his Opening Day prediction and it included Spencer Torkelson at first base, I don’t believe this will be the case. I’m likely going to take some heat here for this take, but I think that Torkelson will start the season in Triple-A Toledo. I don’t think he will be there long, just enough time for him to find his groove and then he’ll get the call to come to Detroit. For the start of the season, in place of Torkelson, I believe Kody Clemens will get his first shot at the big leagues at second base while Schoop plays first. While there are other options within the system (W. Castro, I. Paredes, H. Castro, Z. Short), Clemens has had 4 seasons to get ready for his shot in Detroit and I think this would be the perfect opportunity for Detroit to bring him north and see if he has what it takes to play with the big boys. As the veteran of the rotation, Eduardo Rodriguez will take the mound over Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal. While both Mize and Skubal had bright spots last season, they’ll be the No. 2 and No. 3 starters in the rotation.