It was only a little over a week ago that the city of Detroit held its collective breath when word got out that Tigers slugger Victor Martinez would miss the majority of the 2012 season because of a torn ACL in his left knee.
So much for repeating as AL Central Division champions.
Frantically, many around town began to inquire about Johnny Damon, Vlad Guerreo and Hideki Matsui. But alas, it all seemed to be in vain. Martinez was one of the Tigers’ best hitters in 2011, batting .330 with 12 home runs and 103 RBI. He contributed to the third-best offense in the majors and there just wasn’t anyone available who would be able to fill the void.
But then, in an instant, everything changed. Tigers owner Mike Ilitch dug deep into his pockets—really deep—to pull off the second grandest free-agent signing of the offseason by inking Prince Fielder to a nine-year, $214 million contract.
Now, the sting of Martinez’s absence has been alleviated by the potential of one of the greatest one-two punches in MLB history with Fielder and Miguel Cabrerea. The slash lines that these two men put up last year is amazing. Cabrera hit .344/.448/.586; Fielder was at .299/.415/.566. To put that is perspective of just how deadly these two players will be in the same lineup, the last set of teammates in which each hitter had a batting average of .299 or higher, an on-base percentage in the .400s, a slugging percentage of .550 or better and an OPS of .980 or more, you have to go back a decade to Larry Walker (.338/.421/.602/1.023) and Todd Helton (.329/.429/.577/1.006) of the Colorado Rockies.
In other words, the Los Angeles Angels can brag all they want about signing the greatest player in the game today in Albert Pujols, but it will be the Tigers who have the greatest one-two punch heading into next season.
photo credit: Steve Paluch
