Nice article by Wojo on Percival, Tigers chances
Posted by: Leelanau Sports Guy on 
Mar 3rd, 2005 | 
Filed under: Leland Comets
Percival’s words at an early stage might make you believe in Tigers
Detroit News article by Bob Wojnowski
You can’t believe a thing you hear coming out of Florida and Arizona this time of year. Not a thing.
Steroids denials? Don’t buy ‘em.
Prospects look great? Be suspicious.
The Tigers are contenders? Uh … well … hmm.
OK, you know the quick answer. Everyone knows the quick answer, including general manager Dave Dombrowski and manager Alan Trammell, who steadfastly decline to get giddy. The quick answer is no. The starting pitching isn’t good enough. The defense is shaky. The team lost 119 games two years ago. Impossible.
Fair enough. As the roster looks today, as the exhibition season begins, the Tigers aren’t favorites in the A.L Central. But if you inspect closer, and listen to the feisty new ace closer, you’re permitted to think they have a shot.
My view: I am glad this guy is a Tiger. As important as it was to get Maggs, Percival is going to be the key to the Tigers season. If he still has it and judging by last year he does, then the Tigers can look to improve on their record of last year and possibly compete in the Central. Wojo points out the Tigers bad showings in blown save opportunities and one run games and how Percival and the rest of the revamped bullpen can help in this area. I believe they will compete in the Central this season and have an outside chance of winning it. It will start with the bullpen. All good playoff teams have a bullpen that shuts down hitters and holds on to leads. Let’s hope Percival can pull it off for a couple of more years…
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March 4th, 2005 at 11:47 am
Yes, the bullpen is improved, but I look at a couple other Tigers as bigger keys. Percival was a great addition, Farnsworth helped shore up the middle relief and having Urbina as a set up man is a nice luxury. However, and I commented on it before at Detroit Sports Central, that to me the bigger keys are Inge and Infante. If either of those guys falter, who do they have? There is no one else I see in the organization that can play 2B or 3B, period. At least with the bullpen there seems to be more arms, better arms, etc. than last year. Percival’s addition definetly took care of the bullpen question mark, but if Infante and Inge don’t build on what they did last year and fail there are no answers for that. Later.
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