From ESPN:

Verlander is the biggest reason the Tigers have a chance to win the American League Central. They have potentially overwhelming pitching with Verlander at the top of the rotation followed by Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer, and a bullpen loaded with power arms, led by new closer Jose Valverde and a healthy Joel Zumaya. Tigers catcher Alex Avila said of the new, and old, arms in camp, "I've had to add more padding for my mitt.'"

Verlander is the leader of the staff in every way, especially with his work ethic. It is a risk giving any pitcher a five-year contract, but that risk will be less with Verlander than perhaps any pitcher in the game. "I didn't learn anything watching him pitch last year because he throws 100 mph in the ninth inning, and I'm not capable of doing that," Porcello said. "But I learned so much just watching him work, and his preparation every day."

Verlander is so prepared, so committed to his craft, he lives most of the winter in Lakeland, Fla., spring home of the Tigers, because it allows him to work out at their facility with trainers and strength and conditioning coaches. "I didn't want to just go to a gym by myself and work out the wrong way," he said. "This way, I know I'd be working out the right way." Now, partly because of Verlander, roughly 50 players in the Tigers organization work out in Lakeland starting Jan. 1.

Link

He's a 1B by trade, but obviously that position is spoken for, so the Tigers have him working out in LF to get a feel for the position. But what about 3B? Brandon Inge's a free agent after next year, and if he can't repeat with the bat or his knees don't heal properly, we might have to part with a fan favorite and have no one to replace him.

I was under the impression Strieby had a decent glove, and if that's too big a challenge for him, then why not move Cabrera back to third?

From our "sister blog", "Dawgs by Nature" (Link)

"We’re going to formally put in a request for a trade," Rickert said. "He will not set foot in that facility again. If they had offered even something like $2.5 million per season we could have worked with them, but to me this offer is indefensible."

Rickert said that team executive Dawn Aponte told him the offer was final and would not change, and that new team president Mike Holmgren was in agreement with her on the offer.

"Dawn said this was it, this was their offer," Rickert said. "She said it would be 1.4 today, 1.4 in March and 1.4 in August."

Rickert said he asked the team if they needed or wanted more time to consider things, especially with Holmgren just coming on the job, and that he told Aponte if she did not change the offer or request more time to negotiate by 5 p.m. Wednesday, he was going to take the unusual tactic of making the offer public.

"I didn’t feel like we had any other choice than to let the Browns fans know exactly what was going on," Rickert said, "and let them know why Josh was preparing to leave."

Link, NFL.com

From a draft site I occasionally check (WalterFootball.com):

I bet you never thought in the past month that Notre Dame junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen is one of the most underappreciated quarterback prospects in the history of the NFL Draft. But after reading this blog entry, you just might change your mind.

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