News for all 4 major sports

Lots of stuff going on in the 4 major sports in Detroit, but the biggest news would probably be the Tigers dodging a bullet like Neo in the Matrix. Max Scherzer accepted a 7 year, $210M offer from the Nationals with a $50M signing bonus. That's $30M/yr, which will actually be spread out as $15M/yr for 14 years. The Tigers were starting pitching rich and needed more depth in the bullpen and in their lineup, and paying Scherzer and ego-stroking contract was not going to get them to the World Series. The Tigers' unbalanced (salary-wise) roster was a problem, and dumping more money on Max certainly wouldn't fix that.

Dave Dombrowski has often said that he believes starting pitching is the key to post-season to success. This is belied by the fact that the bullpen effectively lost the 3 LDS games this year. They weren't too stellar in the LCS last year either. And the offense certainly flagged as well. So are the Tigers better off this year after upgrading every part of their team apart from starting pitching?

If Verlander & Price have a bounce-back years and Sanchez can stay healthy, the starting pitching might actually be better than it was in 2014. The 'pen is better. With Cabrera's health issues I predict another down year for him, but SS, LF & RF were all upgraded (RF upgraded by JD Martinez taking over for Torii Hunter there), the overall defense was upgraded, and I expect Castellanos to improve over his rookie season. CF is a bit of a concern unless Anthony Gose turns out to be a stud and wins the job outright over Rajai Davis, but I'd say the team as constructed is the most complete team Detroit has fielded since they reversed fortunes back in 2006.

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The Wings are on an unbelievable hot streak. Goalie Jimmy Howard went down with a groin injury on January 10th and the Detroit is 4-0 since then. Howard was to be the Wings' only representative in the NHL All Star game, so it's not like he's been dragging them down. Petr Mrazek has filled in capably for the most part, except the win over the Sabres when he let in 3 goals on 7 shots & got pulled after 13 minutes. Fortunately, Henrik Zetterberg brought his stick.




Zetterberg is the MAN. He has 41 points on the season (14 goals, 27 assists) after completing the hat trick AND picking up an assist in the Sabres game. Datsyuk has been sweet this year, so has Nyquist, and Tomas Tatar has been a revelation (already has more goals through 46 games than he did last year in 73 games).

Pierre LeBrun things the Wings may stand pat at the trade deadline, and I think that's a safe bet, given the way they're playing.

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I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Pistons. Despite losing to the Hawks yesterday, Detroit is merely a game & a half behind the 8th spot in the playoffs and 7-3 in their last 10 games. 4 of their remaining 6 opponents this month have winning records, but only 2 of them I would term "good teams."

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The Lions reportedly told Dom Raiola that they wouldn't sign him after the 2014 season. Totally fine with this. Dom was an OK player, but he clearly lost a step this year & I think the Lions are better off with Swanson at C in 2015. Dom was always a leader on this team, although that wasn't always a good thing. To me he embodies a Lions team that was talented and managed to shoot themselves in the foot with mistakes and bad attitudes.

Raiola might catch on with another team, but I think he's better off retiring and trying his hand at studio analysis for FSD or somebody.