There was a parade in New York today, because the team that scored the most runs this season won the World Series. But don't worry, the Tigers can do it with "pitching and defense." They just need a few more guys like Nate Robertson and Adam Everett and Gerald Laird and they'll be all set.

Wow, bitter much? LOL.

Dude... The Yanks added picthing and defense and CONTACT hitting. And that's why they went from a 3rd place team in '08 to a 1st place team in '09. I'm no happier about it, believe me (Red Sox fan, but living in MI, and we (the Sox) didn't have enough pitching either.

That being said? Robertson's overrated (sorry) and has always been mediocre (4th starter mat'l) at BEST. Bonderman's good, but overrated. (Strong 3rd Starter mat'l) Laird... Yeah, I'm with you there. I would have rather seen Pudge signed for another 2 years or so rather than traded. Might have made the difference this year.

They won large in part because they had the THIRD BEST ERA in the AL. We've seen the Yankees bludgeon (sp?) opposing teams in the reg. season with scoring runs left & right only to lay a major egg in October.

True . . .

But they also had the third best ERA, second lowest batting average against, second best WHIP, and second best save percentage. Their defense wasn't the best, and they turned fairly few DPs, but it was good enough.

You'd expect this since they spent $127 million for their starting lineup and 4 of their 5 starters are free agents making over $5 million a year. They spent $43 million for their 1-5 starters and $15 million for their closer. Four of their nine field starters are homegrown. This is a typical ratio.

In comparison, we spent $53 million for our 1-9 field positions, $18 million for 1-5 starters and $2.7 million for Rodney. These numbers are comparable to what the Angels and Dodgers spent.

The Yankees are committed to going for A+ free agents, both pitchers and field positions, and they lock them in with huge salaries. If they make a mistake or if there is a critical injury, they have the resources to bury their mistake with more money. It worked this year and has many years in the past. This financial commitment is what separates them from the rest of baseball.

I hope it rained in NY today.

Contrary to some of the stuff I say on here to provoke . . . er . . . debate, I believe in pitching, too--at least starting pitching. Because offense and starting pitching are the things that really matter to a baseball team's success or failure. Relief pitching, not so much, defense very little, in relation to the big stuff.

And as for the Tigers, I said during the last offseason that I expected them to struggle on offense this year, because loading up the roster with offensive zeroes like Everett and Laird, returning Inge to full-time status, and counting on rapidly declining players like Ordonez and Guillen, would add up to a serious shortage of runs. Which it did, so the Tigers missed the postseason again, for the 21st time in the last 22 years. And yes, I'm pretty bitter about it.

Dave Dombrowski gets paid a lot of money to figure out how to build a winning baseball team. I and many other Tiger fans knew that he was screwing up last winter, and that he continued to do it though the season. (Aubrey Huff? Jarod Washburn? Give me a break.) So why doesn't he know it, and given that he doesn't, why does he have a job?

As I've said before, this team needs to add at least a hundred offensive runs, probably more like 150, to be able to play with the big boys. (They scored 172 fewer than the Yankees--or really 177, if you don't give them credit for the five they scored in the extra game). And I not only don't expect Dombrowski to find those runs, I suspect that he won't even be looking for them.

<<<Robertson's overrated (sorry) >>>

Huh? Did someone actually say that he was good?

Robertson has been solid in the past. If he gets over his arm problems, he can return to that again. LHP are important commodities in MLB.

Return to what? The .500 pitcher that he was three years ago, in his best season? Or the mediocre-to-disastrous one that he's been in the seven years surrounding that heroic 13-13 campaign?

I wish he was enough of a commodity for some other team to make him their "asset" instead of ours. But I sure don't see that happening.

I'm not disagreeing on your assessment, but my take is, when the Yankees were scoring runs all over the place from 2001-2008 the pitching fell apart.

Yes, I agree the Tigers desperately need some hitters that can get over .800 OPS. It was their weakness obviously.

That being said the 08 Tigers were much better offensively (sickening to think since they were inconsistent) than the 09 Tigers and yet we were better 12 games.

Now Polanco is likely gone, leaving Sizemore to take over 2nd and from all looks of it, your buddy Everett will probably return, thus leaving the only major spot to "fill" (thanks to our high-priced corner outfielders in Guillen and Magglio) is DH. Giambi is available, but I am not sure if I want another guy well past his prime on this team.

BTW Nate was GREAT for us in the mid part of this decade. Didn't you know? :)

Nate did fine for the Tigers a few years ago when serving the 5th spot in the rotation. Sports Illustrated rates every player at every position each season. When totaling over 330 starting pitchers, Nate was rated on the bottom-end of #3 starter production. That's a darn good rating - based on his #5 designation with Detroit back then.

What Nate provides in 2010 remains to be seen. If he can't break the rotation, then he appears destined for the bullpen. His bulldog demeanor makes him mentally suitable for late innings work. We may eventually find out if his performance level can match his demeanor in the pen.