In 2015, the Detroit Tigers‘ string of four consecutive division titles was not only broken, but they stumbled all the way to last place in the AL Central with a record of 74-87. The fact that the Tigers dealt with injuries to core veteran players was clearly one of the many things that went wrong.
On opening day of last year, Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera were in the starting lineup, but they were each coming off of offseason surgeries. Plus, Justin Verlander was sidelined with a triceps injury.
Martinez got off to a slow start, eventually spent a month on the DL and ended his season with a career-worst .245 batting average. Although Cabrera hit for a little less power, he was basically his usual self, but he later missed six weeks after suffering a Grade 3 calf strain in July.
When Verlander finally returned to the mound in June he got off to a slow start, but later appeared to find his groove again. Over 15 starts in the second half, the 2011 AL Cy Young and MVP award winner went 5-6 with a 2.80 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He just barely missed throwing the third no-hitter of his career as well.
Heading into the upcoming campaign, it is relevant to note that Cabrera and Verlander will each be entering their age-33 seasons. However, Cabrera, who is fresh off of his fourth batting title in five years, is still quite arguably the best hitter in MLB. Although many were beginning to fear that Verlander’s best days might be behind him, he showed last season that he still has what it takes to be a legitimate ace.
While the now 37-year-old V-Mart may be a little bit more of a question mark, he is a lifetime .302 hitter who has already shown in the past that he has the ability to bounce back.
Of course, others will certainly have a big role to play this season as well, and it will also be very interesting to see if Anibal Sanchez can stay healthy and bounce back from a rough year. However, it will be absolutely imperative for Cabrera, Martinez and Verlander to each avoid the injury bug.
All three players were part of the Tigers’ four-year run from 2011-14 (even though Martinez missed all of 2012), and they will each be extremely important to the next chapter of Tigers baseball. Keeping these three core players healthy will obviously be vital to the team’s hopes in 2016.
