The Tigers can now lay claim to the tightest infield defense in the majors, bar none. In fact, it isn’t even close. Signing Adam Everett at shortstop, was the last piece of the puzzle – a puzzle that will have trouble scoring runs, but won’t give up very many either.
Adam Everett is generally considered by fielding stat nerds to be the greatest defensive shortstop in the game, by a wide margin. In fact, according to the numbers, he’s the greatest defensive player in all of baseball – at any position.
But he can’t hit. He’s also battled injuries the last two seasons, with a bum shoulder in “08 and a broken leg in “07. But with a one year – $1 million contract, what have you got to lose?
The projected starting infield now looks like this (bear in mind that Inge will probably relieve Laird at catcher occasionally):
- C – Gerald Laird
- 1B – Miguel Cabrera
- 2B – Placido Polanco
- SS – Adam Everett
- 3B – Brandon Inge
…With Guillen subbing at SS and 3rd when Sheffield is DH. With the exception of Cabrera, these guys are as good as anyone at fielding their positions, and will give the pitching staff a real nice fuzzy feeling, which should help instill confidence in a group of pathologically inept pitchers.
The lack of offense shouldn’t be too noticeable, when you consider Pudge and Renteria sucked in 2008 anyway. And at $20+ million/year less, these two pick-ups open up the options for Dombrowski to go after an ace on the staff. A.J. Burnett, anyone?
