Todd Jones, The Original Roller Coaster Would Love This Season

UP AND DOWN

Right now your Detroit Tigers are playing some good baseball. Late last week when they visited Kansas City you would have thought the Tigers didn't know how to play the game. It has been this way all season — win a few lose a few, struggle to stay around the .500 mark.

This season has reminded me of the 2010 season when the Tigers finished at 81–81. It was basically a dismal season. I didn't necessarily remember that it was both Austin Jackson's and Brennan Boesch's rookie seasons. It came about after the crazy cash–saving trade of Curtis Granderson to the New York Yankees which actually netted the Tigers future superstar Max Scherzer.

The current season reminds me so much of that long lost, dismal campaign. It seems that the Tigers look good one week, then bad the next. They look solid against the Seattle Mariners right now but they play the Cleveland Indians this week–end, and I don't think we have beaten them yet this season.

Justin Verlander, Jordan Zimmermann, and Mike Fulmer have all shined as starting pitchers. I won't discuss the other starters at this point who have struggled mightily. Fulmer might be the leading candidate for the American League Rookie of the Year in 2016. The Tigers announced today that they are stretching out the starting staff to limit Fulmer's innings. If Anibal Sanchez can recover, if Daniel Norris can improve, if Matt Boyd can get it together … Lots of "ifs" "ands" and "buts." Maybe the Tigers will be players in the trade market this season, instead of unloading. They need to put together a nice streak where they get up in the standings. It's not like they're far out of the race, but the team's record has been a struggle.

This is a talented team. I remember when Jim Leyland came in to make "talent a team" prior to the 2006 season. It makes you wonder if it's time for someone to tweak things and make the current squad's talent into a team.