So, what does all this mean to the Tigers? It means that Jim Leyland will finally be able to trot
out to the mound the five pitchers that he was counting on all winter long. Here they are : Verlander,
Fister, Porcello, Smyly and Scherzer. No more guess work for Leyland. Hopefully, each of them
can manage to work deep in each game he starts. By doing so they will give the bull pen much
needed rest, which will enable them to be much sharper. It seems to us that presently our bull
pen has been over worked and out of zynch.

Why does the Detroit Sports media make a mountain out of a mole hill whenever one of our athletes
makes a foolish mistake. The latest is Delmon Young. Wow! You’d think the end of the world was
right around the corner. Both Delmon and the Tigers were quick to make apologetic statements. So,
hey, let’s leave the guy play baseball.

Actually, that means two Tigers will be returning to the lineup…Fister and Young. That’s good news.
However, bad news is the silence from the bats of Rayburn, Santiago, Peralto and Boesch. All of
them hitting around .200 and leaving a ton of runners stranded. Meanwhile, CONGRATS to Jackson,
Dirks, Laird and Cabrera who have come out of the gate at full speed. It looks like all of them will
have productive years.

Last, but not least. We have noticed with some alarm that the Tiger’s bats go on strike against
these young unknown fireballing kids, all of which throw that ball in there in the nineties! Where
did they all come from? And, much to our knashing of teeth, the White Sox and Indians are loaded
with them. And, c’mon Prince, let’s start to unload!

filed by bobby hoeft on 5-3-2012 GO TIGERS !

What’s to be said about Prince Fielder, who’s been busy hitting singles to left field and beating the shift
other teams are using against him. WBWF would rather see more balls landing in the right field seats.
Wouldn’t you? But then we see Boesch, Avila, Rayburn, Young, Peralta and Cabrera all looking at strikes
and then swinging at the pitcher’s pitch. But, this will change. These guys are major league hitters with
a major league hitting coach…putting it simply they will either wake up or follow Inge into never, never
land. They’re making too much $$$ from Mike Ilitch’s wallet to continue with these horrendous at bats.

After push comes to shove we are still more concerned with the pitching staff…WE MUST FIND RELIABLE
STARTERS OR KISS THIS SEASON GOODBY! This means that Verlander, Fister, Porcello, Smyly and
Sherzer all take a hard long look into a mirror to see whether it’s guts or gutless staring back at them.
I don’t know about you but don’t want to see this season end in April/May!

FILED ON APRIL 28, 2012, BY AN AROUSED TIGER FANATIC WHO NEEDS A GOOD NIGHT’S REST.
GO TIGERS!

We find it strange that the media ignores MIGUEL CABRER’S defense…the man is playing an
outstanding third sack! In Chicago his hitting took an early season vacation almost to the alarm
level. But not with the playfull big fella’. However his experience with the hitter’s box being laid
out wrong was a first for me . Never, anywhere have I seen the likes of it . I found it amusing,
but not the Sox or their followers. They gave Cabrera a Windy City farmer’s black & blue nasty!

The way that Jim Leyland is handling Inge & Rayburn should not surprise any of us. The stubborn
son-of-a-gun isn’t about to change, even when Rayburn is hitting .080 and Inge as DH!!!! What
was Leyland thinking? I’d like to know Mike Ilitch’s honest thoughts on this subject. Wouldn’t you?

Here’s the low down on our feelings about Austin Jackson’s leadoff abilities. Over the past year
we have constantly found fault with him leading off. Here’s what we said: “If he lays off of bad
pitches and uses his speed with a bunt now and then, he would be an excellent leadoff guy.”
Those of you who haven’t figured out his fast start , hitting over .400, just see the difference:
HE’S NOT SWINGING AT THE PITCHER’S PITCH, HE’S WAITING FOR HIS PITCH! Whew! What an
outstanding 2012 beginning! But, as we said above, there’s 153 games left.

And then there’s BRENNAN BOESCH….He is really a mystery. He is absolutely a study loaded with
talent on display for one game and then leaving for China the next day. We just have to be patient
with him and his five tools. He’s ready to put it all together real soon.

One word fun….Alex Avila, LYNCHPIN……………….Prince Fielder, UNBELIEVABLE….
Justin Verlander, CONFUSED………………..Austin Jackson, GREATNESS
Miguel Cabrera, WAITING…………………………….Jhonny Peralta, STEADY
Max Scherzer, LOOKING…………………….Rick Porcello, FOUND
Doug Fister, HURTING………………………………Gerald Laird, ONCE

filed 10:25 AM on 4-16-12 by bobby hoeft , Did I mispell any words?

The MLB rule that allowed Jose Valverde to be the winning pitcher is hog wash! The baseball lords
like to brag about baseball still being a “JUST GAME”. No way Jose! These just rules prevented GAL-
ARAGA from pitching a perfect game when the rules committee stubbornly failed to reverse the call!!
And, now this. Just common sense will dictate that the wrong J.V. was awarded the victory. The
answer is simple: ALLOW THE UMPS TO CALL IT which would bring an end to the INJUSTICES of yester-
day. Act now rules committee!

Alex Avila looked fantastic behind the plate and in the batter’s box. His double kicking in the first run
of the game was a fabulous AT BAT. He was tempted twice by outside fast balls. You could see his
catcher’s mind at work saying: “OK, if you’re going to pitch me out there I’ll hit it out there.” Which is
exactly what he did. He rode an outside fast ball down into the left field corner. Folks, that’s an old
school piece of positive baseball thinking and the TV camera caught him standing on second base with
a dagwood grin on his face. He won that one.

Much was made on the MLB Network of the two booming doubles by Peralto & Avila. They pointed out
that they were hit by the Tiger’s SEVENTH & EIGHTH hitters in Jim Leyland’s lineup. This points out the
depth of our lineup…which is a huge truth. THE TIGERS CAN KILL YOU FROM THEIR FIRST HITTER TO
THEIR LAST! I can’t help but think about what it will look like next year with VICTOR MARTINEZ back
in it! By the way our clubhouse source says that Victor might be back sooner than you think?

GO TIGERS!

filed by bobby hoeft on 4-6-12, the day after.

So now it’s official. However, those of you that follow WBWF probably remember that on January
3oth we predicted that it would be Todd Smyly to slide into the number five slot. What impressed
Jim Leyland, as it did with me, was the kid’s “low key” approach. Say what you want, but to baseball
guys who call the shots, this low key stuff is unbelievably important. I saw it last year in Todd as he
made it up the Tiger’s minor league ladder. I’ll take it one step further: HE WON’T STAY AT # 5 VERY
LONG.” The guy has Hal Newhouser coolness.

Here’s another HUGE Tiger position spot to fill: LEADOFF hitter! We have questioned Austin Jackson’s
attempt to fill this role on more than one occasion. But, the Tiger’s see his speed and his youth and
are willing to gamble ONE MORE TIME. We hope they’re right. Imagine what it would mean to this
powerhouse lineup to have a top-of-the-line batter leading them rather than striking out 181 times!?
And it would be good for years to come….as Boesch, Cabrera, Fielder, Martinez, Avila and Peralta are
in the barn for many-a-moon. Only Young, who is in his free agent year will be questionable for beyond
this year. But, returning to the question at hand…leadoff spot. If Austin Jackson brings home the
bacon….WELL FOLKS, IT’S KITTY BAR THE BARN YARD GATE! We just might be on the entrance to Detroit
Sports History. I’m more than ready for the ride!!

filed by bobby hoeft on 4-1-12….GO TIGERS!

The expirement of Inge at second is not going too well for Brandan. His 6 for 25 for a .240 BA isn’t
too bad, especially for him, but pales a bit when compared to his opposition of Rayburn’s FOUR H.R.’s
and 14 RBI’s in just 17 AB’s AND Santiago’s 7-21 and a .333 BA! Could this be Goodbye for Inge??

In yesterday’s shutout victory all of the pitchers looked good. The Tiger’s pitching depth never fails to
amaze me. Porcello started and took his 2nd Florida victory to the bank, but, the the three men who
followed him, Marte, Dotel and Villarreal, turned my head which meant: FOLKS THE TIGERS ARE DEEP
OUT ON THE MOUND. I don’t know about you, but, VILLARREAL is the real deal. Where can Leyland
put all these guys? A fact that should not be overlooked by their opposition is as follows: in accumu-
lating this outstanding 10-1 record THE TIGERS HAVE HARDLY EVER TRAILED ON THE SCOREBOARD!!
Now there’s something that you can take to the woodshed. And, Folks, it’s all about their pitching. It
certainly a nice problem that Jim Leyland has down there in the Sunshine State.

In the Fifth Starter Sweepstakes, my pick of TODD SMYLY still stands, although a bit shakey. He’s
on the mound today…so we shall see.

filed by bobby hoeft on 3-17-12

591 times at bat averages 100 per month which means Jackson only needs to average an extra bunt
single every 33 times to the plate!! No wonder JIM LEYLAND and the hitting coach has been on his
tail to bunt for a hit more often. With his speed he would have the opposing infielders doing cart-
wheels trying to stop him. The sky would be the limit!

Now, think of what it would do to the Tiger’s RUNS SCORED totals….It would give Boesch, Cabrera and
Fielder EIGHTEEN more chances to drive him in. That translates into more runs scored and more wins
for the guys wearing the Engtlish “D”!!

As of this writing the Tigers are 6-0 in Spring Training. It doesn’t mean all that much unless you’re watching the runs scored against the Tiger’s pitching, which has been: 1-0-2-3-2 & 1 or just NINE
RUNS SCORED against them in 6 games! Do the arithmetic, 6 divided by 9 = 1.5 runs scored against
the Tigers young and talented pitching staff PER GAME! No wonder Leyland is sleeping so well.

By the way….PRINCE FIELDER looks great in a Tiger uniform.

posted by bobby hoeft on 3-8-12…GO TIGERS!

The latest to slip into this category and under the radar of other MLB franchises is
IGNATIO VALDEZ (not to be confused with the film “Valdez is Coming”) a 16 year old
who simply murders the baseball into other planets! And hear this…they paid only
$280,000 for this strapping 6′3″ outfielder who could easily be worth , you name it, in
two or three years from now. Dave Dombrowski’s stellar scouting staff is making it possible
as they have cast an umbrella over the Latin speaking islands. Especially over the Do-
minican Republic. At this writing they have eight (Cabrera, Benoit, Valverde, Santiago,
Peralto, Albuqueqia, Valarreal and Marte) and showing signs of increasing that number!
Who knows? They might end up one of these days as the Detroit Dominicans. Remember,
you heard it here first.

Now, who will play second and who will be our number five starter?
Because he’s a switch hitter with a good glove it’s Jose Santiago at second most of the time.
Ryan Rayburn (RH)will alternate as the DH with Don Kelly (LH).
And, last but not least, our swami ball tips toward the kid southpaw , Todd Smyly, to slide
into the fifth hole as a starter and go on to greater feats than ever expected.

A last word for Jim Leyland….SLEEP WELL GOOD FRIEND!

Posted on Friday, 2-17-12 @ 11:31 AM….and happy dreams to you too! bobby hoeft/wbwf

And where does the kid play? Right over there at the hot corner, which has become even hotter with
Miguel Cabrera possibly moving over there. To soften the situation a wee bit, the Tiger’s brain trust
are already talking about Castellanos playing at either Toledo or Erie this year. But, if he’s as good as
his press clippings indicate you just might not want to fool around with this untouchable’s psych pod.
Looks like another “nice” problem for Jim Leyland and his boys to muddle over. At any rate we fans can
watch with interest as the 3rd base scenario unfolds. Miguel might find himself playing left field much
sooner than anyone thought possible. Some day soon the Bengals will have to add another “power
hitter” to their loaded power hitting lineup! How does Jackson, Boesch, Cabrera, Fielder, Martinez,
Castellanos, Young, Avila and Peralta sound?” Now admit it, it brings a smile to your face, ehhh?
Even without Nick, the other seven, minus Martinez, will be trotting out to the field this year!

A few extra thoughts on this pleasant summery day in February. WBWF thinks the young stallion,
BRENNAN BOESCH, is due for a big break out year. He has TWO years of MLB experience at his young
age , and folks, HE’S PRIMED! Plus he has all five tools. That’s why we’re thinking BIG YEAR for him.

Also, the quiet, almost invisable, Jhonny Peralta will show us all that 2011 was no fluke. With very
little pressure on his shoulders hitting down around 7th, he will perform another stellar year.

filed on this beautiful Thursday, 2-9-12, by bobby…WELCOME NICK CASTELLANOS!

In one short year listen to his accomplishments:
1) He was chosen in July as the Tiger’s Minor League Player of the month;
2) He was chosen as the Tiger’s PITCHER OF THE YEAR!
3) July 6-13 Florida State League Player of the week;
4) July 25 struck out 10 in seven shut out innings earning him an immediate promotion to Erie;
5) Selected to team USA where he won the Silver Medal;
6) He was selected by HogNation as their PLAYER OF THE YEAR!

We ask you, does he stand a chance to slide into that role of the Tiger’s Fifth Starter?
Remember this will be his first Major League Spring Training Camp. However, his track rercord in the Minor’s
last year indicates that there’s very little that he cannot handle. That’s why WBWF is banking on him coming
out of Lakeland as the Tiger’s surprise player of the camp and as A STARTING PITCHER! I think we’re going
to love TODD ANDREW SMYLY!

posted on an ice cold 1-30-12 by bobby hoeft