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He recalled his days as GM of the '97 Marlins, a club loaded with all-stars such as Sheffield, Moises Alou, Bobby Bonilla, Kevin Brown, Alex Fernandez and catcher Charles Johnson, among others. But it wasn't until the Marlins installed then-little-known Craig Counsell at second base that they took off and, eventually, won the World Series.
Devon White led off, and Edgar Renteria at #2 while Moises Alou shuffled around the 3 and 5 slot that year. Sheffield was healthy most of the season. 4 guys in that lineup could steal 20+ bases. Counsell replaced a disastrous rookie Luis Castillo. The Marlins didn't really take off until Kevin Brown, Al Leiter and Alex Fernandez got on the same page with their pitching.
This Tigers team I believe is a better hitting team for average and power, but seriously lacks speed and is no where near as good as that 97 pitching rotation Dombrowski put together. Rogers is old, Willis has yet to find the strikezone, You don't know what you'll get out of Robertson, and Verlander is all by himself just like Mike Mussina back in his Oriole days, he has to carry the rotation.
Dombrowski should have focused on pulling in some speed and pitching in the offseason, but don't count him out, by the all-star break or before the trade deadline he'll bring in the missing pieces whether it be pitching, speed or a deeper bench. The Tigers just need to suvive long enough to contend.
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