Finding Keepers: Detroit Tigers

It's not hard to find keepers on the Detroit Tigers considering they have an MVP candidate, Cy Young candidate and the runner-up Rookie of the Year candidate. 1B Miguel Cabrera ranked fifth overall on ESPN's Player Rater with a robust line of .328/111/38/126/3 and shows no signs of slowing down at just 27 years old. With career averages of 101 runs, 34 HR and 120 RBI per 162 games, Cabrera is the perfect player to build your fantasy baseball team around for years to come.

SP Justin Verlander won 18 games this season, striking out an AL fourth-best 219 batters and ranking as the tenth-best starting pitcher on ESPN but surprisingly garnered only one fifth place vote in the AL Cy Young race. Have no fear, though, in using a keeper selection on a pitcher with a 20-win, 220 K, 3.40 ERA, 1.17 WHIP potential as the cornerstone of your fantasy baseball pitching staff.

Some may feel that OF Austin Jackson has too many holes in his game (only four home runs while striking out 170 times) to warrant a keeper tag but I find it hard not to want to keep a 23-year old outfielder that batted .293 and lead all rookies with 181 hits, 103 runs and 23 stolen bases while finishing second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. Keeping him comes with risk but could pay off big dividends if he figures out how to make better contact and hit a few more home runs.


Depending on the depth of your league, this last player could qualify as a nice sleeper keeper. SP Max Scherzer could easily crack the 15-win and 200 K plateaus in 2011 while not killing your ERA and/or WHIP ratios given 30+ starts.

That's all I'm currently seeing on the Tigers roster as far as 2011 keepers go. Agree with my assessment? Disagree? Feel free to leave a comment. Also, help spread the word about COSFBA by sharing this article if you like the work that I'm doing. Much appreciated!