BASEBALL

Many have talked and written about the Tigers getting younger.  I decided to look at at the ages of the players on the opening day rosters in 2009 and 2010.  I arbitrarily chose to use ages on May 1.

The Tigers are about 1/2 a year younger on average.  The average age went from around 28.8 to 28.4 years.  Despite this it does seem like a better and a team that will get younger the next few years.

The age did not fall so much because:

1.  The returning players are a year older.  But, many of these players are under 30 and will not decline much or actually may get better.  Some of the older veterans- notably Guillen and Ordonez- are bound to have better years.

2.  Damon is in his mid-30’s, but is only signed to a 1-year deal.  When he departs the average age will likely drop.

3.  Don Kelly, a 30 year old journeyman, will likely not be with the team long.

4.  Ryan Raburn is older now than Josh Anderson was last year.  Thankfully we have Raburn on the team instead of Anderson, however.