Thames, who originally came up with New York, returned to the Yankees on a minor league deal this offseason and is fighting to make the team. With Granderson, Brett Gardner, Nick Swisher, and Randy Winn already assured of spots in the outfield, it may take an injury for Marcus to go North with the club. Fortunately for him, Nick Johnson is slated to be the designated hitter this year for the Yankees, and that guy breaks down more often than Carlos Guillen.

With all due respect to Thames, Granderson is the guy that all of Tiger Town will be watching, not only today but the whole season. The trade of Granderson to the Yankees turned the stomachs of many many Tiger fans. If Granderson has a big year (i.e. learns to be even somewhat effective versus left handed pitching), the ire Dave Dombrowski drew at the time of the trade will only intensify. More so if Austin Jackson struggles as Grandy’s replacement.

Speaking of, Jackson will be in the lineup today against his former ‘mates as well, batting lead-off and playing centerfield. Jackson will look to continue his hot start to camp. His 2 for 4 day versus Washington yesterday included his first homer of the Spring and his first double.

One former Yankee that will not play however is Johnny Damon. Detroit’s prized free agent is battling a case of turf toe, and he received treatment yesterday, according to MLB.com’s Jason Beck. The injury isn’t believed to be serious, as Damon is currently scheduled to make the trip to Clearwater to face the Phillies on Thursday.

The Tigers lineup for this afternoon:

CF Austin Jackson

RF Ryan Raburn

1B Ryan Strieby

DH Miguel Cabrera

LF Carlos Guillen

C Gerald Laird

3B Jeff Larish

2B Scott Sizemore

SS Adam Everett

Notable here is the return of Sizemore after he was scratched yesterday due to a sore ankle. Larish getting the call at third base is only mildly interesting, as he has virtually no chance to make this club as of right now (injuries could change that, but there would have to be a lot of injuries).

Armando Galarraga will make his first start of the Spring after two lackluster relief appearances. It will be a tough test for Galarraga as the Yankees will have their usual approach and make Galarraga work deep into counts. Command has been the issue for Armando going back to the May of last year, and if he continues to fall behind hitters, he could be fast tracking himself to Toledo.

Also slated to pitch for Detroit is last year’s first round pick Jacob Turner. The young right hander is in camp with the Tigers thanks to signing a major league contract last August, but he won’t be pitching in Detroit in 2010, no matter how impressive he is.

The Yankees will send Joba Chamberlain to the hill as he attempts to win a battle with fellow right hander Phil Hughes for the final rotation spot in New York.

That said, a couple weeks back, the Official site ran a poll asking reader opinions on the play of the year.  There were some great memories listed there, Ryan Raburn’s walk-off homer against the Cubs earned my vote.  Justin Verlander’s 11 strikeout performance in Cleveland in May, the game he won 1-0 over Cliff Lee, was also on the list.  The most notable exception was the biggest play of that Verlander game was easily also the biggest play of the year; Curtis Granderson’s game saving catch to rob Grady Sizemore of a walk-off homer.

Now I know that Granderson is no longer a member of the Tigers, but c’mon.  Last I checked, Granderson was actually playing for the Tigers last season, whether or not he’s a Yankee now.  Granderson’s omission from that list can only be an attempt to make the fans forget that a favorite was traded away.  I doubt it worked.

Granderson’s catch was not only the play of the year for Detroit, hands down, it was probably one of the two or three best plays in all of baseball last season.  The only one I can easily recall being a bigger play was Dewayne Wise’s catch to save Mark Buerhle’s perfect game.  A quick check of whitesox.com shows no poll asking about the ChiSox play of the year.  Maybe they knew the answer was obvious.

Bless You Boys attempted to rectify the situation by adding their own poll and included Grandy’s grab, along with Aubrey Huff’s game-tying homer against Toronto.  Granderson won that poll in a landslide.

So, one more time because it never, ever gets old, here’s the play of the year.  Enjoy.

What I will say is that Ian’s was the first Tigers-centric blog I really read.  I had perused a few in the past, but when I found the community at BYB, I knew I had found something special.  BYB, along with Kurt’s now former site, are the models that Tigers Tracks was based upon.  Both of these writers are excellent at what they do, though their styles and opinions often differ.  What saddens me the most is the loss of one of the top voices in the Tigersphere.  Best wishes, Ian. And congratulations, Kurt.

Changes in the Tigers’ roster along with changes in the voices you will hear covering them.  That’s a lot to take in one week.  And they said not much would happen during the winter meetings.

Speaking of Kurt, he was (is) quite upset about the Granderson trade.  As I have stated, I like this deal, and I like it more as I think about it.  I know the bad offense just got worse, and I am hopeful that the roster shuffle is not yet complete.  If the Tigers head into the season with this roster, it could be a very long year, but the season is still four months away, rest assured, more changes are coming.  Regardless of what happens in 2010, the future looks bright in 2011 and beyond.

Lee Panas of Tiger Tales shares the emotional reaction that most fans have had with this trade and feels it was forced by bad contracts that painted the Tigers’ brass into a corner.  I do agree that the obvious financial relief was a huge factor in this deal, but we should also remember that all four players coming back are big league ready or damn close.  Dave Dombrowski wasn’t looking for High-A prospects, he intends to be competitive in 2010 as well.

J. Ellet Lambie agrees with just about everything that Lee wrote over at Eye of the Tigers.  Also, and I’m quite late with this, but I would like to extend a warm “welcome back” to J.  EotT has been a bit dormant for a couple of months as he took care of some personal matters, but I am thrilled to see he’s back at the keyboard and look forward to reading his always excellent work.

One more thing, upon reading the mini-review that Rogo penned at DesigNate Robertson, I finally got around to reading Tom Stanton’s The Final Season.  The book had been collecting dust on my shelf for the past three years, given to me by an old friend from high school.  For whatever reason, life got in the way of reading it, and of keeping in touch with my friend.  So I finished the book last night and sent my buddy an email to thank him.  The book was a wonderful trip down memory lane.  If you haven’t read it, do so.  And thank me later.