Many of the top of the lineup guys are having a great Opening Week. While others, such as Victor Martinez, could not have imagined a worse start to the season.

But that is baseball. Everything in the Opening Week is magnified greatly. History says Torii Hunter‘s hitting will slow down slightly and Martinez will (hopefully) regain form after returning from his mysterious bat rack hand injury.

So how are some former beloved Tigers doing in their new homes? Okay, so pretty much none of these guys were beloved in Detroit, but its always interesting to check in with them from time to time.

Ryan Raburn

Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

When we last checked in with Ryan Raburn, he was destroying the ball in Arizona for his new club, the Cleveland Indians.  He played in 23 games in February and March, posting a .341 average with five homers and 12 RBIs, earning a spot on the Opening Day roster after originally signing a minor league deal.

Through the eight games Cleveland has played as of Wednesday morning, Raburn had played in half of those games, posting a .182 average. He has two hits (a single and double) in 11 at-bats with two walks and two strikeouts.

So, in other words, Ryan is in mid-season form and his bloated spring numbers are all but a memory.

Gerald Laird

Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The fact that Gerald Laird is not backing up Alex Avila on the Tigers today is still a head-scratcher to me. I understand the economics (supposedly Laird wanted a multi-year deal and the Tigers were only willing to offer a one-year deal), yet his second stint in Detroit was much more successful than his first and I’d rather have him than Brayan Pena–but that’s a post for another day.

Coming out of camp, Laird was penciled in as the everyday starter for the Atlanta Braves while regular All-Star catcher Brian McCann recovered from shoulder surgery. Currently, it seems as though rookie Evan Gattis has been getting the nod behind the plate more often than Laird because of the young player’s slugging potential.

Nevertheless, Laird has been making the most of his limited appearances, hitting .400 ( 4-for-11) with a pair of doubles.

Brennan Boesch

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Perhaps the ex-player Tiger fans are most aware of is Brennan Boesch as he just faced the team over the weekend with mixed results. Defensively speaking, he made a great grab of a Prince Fielder shot during the Home Opener that stunned 45,000 fans. The next day, he made a typical bonehead play.

Boesch joined the hitting assault against the Indians last night, slamming his first homer in a 14-1 Yankees rout. Thus far Brennan has been okay for New York, hitting .250 in six games.

Delmon Young

Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The ALCS MVP, Delmon Young, has yet to take the field for his new team, the Philadelphia Phillies. He is still recovering from right ankle surgery, and is taking regular at-bats in extended Spring Training in Clearwater. A minor league rehab could be coming within a week for Young.

Brandon Inge

Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

No look at former Tigers would be complete without looking at the polarizing Charles Brandon Inge. Like the other love-em or hate-em former Tiger, Raburn, Inge also signed a minor league deal with his new team. However, unlike Ryan, Brandon failed to make the Opening Day roster and is currently toiling in Indianapolis, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ AAA club.

Sadly (unless you’re an Inge hater) Brandon’s early season stats do not bode well for a call-up anytime soon. In six games, he has two hits with a home run in 18 at-bats, good for a .111 average.

Former Detroit Tigers catcher Gerald Laird, now an Atlanta Brave, didn’t get much fanfare for a great 2012 season in Detroit. (Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

“It was tough to leave,” Laird told The Detroit News after the Braves’ spring opener against Detroit last week. “I had a blast playing there, but they weren’t going to go two with me—just another one-year contract. I just couldn’t do that. I felt I earned a two.”

Not only did Laird get his two years from Frank Wren, general manager of the Braves, but he also stands a good chance to start Opening Day for the club with Brian McCann hurt. All things considered, it was probably a good move for both parties to separate, the Tigers balking at Laird’s demands and opting for the cheaper Brayan Pena at backup catcher. But Laird served us well last year and seems to have been forgotten by fans far too easily.

From him, the Tigers received far better play than expected from a backup catcher. He hit for a slash line of .282/.337/.374 in 63 games and even added a pair of home runs.

“He was really great for us last year,” Avila told MLB.com of Laird’s contributions. “He’s a big reason why we were able to get to the playoffs. When I went down with injuries, he stepped in and did a really good job.”

When Avila suffered a hamstring strain in June, Laird filled in to go 12-for-39 (.308) and help lead the team to an 8-5 stretch. Over the last nine games of the season, with Avila rattled by a concussion, Laird went 11-for-30 (.367) to help the Tigers into the postseason. He also started for Detroit in three playoff wins. At one point in the season, he quietly put together an amazing stretch where he saw 143 pitches and whiffed only twice.

Now, Pena has quietly taken his place. He’s more than two years younger and a couple million dollars easier on the wallet. Further, considering the last four seasons as a whole, Pena has been the better hitter in admittedly lesser playing time, going 190-for-757 (.251) compared to Laird’s 220-for-952 (.231). Pena isn’t known for his defense, but caught 30% of base stealers over the last two seasons compared to 31% for Laird.

The new guy could easily end up being better than Laird would have been this year. Laird’s 2012, though, was fantastic, and it seems to me to have been largely ignored. It may not have been enough to earn two more guaranteed years in Detroit, but it’s enough to get a hat tip and a few hundred words from yours truly.

But since we have nothing better to debate with Spring Training just around the corner, we’re once again sucked in to talking about two of the most frustrating footnotes in Detroit Tigers history.

And I think that’s why in some sick and twisted way, I’m going to miss them. And Don Kelly. And Jose Valverde. And Gerald laird. (Although in the case of Laird, I think he’s the perfect backup catcher and I legitimately wanted to keep him, but that’s neither here nor there).

This motely crew of Bad News Bears-esque players helped make the last couple of seasons memorable as a Tiger fan. Yes, just as memorable as the run to the World Series and the pennant race and the Triple Crown/MVP debate. These imperfections on an otherwise perfect (or close to perfect) team added some flavor to the Tiger fan experience.

That’s not to say we’ll miss them as players. They were awful. They added nothing of value. Unless you count reminding us how good legitimate baseball players like Miguel Cabrera or Prince Fielder are as valuable. Then yes. They were VERY valuable. They were constant reminders of an era long ago when the Tigers fielded eight Ryan Raburns and a Delmon Young on the mound

(Yes, Young isn’t a pitcher, but when you think about how awful the Tigers were in the late 90s and early 00s, could he have done much worse?)

Ultimately they were just funny. They provided levity in otherwise tense moments. Reading fan reactions on Twitter and blogs almost made me forget about how stressed I was about the actual pennant race. Sure, they caused stress. But at times they were so comical they relieved it, too.

I don’t want any of these guys back on the team. I’m glad they’ve left and I’m glad I can experience their ineptitude from afar (although, let’s be honest: Raburn will end up killing the Tigers in Cleveland. Let’s just accept that).

But I’m going to miss them. And I think when we’re in the dog days of summer and the Tigers lose a tightly-contested baseball game during a tense pennant race, we’re all going to miss them a little bit, too.

Hating on Johnny Peralta or Andy Dirks or Omar Infante just won’t be the same.