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.

Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Spring Training games don’t really matter much.

This may be blasphemy to the hard core baseball fans that frequent this site, but the purpose of the exhibition season has greatly changed over time.

Long gone are the days of players working back in shape after an off-season spent working in factories or farms to make ends meet between (small) baseball paychecks.

Today’s Spring Training is more about the fan experience, marketing, and boosting the economies of Arizona and Florida than actual “training.” The romance of Spring Training stems from cold-weary fans listening to Dan and Jim calling every pitch each afternoon in March (and this year, February) while looking out the picture window to see yet another blanket of late-winter snow. For those fortunate enough to take in a game in Lakeland, the game is often secondary to “holy crap, I am sitting in a t-shirt and shorts outside, drinking a beer and watching baseball in early March!”

So while we are all feeling nostalgic and loving Spring Training now–wait a month. The “dog days” of exhibition baseball will soon set in for both players and fans, and the nostalgic/romantic feelings will be replaced with–”yeah okay, I will watch again when the games count.”

February 25, 2013; Clearwater, FL, USA; Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera (24) hits a 3-run home run in the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Bright House Networks Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

While we’re all still paying attention, here are a few thoughts I had while taking in the first couple days of Grapefruit and Cactus League action.

-Home runs look a whole lot more majestic in minor league stadiums, don’t they? The trio that the Tigers will be relying heavily on to hurt baseballs this season, Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and Victor Martinez, have all tore the covers off their home runs this spring.

Click on the following links–I promise it will be worth it:

Prince’s bash in Lakeland

Miggy goes over the Tiki Bar in Clearwater

Of course, these big flies have nothing to stop their ascent into the stratosphere, like they would in regular MLB parks, but there is just something about hitting it over the “Tiki Bar” that says, “ahhh spring baseball….”

-When does the panic set in over Justin Verlander‘s first performance? As a lifelong Tigers’ fan, an internal review of us shows that we tend to be a bit panicky and reactive over minor issues.

JV started his 2013 season by (gasp) allowing a RUN on (double gasp) three hits in just two innings of work. While there might be some consternation that he didn’t go his usual six-inning minimum, remember he did strike out two, and also remember, Spring Training, Day 1 means nothing in (hopefully) October.

The majority of the more cerebral fans of Detroit will give their star hurler a pass, however if this was a regular season game, or an All-Star Game, there might be allegations of a “breakup” with Kate Upton to explain the subpar outing.

-Finally, Ryan Rayburn Raeburn Raburn is playing people for suckers again. Thankfully, it’s not the Tigers that he’s fooling this time. Raburn has moved on to division rival Cleveland and has come up with some rather clutch home runs (if anything in Spring Training can ever be considered “clutch”).

Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Three home runs at the moment this article is being written (by the time it’s posted, it could be 40), has led Indians’ fans into believing that they have the second coming of Roy Hobbs. The man crushing even lead Nick Swisher to don his very own Ryan Raburn jersey.

No one really wishes any ill will toward Raburn, except when he plays against the Tigers. He didn’t seem to be a bad guy, and seemed to give his all when he played. We’ll always remember that two-run 9th inning home run in a 2011 game against the White Sox that tied the score and led to Miggy’s walk-off shot to complete an 8-1 comeback.

Sadly, we will also remember the bonehead play in left field in Game 163 against the Twins, that tied the game in the 10th inning, and ended any 2009 playoff hopes.

In other words: good luck Indians’ fans. You’ll see some things you’ll like, many things you won’t.

Just don’t expect the Spring Training Babe Ruth to head north with the team. Often times when the pressure is on, Ryan is nowhere to be found.

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.