Even for a team that lost 106 games last season, the worst may be yet to come

By Albert Chen

Traded twice in six months last year, Peña gives Detroit a young, talented slugger to build around. Roberto Borea/AP ENEMY LINES An opposing team's scout sizes up the Tigers "They're awful, and if they hadn't made the Jeff Weaver trade, they'd be worse. ... Their best pitcher is a 20-year-old who pitched in Class A last year, Jeremy Bonderman. He has a 95-mph fastball, a hard slider with a good downward angle, good mound presence. The way he's outshone everybody in camp, he's making it difficult for Detroit to send him to Double A, which was the plan. ... The rest of their pitching is brutal. Mike Maroth is a middle-to-bottom starter, but he's their ace. Steve Sparks hasn't gotten anybody out all spring; he's out there to eat innings. ... At least their bullpen guys, Franklyn German, Oscar Henriquez, Julio Santana, throw hard. Whether they can pitch is another thing. ... Brandon Inge can't hit, but he can catch and throw. He's in the wrong league. ... Eric Munson was a great college hitter -- it's called aluminum. Guys with good fastballs blow them right by him. ... Bobby Higginson is their best guy, a good defender with an accurate arm, but you don't want to hear about a corner outfielder's arm. You want to hear that he can hit 40 homers with 110 RBIs. He'd be a functional third outfielder on a good team, but he's making $11.8 million." IN FACT Last season the Tigers committed 142 errors, the most in the league since the Indians booted 148 balls in 1993.

Carlos Peña was oblivious to it all -- the losing, the bickering, the mental lapses, the booing. And did we mention the losing? Even as the Tigers surpassed 100 losses and a ninth straight losing season mercifully came to a close, Peña, the Detroit first baseman, would come to work smiling. "Each day I thought we were going to win," he says, unable to contain a laugh. "Maybe I was deluded. I thought we had the best team in the world." On the contrary, the Tigers' 106 losses tied for the most in the majors. Peña was seriously deluded. And no wonder, given the way his year started.

As a 24-year-old with only 62 big league at bats, Peña was traded by the Rangers to the A's in January 2002. His first assignment with his new team: replace departed free agent and reigning AL MVP Jason Giambi. The smooth-swinging Peña lived up to expectations early on, swatting seven home runs in April. But then he went hitless in 19 consecutive at bats, a slump that grew to 4 for 37 before manager Art Howe benched him. For the first time since he started playing ball as a youngster in the Dominican Republic, Peña lost his confidence. By May he was playing at Triple A Sacramento.

That's where he started to turn things around. In a little black book that he still carries with him wherever he goes, Peña began documenting the details of every day of his life. He monitors everything from his diet ("Popcorn and Coke. Horrible!!!") to his sleeping patterns ("Woke up at 7:15. Very bad") to his batting technique ("Be more patient!!!"). He also rereads passages from another book he's never without: Og Mandino's motivational guide, The Greatest Salesman in the World. The book became so worn ("I will persist until I succeed" is marked as his favorite line) that it needed to be re-bound.

Then on July 5 Peña was dealt to the Tigers in a three-team trade that sent Detroit ace Jeff Weaver to the Yankees. "All that matters is how I feel about something on the inside," Peña said at the time. "That's what I concern myself with, and I feel good about this trade. I think it's a good thing for my career. I'm looking forward to being a Tiger." Two days later, in his first major league game in a month and a half, Peña went 3 for 4 and had the game-winning hit. "You think it was because all of a sudden I learned how to hit?" Peña asks. "No, it was because my mind was finally right. It had nothing to do with mechanics." In 75 games with the Tigers, Peña hit 12 home runs and drove in 36 runs. "I couldn't have been happier," says Peña, who also finished with the AL's second-best fielding percentage (.996) among first basemen.

Peña's optimism will be put to the test again this year: Detroit is going to get worse before it gets better. The Tigers, who scored a major-league-low 575 runs, lost their team leaders in RBIs (Randall Simon, in a trade) and runs (Robert Fick, a free agent). The bullpen lost saves leader Juan Acevedo, another free agent. Replacing Weaver as the No. 1 starter is lefthander Mike Maroth, who was 6-10 with a 4.48 ERA last year. Worse yet, the crop of prospects in the farm system is underwhelming: Only two were among Baseball America's Top 100.

On the bright side, first-year manager Alan Trammell, the former Detroit shortstop who succeeds the fired Luis Pujols, has injected new life into the club. "Past managers let things slide and left us alone to figure it out," says second baseman Damion Easley, who's playing for his fourth manager in eight seasons but was relegated to the bench this spring after losing his job to Ramon Santiago. "Now the mentality is, Maybe you don't know, so I'm going to show you." In one of the team's first workouts, new bench coach Kirk Gibson, another former Tiger, was demonstrating how to break up a double play when he nearly took out Trammell with a slide at second. Then third base coach Juan Samuel ran the bases so hard, his helmet nearly flew off. "We look at them," says Peña, "and think, Man, we have to work hard. They don't have to say anything. We'll just follow."

Detroit has its work cut out for it just to avoid another 100-loss season. Meanwhile, Peña is spreading his gospel. Copies of The Greatest Salesman in the World are circulating in the clubhouse. If they can't win, perhaps the Tigers can at least be happy.

Issue date: March 31, 2003