BALTIMORE – It's a new year for Dontrelle Willis. The same goes for his club, the Detroit Tigers.The wide-grinning Willis, funky pitching motion and all, was almost an afterthought back in December 2007 when the Marlins sent him and Miguel Cabrera to Detroit in the blockbuster deal of that Hot Stove season.
Cabrera was the rising star, the big bat destined to turn the Tigers lineup into a 900-run juggernaut. Willis was a good pitcher, but his statistics indicated he might be on the decline, particularly as he made the switch to the American League.
Despite Cabrera's MVP cachet, it is Willis who has mirrored the failures, and now the successes, of Detroit over the last 18 months.
"I was just terrible," Willis says plainly of his lost 2008.
The left-hander started just seven games and had a 9.38 ERA last year as he battled a litany of physical problems and, as was revealed this March, also an anxiety disorder. He spent time in the minors both last year and this year, making four starts across three levels in April and May as he worked his way back to the majors on a treatment regimen for his anxiety disorder.
Now, he is back where he belongs, three starts into a reclamation project, and, oh by the way, 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA. The Tigers are back where they should be too – at least if you go by payroll (Detroit's is the largest in its division at just over $115 million) – at the head of a tight American League Central.
"I'm having fun and working hard and there's no dollar amount you can put on that," Willis says of his resurgence.
So what changed? Very little if you listen to Willis – at least physically and in his approach to hitters.
In fact, he doesn't see the huge change in his teammates that you might expect from a team that was lousy from day one in 2008 and is the class of their division in 2009.
"I don't think anything's different," he says. "That's just baseball."
Of course, at least one thing has changed: the results.
Nowhere is that more true than with the pitching staff.
After a brutal start to the season, Justin Verlander is pitching like an ace (5-0 in his last six starts). Rick Porcello, just 20 years old, has won five straight decisions. Winter trade acquisition Edwin Jackson is fourth in the American League in earned run average (2.58).
Add in the rejuvenated Willis, Armando Galaragga and the rehabbing Jeremy Bonderman and the Tigers possess the type of rotation that can take them very far – the same type of rotation (indeed, with a few of the same characters) that got them all the way to the World Series in 2006.
Even if it doesn't shroud the Motor City in October glory, it's a far cry from the dismal 2008 group, which ranked 12th in the American League in ERA and doled out multiple starts to the likes of Eddie Bonine, Chris Lambert and Freddy Garcia while Kenny Rogers and Bonderman battled health problems.
"I like the personality of our team," Willis says. "Everybody's tough mentally."
Moments later, he couches his optimism by pointing out that "this is a longggg journey" and reminiscing about the way a team can rise from the dead – as the 2003 Marlins club he was a part of did – or go in reverse no matter how it starts the season.
"I'm having fun," he says. "But I'm not content, so I want to try to work harder. ... You don't get World Series titles in spring training.
"New year. Fresh start."
A fresh start Willis and the Tigers are taking full advantage of ... at least so far.
