DETROIT – In honor of the late, great Joe Falls, it's a (slightly early) Fish Fry Friday...
The Tigers were already on thin ice coming into the 2015 season.
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Now, it appears as if they've fallen into the icy depths even before spring training starts later this month.
On Thursday, the team announced that DH Victor Martinez tore the medial meniscus in his left knee during workouts.
V-Mart is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday. Some believe Martinez will be out a minimum of eight to 10 weeks.
It's a huge blow for the Tigers who re-signed Martinez this offseason to a big four-year, $68-million deal after he had a career year.
Last season, Martinez batted .335 and 32 home runs and 103 RBI. Martinez finished second in AL MVP voting.
The Tiger were hoping Martinez, now 36, could duplicate last season. He was to be a huge part of their offense. And now, they will enter the year without him.
And even when Martinez gets back, no one will be sure what kind of season he can put together after going under the knife.
Don't forget that Miguel Cabrera had right ankle surgery in October. At the time of the surgery, there was thought that Miggy might not be ready for spring training. Cabrera, who had surgery last offseason as well, had a career-low 25 homers in 2014.
The Tigers may have owned the AL Central the last four years, winning the division every year during that span.
But the division is a lot better this season. Many like the moves the White Sox made in the offseason. The Indians will always be a problem with their pitching. And let's not forget that the Royals made it all the way to the World Series this past season.
The last thing the Tigers - who also lost two-fifths of their Opening Day 2014 rotation with the departures of Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello - wanted to do is dig a big hole to start the season.
For sure, the Tigers aren't the big favorites as they have been the last few years to get to the World Series. In fact, some aren't sure they will even make the playoffs - and that was with a healthy Martinez.
If this felt similar to Tigers' fans, it's with good reason.
This is the second time Martinez has gotten injured in a Tigers' uniform. In the offseason of 2012, V-Mart tore his left ACL and missed the entire season.
This time, fans have good reason to be concerned about the upcoming season.
Tainted Brady
The confetti is still probably in Tom Brady's hair after the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl and had a huge parade in Boston on Wednesday.
Still, not everyone is impressed that Brady, the former Michigan star, has led the Pats to four titles and won three Super Bowl MVPs.
Recent Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Charles Haley blasted Brady, saying he had to "cheat" to get his rings.
Haley - who won five Super Bowl rings (two with the 49ers and three with the Cowboys) - was asked to pick between Brady and Joe Montana as the all-time best quarterback in the NFL.
Haley, who won two rings with Montana, went into attack mode.
"Joe didn't have to cheat," Haley told the Talk of Fame Network. "I've lost all respect (for Brady). When your integrity is challenged in the game of football, to me, all his Super Bowls are tainted.
"You have to say this just didn't happen overnight. Who wants that shadow over them? I could be wrong. But I realize there were 12 balls deflated and 12 ain't. Then you've got (Pats' coach Bill) Belichick coming on three different times trying to explain it. ... You know something is wrong."
Haley is on the money.
And he's only talking about Deflategate. Haley didn't even get into SpyGate, where the Patriots were found guilty taping opponents' defensive signals. A quarterback could benefit knowing a team's defensive coverage ahead of time.
The bottom line remains either you cheat or you play by the rules. There's no such things as cheating a little bit.
The evidence, so far, tells us that Brady's Pats have cheated. Hence, calling Brady's rings tainted is fair game.