Detroit has announced its lineup for the season opener vs. the Yankees.

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Will Rhymes, 2B
3. Magglio Ordoñez, RF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Ryan Raburn, LF
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Brandon Inge, 3B
9. Alex Avila, C

That's a pretty nice improvement, and an upgrade, especially in the bottom third, over previous years, when Brandon Inge, Gerald Laird, and Adam Everett hit .235, .190. and .150. At least this incarnation will hit .245-.255 with some power, .240-.250 with some power, and probably .260 or so with some power.

The top 3 are all guys who should hit around .300 ahead of Miguel Cabrera. If Will Rhymes doesn't fall into some rookie (or second year depending on if he didn't get enough at-bats last year to burn his rookie status) bad hitting habits, he should get some good pitches to hit. If he doesn't chase junk pitchers are going to give him pitches to put in play since nobody wants to walk him ahead of Ordonez and Cabrera. Victor Martinez should protect Cabrera pretty well so he can't be pitched around completely.

The question mark comes if Rhymes doesn't hit for some reason. Who gets put in the 2 hole? Carlos Guillen will get the second base job if/when he's healthy. He's still a better hitter than Rhymes I'd say, but who knows when we'll see him or for how long. Maybe Ryan Raburn gets moved to the 2 hole and Rhymes gets dropped to 8 or 9. If needed he could possibly do well hitting 9th, since the trendy thing these days in the AL is to not necessarily put your worst hitter there but to put someone a bit more productive there to be a "second leadoff hitter" who can be on base for the top of the lineup.