DETROIT -- If you were wrong about the Tigers, at least you had company.

Not just from the no-nothings in the media, either. Don't blame us, because in a Sports Illustrated survey of nearly 500 major league players this spring, 45 percent of them picked the Tigers to win the World Series, too.

Gary Sheffield is the Tigers' loudest problem, but not their biggest one. (AP)

As one rival executive said this week: "They need CC Sabathia, and they need K-Rod."

The best free-agent starter. The best free-agent closer.

And even then, the Tigers still wouldn't have a shortstop.

The Tigers spent nearly $140 million on a 2008 team that's four games under .500 and sinking fast, a team that is a lot closer to last place than to first. They already have $100 million committed to just 10 players for 2009, and that's before you add in arbitration-eligible Justin Verlander, who could get $5 million himself.

There's no shortstop in that group, either. And no closer.

There is, however, $53 million committed over the next two years to Gary Sheffield, Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson -- three players the Tigers would just as soon not have on their 2009 roster.

As if that's not bad enough, the Tigers traded 11 players out of their farm system the last two winters, and the only player they received back who is guaranteed to help them in 2009 is first baseman Miguel Cabrera.

Cabrera is settling in and looks every bit as great as advertised. But 11-for-1? No wonder the Tigers will have a hard time trading prospects for help in the coming months.

They do need help. Somehow, they have to find a shortstop to replace Edgar Renteria, who has been a huge disappointment. They have to rebuild the bullpen, which is 3-for-11 in save opportunities since the All-Star break.

They really ought to add one or two starting pitchers, too.

How do you do all that? Well, one executive suggested that the Tigers at least discuss shopping Verlander, Magglio Ordonez and/or Placido Polanco. While it's hard to tell how they'll feel this winter, at this point the Tigers seem to have no interest in moving any of them.

They also seem to have no interest in a big rebuilding project. It was suggested in a Detroit newspaper that owner Mike Ilitch would slash the payroll, but those who know Ilitch think it's more likely that Ilitch will authorize even more spending.

At 79, and with a fan base that continues to fill Comerica Park's seats, Ilitch remains committed to trying to win now.

Those fans seem understandably restless. They've booed Sheffield, Kyle Farnsworth and Joel Zumaya.

And that's just this week's list.

Sheffield's most recent complaints received a lot of attention, but it's hard to believe anyone took him seriously. He can't play the outfield anymore without getting hurt, and the feeling among most scouts who have watched him this year is that he probably can't hit anymore, either.

Sheffield is the Tigers' loudest problem, but not their biggest problem. They could make him disappear by simply eating money, either to convince another team to take him in a trade (no one is going to claim that contract on waivers) or by simply releasing him.

If only it were that easy to make some quality pitching appear.

At the moment, the 2009 rotation consists of Verlander, Armando Galarraga and a whole bunch of question marks. Haven't heard of Galarraga? He's the 26-year-old rookie who has been the Tigers' leading winner.

As one Tigers person pointed out this week, it's not good that their most consistent pitcher is the first guy they cut from big league camp this spring.

But maybe we -- and the Tigers -- should have seen this coming.

Another person in the organization complained this week that for the last two winters, the focus was always on adding offensive players, and never on adding pitching.

"Maybe we got blinded by how well the guys pitched in 2006," the person said. "But really, you can never have enough pitching."

The scary thing is that some people in the organization believe that it won't add a significant starting pitcher this winter. Instead, it would count on Verlander to bounce back from a disappointing season, and also on Jeremy Bonderman to come back from surgery.

That seems like quite a gamble. Then again, the Tigers were gambling with their pitching when they were World Series favorites this spring. Their 1,000-run lineup was supposed to make up for any and all pitching woes. Instead, that lineup has been shut out an American League-high 11 times, and avoided a 12th when they scored in the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss to Toronto Wednesday night.

The Tigers would do well to replace Sheffield with a decent left-handed hitter. They're 35-50 when the opponent starts a right-handed pitcher, a winning percentage that adds up to 67-95 over a full 162-game season.

Still, a lineup that starts with a top five of Curtis Granderson, Polanco, Carlos Guillen, Ordonez and Cabrera should be good enough. Should be, but wasn't, at least not this year.

"If you build a building and the base isn't strong, it can be the best building in the world and it's still going to tilt," Guillen said.

How do you fix that?

"How do you fix your house?" Guillen said. "You fix the problems."

Good luck on doing that. And rest assured that I'm not picking the Tigers next spring.

Chances are, 45 percent of the major league players feel the same way.