SoCalTiger

Baez he’s out

I mean Verling is a great centerfielder and if Meadows is out then he will play there. As for replacement it could be Mallory on the roster playing DH rather than Perez or Badoo. It's a weaker outfield defensively but maybe Mallory cn help the hitting ?

Maybe neither ?

I would stick with meadows and maybe platoon him a little bit for awhile but he needs o play most days. We lead the league in defense because of our outfield of Greene-Meadows-Verling left to right and I would have them there 90 % of the games. But that won't happen because Hinch loves moving players around.

We are making far too many out at third base and ending rallies Carpenter today out by a mile with a play right in front of him if that’s our third base coach and he says we’re being aggressive no, that’s just bad base running

Agree. But if they wanna win the division, they have to win these games. Time to put up or shut up.

The bigger picture is can the Tigers current staff develop hitters like they seem to have proven to do with pitchers ? Not to beat a dead horse, which I am doing, but Hinch had Issac Parades under his nose and never saw that he was one of the TOP power hitters in the game, 23rd in the game OPS in 2023 , as he is now for Tampa. Barely played the guy. He would really really help this team. So is Hinch and his "work the count" actually hindering development ? Others on this board have mentioned this that know far more than me. So is it TORK or is it coaching ?

No easy answers for sure. The fans love the Home run. It's not going away. So deaden the ball or increase the field is unlikely. Tie the starting pitcher to the DH, Ala Max/JV and the players association/ Hitters will have a cow. If you want to be a pitcher you have to accept surgery is in your future. Pitcher's are now Gladiators sent out to slaughter ? Extreme ? If the game/MLB is causing/ forcing this then maybe the answer is double service time and/ or double pay during TJ recovery ? Pitchers allowed to reach free agency sooner assuming a shorter career ? Does this make sense ? Is it plausible ? Not sure but if the solution has $$$ tied to it then maybe it will get addressed.

Agree. Surprising his glove is ahead of the bat. He looks like a ball player to me with good instincts.

Keith has been a pleasant surprise and our outfield defense is excellent.

We have a rally. we will win this game

You beat me too it and summed it up better as well !

The issue with Tork is he is a poor defender and at best average runner ( yesterday killing our only rally getting thrown out at third ) so his value is all based on his hit tool. He need an .800 plus OPS to overcome those two issues. Homers and RBI are misleading stats since many can come when the game is no longer in the balance. What matters is can he hit well will runners in scoring position and get on base and score runs himself. Again I am rooting for him hard because we need him and Green and Carpenter to be the meat of the order. Being a 1-1 puts more expectations on him, unfairly and I am one to do so , so we have to be patient before we decide weather he is part of our core or a platoon DH.

A win tomorrow and it will seem much better. Skip breakfast and come to work hungry Tigers !

I am. I’m rooting hard for him. We need him. I just have my doubts like you do with Olsen. It’s what fans do.

Olsen is much better than Manning. Let the season play out.

Nice play Tork

Olsen is a keeper. Our number 2 hands down. Thanks Mr. Avila for the parting gift.

Tork with a poor base running mistake with the play in front of him for goodness sakes. Don't make the first and third out at 3rd base. And not a word from Monroe about it.

Baez had been grimacing after swings and did not play yesterday so I bet it’s DL for him.

This only reinforces my concerns. I know it's early and that I am not a keen evaluator but he does not inspire any confidence when he comes to bat. I have never really liked him for no reason I can articulate other than not meeting expectations for a 1-1 and his poor defense. I also find it somewhat irritating that he presents himself as the face of the franchise and is always the most quoted player in the paper, on TV and during promotions like addressing the crowd on opening day and at the Wings game. It's like he is just so happy to on the team he is unaware of the role he needs to play for us to succeed. I am hoping and rooting hard but my money is on a new first baseman once his arb salaries start to rise. First baseman are just too easy to obtain and rarely are drafted so high for the same reason. Hope I am wrong.

Interesting as in if a 4 inning start is perfect aren't they all relievers ?

All valid points but most probably we will never know since the Home Run is too vital to the game and if pitchers blow out their arms MLB snd owners will just see it as an incentive to not pay high salaries for stating pitchers. If I was an owner I would be very hesitant to pay top dollar over many years for pitching and I think that's beginning to play out and will become the norm soon. Look what the Tigers are doing under Harris. Low one and two year deals, develop a bullpen of "multi inning" relievers, Avoid "Closers" who command big $$, develop your draft picks and work the waiver wire and have bullpen days. Forget about multi year big dollar deals. Arod signed for 4 years 80 million. Harris could have added one year and done that easily but refused, same with Friedman and LA at the trade deadline refusing to add one year to ok the trade. Baltimore which is loaded passed on all the big names and traded for Burnes for one year. Sure there are outliers, Yamamoto and Nola for a couple but one brings huge gate receipts and promotional money to LA and the other is a retuning star. Starting pitchers are targeting 5 innings / twice through the lineup now so why pay huge dollars for that ?

I mean which pitcher wants to surrender their competitive edge?

Is it correct to assume that deadening the baseball will stop pitchers from throwing with maximum effort? Won’t they continue to spin and stress to prevent hits ? The cows are out of the barn. Teams have huge pitching staffs with technology to maximize velocity and spin and there are lots of private companies as well. I don’t see any pitchers taking it easy because home runs go down. I