1776

So, the question is why aren’t they hitting home runs up to expectations? We know they don’t come to the park hoping to fail. So, what is the problem?

As a comparison of teams, I look at the Giants. In 2019 the team was in decline. Bochy was moving on after a great run. To this day, I have no doubt that the driver in his decision was the team, under Farhan Zaidi, was going all in on analytics. Bochy saw this and retired, can’t blame him from his vantage point. What else was there to prove. In hindsight I hated seeing Bumgarner leave but that was a good move on the organizations part. To my point, the Giants pretty much undertook an organizational restart in 2020. In 2020 they missed the playoffs on the last day of the season. Last year they had the best regular season record in baseball. This year they replaced Gausman who was huge last year with Carlos Rodon and replaced Cueto with Alex Cobb. Every team in their division has a winning record currently! Zaidi & Company are very good at seeing opportunity. Mike Yastremski is a good example. I just don’t believe the Tigers have the baseball acumen to identify and get players that aren’t playing at levels they’re capable of and capitalizing on their talent. The Giants took a risk of sorts with Rodon based on last years second half fall off in innings pitched. Things can change but as of today he’s one of the better starting pitchers in the game in 2022. The Giants spend, but they don’t waste their money like a lot of teams do. The Giants aren’t alone in this. The Tigers have had ample time to produce a winning team since going total tank. It’s five years in and they’re dead last in the AL and second worst overall. There is no excuse for this but ineptness in the system. I don’t even know where the problems are but five years of futility makes my point. It is inexcusable.

In my most pessimistic prognostication, I never would have anticipated the total failure of this season to date. How did happen? That is the multimillion dollar question.

The Oakland A’s can’t wait to get to Motown.

5-0

It would be nice to think Avila and Hinch would sit down over coffee tomorrow and have a conversation about how this season, in less than 30 games, has turned into a total disaster. But, probably not.

Through three innings the Tigers have issued five walks.

Boom!!!

If the Tigers lose 3-2 again today, it will be the first time in MLB history a four game series will all end in the same score. This per the Houston radio guys. Not sure if they were referring specifically to series sweeps or just final scores in the same four game series, regardless of winning team.

The bottom five hitters in the lineup are Mendoza Line wannabes.

I believe, and have for some time, AA has Illitch so snowed and in the dark on what really is going on in the organization that Illitch doesn’t care to be alarmed. Or, AA is following Illitch’s orders to the letter and he has nothing to worry about. None of this mess makes sense. Fans were expecting more this year. The eternal rebuild continues.

Ballgame. Pathetic.

Their radio guys are pretty good.

Pretty sure the Houston radio crew said the Tigers have only scored one of 16 RISP in this series.

Are you listening to the audio feed of the Astros?

What are the odds the Tigers hold on to win this one?

No individual Tiger has more than a single stolen base according to MLB. Ugly.

Pretty sure this is what I recall seeing. Thanks for digging it up.

Wasn’t it reported that there was something in Hinch’s contract that allowed him an out if he didn’t believe the ownership was invested in winning? Or am I imagining that?

John Rosengren did a really good biography on the Hebrew Hammer for anyone interested.

In my honest opinion, I believe Trump was elected because Hillary was the other option. I voted Libertarian in 2016 even though Gary Johnson imploded on Aleppo. I couldn’t vote for either Trump or Hillary.

Code phrase: Articulates well.

Channeling Casimir: Loss

One of the green ones is Kelloggs. The stock was up over $2 today. They pay a decent dividend, .58 a share. I held it a while back and sold it for a small profit. I sold it when the workers went on strike. It’s a good defensive stock.

This is the perennial disappointment. Granted, Mize and Manning are big holes to fill in the rotation. The interesting part of the disappointing start is seeing younger guys get playing time. I believe there is time to rebound and be in the chase. The Greene injury could not have happened at a worse time. I’m along for the ride, wherever that ends up.