Tiger337

The injured players are not stars, but the guys replacing them are so bad that it has the same effect as losing stars. The injuries have mad a big difference.

This year, they have added a platoon DH silver slugger.

That's not an excuse though, especially since they excelled in the same circumstances two years ago.

yeah, It's not like he said he pitched to the score.

If they had signed Verlander before they signed Valdez, I would have called it a lazy move. Since he was signed right after Valdez, I was OK with it.

I attribute it to different times. If they were pitching today throwing max velocity and max spin on every pitch, they would not be pitching 300+ innings. Ryan was a freak and would be today so he'd still be leading league in innings every year, but nowhere near the same volume.

He would have left him in to pitch complete games the way everybody else did in that period. If you look around the league, you see that a lot of managers manage the way Hinch does now. The Tigers are not the only team platooning and pulling pitchers early.

Lolich threw 376 innings in 1971!

Right now, I'd say two.

It's really hard to evaluate managers but I believe he is a good one.

What reports?

A lot of them did. I don't know if it's most. Even some of the famous players like Berra, Feller and Spahn saw combat.

Velocity goes back to 2007 on FanGraphs. Spin rate and other stuff available back to 2015 on baseball savant. According to AI, Military engineers used electric timer and high-speed wire cameras to clock Walter Johnson at 91 MPH in 1917. Dopplar radar tracked Nolan Ryan's fastball at 100.7 in 1974.

5 2/3 IP 3 R. That is almost a Porcello.

I think this is related to Sportsfreak's earlier point about less contact. There is less contact because players are trying to hit home runs. Fans love home runs, so the game has evolved to increase the numbers. As you said, the mound is lower, ballparks are getting smaller and I believe balls are juiced. Players are now hitting more home runs because it's easier to get enough of them to make the sacrifice of less contact worthwhile. In response, in order to avoid home runs, pitchers are throwing max velocity, increasing spin rate and throwing more types of pitches than they did in the 60s. This reduces contact so as to make the home runs less damaging with fewer base runners. It also makes it more difficult to string hits together which further motivates players to swing for the fences. The trade off is that pitchers are not able to pitch as many innings and are getting injured at perhaps greater rates despite more advanced training and health care.

Exactly. If you take an average pitcher today and transport him into the 60s, he'll be better than most of the pitchers in the 60s. Athletes are faster, stronger and better prepared now. Would we doubt that about any other sport?

If he started batting against LHP, he might have to go through a whole different approach which might screw him up against RHP which is he already not hitting as well as he should. I have no idea about that. Just a theory.

I would say they should have Anderson close, but they probably need him in the rotation now.

This Hinch platoons everyone argument is getting really ridiculous. Sure, I'd like to see Keith get a shot at playing every day too, but apparently the Tigers have seen something that makes them think he shouldn't be facing LHP. They have access to all kinds of technology that we don't have. Maybe they are wrong in this case, but...the Bonds and McGonogle comparisons are stupid. Those guys are/were complete players and they would be wanted in the line-up regardless of any platoon disadvantage. Keith is not Bonds or McGonigle. He doesn't have a position, he's not fast, he has shown little power. He's got a 93 OPS+ against the RHP! Maybe, he needs to learn how to hit RHP consistently before they put him in there vs LHP.

Of course they would, but if they were brought up in the same period as the 1968 pitchers they would not have had all the advantages that made them who they are today. They wouldn't have had the same training, technology, heath care, etc that they have today.

Fire Ryne Eubanks!

****, what an awful season.

What happened to Mize? I missed it?

Zach Short talking home runs in the dugout with Tork.

They will win the House, but not the Senate