Tiger337

56 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

Frankly, I hope he's not listening to anybody on Twitter.... the amount of anger he generates, geez, even if he turns it around I'm not sure he'll ever be accepted here.

Some players are like that.  Tony Clark, Carlos Pena, ...The anger seemed to start as early as 2022.  It might be the high expectations.  

2 minutes ago, casimir said:

Is it possible Torkelson is just a slow starter?  There's not much resume to work with, the above are his splits for last season.  But this happens to some ballplayers, such as Maeda.

He never does anyhing when it counts.  He doen't start hitting until they are already out of the race.  He just doesn't care.  Too soft. 

3 hours ago, LongLiveMaroth said:

Interesting tidbit about AA balls being different than AAA with regards to Madden's first AAA game.

“A couple of things,” Toledo manager Tim Federowicz said during a Saturday conversation. “They don’t use the big-league ball in Double A. Some guys called up from Double A don’t understand the difference.”

Indeed, the same game that allowed 50 years of designated hitters in one league, but not the other, also uses tighter-wound, big-league baseballs at Triple A, but softer versions at Double A and below.

They need to use the softer version in MLB.  I believe it would solve some problems in the game.  

11 minutes ago, 1776 said:

One day you will wake up and realize that 50 years of age is not old. Trust me on this one. I know of what I speak. 

60 definitely feels different from 50 and I imagine 70 will be worse.  The funny thing is I don't really think any differently than I did when I was 35.  I see people who are 60 and I think to myself "I don't look old or act old like them" but I probably do!  The thing I do notice is physical - joint pain and inability to recover quickly from strenuous activity.      

All the City Connect uniforms from every team suck and are unnecessary.  yeah, I'm old.  

34 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

I'm not worried about any kind of spending yet...

There's still some more "Sifting" to do before we get to external spending decisions...

IMO.

And I do NOT have a timeline for that...

It goes more along the lines of: If we don't have it MLB, or in the minors, or Harris can work a trade for it (it being a "black hole position... let's call it "Shortstop", which is what we have at the moment...): And we are playoff-competitive...

Then go and spend the money.

Whenever (whatever timeline) that may be...

There are a number of MudHens who are worth looking at but I don't think there is anybody there that is worth holding up the re-build over.  Jung is promising, but he may be as ready as Keith.  I think it's time for them to start looking at trades this off-season.  They could possibly make free agent signings too, although that's not usually the best way build.  With their pitching depth, I think they are getting close to where they can contend for a playoff spot with some clever moves.    

44 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I think they were trying to get less left-handed, but agree that was the wrong trade to do it - trading 25 for 30 is about the worst age swap possible - one guy going into his prime, the other coming out.

I do miss those old MLB talent for MLB talent trades.  Every trade today is always one poor team trading high priced talent for a bunch of prospects and the team getting the prospects is on the losing end of the deal more often than not.  

21 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

I have a different recipe:

Do lots more "Sifting".

We need to "Sift" through a bunch of the other kids available at Toledo to see who can stick...

And who can't.

And if a guy can't stick... trade him for something different.

(I will now reference my above post with the following trades: Jason Thompson traded for Al Cowens, Steve Kemp traded for Chet Lemon, John Wockenfuss and Glenn Wilson traded for Dave Bergman and Willie Hernandez).

The Marlins just traded Luis Arraez (2B, small, high-BA, high OBP, Slash in 6 MLB years: .325, .378, .424 = .803 career OPS) for 4 prospects...

If they had offered him to the Tigers for Torkelson straight-up... would anyone here have said "Yes."?

Just asking...

Food for thought.

 

 

I hope they don't repeat the Thompson for Cowens trade.  That never made sense to me.  

1 hour ago, Hongbit said:

Congrats to everyone!  

Amazingly, he had the 5th highest OPS in today's starting line-up.  

6 hours ago, ben9753 said:

lol what a pussy

The GOP used to be mean.  Now, they have become the party of pussies.  

6 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

14 strike outs in 4 innings. This is what Manfred has brought our game to?

More opportunities for strikeout struts.  That's the kind of thing that turns a new generation on to the game.  

37 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Brad Ausmus wrote a book? God save us....🤣🤣🤣

Ausmus was not smart enough to figure that out.  

The Tigers have 129 wRC this year.  This means that based on their numbers of hits, homers, extra base hits, walks and outs, they should have 129 runs scored this year.  They actually have 131 runs scored, so the line-up is producing producing almost exactly as one would expect.  

12 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Do you know of any team going in this direction? I'm not even sure who's doing openers anymore.

No, I don't.  With starters going fewer and fewer innings, it just seems like a natural step.  At some point, the back end starters are going to be pitching 3-4 innings per start which means the bullpen is going to pitching more innings than the starters and the line between starter/reliever gets blurry.  

25 minutes ago, Tigermojo said:

Greene is batting clean up today. I can't wait for all the grand slams.

The Book:

"Your three best hitters should bat somewhere in the #1, #2, and #4 slots. Your fourth- and fifth-best hitters should occupy the #3 and #5 slots. The #1 and #2 slots will have players with more walks than those in the #4 and #5 slots. From slot #6 through #9, put the players in descending order of quality."

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

This is my exact thought any time anyone suggests a team should run a six-man rotation out there. That’s a semi-fashionable thing to suggest these days, and many teams are talking about it if not actually doing it. But why would I want to take ten or twelve starts away from Tarik Skubal and Jack Flaherty just to give more starts to their fifth- and sixth-best starters? Six-man rotations make sense only if you your six best starters are similarly talented and it doesn’t really matter who loses starts so the extra guy can get some.

I think the next step might be to have rotations where you have two or three regular starters and then you have a set of pithers who serve as swing men pitching 100-120 innings per year and then your short relievers.  

48 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Is this a joke? Vierling, Perez or Canha would all be better leading off than Greene. Miguel Cabrera was the Tigers best hitter in several seasons. I never, ever, saw him leading off to get a few extra at bats per week. And he had much better 7, 8 and 9 hitters than the current Tiger team.

II wouldn't joke about something like that.  😃 I would not have had a problem if Cabrera led off especially since those Tigers teams had some pretty good power hitters to go with him.  I always thought he should have batted secod.  I also have no problem with Greene leading off.  The Tigers have so few good hitters that I don't want them losing hits and baserunners by subtracting at bats from their best hitter.  Another reason Greene might be leading off instead of batting second which is statistically optimal is that he has not really been a big home run hitter until recently.  He just now appears to emerging into a home run hitter where he was more of an OBP guy previously.  If that trend continues, I can see him being moved to the second spot, so they can optimize run scoring and RBI opportunities even though they'd be losing some of his at bats.  

The days where a team's best hitter bats third are fading away and I am glad the Tigers have a modern manager who recognizes that.  

2 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Well, Hinch should bench Perez because he may stop hitting. And bat Tork cleanup because he thinks he'll start hitting home runs. And lead Greene off so he gets 3 more at bats per week. Results be damned, do whatever feels right. Ugh...

If he stops hitting, he still might be better than half the hitters in the line-up.

And  batting Greene leadoff because he'll get more at bats is perfectly justifiable.  I'd probably put him second, but I have no problem with Hinch's batting orders. 

Just now, 1984Echoes said:

No one is hyperventilating Lee.

YOU'RE the one throwing out exaggerations:

You're the only one who seems to be upset that he has started out hot and therefore using hyperbole.

I am happy that he is off to a good start.  Why wouldn't I be? Just because I am not convinced that he is as good as his start suggests does not mean I am unhappy with his start.  

You are the one saying that he is their second best hitter because he has a .950 OPS.  That suggests that you think he'll do that all the time which would make him a star.  Thus, my sarcastic comment.

You said that Hinch must think he's their best hitter because he is batting 3rd.  I was pointing out that the optimal line-up has the 4th or 5th best hitter hitting 3rd, so Hinch might think that he is their 4th ot 5th best hitter.  That comment was about line-ups and your antiquated assumption that the best hitter should bat third.  

1 minute ago, Edman85 said:

If he is not on the 40 man roster, he must be offered via trade to all 29 teams. I do not believe he can opt out.

Not a lot of risk for the Tigers.  

Just now, Sports_Freak said:

Lee! Forget what may happen and live with what is happening. He's getting on base...ride that hot streak by putting as many run producing hitters after him in the lineup as you can. If he cools off, so be it. Make more necessary changes. That's all I'm saying, not predicting his career trajectory. 

I don't think anything should be based on hot streaks because they can end at any time.  Line-ups should be based oln what the manager thinks hitters will do long-term 

2 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Don't see it with Malloy but I'm willing to be wrong.

I see it as much with him as I do with Perez.  

1 minute ago, Edman85 said:

Hiura also has a 6/1 upward mobility clause. Worth keeping in the ol' noggin as the month progresses.

How do I get one of those?

3 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

If that's the only way to change the lineup, I agree. No manager should ever be so stubborn to not making the necessary changes to get the most out of a lineup. The problem is, the Tigers will score 6 or 7 runs once a week or so and Hinch thinks he's justified. But he's not, just very stubborn. And then I hear people say it doesn't matter if we win or not, we're just evaluating young players. But it's hard to evaluate players unless you put them in the best position to succeed.

I don't think batting Perez in front of Greene is going to make any difference in the ability to score runs.  I would wager that Hinch agrees.  

I am hopeful about Malloy too.