Tiger337

3 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I was really hoping we'd see a Riley that has moved away from the extreme swing but I'm not seeing it. I see Riley as a guy who can either be a very good 20 HR hitter or a pretty useless 35 HR hitter and he seems determined to be the later. He's just not built to hit homeruns without the long swing. His frame can't generate the power that a big guy like Judge or Cabrera, or even a more compact but powerfully built guy like Trout or Aaron could without having to over commit on his swing. And the over-commit is going to leave him a poor OBP hitter if he won't change it. Be a good hitter and let the HRs come on the good barrels and he'd be fine.

I am less impressed by Greene every year.  

46 minutes ago, Tigermojo said:

Konnor Griffin gets 9 years $140+ million. There have been a few extensions this year. Maybe they will get something done for McGonigle and Clark.

I get the sense that Clark is the type who won't sign an extension.  

1 minute ago, kdog said:

This season is about Riley and Tork establishing if they are part of the offensive core or if they are just guys. It's early.

Yes, If Greene, Torkelson and Carpenter hit even at their normal levels, it will solve a lot of problems

9 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Correct. Max has some personality, but I don't see him as the type to come into a clubhouse the tear into it and a HOF manager the way Gibson did in LA at all. Max is more what I'd call a "Peacock" on a Myers-Briggs scale. Outgoing, likes to be seen. Gibby was a piranha.

21 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

He doesn't come off to me as intense as Gibby.  I knew Gibby a bit at MSU and he was INTENSE.   Clark seems to be more of keep things loose but "let's go win" guy.   I've followed him on twitter and watched/listened to his workouts that he posts.  Under the flash there's a pretty solid, intelligent, high effort person.  It just strikes me that he's the kind of leader this team needs.  

The spotlight falls on him, doesn't faze him and the others fall in line and follow him....I'm thinking we may see sooner than later.

I wasn't really suggesting that Clark was similar to Gibson, just that he has a distinct personality from their current group.  From a fan's perpective. I do like to see different personalities on the team.  Watching the game last night, I was thinking I don't know McGonigle from Keith from Dingler.  They all look and act the same.     

6 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

One thing I like about Clark is that he strikes me as a vocal, rah, rah type.   That might be the kind of thing this team needs.  None of the leaders on this current team seem to be that type.

So, he could be our Kirk Gibson?  I am not a big fan of flashy players, but I agree the team is very bland.  I don't know that every team needs a vocal leader (sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't), but from a fan's perspective, a little variety would be interesting.

10 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Neither am I, but we can still speculate on it! 😃

I hope he gets a shot, but he has not shown much power and doesn't really have solid position, so it's possible that this is what he is.  Johnny Grubb and not Travis Fryman.  

10 minutes ago, chasfh said:

To his point, Colt has a future and Carp really doesn’t, so if Hinch always sits Colt against LHPs, he better be darn sure Colt’ll never ever hit them, because it’s going to limit what we’ll be able to get from Colt during his career; and also, last night was the second time in three games we got hamstrung having Jahmai bat against a RHP late after pinching for Colt at DH earlier. He struck out swinging both times. We risk that becoming a potential game-plan by opponents.

Fun fact: Colt had a better OPS+ against LHPs than RHPs in 2024.

Right, I did say that he had a point about Keith and I do think Keith might get his chance.  Personally, I weould like to see keith get a shot at being a full-time player, but I just don't think I am in a better position than Hinch to make that decision.  

22 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Baseball is maybe the most measured/measurable and statistically catalogued sports, but you always run into the fundamental limit on the assumption that the guy you measured Monday is really the same guy on Tuesday. Some players are very consistent, some aren't, a guy may not have slept well, he may be worried about his relationship, he may be coming down with a bug or have a slight physical deficit. There are a million big and small things working against the assumption that the player is a constant, while the player himself is doing everything he can to be a constant. As long as real people are playing the game that tension will always be there.

 

How is a fan to know better about these things than Hinch?  If a player is sick or has a slight injury which may affect his performance,  Hinch is going to know that a lot better than a fan.  And even a sick or injured player can have a big day.  Rennie Stennett gor 7 hits in one game with an injured ankle.  If Hinch goes more off of long-term trends than other managers (and I don't know that he does), maybe that is the right approach.  As a fan, I definitely think looking at long-term trends is the best way to go because we don't know enough to do otherwise.  It would be like an amateur trying to time the market.  

10 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

 

He clearly just wants to get out of the war and claim victory.  It will work with his voters and most of the country's shallow incompetent media.  

I liked Allen so much, I used to switch the White Sox feed every time they played them.  

3 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

This is spot on;

 

perfect

6 hours ago, NorthWoods said:

People get old and soft.   

At least my kids accuse me of that.  e.g:how I treat my grandchildren compared to how I treated them.

I think grand parents being soft with children is a requirement. 

43 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Fun fact: as much as the Tigers are sucking eggs right in front of our very eyes, they are still the only team in the Central with a positive run differential. 

run differential don't win you no championship.  

I remember being young!

I just looked back at my blog where there a lot of memories.  I have no idea how I had the time and energy to do all that.  I could not do that now!

I should go back to it later to see what I was thinkking about during the season - especially at the beginning when most of us had no idea how good they were,  

25 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

It's tough to get better if you never get the chance.  

Most players don't get better in their platoon splits though.  If you let all the lefties that can't hit lefties a chance, you'll lose a lot of games figuring out that they'll never hit them.  

16 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

Right, but he can occasionally hit a HR off a lefty, which is probably equally as likely to happen as Javy or Jones hitting one regardless of the pitcher

Baez hits lefties pretty well, but hasn't faced them much this year.  

8 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

I can live with a degree of platooning, but can we stop taking the bat out of the hands of guys who are swinging well (Keith/Carp) and start doing it more with Javy/Rogers/Tork?  When there’s a righty in we aren’t jumping at the opportunity to pull those guys out, but God forbid a lefty comes in.

Carpenter is not hitting well and has no history of being able to hit LHP.  You can make a case for Keith batting more often often against LHP.  

33 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Benetti and Dirks are fine tonight, pretty much on point all game, although it might be because it’s a fairly close game and there’s every pitch to talk about during those.

They've been reading Motown Forums.  

I love the rabbit ears photo.  That needs to be posted all over the place just to piss him off.  

37 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

The people he's threatening don't care if thousands of civilians die. Its an empty threat that Trump made, he backed himself in a corner. He cant lie his way outta this one, if Iran doesnt open up the Strait of Hormuz, the whole world will know.

He'll just claim some kind of victory.  

Batting outcomes in different temperatures:

https://markkolier.medium.com/when-the-weather-heats-up-do-hitters-really-get-hotter-2245bdbe0689

Not surprisingly, home runs are way more common in hot weather.  Nothing else is significant except non-zone swing %, but the raw numbers there don't look like they are practically significant.  

6 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Donald Trump is too stupid to realize or understand that the Iranian government doesn't care if he orders Iranian citizens to be bombed. They recently killed 30,000 of protesting citizens. If he orders bombings, i hope he's brought up on war crimes.

He once said that he told Putin he would blow up Moscow if he invaded Ukraine.  He said Putin was pretty sure he wouldn't do it, but all he needed was a a little doubt and the threat would work.  I doubt he ever said that to Putin, but I believe that is why he issues those kinds of threats.  I don't think that stuff works when he is dealing with people who are just as crazy as him though.  This isn't a real estate deal.  

38 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I noticed the other day that Bobby tends to spend a fair amount of time echoing Dan a lot. Don't need that. If you have something to add, add it, otherwise calm and quiet is OK during a baseball radio cast.

Scales needs to calm down.  His commentary has actually gotten better with time, but he does not sound really comfortable as a broadcaster.  He doesn't know when to stop talking and he talks too fast.  

I was usually a pitcher and first baseman with occasional outfield when I played.  My other infield experience would happen only in infield drills during practice or pick-up games with friends.  The first baseman's mitt was part of the team equipment.  I had one glove for everything else - pitcher, outfield, infield practice.  I never played at a high enough level to need to think about different gloves for every position.  I was a decent enough athlete, but once I turned 16 there weren't many opportunities to play unless you were really talented.  It was a big high school, so it was hard to make the high school team.  There was a town team, but that was all the same guys that made the high school team.  I tried out for both, but I was clearly not in their league. 

I'm not sure how easy it would be to have different gloves for everything.  Maybe it's the same as having four pairs of glasses (distance, reading, computer, sun)!  I don't know.  It's easy enough to adjust, but I lose them all the time.  😀

I use twitter primarily for baseball.  I seriously do not enjoy politics very much and never have.  The Republicans have always thought the Republicans were right about everything and the Democrats have always thought they were right about everything and I rarely saw any useful discussion between the two.  Now I see even less, but I have become forced to follow politics the last ten years because of certain individuals trying to destroy my country for their own benefit,