Tiger337

Why is everybody blaming the offense?  They are not hitting home runs, but they are 8th in MLB in OBP and 10th in wRC+

The home runs will come when the weather warms up.

The real culprit is run prevention:

They are 20th in xFIP

21st in fielding

This team is built on run prevention.  That is where they need to excel.  It's been terrible so far.  

46 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

He needs the game on the actual line? IDK, but i thought we saw this same thing in previous years, I never knew his splits didn't show it. I guess maybe a few multiple run 9th innings made it appear the same as 7th and 8th inning failures of only giving up a single run or two?

Or maybe Hinch was only using him in the 9th when he was throwing well or when there was a good match up.  So, maybe he did do slightly better in the 9th, but was it the chicken or the egg?  

8 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

8th inning Will Vest? Huh...I guess we need to see him keep failing so the stat guys can't say his splits show he's not just good in the 9th inning.

Why would a pitcher only be able to pitch the 9th?  That makes no sense.  I could see when he had the closer role, he might let up in a non-save situation.  But he's not the closer now, so what is your explanation?

29 minutes ago, pfife said:

That's where trump learned it, jan 6 is bernies fault too

Sanders has often talked about tariffs, so those are his fault too.  

3 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

Not so much of a vault as a shake up.   Change the status quo.  Perform or visit Tony Packos

I don't think that is Harris's or Hinch's style.  They seem to prepare for the long-term and don't make moves to send messages.  They will try to put the best baseball team on the field every night for baseball reasons.   

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

I'm not aware of the left resorting to lies and misinformation that have nearly the same influence and impact on as many people in their orbit as the lies and information flowing non-stop out of the very influential and impactful far right have on theirs. I'll even go as far as to say I don't think it's even happening. That's why I asked.

He didn't say the misinformation has the same impact as the right. It does exist and I can't believe you have not seen it.  I see it all the time and it's frustrating.  I frequently have to block accounts on social media.     

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

All kinda of lies. I have been blocking most of the bigger accounts that post "misinformation" for several weeks now. Everything from fake Executive Orders to lies about Trump giving fake orders to his administration. Obvious lies just to rile people up. Like...do we really need more reasons to dislike the guy?

This has been going on for years and it does not help our cause.  

5 hours ago, Edman85 said:

In a classic case of jokes writing themselves, Woo-Suk Go was demoted to Erie after putting up a 20+ ERA to date in Toledo.

Didn't somebody lose their podcast gig for saying something like that? 😉

I have seen a lot of Valdez the last few years because I often have him on my fantasy team.  He is a good pitcher, but when things go wrong, he doesn't react well and has games like this.  

11 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

A few of you have mentioned the absence of @Jim Cowan who was also Charles Liston on the old board and wondered what he was doing and if he was OK and I reached out to him through email and he said he’s doing just fine but that he finds his general interest in being a part of a message board on a daily basis to have waned and that it only has its greatest value as an all consuming passion which has for the time being ebbed. He said that he’s excited about McGonigle and the starting pitching and sent his best to a number of you. Since it’s a personal message, I don’t feel comfortable relaying too many of the details, but my own concern was that something healthwise had happened to him - we are both 74 so that can be an issue  - and it hasn’t. Anyway, that’s the scoop.

Thanks Bert.  I am very happy to hear that he is doing well.  

12 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

Gunnar Henderson is 0.4 WAR, 4 HR, a 158 OPS+ but Witt still has a higher WAR?  Seems deeply flawed almost like they just make stuff up depending on if they like the player or not.

According to FanGraphs, Witt has saved 3 runs defensively whereas Henderson has given up -1 run.  That's 0.4 WAR right there.  The offensive numbers are going to accumulate over the course of the season even someone is not a great hitter and WAR is also going accumulate over the season.  Fielding doesn't accumulate the same way.  Replacement level for defense is average, so an average shortstop will always add 0 WAR with his fielding whether he plays 1 game or 162 games.  The result is that a really good or bad fielder is going to have his WAR distorted in a really small sample size.  

12 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I don't think it's too soon to complain that the jewels of the Al Avila All-Stars are dragging the team down, even as another couple of them are doing everything they can to keep the team afloat.

 

So, when the team does well, it's Harris's team, but when they lose, it is Avila's team!  😃

15 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

I understand that it is meant for a whole season but for him to have 0.5 WAR after his performance so far this season seems ridiculous.  How bad would a replacement player be?  Javy Baez is -0.2 so far.  There's really 0.7 difference between those guys based on what they have accomplished so far this season?

The 0.7 difference is probably all fielding and fielding stats don't work in a small sample.  

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

Can I just add here that I really struggle to understand how so many fans here can regard Tork as an above average first baseman, when literally all the fielding metrics show him to be near the bottom of the heap. Even fielding percentage, the stat that reflects what I guess people love about him, the scoops of throws, have him in the bottom third of the league year after year. My personal eye test shows him to be a statue at first base on balls hit to him and the owner of one of the weakest arms in the league when it comes to turn around the relay to home. But sure, he can scoop a throw now and then.

Fans only regard him as an above average first baseman when he's hitting!  People used to do the same thing when Cabrera when he played third.  

At the end of 2024, everybody was saying the Tigers had perfect team chemistry and they all wanted to win so bad.  Now, all of the sudden, nobody cares and they need someone to shake things up.  What came first, the chicken or the egg?  

2 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I think it was last year when I noticed how dead-eyed Riley Greene is, like, totally vacant, nothing there. I don't know whether that is related to whatever his level of drive for the game is, but even setting that aside as a concept, nothing he has shown me has demonstrated that he has much drive to excel.

Of course, all Riley has to do is repeat 2024 a few times and no one will give the slightest crap how dead his eyes are.

Is he the new Tony Clark? 

3 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

Sometimes WAR really doesn't seem like it makes sense.

Bobby Witt Jr, .250 BA, .250 SLg, .603 OPS, OPS+ 80, 0 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI.  After 11 games he is 0.5 WAR.  

That comes out to a 7.4 WAR for a season, which would have been the 5th best last season (and higher than his 7.1 from '25), tied with Cal Raleigh 

.250 average with no extra base hits all season with 14 runs scored are what his season totals would come out to be.  Is that really that amazing?

 

WAR is not intended to be a 10 game stat.  Look at it again after the season.  Witt will be at 7 WAR and it should make more sense.  

Clark come across as OK to me.  He also comes across as someone who likes attention which is OK for an entertainer which is what he is. 

Maybe Valdez can fire some balls at Greene.  That will shake things up.  

3 hours ago, NorthWoods said:

I think Harris will instead use a promotion or two to shake things up.  Perez?  Clark?  Both?

Or maybe they will just start winning...like tonight.  

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.