gehringer_2

this is an interesting question. On one side is the argument that you just tell him to go back to doing what he knows how to do and stop worrying about K's. Javy would certainly not be the 1st hitter who put up a better OPS with he stopped worrying about trying to be a 'good' hitter. OTOH, the story from the Tigers is that Javy has to change anyway because the way he hit when he was 22 doesn't work even from a physical standpoint for a 30 old so they are trying coach toward a different approach. You can either believe they are right or believe 30 yr ball players seldom have success trying to go away from what got them to the majors in the 1st place. Javy will eventually be adding some evidence to that argument on one side or the other, the question is which?

IDK which pitch it was but he was arm side high a lot on one- wasn't finishing it. If he could get that one issue under control his strike percentage would take a nice jump.

If we don't get some kind of automated K zone by next season I'm going to go crazy. Torres was a complete joke tonight.

Hanshin?

I think Harris is full of it. They gave JHM an extended audition at 3B and the decision was pretty clear they wanted no part of continuing it.

Chariot isn't that old that he should be losing his legs that badly. Hopefully he had something slowing him down last year and he will bound back a little or you'd like to believe if the Wings thought he was getting slow put they him on a custom conditioning program. Hockey isn't like hitting the fastball, 33 isn't that old for a D man.

I think so. The only thing in Maton's favor is that he is younger, but he's still not young enough that he's that much of a prospect to suddenly improve much or become part of the team 'future'.

The thing that I think is very hard to women in American politics is to hit is that perfect note on disposition. Whitmer is almost Reaganesque in her ability to be Sunny yet Serious. Hillary I think aspired to get to 'Happy Warrior' but still came across to too many as a cold. We don't really know if she has the all around skills to go national but there is definitely some unique talent there.

LOL - 25 yrs and the references still work.

seem like it has to be either Ibanez or Maton. Since Parker is another LHB, that one thing tipping the scales toward keeping Ibanez.

2 would be good. Between off season moves and 3 high potential guys at AAA there is some hope.

Riley played left to Parker in CF when they were in the minors together. Riley has talked up Parker as the best OF in the system. I don't think it will be a issue.

If Harris brings Sands to Detroit for any kind of regular role he will prove he is no smarter than Avila.

Tigers milestones today: Back to within 10 games of 500; negative run differential under 100.

If you saw the play he did make coming in, it actually showed some more of the limitation of his glove work. The ball was sinking and instead of reversing his wrist to get his pocket down, he locked into an unnecessarily hard catch with his glove facing down on a sinking ball below his waist. You see this a lot - guys relying on athleticism to make plays that would require less if they had developed more technique.

IDK - I'd see it if a guy was struggling, or maybe 3B still makes him nervous, but Vierling should be be feeling pretty good about his play at 3B.

I don't know how the Tigers handle OF positioning vs the sun. Back in the day when guys mostly decided where to play on their own, a guy could cheat a little to which ever side keep the sun out of the play in more of his field. You'd given up a step or two of what you can reach for the benefit of having fewer plays in the sun. I'd be curious if they still let guys have that freedom that the positioning being driven by analytics.

Not good. You have to think about where the Sun (or lights are) is beforehand and maybe try to take a little bit of an indirect route that keeps the ball out of it. Obviously tougher when you have a long way to go.

I wonder if Hinch did that challenge just to give ERod another minute since the Tiger hitters went down so quickly

Curiously, Vierling has gotten better against RHP this season. He has a negative platoon split for this season. You see him trying to take the slider away to RF a fair amount, which is a good way for a RHB to neutralize a RHP's usual advantage.

i don't know if it's skewed perception because the Tigers have had so much trouble filling the position, but it seems like the supply of good defensive 3B is short all around the league. Maybe just part of a long general trend of fewer players with strong arms?

Billy Butler was pretty much a full time DH from the time he broke in as a rookie. Had a few good years, but a pretty short career.

The same guy who decided that Dots were polka?

I'm still guessing what kind of hitter Torkelson is going to be in the end. The power part is in place, but whether he's going to be a 330 OBP/30 hr guy or develop the OBP to go with it to be an all-star is still hard to tell.

Ramirez seems like he's been around forever - he's only 30.