mtutiger

Tonight's a good example of why Flaherty, despite having some struggles in the early going, doesn't belong in the same conversation as Maeda imo.

SGL may be getting TJ soon, fwiw

Not saying that Kenta is pitching well or isn't of concern, because he is, but this isn't that uncommon of an outcome even for winning teams in this sport. The Cubs (likely an above .500 baseball team) lost a game 12-11 this week; the Yankees lost to the Guardians on Sunday 10-7, etc. And the Texas Rangers, even with their injuries, are still a really good offensive baseball team.... they are hard to keep down for an entire four game series. But with Kenta, I just think there's a level of production that he's going to have to hit in order to maintain his position, even with his salary and other considerations. Especially if they hang around in this division for any length of time. Manning is too good of a pitcher and the options behind him (ie. Jobe) are lurking as well

There are no moral victories in this sport, but if offensive performance is where the rubber meets the road for this team, we saw some decent signs in this game that hopefully carry forward.

Maybe I'm just too accustomed to Hinch, but not impressed with how the Rangers manage their bullpen

Adolis Garcia lol

The infielders owe Shelby Miller a steak dinner lol

I said it in a previous outing, but they can't hide him forever.... if he's gonna be here, they're going to have use him.

If they can get Javy, Tork and Keith going, this offense looks completely different. Trust but verify though... need to see sustained results

That's about as on-time as Mr. Tork has been all year.... just smoked that ball

Wow, what a misplay in CF

Flaherty at least seems to recover and give them length even with the early struggles... his last outing against the Twins was a good example. With Maeda, it just seems like you're waiting the shoe to drop.... the whole arsenal has to work a certain way, and if he can't land pitches / misses on location, it ends up being a really long day.

It's a really good question, but while Manning isn't the best pitcher ever, if Maeda doesn't improve and continues to maintain a 7-8 ERA, he's too good to leave down there. I don't know if that entails moving Maeda to long relief or what, but something has to give there.

It's early, but gotta imagine Kenta is on thin ice these days

Another way to look at it: who else on this team would you trust at the plate with runners on base more than Mark Canha at this point? Argument could be made for Gio Urshela just because he's had a knack for getting the big hit and having decent bat to ball skills, but other than that, I'm not sure there is one. That includes Riley Greene as well

To this point, I wonder if they manage to stay in it or above .500 over the next month or two (and if some of their core start producing as expected) if they don't try to look outside the org to improve their lineup. Frustrating as this org can be, they have some actual bullets to use for a change in terms of trades. Particularly with pitching.

Exactly. Mark Canha is performing about one would expect from him based on his career thus far (small sample size), the issue is that there are a lot of other guys on this club that aren't meeting expectations at the moment. Canha has also been a pretty big factor in some of their wins as well... they don't win on Opening Day at Comerica without Mark Canha's homer for instance.

The Tigers have 99 problems.... and Mark Canha ain't one.

It's a very small sample size, but Carlos may be my favorite color guy that they've had since Gibby's first run.... just really fits the role well, polished, insightful, etc.

Kudos to the pitching staff again.... the offense may be sucking wind, but they have generally done a great job of keeping them in close enough to win some of these ball games.

Correa may or may not have made they play, the Kelly hit looked fairly legit in real time, that's not an easy play to make at all. Statcast has it as a 0.510 xBA as well. Mark Canha's double I can see more of an argument for needing to be made, but even there, watching the replay this morning, I wouldn't assume that a double play gets turned there because of Riley Greene's speed going between first and second and how quickly he would have needed to get the ball over to second. I guess if we are playing that game too, Javy Baez "only" hit that home run because Theilbar sequences his pitches poorly? Or didn't quite get the location right on on his sweeper? Or _________? The made less mistakes than the other guys and they were able to capitalize on the mistakes that the other team did make and won. A lot of baseball games in this league are won in this way.

And even after the blown play, they still had to go and get the winning run in... Capitalizing on mistakes.... believe it or not, the good teams win games like these too.

The offense isn't good, but there were positives today. And they did earn the win, full stop.

I'll never understand being angry after a win, I'll leave it at that

Maybe, maybe not... sometimes you BABIP, or you get BABIPed. Thats the sport. Either way, Javy and Tork showed a little bit in their finals ABs imo. Javy for showing a little power, Tork for actually displaying some situational awareness for a change.. Nothing wrong with being happy about that