mtutiger

Wow

It's only a sac fly, but it seems like forever since we've seen a good AB with runners in scoring position. Good for Phil's kid

Wait. Did jarvy do what I think he did? Un fricken believable

Harris clearly thinks that Maton and Vierling are major leaguers. Others here may disagree, but I think it was a good trade for a volatile reliever who wasn't likely going to be around on the next good Tiger team

The hitters need to be better and, in terms case of a couple of them (*cough* Jarvy *cough*), should be better than they have produced so far. Although yesterday was tough with Gausman, feels lucky that they even got the runs they did, although the had other opportunities to tack on as well. To add, of the bullpen and hitters, whenever one of those two things can improve, they will start getting more wins than they are now. I feel a bit better about the hitters than the pitchers in that regard... but with a better offense or a better bullpen, this team is maybe 4-7 or 5-6 right now, not 2-9.

Wingenter did have a leverage situation in their first win, so that may have bought him an opportunity. I think it’s OK to carry him, but ideally he would be more of a 6th or 7th inning guy, not getting save opportunities

I think where the big disagreement here is that there are have been a lot of declarations about how they handled free agency, how aggressive they were, etc. Yet for me, so much of that line of thinking is based on assumptions or lack of hard evidence Like, I don't know for a fact that they didn't try to sign relievers this offseason more than maybe they did try but players chose to sign elsewhere.

Yeah, we disagree there

True story: the first time I went to a Houston Astros game was in the summer of 2012. Sunday afternoon. They were horrific... paid attendance was a little over 7,000. Today? They are far and away the most popular thing in town. Winning cures a lot of ills...

If they manage to find themselves somehow contending in a few years, will fan interest in this team at this particular moment matter at all? The lows of the Randy Smith/Early DD years didn't seem to have much of an impact on fan interest whenever they turned it around in 2006. I'm not sure I understand the case for how this situation is much different.

Al Avila also pieced them together largely without free agency - Chafin was the exception rather than the norm, and really a likely reason that happened was because they he felt he was at the periphery of contention. Which kinda drives the point home - in order for this team to have more success in the free agent market, they are going to have to have a better story to sell players on. You could sort of see it in 2022 given how they played during most of 2021. You can't see that now at all.

The bullpen cascaded late, but there was still competition over pieces and they still do have agency. The other thing worth mentioning here is that, particularly with Chafin and Fulmer given that they are the dudes people are focused most on, we don't exactly know what the team did or didn't do with whatever contacts they had. There was reporting that Chafin and the Tigers were in contact, but how do we know that the nature of that contact wasn't "thanks, but I'd like to shop around"... with Fulmer, they didn't inquire, but maybe there was some sort of backchannel communication that he wouldn't be interested in coming back? I don't know that it's an excuse for how bad the bullpen has performed to date, but I do think we need to be open to the idea that maybe Chafin/Fulmer weren't just there for the taking as well. It was reported late that they were in contact with Will Smith, and he would have been a nice get but that didn't happen for some reason.

Worth noting on the bullpen front that Miguel Diaz had 1 IP, 2K and is now down to a 1.59 ERA. I'm ready to see him up

The other part about the "sign someone to be respectable" type of free agents are the years they were commanding on this past years market.... @chasfh has commented on this a lot and it's true. Tucker Barnhart, who we all wanted to shoot into the sun for most of last year, commanded a two year deal FFS. Even still within the fold, you would think that things like living out the remainder of Jon Schoop's two year deal would maybe be a cautionary tale as well. But I digress.

The other thing about free agency is the last word: "agency" A team can get out there and make competitive offers on players to try to get them to come to your team, but players have agency and aren't obliged to agree to a deal regardless of how aggressive you are on the market. Even with the top of mind discussion about relievers after last night's game, for all the "Idiot Harris didn't resign Chafin/Fulmer" comments, is it even clear that either would come back here? Particularly Chafin, who accepted less than last year to pitch in AZ? Fans generally seem to treat free agency like it's rolling down to Kroger and buying a bottle of ketchup... it's maybe more like buying a house, especially these days. Just because you put in an offer doesn't mean it's gonna be accepted.

Wingenter hasn't pitched much in three years, so I could see the term applying to him to an extent. Cisnero, OTOH... that's probably the first bus ticket out of town imo

With AJ, we all have heard his comments about "winning today's game" so many times. And I've seen him leverage guys in the past who were operating off of much less rest or, despite the quality of the pen, dealing with pens that were far more taxed coming into last night's game, in order to put the team in the best position to "win today's game." I think he fell short last night and has to take some of the blame. No, that doesn't mean I think he should be fired, nor does it mean that the talent he has been given is good, but like with anyone else, it should be acceptable to make criticisms when he makes mistakes. And generally, it just seems like he's "off-limits" for any sort of criticism in some corners.

E-Rod will be OK and will probably pitch well enough to be traded and/or opt out. But with the others, as much as people complain about the lack of big-time free agent activity, they are also cautionary tales about how free agents are not a panacea nor a substitute for building a good foundation for a team.

Kane's question about Lange was great - he basically got him to admit that rolling him out for a 2nd inning was an option that they didn't avail themselves of. Again, generally speaking, we can walk and chew gum at the same time... we can admit that the talent in the bullpen isn't good enough (and yes, put that primarily on Harris) while admitting the manager could have made different decisions in this game that could have affected a different outcome.

I dont think it's hard to understand why this team is struggling, it is talent level. And I like AJ, I don't think to the extent that he has made mistakes that they are anywhere near the biggest problems facing this teamm Having said that, especially given how implied it was this offseason that Hinch/Harris were a partnership and that Harris was a better fit for Hinch than Avila, I am not clear as to why Hinch seeming eludes blame from some or is cast as a bystander who had no say in what he was given talent wise... all of that implies that he's a lot less hands on as a manager or member of the org than he actually is, given that he's likely one of the more involved managers from a transaction/FO perspective in the league from all accounts I have seen. That's the part I dont like... I dont think AJ had any illusions about the team he was coming into the season with and I just haven't seen a lot of evidence that he isn't on the same page with the new FO.

Yeah, this was the other option AJ had... don't know why he didn't, Lange's 8th was pretty stress-free

I'm not going to second guess Hinch on using Wingenter in a leverage situation, the guy has good stuff if he locates. But probably would have used him in the 8th and not the 9th... Lange makes me nervous, but nothing like using the guy who hasnt pitched much for the last three years in that situation

They are gonna have to do some churn with the bullpen... this current mix is, to put it mildly, not working at all

Good God, I hold my breath every time Jarvy uncorks a throw across the diamond

I swear, if he puts in Cisnero tonight... lol