HugoD

Really good point. I was thinking recently that he's really only had one good stretch so far in his young career.

Listening to MLB radio this morning, and they had a segment on the Tigers. Phillips says he wants them to do well, but thinks this is a correction and that they lack a superstar in everyday lineup to carry them. Scruggs and the two folks behind the boards were ripping him for that take and saying every team has gone thru this this year. That's pretty much true, but it's easier to say from a distance than when you're emotionally tied to a team. I think the truth is in between. Surely not this bad, but it's fair to say they do not have a top 5 roster at this time. Edit: one more thing, I think too many of the national media gloss over the current woes too much for my taste. Again, maybe it's cos I'm too close to it.

oh my goodness. Just got a chance to check in on the game. I had a bad feeling back in loss 3 of this streak and was told to relax. I figured that was probably right. Guess not. I see Hernandez still getting reps!

Ah yes, remember those days well chasing west coast boxscores. Re Hernandez, clearly out of his depth at this level. Always feel bad though for the human

Could be, or maybe his swing path / approach lends itself to wild fluctuations?

I’m torn on this. As much as I appreciate having a true ace with a seemingly great makeup and attitude, I’m also reticent to commit long term resources to a SP. With Skubes it’s just the potential for another catastrophic injury. One the one hand, he has a solid lower body build, but I’m not expert enough to analyze his motion and if it lends itself to another arm/shoulder problem, though I trust the organization has that expertise. On the other hand, guys like him can be strong for another 10 years, and are extremely hard to find. You can commit $40mm a year to him, or spend at least half of that per year plugging the gaps - assuming you’re perennially in the playoff hunt.

Not best team in baseball, just a team that is getting better year over year. We don’t need to overreact to this losing streak, but we probably shouldn’t have overreacted to the good first half. They are not that team - yet.

He needs to be disabused of that notion. Perhaps he thinks HRs will get him paid, and he may be right, but it diminishes his reliability.

Yes they are. They are back to old ways of making bad pitches look great. I know that sometimes pitchers having a bad year turn in a good performance, but you can’t be “tipping your cap” every fricken game. This is definitely an “us” problem. You could see it coming at the start of this swoon (skid?).

Yeah! We have a deep farm system, right? 🙂

I'm assuming this is sarcasm or a schtick? If not, don't you usually post under the moniker "TP Fan" on Lions game threads?

Agreed. I had the same thought when watching - that we was definitely at a higher level than most on the floor. For that reason, I discounted the counting stats with the understanding that if he's progressing, he "should" get that kind of output.

Yeah, I agree with @IdahoBert - that's a great post @chasfh. Couple of points I really agree with: 1. Maximizing both for now AND later. It's tempting to go totally all in ("don't know when you'll have a better chance",etc.), but that can lead to disaster and droughts, as we've seen. Unless of course you have an unlimited budget to erase mistakes. Gotta start contributing to a 401k when you can, rather than buying a sports car because "YOLO!" 2. Seemingly a great culture. That's not always everything, but man that can make a huge difference over time. I'm sure many of us have seen that in our own real lives. That starts with leadership. 3. This has indeed happened very rapidly, and I too was wondering if I'd ever see that (really awesome that we are seeing that with Lions, and maybe Pistons too) One other thought I had is that I'm pretty sure the org will not follow the Rays model. I would call it Rays Plus. 2.

The only current SP I'd trust with a high leverage role would be Skubal. Call me crazy, but I'm thinking that wouldn't be a good move.

Oh ffs, that blows. Out BP is officially a disaster. Yeah I know, long season, blah , blah blah, but how many BP arms can we pick up at deadline? Not enough and what’s the cost? This is a significant turn of events. Even if we come back in this one, the situation ain’t good. This has been percolating.

Was thinking the same thing. There’s really no one I trust right now. The previous time Vest pitched, he got out of it but struggled with his control.

‘‘Twas not to be.

Big top of 8th coming

I will say though that - at least on my phone - strike zone looks pinched a bit. Is Jack missing by much?

Appears both BPs will be reporting early today, unless Jack can get some quick innings. Strike throwing not great on either side.

Time for Captain Jack to have a strong game. Going into this series, Tigers had lowest odds in tomorrow’s game; time to reverse course.

Kinda like beachfront condos in Gaza?

Yeah, that’s where I am. Democrats need to simply call out the fact that Don campaigned on this crap, and then chickened out and reversed course. No need to get caught up in the weeds of a bunch of dumb ppl fighting.

As bad as the side effects of the vax are, getting actual shingles is a beast. Saw that firsthand with my dad.

Co-sign on that. As @Motor City Sonics correctly said the other day “it’s baseball “. On the other hand, I think the last few days may be indicative of an underlying structural issue. I for one haven’t been totally comfortable with the makeup of our BP for some time. I felt the more predictive metrics were glossed over by results. That doesn’t mean it can’t be corrected of course.