04/25/2023 7:40pm EDT Detroit Tigers vs Milwaukee Brewers

[Jim Cowan]

7 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

He and Holton have been very nice surprises.

Yes, who would have predicted that if Hinch finally saw the merits of multiple inning relievers it would be these 2 guys?

[RandyMarsh]

It took us 43 games in each of last 2 seasons to get double digit wins so as long as we avoid a 10 game losing streak we'll atleast beat that mark this year!

[casimir]

11 hours ago, Hart said:

That's why you leave Carpenter in the lineup against lefties.  Not only does he need the practice to be an everyday player long term, he is one of the few decent hitters in this lineup.  

And inevitably a RHP will enter the game at some point.  Dropping him lower in the lineup, maybe he only sees 2 PAs vs a LHSP and then its on to RHRPs.

[casimir]

9 hours ago, Crazy Cat Gentleman said:

I'm a little surprised those indoor fireworks don't violate some health code. must look worse than it is or something.

Health code?  In the land of brats, cheese curds, and beers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Wasn't Alexander the pitcher of record? I thought he would get the win.

Kerry Carpenter should get the win. He’s the guy who made it happen.

[casimir]

9 hours ago, theroundsquare said:

Sigh.  It's a results-driven world

That's true.  But I think there's legit reason to still be optimistic about his future.  If he were hitting for weaker contact throughout his MLB play, I think that'd be cause for more concern.

[chasfh]

3 minutes ago, casimir said:

Health code?  In the land of brats, cheese curds, and beers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

And brandy old-fashioneds. Can’t leave out brandy old-fashioneds. 

[casimir]

8 hours ago, Hart said:

Do we lead the league in close wins?  Feels like every win we get is a nail biter.  

Its funny you mention this.  I noticed this on bbref the other day:

The red is much more noticeable in frequency and depth than the green.

[casimir]

7 hours ago, Jim Cowan said:

Yes, who would have predicted that if Hinch finally saw the merits of multiple inning relievers it would be these 2 guys?

SP depth for this season concerns me.  I have not looked at Toledo's stats lately, but they didn't have a SP get into the 5th for what seemed like the first dozen games.  For all of the accolades that the BP has earned lately, I think that lack of SP is going to bite the BP (and the Tigers).  The multi inning relief appearances are going to be key to the survival of the pitching this season.

[chasfh]

It’s great that the Tigers are winning close games, but we will know they will be starting to turn the corner when they start winning blowouts more and more (which might happen some this year when they start playing the dregs of the league).

[mtutiger]

9 minutes ago, casimir said:

SP depth for this season concerns me.  I have not looked at Toledo's stats lately, but they didn't have a SP get into the 5th for what seemed like the first dozen games.  For all of the accolades that the BP has earned lately, I think that lack of SP is going to bite the BP (and the Tigers).  The multi inning relief appearances are going to be key to the survival of the pitching this season.

Skubal is throwing a bullpen soon, so that is potentially one guy to add back into the mix at some point relatively soon.

But I agree with the overall point... would not surprise me if Eggbert gets some starts as well at some point

[Jim Cowan]

41 minutes ago, casimir said:

SP depth for this season concerns me.  I have not looked at Toledo's stats lately, but they didn't have a SP get into the 5th for what seemed like the first dozen games.  For all of the accolades that the BP has earned lately, I think that lack of SP is going to bite the BP (and the Tigers).  The multi inning relief appearances are going to be key to the survival of the pitching this season.

Yeah, Toledo's rotation, I've never heard of any of those guys.

[RandyMarsh]

Im skeptical of the SP going forward as well. If Skubal and Manning come back strong then that will of course help but that is far from a sure thing, given their history their more likely to get reinjured than come back strong. 

Boyd has been serviceable but given his history of collapsing Im always worried about him falling off a cliff. 

Turnbull has looked better the last couple starts and if he keeps that trend up he can be a reliable piece but again I'm a little skeptical of that considering it's his first year back from TJ.

In the end it has potential to be serviceable if things go the Tigers way but let's be real its been awhile since that has happened so I'm erring on the side of things not going that way. 

 

 

[mtutiger]

1 hour ago, casimir said:

SP depth for this season concerns me.  I have not looked at Toledo's stats lately, but they didn't have a SP get into the 5th for what seemed like the first dozen games.  

Don't necessarily disagree with the overall point, but the degree to which innings are performance based versus organizational directive, especially with it being April, is unclear 

[Sports_Freak]

10 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

When the starting pitcher doesn't pitch enough innings. they usually give the win to the next guy if he keeps the lead.  However, they don't have to do so.  It's a scorer's decision.  

I'd like to know how often it happens that way though because it seems pretty rare.  

 

Just another example of a pitchers win-loss record being somewhat meaningless.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, casimir said:

That's true.  But I think there's legit reason to still be optimistic about his future.  If he were hitting for weaker contact throughout his MLB play, I think that'd be cause for more concern.

He's actually gone from famine to feast in that he was chronically late on the FB last season and now he he pulling a lot of balls hard down the 3b line. But to me that means he now has 'time to spare' on his ability to get out front. I'm going take that as a good sign. And the numbers will out, you can't keep hitting the ball that hard on a line without production stats starting to follow.

[casimir]

1 hour ago, mtutiger said:

Don't necessarily disagree with the overall point, but the degree to which innings are performance based versus organizational directive, especially with it being April, is unclear 

You kind of lost me there.  What do you think the organizational directive could be?

[casimir]

1 hour ago, Jim Cowan said:

Yeah, Toledo's rotation, I've never heard of any of those guys.

It was weird on Opening Day.  The SP only tossed a few innings and then he was serving beers in the 5th & 6th innings.  His pouring was clean in the 5th, but a bit scattershot after his beer count got elevated.

[mtutiger]

15 minutes ago, casimir said:

You kind of lost me there.  What do you think the organizational directive could be?

Innings limits on starters during the first few weeks of the season. It's been a pattern throughout all of the minor league teams within the system regardless of start quality.

Edited April 26, 2023 by mtutiger

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, RandyMarsh said:

Im skeptical of the SP going forward as well.

Your point about Manning and Skubal, and to a lesser degree Brieske is key. I could see go the other way - if guys start getting healthy I could actually see them moving a hot ERod for a high ranking ready to launch AAA bat - someone who profiles like Ausin Jackson did when we traded for him - i.e. can't miss but unproven.

The other arm to watch is Hanifee  - coming off TJ at Toledo. His K and hit rates are looking decent but his walks are still high - but he had always been a low walk guy before the TJ so if that comes around that's another end of the rotation guy.

[mtutiger]

1 minute ago, gehringer_2 said:

Your point about Manning and Skubal, and to a lesser degree Brieske is key. I could see go the other way - if guys start getting healthy I could actually see them moving a hot ERod for a high ranking ready to launch AAA bat - someone who profiles like Ausin Jackson did when we traded for him - i.e. can't miss but unproven.

The other arm to watch is Hanifee  - coming off TJ at Toledo. His K and hit rates are looking decent but his walks are still high - but he had always been a low walk guy before the TJ so if that comes around that's another end of the rotation guy.

I also think we need to put things in perspective - this is likely at best a low-mid 70s win team and we are coming off of a 2022 where one of their most consistent starters was Drew Hutchison.... there are concerns here no doubt, particularly if the injury bug comes back in a big way, but I don't think they are any worse off than in 2022 rotation wise. 

If they (ie. Fetter and Co.) could manage to piece things together during 2022 and keep the wheels from flying completely off the cart, I think they can manage with the pieces they have right now to keep things somewhat in-line this year as well.

[casimir]

42 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

Innings limits on starters during the first few weeks of the season. It's been a pattern throughout all of the minor league teams within the system regardless of start quality.

Keeping innings in reserve for later on if/when they need to call folks up.  Yes, that's a good theory and I thought that might have been where you were going.  I don't think we've seen it as a planned outing yet this season, but they might also be keeping things lined up for bullpen games, too.  Maybe instead of calling up a "SP", they'll go with a piggy back of multi inning RPs to try to get through 5 or 6.

I know Skubal's return has been mentioned as well.  I know he didn't have TJ, but my completely amateurish opinion is that its best to subscribe to the TJ recovery theory with him, at least early on when he comes back until he proves otherwise.  We're kind of seeing that a bit with Turnbull right now, too.  The combination of strength, stamina, and accuracy just seems to take a bit to regain.