Tiger Cubs (notes on the minors)

[Tiger337]

10 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

Not getting a spring invite was a red flag to me.

A red flag of him not being as good or as ready as his numbers suggested?

[Edman85]

4 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

A red flag of him not being as good or as ready as his numbers suggested?

Injury red flag.

[RandyMarsh]

Another injury red flag was the fact that he is a pitcher in the Tigers system who was pitching well. That seems to automatically mean an injury is coming up. 

[LongLiveMaroth]

Toledo W 9-4
Meadows 0/2 3BB 2K 2RBI
Short 1/5 HR BB 2RBI
Malloy 1/4 2K BB (Current OPS 1.007)
Lipcius 1/4 1BB 2B
Kreidler 1/5 HR 3RBI
Ibanez 1/3 2BB (OPS 1.137)
Hanifee 4.0IP 7K 3BB 1ER

Erie L 15-6
Perez 3/5 2K 3RBI 2HR
Keith 1/5
Crouch 1/5 HR RBI 2K
Workman 0/3 BB
Flores 2.2IP 7ER 3K 3BB
Bergner 2.0 ER 4K

WM L 5-0
Jung 1/3 BB
Campos 0/4 4K
Pacheco 1/4 K
Serretti 2/4 (.333 AVG)

Lakeland W 4-0
Graham 1/4 BB K
Santana 0/4 1K
Sequera 1/4 2K RBI
Jenkins 1/3 RBI BB
 

[LongLiveMaroth]

Toledo L 5-3
Meadows 0/4 RBI BB K
Malloy 1/3 2B 2BB K
Lipcius 1/4 BB RBI
Kreidler 0/5 4K 
Olson 0.2 IP 3ER 3BB 0K (Thinking the oblique injury is still having some effects here)
Vest 2IP 3K
Diaz 2IP 2K

Erie L 11-2
Perez 1/4
Keith 2/3 K
Smith 3IP 3ER 6K and one immaculate inning

West Michigan W 4-1
Jung 0/3 BB K
Serretti 2/4 2B RBI K
Pacheco 0/4 4K
Pena 4IP ER 5K
Hess 2IP 4K

Lakeland L 8-3
Graham 1/3 2B RBI BB 
Santana 0/4 BB 2K

[Tigeraholic1]

1 hour ago, LongLiveMaroth said:

Toledo L 5-3
Meadows 0/4 RBI BB K
Malloy 1/3 2B 2BB K
Lipcius 1/4 BB RBI
Kreidler 0/5 4K 
Olson 0.2 IP 3ER 3BB 0K (Thinking the oblique injury is still having some effects here)
Vest 2IP 3K
Diaz 2IP 2K

Erie L 11-2
Perez 1/4
Keith 2/3 K
Smith 3IP 3ER 6K and one immaculate inning

West Michigan W 4-1
Jung 0/3 BB K
Serretti 2/4 2B RBI K
Pacheco 0/4 4K
Pena 4IP ER 5K
Hess 2IP 4K

Lakeland L 8-3
Graham 1/3 2B RBI BB 
Santana 0/4 BB 2K

Great job on these daily snapshots!

[LongLiveMaroth]

Malloy with a bomb off Van Man

[mtutiger]

A little national hype for Malloy from the (no longer verified) MLB Pipeline Twitter acct

[RandyMarsh]

JHM finishes 2-4 with the aforementioned HR and a walk. You gotta think he's gonna be first in line when a position spot comes available for the Tigers. 

[Tenacious D]

I know Hinch likes to mix it up, but I’d be good if we put out the following infield, lumps and all, most days for the 2nd half of the season:

1B Tork Bomb

2B El Lobo

SS Baez

3B Malloy

[SoCalTiger]

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

I know Hinch likes to mix it up, but I’d be good if we put out the following infield, lumps and all, most days for the 2nd half of the season:

1B Tork Bomb

2B El Lobo

SS Baez

3B Malloy

And Verling- P Meadows -Greene in the OF

[casimir]

11 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

I know Hinch likes to mix it up, but I’d be good if we put out the following infield, lumps and all, most days for the 2nd half of the season:

1B Tork Bomb

2B El Lobo

SS Baez

3B Malloy

Promoting Malloy this season comes with a couple of questions.

1. Is his defense ready yet?  I think I recall hearing questions about it.  Can he improve it this season?  It would seem his offense is ready given his slash lines and his BB/SO.  I understand looking at the overall value of the player and everybody has pros and cons.  But are there defensive lessons to learn yet.
2. He's not on the 40 man roster yet.  This season isn't going to yield a playoff run.  Is it wise to waste a season of control now when it isn't going to go towards the playoffs?  He just turned 23 years old in Lakeland.  Given the above mentioned defense and the 2023 team outlook, I'd rather have his 2029 season (or whatever the last arbitration season would be) in hand than lose it for 2023.  And, sure, if he proves to be what he seems to be once he is in MLB, the Tigers could always throw a long term deal at him early to keep his prime years under control.

But, damn, does that future look bright, doesn't it?  The early return suggests Harris should be arrested for stealing Malloy in return of a season of Joe Jimenez (and his inconsistent baseball card).  You look at Malloy's "dominating the strike zone" type of numbers, his consistency from level to level and from season to season.  It just seems silly to me that this trade happened.

[Jim Cowan]

I agree, I am not in any hurry to see him in Detroit.  Let him play third base every day in Toledo, and I don't care if it is for the whole year.  

[Tenacious D]

I appreciate the caution, but I also subscribe to the Jim Leyland school of wanting the best 25 (now 26) players on the big league squad.  If Malloy proves to be one of them, and can take away the empty AB’s from Nevin, McKinstry and Schoop, I’m down with it.  I wouldn’t let service time factor into the equation.

[RandyMarsh]

I too am in no hurry to see him up here cause I think it would be in his best interest development wise to stay in Toledo for atleast half the season but I just think if there were to be an injury involved to the Tigers, particularly one that could give him reps at 3b he would be the one called upon.

[Jim Cowan]

16 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

I appreciate the caution, but I also subscribe to the Jim Leyland school of wanting the best 25 (now 26) players on the big league squad.  If Malloy proves to be one of them, and can take away the empty AB’s from Nevin, McKinstry and Schoop, I’m down with it.  I wouldn’t let service time factor into the equation.

I agree that Schoop's AB's are wasted, but I'm not ready to kick Nevin to the curb yet.  And yes, service time is always a poor reason when deciding whom to put on the 26.

[LongLiveMaroth]

Toledo W 8-3 
Meadows 2/5 2K
Malloy 2/4 HR 2RBI BB
Lipcius 0/4 BB
Kreidler 1/4 2RBI BB K

Erie L 10-7
Keith 3/3 2BB 3B
Workman 0/4 4K BB SB
Cruz 1/5 BB  K HR RBI
Hurter 4IP 3BB 4K ER

West Michigan W 2-0
Jung 1/3 BB 2K
Pacheco 0/3 K
Campos 1/3
Murr 3/3 3 2B RBI
Montero 4IP 7K 1H

Lakeland W 6-3
Stephenson 2/4 2 2B RBI K 2SB
Graham 0/5 BB
Melton 4IP ER BB 4K

[casimir]

6 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

I appreciate the caution, but I also subscribe to the Jim Leyland school of wanting the best 25 (now 26) players on the big league squad.  If Malloy proves to be one of them, and can take away the empty AB’s from Nevin, McKinstry and Schoop, I’m down with it.  I wouldn’t let service time factor into the equation.

 

6 hours ago, Jim Cowan said:

I agree that Schoop's AB's are wasted, but I'm not ready to kick Nevin to the curb yet.  And yes, service time is always a poor reason when deciding whom to put on the 26.

That's understandable.

For what its worth, I was listening to the Locked on Tigers podcast today and coincidentally it was mentioned that the cutoff date for that is sometime in May.  There will be more intel on Malloy's defense.  By then Schoop will either be trade bait or not.  Nevin/McKinstry can be moved down to Toledo.  So who knows, if Malloy is still blistering the ball by then, he might force the hand of the Tigers anyway.

[Tenacious D]

I don’t think Colt Keith is going to be that much further behind Malloy—he’s raking, too, at Erie.

If he’s the superior defensive 3B, which I don’t know, Malloy might end up in the OF, anyway.

[KL2]

14 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

I appreciate the caution, but I also subscribe to the Jim Leyland school of wanting the best 25 (now 26) players on the big league squad.  If Malloy proves to be one of them, and can take away the empty AB’s from Nevin, McKinstry and Schoop, I’m down with it.  I wouldn’t let service time factor into the equation.

It's one thing to take your best 25 when you have a core or some pieces to compete. It different when you suck.

I'll guess Oakland best 25 player aren't all at the major league level. But doing that to watch a bunch of 19 year Olds fail, lose just as many games and lose a year of team control doesn't make sense either.

It our case, despite the bounce back we still aren't great. Calling up a player weeks before the deadline doesn't make a ton of long term sense when you can just wait 20 more days and gain something more valuable long term.

[Tenacious D]

3 minutes ago, KL2 said:

It's one thing to take your best 25 when you have a core or some pieces to compete. It different when you suck.

I'll guess Oakland best 25 player aren't all at the major league level. But doing that to watch a bunch of 19 year Olds fail, lose just as many games and lose a year of team control doesn't make sense either.

It our case, despite the bounce back we still aren't great. Calling up a player weeks before the deadline doesn't make a ton of long term sense when you can just wait 20 more days and gain something more valuable long term.

I never said we should call him up—I’ll defer to the front office as to when that should be.  His bat looks good, but it’s also still a small sample size this season.  I have no idea if his defense is ready yet, either.  He just has a much brighter outlook than the guys who might stand in his way on the big league roster.  I suspect we’ll see him by July.

[Jim Cowan]

Malloy's 19 walks don't lead the league.  He's second, the leader has 20.  Give up?  Niko Goodrum!  He has 20 in 14 games, and his position is described as 1B.

[KL2]

12 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

I never said we should call him up—I’ll defer to the front office as to when that should be.  His bat looks good, but it’s also still a small sample size this season.  I have no idea if his defense is ready yet, either.  He just has a much brighter outlook than the guys who might stand in his way on the big league roster.  I suspect we’ll see him by July.

"I also subscribe to the Jim Leyland theory of wanting the best 25 guys for the roster"

[Tenacious D]

54 minutes ago, KL2 said:

"I also subscribe to the Jim Leyland theory of wanting the best 25 guys for the roster"

I never said he was one of the best 25.  Haven’t seen him play a single game, outside of Spring Training.  However, if the Tigers believe he is, I hope they let merit rule the day.

[casimir]

13 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

I don’t think Colt Keith is going to be that much further behind Malloy—he’s raking, too, at Erie.

If he’s the superior defensive 3B, which I don’t know, Malloy might end up in the OF, anyway.

I don't know if the Tigers see Malloy in the OF.  He has not been used there once yet at Toledo.  13 games at 3B and 4 at DH.  Lipcius and Nevin had a pair of games at 3B and have also played corner OF (as well as other spots) in Toledo.  I would think that if the Tigers considered Malloy for the OF in the short term, he'd have had at least one or two games there so far this season.  Why would they not use him there after playing there last season?  It would seem like they would want to build on those skill sets from last season and not let them rust from inaction.