6/10/25 6:35PM Tigers @ Orioles

[Nate7474]

I was always of the belief that coaches only impact the game a small amount and most of their work is managing workloads and personality throughout the season. This team is challenging that for me as I am starting to believe that this coaching staff is truly elite and helping us win games at a much higher clip. 

[chasfh]

2 minutes ago, Nate7474 said:

I was always of the belief that coaches only impact the game a small amount and most of their work is managing workloads and personality throughout the season. This team is challenging that for me as I am starting to believe that this coaching staff is truly elite and helping us win games at a much higher clip. 

I think the manager and the coaching staff all have different jobs, as a necessary division of labor.

At the major league level, coaches aren’t exactly teaching players anything about the game of baseball itself as much as they are spotting things players are doing wrong, or whether players have gone out of sync, or helping players work on a particular skill they’re trying to acquire, or preparing players specifically for this team/this pitcher/these hitters we are facing today—stuff like that. Coaches’ job is to guide players in these ways and provide feedback to them as they go.

The manager, to your point, is focused more on managing the players’ expectations, state of mind, in-game trigger time, etc., but they also provide the coaching staff the guidance they need on what to work with the players, and what the expected successful outcomes should look like. In that sense, the manager is the executive and the coaches are his officers. In a cohesive organization, the front office and field manager work together on establishing goals, objectives, and strategies, and the manager distills all that to the coaching staff who distill it further to the player level.

That’s the way a winning organization should probably behave, at least, and after years of not doing that in a way that was obvious even to outsiders like us, the Tigers apparently have finally figured out how to do it right. And look what’s happening.

[RatkoVarda]

I love. love, love that the Tigers do what they think is right, and its working.

just 4 sacrifice bunts total; last in stolen bases, but first - by far - in extra bases taken.

4th most pinch at-bats; don't know how to measure, but Hinch must be near the top in both moving guys around in game and playing late game defensive substitutions. I see little complaints of "why are moving guys around?" when they have the best record in MLB.

don't know if there is a way to check, but Hinch I assume players 12 position players (everyone but back up C) more often than any other manager.

[chasfh]

6 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

4th most pinch at-bats; don't know how to measure, but Hinch must be near the top in both moving guys around in game and playing late game defensive substitutions.

This might be a close proxy to what you're looking for. They don't break out subs versus starters, but overall, Tigers are second in baseball for most different position players played during a season so far:

6 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

don't know if there is a way to check, but Hinch I assume players 12 position players (everyone but back up C) more often than any other manager.

This one they do measure. Not the most, but fifth out of 30 is a lot:

Although this may be more a function of not having eight solid reliable starters we can run out there day after day, as the Cubs (29th) do.

[Tiger337]

5 minutes ago, chasfh said:

This might be a close proxy to what you're looking for. They don't break out subs versus starters, but overall, Tigers are second in baseball for most different position players played during a season so far:

This one they do measure. Not the most, but fifth out of 30 is a lot:

Although this may be more a function of not having eight solid reliable starters we can run out there day after day, as the Cubs (29th) do.

That is true of most teams.  Every team would love to have an all-star at every position, but that's almost impossible to do.  Platooning and pinch hitting is a function of necessity rather than design.   Even so, knowing how to do it effectively is a valuable manager skill.  

[Sports_Freak]

3 hours ago, chasfh said:

That’s true of the June 1 1-0 over the Royals because of the inexplicable orthodoxy that the win must be awarded to a relief pitcher if the start doesn’t go at least five, even if the starter was far and away the most effective pitcher of the game. That’s where awarding the win is completely within the scorer’s discretion. That’s one of the crazier scoring rules in baseball, right up there with walks don’t matter in batting averages.

Last night was different in that there was no discretion at hand. MLB rule 9.17(a) stipulates that “The Official Scorer shall credit as the winning pitcher that pitcher whose team assumes a lead while such pitcher is in the game, or during the inning on offense in which such pitcher is removed from the game, and does not relinquish such lead, unless (1) such pitcher is a starting pitcher and Rule 9.17(b) applies; or (2) Rule 9.17(c) applies (i.e., the effective pitcher discretion ruling).” 

Ahhhh...Lee pitched the final out in the bottom of the 3rd inning last nigyt and then the Tigers took the lead for good in the 4th. Yeah, I get it. It's just yet another example of win-loss records for pitchers being somewhat meaningless. I always look at a pitchers WHIP over most other stats.

[Sports_Freak]

11 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Fire Hazard? I guess if your neighbors are in the habit of tossing Molitov cocktails in yours. They were made of metal - at least as fire resistant as the wall of the frame house. I can believe it though, the more codes I've run into in recent years the more I'm convinced the system is basically out of control.

I was told by a contractor, many years ago, the reason a laundry chute is no longer allowed (in some places) is the huge amount of laundry fires. The metal chute acts like a chimney that flames race up and spreads fires. I guess dryers are a major source of many home fires. Many codes are put into place to protect people from themselves. And many are put into place for...a money grab by local communities.

[gehringer_2]

14 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

I was told by a contractor, many years ago, the reason a laundry chute is no longer allowed (in some places) is the huge amount of laundry fires. The metal chute acts like a chimney that flames race up and spreads fires. I guess dryers are a major source of many home fires. Many codes are put into place to protect people from themselves. And many are put into place for...a money grab by local communities.

LOL - didn't read your post carefully enough - I thought you were still talking about Milk Chutes. laundry chute it makes sense, you aren't supposed to have any open piercings between the levels of a structure. I was in a student apt next to a big two story house that went up one night so we were out there talking to the fireman. There was couch fire and they dragged it out and then just stood around. Asked them what they were waiting for and he said, "just wait, the fire is in the wall and will break out on the roof" And sure enough in about ten minutes they had an inferno to put out. Those old houses were built with 16' and longer wall studs with no fire stops on the way up the wall.

[SoCalTiger]

8 hours ago, chasfh said:

Agreed, and the interesting part of this post is that I don’t think anyone would have accused us of having a solid and deep roster before the season started.

I do wonder how much of the depth of roster has to do with guys simply becoming the best players they could possibly be; with the coaching and development staff guiding the players to make the most of their abilities; and the manager deploying the players in just the right way that leads to optimum outcomes. What’s the mix at hand?

I think it's all of the above with perhaps a nod to development if we consider Torks and McStinky and Baez improvements attributed to that as well. I remember Harris saying "development" includes at the major league level.