05/18/2026 6:40p EDT Cleveland Guardians at Detroit Tigers

[gehringer_2]

22 minutes ago, kdog said:

Rogers is essentially hitting like a pitcher. His offense is completely gone...at some point you can't live with that.

Perez might not be good...McKinstry has always been a fringe/gritty major leaguer. Tork and Keith were relied on and can't consistently deliver floor-level production. That's the killer

It's been thrashed around a bit here already, but to me this this year Colt is going through what Riley went through last season. He made an off-season change in his approach and the result has gone right past the optimum point he needed to hit. He is now a much better contact hitter but he's lost his launch angle and is not able to get the ball in the air. In statcast parlance, more balls 'squared up' but fewer balls 'barreled'. I would guess that like Riley this year, there is a refinement he can make to get him closer to the best of both worlds - which would be a very productive hitter, but the question is whether it is something he will be able to do in season or like Riley last year, are we stuck with 'no-home-run-Keith' until he can fix it next off-season. Or maybe even (gasp!) take an option to work on it in Toledo for a month away from the pressure of the Tiger's losing streak. Of course even if he would, that can't happen until we get Baez and Torres back.

Edited 5 hours ago by gehringer_2

[SoCalTiger]

1 hour ago, kdog said:

Rogers is essentially hitting like a pitcher. His offense is completely gone...at some point you can't live with that.

Perez might not be good...McKinstry has always been a fringe/gritty major leaguer. Tork and Keith were relied on and can't consistently deliver floor-level production. That's the killer

Well those two are the most disappointing and I know Keith has a solid OBP which at least is something positive. I just do not understand how someone can hit a home run for five straight games and provide next to nothing over the other 40 games ? And looking at Keith you see someone who should be knocking down walls and his "hits" are like he's using a plastic bat. Keith is a beautifully wrapped birthday gift with a whoopee cushion inside. At least Hinch is using him as a DH only and batting him leadoff which is optimizing what little he offers. 

[tiger2022]

7 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Is that how the Tigers came back in 2024?  

I am of the mindset that players win games amd managers lose them.  Just look at last year's game 7 in the world series where Schneider overmanaged  his team into a loss.  I know Hinch and Harris want to win with a bunch of fringe and role players to prove how they are next level genius, but it's not happening.  Talent is the key factor in winning.

Edited 54 minutes ago by tiger2022

[Tiger337]

1 minute ago, tiger2022 said:

I am of the mindset that players win games amd managers lose them.  Just look at last year's game 7 in the world series where Schneider overmanaged  his team into a loss.  I know Hinch and Harris want to win with a bunch of fringe and role players to prove how they are next level genius, but it's not happening.  Talent is the key factor in winning.

In general, I think players win and lose games, but there are exceptions.  Hinch's management in 2024 was brilliant.  

[Tiger337]

5 hours ago, chasfh said:

Carpenter and Gleyber had good Aprils, we are not getting similar performances from them in Mays, and that’s a factor in the team’s poor numbers this month. Not sure what you think I’m not seeing.

Small sample sizes.  You can find plenty of 8 game periods where Carpenter has not hit in his career.  

[Tiger337]

5 hours ago, chasfh said:

I do think it’s fair to question Hinch’s recent inability to keep the team from playing like the walking dead.

I think Hinch is a good tactical manager.  I am too much of an introvert to understand why professional athletes need a manager to get them fired up, but I am open to the possibility that the Tigers don't respond well when things are not going well.  Then again, things were going just as bad in 2024 and they performed miraculously.  

[Sports_Freak]

1 minute ago, Tiger337 said:

I think Hinch is a good tactical manager.  I am too much of an introvert to understand why professional athletes need a manager to get them fired up, but I am open to the possibility that the Tigers don't respond well when things are not going well.  Then again, things were going just as bad in 2024 and they performed miraculously.  

They need a field manager because that's who you blame when a team goes south. NOT that I want Hinch fired but managers in general. They're hired to be fired, eventually. The buck stops with the skipper. You can't, fire 25 guys (26), as the old expression goes. A managers main job is the lineup card and pitching changes. Not scoring any runs and keep sending Short out there? Some people might say that's negligence and a firable offense. 😚😚

[Tiger337]

4 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

They need a field manager because that's who you blame when a team goes south. NOT that I want Hinch fired but managers in general. They're hired to be fired, eventually. The buck stops with the skipper. You can't, fire 25 guys (26), as the old expression goes. A managers main job is the lineup card and pitching changes. 

I agree with that.  

[chasfh]

5 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

it’s the same question from last Sept, and the problem is you can’t prove the negative. Is there something in prep, or clubhouse management or the subtleties of Hinch’s approach to individual players that would make a difference? Should he opt for a different set of or approach by the Tiger’s hitting coaches? Who knows? 

on the flip side, besides Torkelson, who we know tends to be a head case about his approach, who is hitting badly that there is be a well founded expectation should be doing better? Mck? Perez? Rogers? Jones? We are playing a bunch of guys for whom the run from July of 24 to July of 25 was more likely the outlier of their career. The 3 guys out right now, Carp, Baez and Torres are the guys with track records in which you might have a level of confidence. 

I was referring to process rather than results. 

[chasfh]

4 hours ago, SoCalTiger said:

Well those two are the most disappointing and I know Keith has a solid OBP which at least is something positive. I just do not understand how someone can hit a home run for five straight games and provide next to nothing over the other 40 games ?

I'm guessing there is some hitch that shows up in his swing, it somehow gets corrected for a few games, then he slips back into that or another hitch, and who knows whether he is accepting coaching on any of it? I would think if there's anyone who believes he can work out his hitches on his own and that all he has to do is trust his talent and bet on himself, it would be an erstwhile overall first pick.

[chasfh]

28 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Small sample sizes.  You can find plenty of 8 game periods where Carpenter has not hit in his career.  

My point is not that Carpenter could not make a difference in his eight games in May, it's that one of the reasons the Tigers' offense is down overall is that Carpenter is not delivering the same kind of everyday performance in May as he did in April, and that goes for a lot of other guys. If Carpenter were healthy and delivering in May what he delivered in April, the Tigers' May wRC+ would be better than 74.