Tenacious D Posted July 3 Posted July 3 24 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said: And Keith, in particular, seems to have a very fragile ego. I remember how he looked broken when he first started out in MLB. He struggled the first month or so and looked like a deer in headlights. You could practically see the pressure leave him when he finally started hitting. Hinch should leave him at 3rd base, take his lumps and see if he gets thru it. And stop moving McGonigle around, leave the kid at SS and allow him to learn. His potential is off the charts. Leave. Him. Be. The way this season is going, just write Colt’s name in the lineup every day. Let him get the AB’s and experience against LHP, too. I’d say the same for Kerry. And if Gleyber gets healthy, either trade or cut him and let Lee continue to get the experience. Trade Tarik at the deadline, make a push to extend Mize, and if you fail, trade him, too. Not a tank, just treat the balance of this season as developmental. Quote
chasfh Posted July 3 Posted July 3 (edited) 33 minutes ago, Tenacious D said: The way this season is going, just write Colt’s name in the lineup every day. Let him get the AB’s and experience against LHP, too. I’d say the same for Kerry. And if Gleyber gets healthy, either trade or cut him and let Lee continue to get the experience. Trade Tarik at the deadline, make a push to extend Mize, and if you fail, trade him, too. Not a tank, just treat the balance of this season as developmental. By writing in Colt every day, we would have to either reduce IF time for Kevin and Zach so Colt can play 3B, amd DH time for Malgeri/Vierling/Jones. That may be fine for you, but that would preclude favorable matchups based on history in the interest of forcing Keith to be hit against LHPs all the time, which we seem to assume will definitely make Colt a better hitter vs LHPs. Edited July 3 by chasfh Quote
casimir Posted July 3 Author Posted July 3 13 hours ago, Sports_Freak said: And if his team is losing from the 6th inning on, he uses his lesser arms from the BP. He doesnt use his better arms to keep a game close. Honest question. Does anyone really know the lesser Tiger bullpen arms from the better Tiger bullpen arms? Quote
casimir Posted July 3 Author Posted July 3 15 hours ago, Tiger337 said: They still might. Well, they certainly didn’t help the situation at hand. Quote
1984Echoes Posted July 3 Posted July 3 39 minutes ago, chasfh said: By writing in Colt every day, we would have to either reduce IF time for Kevin and Zach so Colt can play 3B, amd DH time for Malgeri/Vierling/Jones. That may be fine for you, but that would preclude favorable matchups based on history in the interest of forcing Keith to be hit against LHPs all the time, which we seem to assume will definitely make Colt a better hitter vs LHPs. I don't really care about Zach or Jones or Vierling. Malgeri yet to be determined. I'm with Tenacious, give Colt 95% of the time at 3B, Lee 95% of the time at 2B. If it's a critical at-bat and Hinch wants to PH, say the 8th or 9th needing a run or two... OK, fine. Vierling can PH against a lefty and take over 3rd from Keith. Zach can PH for Lee against a righty and take over 2nd. That's it for me. I want the platoon-ness of this team to be drastically reduced. Specifically for Keith, and leave him at 3B, not DH, for McGonigle, just leave him at SS, and for Lee, just leave him at 2B. Oh... and DFA Jones and call up either Julks (can actually PLAY the OF) or for Anderson (sort of a 1B/2B/3B, but with a glove not better than Jahmai's...), just to see what kind of RH'd bat he is in MLB. I'm with Tenacious, use the rest of the year for development of the next wave of kids at the MLB level, and a couple who are already at this level but need more consistent playing time at this level. IMO. Quote
SeattleMike Posted July 3 Posted July 3 (edited) 15 hours ago, Tiger337 said: Colt Keith is 8 for 57 with 3 BB and 0 HR against lefties the last two years. Edited July 3 by SeattleMike Quote
Tiger337 Posted July 3 Posted July 3 Contrary to popular belief, allowing young LHH consistent at bats versus LHP to improve their L/R spilt does not usually work. One study: https://tht.fangraphs.com/do-batters-learn-to-narrow-their-splits/ It's not impossible for Keith to reduce his L/R split, but the likelihood that it actually happens is not very high. So, it probably makes more sense to find a more suitable platoon partner than it is to force Keith to face more LHP. Quote
1984Echoes Posted July 3 Posted July 3 57 minutes ago, Tiger337 said: ... It's not impossible for Keith to reduce his L/R split, but the likelihood that it actually happens is not very high... Since we don't know either way yet, and Keith is still MLB young, relatively speaking... I'm of the mind to give him lefty versus lefty PA's now, as many as they can give him... And make adjustments (more platooning if necessary, or critical PH's only?) later, once more track record is established to make that decision. I think the current decision by Hinch is premature. Just my 2 cents. Quote
Tiger337 Posted July 3 Posted July 3 34 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said: Since we don't know either way yet, and Keith is still MLB young, relatively speaking... I'm of the mind to give him lefty versus lefty PA's now, as many as they can give him... And make adjustments (more platooning if necessary, or critical PH's only?) later, once more track record is established to make that decision. I think the current decision by Hinch is premature. Just my 2 cents. We don't know anything...but chances are he'll never hit lefties because most LHH never close the R/L gap. He doesn't field well and hasn't hit for any sustained power, so what's so special about him that everyone is begging to see more of him? I believe he would get more chances if he were a good fielder or had any sustained power. As of now though. he is just an average hitter versus RHP with no other skills. Quote
Nate7474 Posted July 3 Posted July 3 2 minutes ago, Tiger337 said: We don't know anything...but chances are he'll never hit lefties because most LHH never close the R/L gap. He doesn't field well and hasn't hit for any sustained power, so what's so special about him that everyone is begging to see more of him? I believe he would get more chances if he were a good fielder or had any sustained power. As of now though. he is just an average hitter versus RHP with no other skills. I don’t think we are arguing that Keith is great or even good, atleast I am not. My argument is our righty options are 2 of the worst 5 hitters in baseball. Find a better platoon and I won’t complain. Don’t have one? then play the player that you are paying to be here for awhile and see if he can improve. Quote
monkeytargets39 Posted July 3 Posted July 3 1 hour ago, Tiger337 said: what's so special about him that everyone is begging to see more of him? That we’ve already invested in him with a long term deal. Yes, it’s not a huge deal, but it’s still a commitment. Considering the season has gone south, you’re not risking much of anything by playing him every day. The guys he gets platooned with aren’t likely to be around in the future either—so why use the reps on them? I’d feel a lot different if they were platooning Keith/Anderson. Quote
1984Echoes Posted July 3 Posted July 3 1 hour ago, Tiger337 said: We don't know anything...but chances are he'll never hit lefties because most LHH never close the R/L gap. He doesn't field well and hasn't hit for any sustained power, so what's so special about him that everyone is begging to see more of him? I believe he would get more chances if he were a good fielder or had any sustained power. As of now though. he is just an average hitter versus RHP with no other skills. He hit 13 home runs in each of 2024 and 2025. I'm making a full commitment to him to see if he can actually develop. It's on him to improve... but, IMO, I feel the team needs to make a commitment to him to see if he can, or cannot, succeed as an MLB 3B'man. Quote
Tiger337 Posted July 3 Posted July 3 10 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said: He hit 13 home runs in each of 2024 and 2025. I'm making a full commitment to him to see if he can actually develop. It's on him to improve... but, IMO, I feel the team needs to make a commitment to him to see if he can, or cannot, succeed as an MLB 3B'man. 13 home runs is not hitting for power...not in this era. I wish him well, but he's been kind of frustrating. He is still young, but he seems like the same player every year. He goes on hot streaks once in a while and it seems like he is turning the corner and then he goes back to being mediocre. Kind of like Tork in that respect. Quote
SoCalTiger Posted July 3 Posted July 3 A Keith Verling platoon at 3B might make sense for both players with Verling getting some additional play in the outfield. When the season started - 24-25 and 26 the hope was both would develop into everyday players. Unfortunately neither has and I doubt they will. But if we are playing for 2027-28 then sure give them playing time now for development and evaluation. We have a potential log jam of infielders, Keith, McGonigle ,Lee, Anderson, Peck, Jung and Graham (maybe) and some eligible for the Rule 5 draft this off season. So decisions need to be made this off season. Quote
NorthWoods Posted July 3 Posted July 3 27 minutes ago, SoCalTiger said: We have a potential log jam of infielders, Keith, McGonigle ,Lee, Anderson, Peck, Jung and Graham (maybe) and some eligible for the Rule 5 draft this off season. So decisions need to be made this off season. He'll probably go elsewhere and rake, but I think the horse has left the barn on Jung. I'd substitute Ranier for Jung, he like McG might pull of the improbable next spring. Quote
Sports_Freak Posted July 4 Posted July 4 6 hours ago, casimir said: Honest question. Does anyone really know the lesser Tiger bullpen arms from the better Tiger bullpen arms? Thats part of the problem, inconsistent players Hinch is forced to use. Briske just up from Toledo? And we're down by 2 runs? Not ideal.. And Sommers was just unlucky. He had the 3rd out when the hitter didn't check his swing but the 1st base umpire was asleep. Sommers struggles are mostly real bad babip luck, squib hits, weak contact that turn into infield hits. But yeah, Hinch never knows what he'll get out of the bullpen arms. Use Montero...😁 Quote
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