gehringer_2

LOL - 25 yrs and the references still work.

seem like it has to be either Ibanez or Maton. Since Parker is another LHB, that one thing tipping the scales toward keeping Ibanez.

2 would be good. Between off season moves and 3 high potential guys at AAA there is some hope.

Riley played left to Parker in CF when they were in the minors together. Riley has talked up Parker as the best OF in the system. I don't think it will be a issue.

If Harris brings Sands to Detroit for any kind of regular role he will prove he is no smarter than Avila.

Tigers milestones today: Back to within 10 games of 500; negative run differential under 100.

If you saw the play he did make coming in, it actually showed some more of the limitation of his glove work. The ball was sinking and instead of reversing his wrist to get his pocket down, he locked into an unnecessarily hard catch with his glove facing down on a sinking ball below his waist. You see this a lot - guys relying on athleticism to make plays that would require less if they had developed more technique.

IDK - I'd see it if a guy was struggling, or maybe 3B still makes him nervous, but Vierling should be be feeling pretty good about his play at 3B.

I don't know how the Tigers handle OF positioning vs the sun. Back in the day when guys mostly decided where to play on their own, a guy could cheat a little to which ever side keep the sun out of the play in more of his field. You'd given up a step or two of what you can reach for the benefit of having fewer plays in the sun. I'd be curious if they still let guys have that freedom that the positioning being driven by analytics.

Not good. You have to think about where the Sun (or lights are) is beforehand and maybe try to take a little bit of an indirect route that keeps the ball out of it. Obviously tougher when you have a long way to go.

I wonder if Hinch did that challenge just to give ERod another minute since the Tiger hitters went down so quickly

Curiously, Vierling has gotten better against RHP this season. He has a negative platoon split for this season. You see him trying to take the slider away to RF a fair amount, which is a good way for a RHB to neutralize a RHP's usual advantage.

i don't know if it's skewed perception because the Tigers have had so much trouble filling the position, but it seems like the supply of good defensive 3B is short all around the league. Maybe just part of a long general trend of fewer players with strong arms?

Billy Butler was pretty much a full time DH from the time he broke in as a rookie. Had a few good years, but a pretty short career.

The same guy who decided that Dots were polka?

I'm still guessing what kind of hitter Torkelson is going to be in the end. The power part is in place, but whether he's going to be a 330 OBP/30 hr guy or develop the OBP to go with it to be an all-star is still hard to tell.

Ramirez seems like he's been around forever - he's only 30.

Got the 1st kwon.

Jake's been BaBIP'd tonight.

LOL at myself. I kept looking at Naylor and wondering how he lost so much weight in just a couple of weeks. Bo - not Josh!

Bigbie with another mulit hit game 2/4 Meadows with his 19 HR. I guess the DH sort of sucked up the baseball oxygen yesterday but Gipson-Long has some love coming for his start at Toledo yesterday. One hit, which was a bloop down the LF line against 12 K in 6 IP.

Tork goes to right. Nice

Lange is really a hot mess at this point.

I just hope they don't lose by one because Riley could have caught the triple but obviously didn't realize it.

I guess he figured no-one was likely to take him to arb so at least he has a leg up with the Tiger ord if he plays decently. I like that they actually got a deal in place already though - at least shows the FO isn't just coasting on waiver signings.