gehringer_2

One would assume the battle plan has any number of options. If the Russians look like they are going to collapse in a given area there should be flexibility to leverage that.

I would note that at his last start, Dirks said Wentz needed more speed differential and to throw his Curve. Today the change is a mph or so slower and he's throwing the curve. Maybe we need Dirks in the dugout!

Dirks is a great analyst.

But OTOH, just because you have a high average doesn't mean it's also empty. Arreaz also walks and hits doubles and he has a 950 OPS. Chasfh's point that you can have a 950 OPS with a much lower BA if you hit for more power is dead on, but it doesn't mean that what Arraez is doing right now isn't still damn useful. All that said, based on his history and current BaBIP, it's mostly just a nice hot streak.

it's not just the two of them though. This is a triangle. Owner's have a certain amount of agency - and if Chris I thinks he's going to be the butt of the jokes at the owner's meeting for having no passion to improve his team..... or whatever worm of discontent you want to imagine works its way into Ilitch's psyche, the guy who will be on the thinnest ice if Ilitch starts getting itchy will be Hinch. Now note - I only said 50/50 in the OP. It's not a hard prediction. I just don't think we should be naive about the way these things often go.

Never underestimate the propensity of management to value marketing and PR over relationships. They are going to need another PR booster for next year if this season doesn't turn around at least a little, and you know who the #1 candidate 'scape goat always is.

well, it's pretty clear that Flynn's cylinder heads have completely blown their gaskets, so there's probably nothing anyone can say about him that is beyond the realm of possibility. I think I've said this before, but in this world, nothing significant can happen over any significant time span unless someone is paying for it and we know their obvious sources of mischief $$ vis a vis the US is Russia. And while the details of the how the dots are connected may be important to counter intelligence and law enforcement, to me, the details of whatever they happen to be don't change the basic oulines of what the story must turn out to be in the end; a story that the US citizenry and media have been slow to credit, partly because to recognize it would demand an international political response and from where we are now there isn't much further we can go against Russia short of direct shooting warfare.

Just looking at raw realities, I would say that if the Tigers lose 90 again, the odds are 50/50 Hinch is let go. 2 bad seasons is a common bottom line for managerial survival. And if that happens then we are probably looking at more philosophical realignment - either toward a new manager's ideas, or possibly to a more GM office centered philosophy if Harris ever makes that hire. So I think there are a lot of unknowns in play for a future as near as next year that hinge on how they finish this year.

I don't care about this case one way or the other, but aren't suspension lengths appealed in virtually all sports all the time? I guess I expect a perfunctory appeal on any suspension.

Warning: Morbid fascination post: Old friend Franklin Perez came in for his 2nd inning of work in the 10th of a tie game when he was charged with a balk - moving the placed runner to third before he faced the 1st batter. 2Ks, BB, fly out and he escaped without giving up the run. FCL Tigers then lost in the 11th (Perez had been lifted)

In the last month I think Malloy has played his way out of there being much point to a call up. Bumping Keith to AAA seems reasonable enought though.

Right now there are maybe half a dozen guys in AA/A+: Keith, Serretti, Bigbie, Navigato, Perez, Jung, who all have nice small samples that we are waiting to see are real or not. OTOH, Lakekand and Toledo are just depressing.

Dingler and Workman - both with lots of early hype, both with pretty questionable futures.

The people who actually posted as Q supposedly were Paul Furber and Ron Watkins (who ran for Congress in AZ in '20 and lost in the GOP primary). But for sure they were not their own source.

FOr this team - even if he gets there that's something.

delta velo. Change and slider are the same pitch speed and neither is different enough from the FB (10mph is the usual the minimum to effectively mess up a hitter's timing). He has a slower curve but doesn't use it enough to matter. So that is the kind thing he could work on at pressure lower than MLB. Of course he might not be able to do it, but I think you do your org a disservice if you don't get guys to try things before giving up. I mean - Bonderman did *try* to throw a change, he couldn't master it. The particular thing with Wentz (I posted about this after a previous start) is that he made a change since last season that made this issue worse. He added some velo to his FB but the velo of his other pitches came up MORE, so the difference this season is less. OK - so maybe the brain trust has to go back and revisit it? That how the process goes - sometimes not everything you do works out the way it was expected. Maybe they understood all this in March and planned to figure it out over time in Toledo - after-all, he wasn't supposed to be in Det in the first half of this season. In Detroit if we know anything by now is that players are too hard to find. Sure you can beat a dead horse too long, like in the case of Christin Stewart maybe, but generally it costs you less to be patient and exhaust the possibilities than give up on guys who go succeed somewhere else. Even if a Wentz ends up as reliever you still want him throwing the best stuff he can.

I'd also say that with a *good* 3B and Moreno's double is an out and Boyd is out of the inning before Gurriel comes up. The differences between good teams and bad teams tend to be all over the field.

and he's at a -16 rds/yr pace there.

just when you think Matt might get out of it - Boom.

TBH I wasn't real impressed with his play there. Nice arm, couldn't seem to go to his right. But nobody who's played 3rd this season can go to his right (Edit: as Maton just demonstrated) - maybe Kreidler if you didn't blink during his time there.

boyd comes back with a couple of clean innings

except he's not holding down the hot corner in RF. Credit where credit is due, McKinstrey looks like a nice player. Jury definitely still out of Maton, Malloy, Vierling and Nevin.

another XBH for the old dude. Cabrera on a mini-streak

Wentz needs more change in velo. He can certainly work on pitch repertoire at AAA more reasonably than Detroit. It's true guys can get stuck were they don't work on what they need to in the minor because they're having success there, but if your MiLB coaches can't get them past that you need new coaches. In Faedo's case he needs to pitch more - period. That can happen wherever it's appropriate. But he's only thrown something like 100 ip over the 4 previous yrs. When guys are out that much that long 100 IP is not unusual to get command/consistency back, then see what you may have. He's a little over 40 for this season to far. Not to mention that Toledo needs some guys who can be successful there right now!

LOL - so could most of the numbers we talk about here most of the time.