07/05/2023 6:40 pm EDT Oakland Athletics vs Detroit Tigers

[Jim Cowan]

29 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

That was Mike Laga.

Pittaro is the best rookie he has seen in 15 years. 

Carl Willis is the next Rollie Fingers

Barbaro Garbey is another Roberto Clemente

Nelson Simmons reminds me so much of Kenny Singleton.

[HeyAbbott]

I hope this is the low tide moment of this season, but somehow I doubt it. The way this team handled their at bats tonight, did someone make Baez the hitting coach and I missed the memo?

[casimir]

6 hours ago, HeyAbbott said:

I hope this is the low tide moment of this season, but somehow I doubt it. The way this team handled their at bats tonight, did someone make Baez the hitting coach and I missed the memo?

I think the 9 game losing streak was the low point of the season so far.  These past 2 games have stunk, and they've been against one of the 2 worst teams in the league.  But every team loses 2 in a row, and the combination of 1-0 and a blowout isn't uncommon.

[mtutiger]

10 minutes ago, casimir said:

I think the 9 game losing streak was the low point of the season so far.  These past 2 games have stunk, and they've been against one of the 2 worst teams in the league.  But every team loses 2 in a row, and the combination of 1-0 and a blowout isn't uncommon.

Our competition in the division at the moment, the Jerk Sox, lost two of three to the A's as well. So not exactly out of the realm of possibility either 

[mtutiger]

Regarding Colt Keith, one issue I take with the "call 'em up" cries is that there are legitimate questions as to his fielding and ensuring he can play third at this level. And we just lived through this with JHen, who has recently been moved off third.

This just seems to get pushed to the wayside whenever his name comes up, the hivemind just looks at the offensive statline and says "doesn't matter, nothing to learn at AAA, call em up".... 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by mtutiger

[RandyMarsh]

Also we're not privy to what he may or may not be working on or struggling with. 

Just throwing this out as an example, what if he specifically struggles with high fastballs right now and the Tigers want to have him show them that he can atleast hit AAA ones before exposing him to major league ones.

Again not saying that is the case but just cause a guys overall numbers are good doesnt mean there isn't something in particular he struggles with that the team may want to see him improve at first before throwing him into the fire. 

[casimir]

11 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

Regarding Colt Keith, one issue I take with the "call 'em up" cries is that there are legitimate questions as to his fielding and ensuring he can play third at this level. And we just lived through this with JHen, who has recently been moved off third.

This just seems to get pushed to the wayside whenever his name comes up, the hivemind just looks at the offensive statline and says "doesn't matter, nothing to learn at AAA, call em up".... 

 

Exactly.  The offense stinks, but the Tigers already have a DH playing OF (but not against LHPs).  Defense is an important component of the game, too.  They don't have to be fully developed defensive players to be promotable, but they need to have a certain level of adequacy. 

Malloy has never registered a fielding percentage above .887 in any of his 3 minor league seasons at 3B.  Fielding percentage isn't the end all be all, but that first number needs to be a 9.  It just has to.  The Tigers gave a it a try this first half of the season.  It just doesn't look like its going to work out.  The bat still looks useful.  So let him get defensive reps in the OF before he makes his MLB debut.  He's going to have to field somewhere to hit anyway with Carpenter and Cabrera on the MLB roster this season.

[casimir]

14 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

Also we're not privy to what he may or may not be working on or struggling with. 

Just throwing this out as an example, what if he specifically struggles with high fastballs right now and the Tigers want to have him show them that he can atleast hit AAA ones before exposing him to major league ones.

Again not saying that is the case but just cause a guys overall numbers are good doesnt mean there isn't something in particular he struggles with that the team may want to see him improve at first before throwing him into the fire. 

Yes.  And we can go all the way back to last season when Torkelson and Greene didn't look all that ready at the plate.

[gehringer_2]

I don't think it's as much that a AAA 325 hitter isn't ready enough, it's whether after 25 AB  he's really a 320 AAA hitter. It's all about the sample size right now - exactly what we saw with JHM, who after exploding out of the gate with a month at 1000 OPS then promptly put up a 2nd month at 700 OPS.

The 'working on his defense' argument I'm less persuaded by. The validity of that argument lies in not wanting your developing player to be costing you major league games as he learns his trade, but that assumes you have a competent defender that would be playing there if he weren't. For much of this season that hasn't be true - maybe it will become more true if McKinstry or Ibanez establish that they can handle 3B decently if one of them starts playing it more. Schoop may still have the defensive chops but a bat like Schoop's is exactly what drives the need to call up a Keith.

It is true that with the new MiLB scheduling system, MiLB players travel less so theoretically they have a more time to practice. I guess there would be something to be said for that.

[gehringer_2]

11 minutes ago, casimir said:

Torkelson and Greene didn't look all that ready at the plate.

I don't think the cases are quite comparable. Riley put up a 98 OPS+ in his first 400 MLB AB and played a good CF - 1.4 WAR in a little over 1/2 a season. That's a fine start for any career. He had a few cold stretchs but every player does. His were just being viewed with a microscope.

Edited July 6, 2023 by gehringer_2

[mtutiger]

3 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I don't think the cases are quite comparable. Riley put up a 98 OPS+ in his first 400 MLB AB and played a good CF - 1.4 WAR in a little over 1/2 a season. That's a fine start for any career. He had a few cold stretchs but every player does. His were just being viewed with a microscope.

Relative to the sky high expectations placed upon Greene by this fanbase, its fair to say he didn't live up to them initially 

[casimir]

Just now, gehringer_2 said:

I don't think the cases are so comparable. Riley put up a 98 OPS+ in his first 400 MLB AB and played a good CF - 1.4 WAR in a littlel over 1/2 a season. That's a fine start for any career. He had a few cold stretchs but every player does. His were just being viewed with a microscope.

I think Torkelson was clearly a notch or two below Greene.  But Greene as also had the fortune of BABIP so far in his early career.  It was .354 last season and he struck out at a higher rate than league average.  If that BABIP normalizes, that 98 OPS+ drops.  The results were what they were, but perhaps the 98 was inflated a bit.

[gehringer_2]

3 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

Relative to the sky high expectations placed upon Greene by this fanbase, its fair to say he didn't live up to them initially 

Exactly - it was the fans with the problem more than Riley.

I think it was clearly a mistake not to have sent Spencer back down sooner after he struggled so much, and the blame for that lies directly on a FO that probably waited too long because they didn't even have another 1B on the roster.

Edited July 6, 2023 by gehringer_2

[casimir]

1 minute ago, gehringer_2 said:

Exactly - it was the fans with the problem more than Riley.

I think it was clearly a mistake not to have sent Spencer back down sooner after he struggled so much, and the blame for that lies directly on a FO that probably waited too long because they didn't even have another 1B on the roster.

Still don't.

Which brings to mind, what is it that precludes Malloy from being a 3B?  Is it something that precludes him from playing 1B, even as a backup to Torkelson?

[mtutiger]

2 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Exactly - it was the fans with the problem more than Riley.

And fast forward to today, it's still the fans.

Instinctively, I get it, this team hasn't done jack in seven years so the prospect of bringing up Keith and/or Malloy/Meadows is appealing, particularly while the team struggles offensively. But the front office has to think long-term as well... and there are a couple of cases in Greene/Tork that demonstrate how rushing guys doesn't always yield instant results or how it might not always be the best idea.

[1984Echoes]

14 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

The other guy was tigersrok. 

You don't tell Bert to **** off.  

Sacre Bleu!!!

Sacrilege!!!