2024 DETROIT TIGERS REGULAR SEASON THREAD

[TigerNation]

9 hours ago, chasfh said:

FWIW, I thought you were serious when you posted that, too.

Not saying this is you, but there are a lot of guys, particularly those of a certain age, or at least those a few generations removed from current players’ ages, who insist that for players it’s all about the money (or the “Benjamins”, as the kids of the 1990s would say), and once players make the money they don’t care about winning or even about playing anymore, so they laze about and phone it in because who cares anymore—as if their teammates, managers, coaches, and the front office wouldn’t notice, or wouldn’t care even if they did notice. But as Tiger337 basically says, players are hard-wired to be ultra-competitive, or else they would have crapped out of baseball a long time before they got to the majors, because it’s goddamn hard to slog through the years making all the incremental improvements you need to get over that hump.

I’m sure there are more than a few players who don’t love love love baseball and see the game as merely their job, which is a different kettle. I’ve always thought Derek Jeter might be that guy. But again, to get to the pinnacle of the major leagues, you have to have a great deal of pride and professionalism to thrive enough to get good and paid in the first place.

Because there are no 100% absolutes even in this, if I had to pick one guy I think actually does phone it in because he’s got his money and he doesn’t like baseball, it would be Anthony Rendon, who basically said as much this spring, and he has gotten raked but good for that very thing. Lucky for him he tore a hamstring in April so he can keep checking big bank while sitting on his fattening ass popping bonbons in his mouth, or so I would assume … 😁

Oh I know, I was making fun of those guys

 

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

I’m not sure what kind of clarity people are looking for on Tork, but if the thought is him getting ****-canned, it ain’t happening. Even if he stays in Toledo and slashes .200/.250/.300 for the rest of the season, he’s coming back in the spring at the very least. It would be a shocker of historic proportions for him—a 1/1 who has already had a modicum of success in the majors—to be done done at 24. I would expect to see him on the field at Comerica agin, maybe even this year after a meh performance in AAA, but almost certainly next year coming north, albeit with everybody’s fingers crossed.

Here’s a wild idea: maybe we see Tork in a change-of-scenery trade this winter where we take someone else’s failed project in exchange for him. Just spitballing a name without thinking too deeply about it, maybe Henry Davis of the Pirates. We could probably use a catcher, too, and the Pirates have no future at 1B at the moment.

I think the clarity is not that we cut him, but that we don't give him any ABs that he doesn't earn. So we can try to address 1B with no regards for Tork, and if he forces his way back into the lineup, well then we'd be sitting in a pretty good spot. 

[casimir]

8 hours ago, chasfh said:

I think it’s less a matter of counting on Tork than it is giving him every chance to succeed. He’s proven he’s got awesome hitting talent in there somewhere and the Tigers are doing everything they can to unlock it. The most horrifying thing would be we release him after this year, he catches on with someone who unlocks him, and he comes back to beat us over and over.

I think if he continually shows nothing by the middle of next year, then he’s out, but not before then.

Don't look at WIlli Castro's line vs Detroit.  Don't do it.  Don't.

.278/.375/.444 in 64 PAs.

[Motor City Sonics]

30-41 since the 5-0 start.       Wow, that's pathetic.  

Only the Angels, A's and White Sox are worse in the AL this year.     Only the Rockies and Marlins (who shut us out at home twice) are worse in the NL. 

A.J. Hinch should not have his job anymore.       Spare me the whole  "but he doesn't have the players".    I see players regressing under his leadership.    He tinkers too much and seems to be latched on to some players that have no business being here.   They don't seem to be too fired up playing for this guy either.      Watching several teams go from good, to awful and rebound again in the the time that this team spins it's wheels in the muck is infuriating.    

Still can't be too harsh on Scott Harris.....yet, but this offseason means a lot and I think we will be every bit as underwhelmed as last year's.  With his team in need of immediate help he drafted a high school kid with his first #1 pick, which means he doesn't believe they are anywhere close to contending.    I don't care.   Try, dammit.   Try to show this fan base SOMETHING.     Harris & Co knew they had one of the worst starting players in Javy Baez and that they had no other REAL shortstop that was even close to being MLB ready, other than Ryan Kreidler, who is hurt all the time and, well, sucks.   They made no contingency plan in case Baez either got hurt or played horribly this year.   Wouldn't you know, both happened.   

This just ****ing sucks, man.    The Royals have leapt ahead of us now and the Guardians are having a great season without their ace.   I understand that most teams would have taken Mize and Tork at #1 overall, but what the hell does our organization do to these guys?    Hinch & Co have Torkelson's brain twisted into knots.   He too full of data to just play ball.  I think they're doing that to a bunch of players, actually.    And let's face facts,  as much as we love Riley Greene, he's really only a slightly above average MLB player.   If he had a better lineup around him, he might be good, but he has to carry this team and he doesn't have the experience or the chops to do it.      This team could have done better than Mark Canha this offseason.   We only signed  Flaherty to trade him in a month, and even with his All Start caliber-season, we'll end up getting someone's 10th or 12th best prospect, who probably can't play shortstop, just like anyone else close to this major league roster.   This was the week I stopped watching.   Pre All Star Game.    If they aren't going to make any effort, why should I? 

Edited June 23 by Motor City Sonics

[casimir]

10 hours ago, SeattleMike said:

The Tigers need both Greene and Carpenter in the lineup on a consistent basis. Neither hits lefties well at this point though, which further underscores how devastating Tork’s failures have been. Having clarity on Torkekson should be liberating at this point. Finding offensive production at 1B is not difficult. I’m warming to the idea of moving Keith there and giving Jung some run at 2B, starting sooner rather than later. 

Seems like the Tigers already have an underwhelming bat at 1B and an unknown at 2B.  But, yeah, maybe its something to consider just to see what shakes out.

I'm still wondering about Keith to 3B after this season.  If he can get his legs under him in the 2nd half, if Torkelson can revive himself, if a big sack of money suddenly shows up on my doorstep,......

[HeyAbbott]

The needs are many. We need a 1b, an ss, a 3b, probably an outfielder, a better catcher, and a RP. That's  at least 6 new guys on a 26 man roster.

[kdog]

The Royals are 12-18 in the last 30; they have a 5.13 era in June. The Twins have passed them in the standings…as expected.

[SeattleMike]

47 minutes ago, kdog said:

The Royals are 12-18 in the last 30; they have a 5.13 era in June. The Twins have passed them in the standings…as expected.

Not surprising. The pitching staff was surviving on low BABIP and the offense on unsustainably high BA with RISP. 

[chasfh]

I predicted to someone not long ago that the Royals would be well under .500 during the second half of the season, but it looks like that level of play might be arriving sooner than later.

[kdog]

The Cardinals...ugh.

[oblong]

this is what has led to a lot of the frustration I think for fans.  Without any quotes from the front office or coaches, aside from Hinch in his sponsored radio ads, it makes everything think they aren't doing anything.

But... they don't need the media.

[chasfh]

Sounds like a typical media gripe. It makes the beat guys' job a little harder to have executives not afflicted by logorrhea, or as though the GM is on sodium thiopental. Boo hoo for them.

Besides, I actually think the things the coaches and players do say to the media are a lot more interesting since Harris and the new people he's hired behind the scenes have come aboard. They are actually talking about process, which I find fascinating, instead of hiding behind opaque disneyfied jockspeak. I'm all for that.

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

this is what has led to a lot of the frustration I think for fans.  Without any quotes from the front office or coaches, aside from Hinch in his sponsored radio ads, it makes everything think they aren't doing anything.

But... they don't need the media.

yeah, It is definitely noticeable.  They have gone from Avila talking too much at times to not giving any info at all.  I don't think that works well when your audience is baseball fans emotionally invested in the team.  

[kdog]

The Bally implosion with Comcast is also an issue. But I think that is going to handled on the mlb level.

[gehringer_2]

I don't like the position coaches being off limits. At this point he's been here long enough that everything Hinch says is response tested boilerplate, It would be a lot more interesting to hear what the coaches are working on with players, but that appears to be verboten under this regime.

[TigerNation]

On 6/23/2024 at 6:06 PM, SeattleMike said:

Not surprising. The pitching staff was surviving on low BABIP and the offense on unsustainably high BA with RISP. 

Not only that, Salvador Perez was hitting like an MVP and Seth Lugo was pitching like a Cy Young, both absurd outlier performances. Lugo still hasn't fully come back to earth yet either his ERA more than a run lower than his xERA.

People upset and acting like the Royals have passed us lol. They have an MVP in Bobby Witt Jr who is gonna be wasted in KC.

[Tenacious D]

Couldn’t find the Old Friend thread

 

[Toddwert]

2 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

Couldn’t find the Old Friend thread

 

A tear slowly rolls down Chris's face

[oblong]

18 minutes ago, Toddwert said:

A tear slowly rolls down Chris's face

Especially since Nick looked at him with a blank stare as if he never saw him before in his life. 
 

remember in the sopranos when Paulie ran into Carmine Sr who had no idea who he was?  

[kdog]

Slow Build...Let's see if we hear that phrase again.

[Edman85]

I see nothing wrong with any of Greenberg's quotes. In fact, I grant a 100% endorsement.

[Edman85]

Current fWAR and rank of position players who changed teams or were free agents over the offseason.

• 3. Juan Soto 4.6 (Trade)
• 5. Shohei Ohtani 4.2 (Free Agent)
• 20. Jurickson Profar 2.6 (Free Agent, Re-signed)
• 47. Teoscar Hernandez 1.7 (Free Agent)
• 48. Matt Chapman 1.7 (Free Agent)
• 51. Michael Busch 1.6 (Trade)
• 54. Isiah Kiner-Falefa 1.6 (Free Agent)
• 59. Carlos Santana 1.5 (Free Agent)
• 71. Jose Caballero 1.3 (Trade)
• 77. Jesse Winker 1.2 (Minor League Free Agent)
• 80. Paul DeJong 1.2 (Free Agent)
• 88. Lourdes Gurriel Jr 1.1 (Free Agent, Re-signed)
• 89. Abraham Toro 1.1 (Trade)
• 92. Cody Bellenger 1.1 (Free Agent, Re-signed)
• 93. Mark Canha 1.0 (Trade)
• 94. Alex Verdugo 1.0 (Trade)
• 98. Jeimer Candelario 0.9 (Free Agent)

The fast solution just wasn't there, and I know that strategy appeases fanbases, but there is a reason fans aren't paid to run teams.

[1776]

49 minutes ago, kdog said:

Slow Build...Let's see if we hear that phrase again.

Very confident in saying Greenberg was instructed to use those exact words by Scott Harris. Harris probably made Greenberg rehearse the comments in his office prior to giving the green light.

‘Slow burn’ would be more accurate.

[LongLiveMaroth]

39 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

Current fWAR and rank of position players who changed teams or were free agents over the offseason.

• 3. Juan Soto 4.6 (Trade)
• 5. Shohei Ohtani 4.2 (Free Agent)
• 20. Jurickson Profar 2.6 (Free Agent, Re-signed)
• 47. Teoscar Hernandez 1.7 (Free Agent)
• 48. Matt Chapman 1.7 (Free Agent)
• 51. Michael Busch 1.6 (Trade)
• 54. Isiah Kiner-Falefa 1.6 (Free Agent)
• 59. Carlos Santana 1.5 (Free Agent)
• 71. Jose Caballero 1.3 (Trade)
• 77. Jesse Winker 1.2 (Minor League Free Agent)
• 80. Paul DeJong 1.2 (Free Agent)
• 88. Lourdes Gurriel Jr 1.1 (Free Agent, Re-signed)
• 89. Abraham Toro 1.1 (Trade)
• 92. Cody Bellenger 1.1 (Free Agent, Re-signed)
• 93. Mark Canha 1.0 (Trade)
• 94. Alex Verdugo 1.0 (Trade)
• 98. Jeimer Candelario 0.9 (Free Agent)

The fast solution just wasn't there, and I know that strategy appeases fanbases, but there is a reason fans aren't paid to run teams.

Get out of here with your logic and level-headedness. 

[tiger2022]

A slow build...although the rebuild was finished.  This must be an addition to the wonderful house they've built.  

Most young players that suck turn out to be career minor league players, insurance agents, or end up working in the Home Depot.

[Edman85]

13 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

A slow build...although the rebuild was finished.  This must be an addition to the wonderful house they've built.  

Most young players that suck turn out to be career minor league players, insurance agents, or end up working in the Home Depot.

Who said the rebuild was finished? Why should the new front office have to rush their results to the detriment of the overall plan because the previous front office failed so badly in their build?