4/6/25 1:40PM White Sox @ Tigers

[Sports_Freak]

33 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

That flight to Cleveland is going to be a solemn flight. 

The WSox are a 100 loss team. I always say that playing this type of team early in the season is dangerous because they don't yet realize how bad they stink. The WSox are finding out early that they are destined for last place. They would finish in 6th place in a 5 team division. 🤣🤣

[Sports_Freak]

32 minutes ago, romad1 said:

and the fact that it will be as cold as the heat death of the universe. 

Yankees come to Detroit on a losing streak! They lost to Pittsburgh in extra innings. Cool....

[1984Echoes]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

.... I’d like to have been a fly on the wall at the moment he snapped out of that. I’m guessing it would have been early spring training in a CTJ meeting with AJ. 

That happened immediately after we signed Torres.

AJ said specifically this offseason that he called Tork and told him he was losing his 1B spot to the signing of Torres and the planned move of Keith to 1st.

I'm 99.999% certain that was his CTJ moment.

[mtutiger]

43 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Is Javy back?      Did the Tigers fix him?      Or at least 75% of what he was?    Nice to see a decent start from him.  He desperately needed that.      He's had some nice swings this year.  

Javy will never be 20+ homer Javy again, but him just putting up professional ABs and turning magical defensive plays from time to time would be a win at this point... So far so good

[mtutiger]

59 minutes ago, Chopper said:

Whatever clicked in his head is obviously working. I think he started pressing and never got out of it. Then he probably went into "I'm not a good hitter" mode and that was that. Baseball is so mental. Much more than other sports because it's one on one more than most (except golf). 

His stance is noticably different... He was much more upright previously, now he's a bit more hunched over and in a more athletic position before each pitch.

I do think the Gleyber Torres signing was a come to Jesus for him... I'm just glad he woke up and appears to be getting there, he's too good a hitter to let go and see blossom somewhere else

[Motor City Sonics]

48 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

The WSox are a 100 loss team. I always say that playing this type of team early in the season is dangerous because they don't yet realize how bad they stink. The WSox are finding out early that they are destined for last place. They would finish in 6th place in a 5 team division. 🤣🤣

What?    But you can't finish in 6th place if there's only 5 teams.    Do your math..........oh, oh  I GET IT !!!!

Maybe they'll trade for Anthony Rendon.  That sounds like a White Sox thing. 

[Longgone]

22 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

His stance is noticably different... He was much more upright previously, now he's a bit more hunched over and in a more athletic position before each pitch.

I do think the Gleyber Torres signing was a come to Jesus for him... I'm just glad he woke up and appears to be getting there, he's too good a hitter to let go and see blossom somewhere else

He knew what he needed to work on, the Tigers knew, and he worked on it. This crap about him being resistant to change is just that.

[mtutiger]

1 minute ago, Longgone said:

He knew what he needed to work on, the Tigers knew, and he worked on it. This crap about him being resistant to change is just that.

You may be right... I will say the collective freakout about his comments is definitely crap. He can have the same approach while making mechanical tweaks... And I think that's what happened

[Sports_Freak]

26 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

His stance is noticably different... He was much more upright previously, now he's a bit more hunched over and in a more athletic position before each pitch.

I do think the Gleyber Torres signing was a come to Jesus for him... I'm just glad he woke up and appears to be getting there, he's too good a hitter to let go and see blossom somewhere else

I think he was already working on his stance and swing but got SO tired of the media questions that he just blew them off by saying he wasn't changing. ML players don't make this big of a change and have this much success in a couple of weeks, more like a couple of months 

[monkeytargets39]

10 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

What?    But you can't finish in 6th place if there's only 5 teams.    Do your math..........oh, oh  I GET IT !!!!

Maybe they'll trade for Anthony Rendon.  That sounds like a White Sox thing. 

I’d argue the Angels trading for Luis Robert Jr and then extending him sounds more likely

[Longgone]

13 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

I think he was already working on his stance and swing but got SO tired of the media questions that he just blew them off by saying he wasn't changing. ML players don't make this big of a change and have this much success in a couple of weeks, more like a couple of months 

He never said he wasn’t changing anything. He said it wasn’t his swing that was the problem, it was other things. Totally misinterpreted.

[Motor City Sonics]

33 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

I’d argue the Angels trading for Luis Robert Jr and then extending him sounds more likely

8 years, 340 million?    Something like that?     

[monkeytargets39]

8 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

8 years, 340 million?    Something like that?     

Don’t forget the full no trade clause

[Motor City Sonics]

24 minutes ago, Longgone said:

He never said he wasn’t changing anything. He said it wasn’t his swing that was the problem, it was other things. Totally misinterpreted.

I think he just decompressed this offseason.     I think he needed a mental reset.   Maybe he went out in the woods with Aaron Rodgers and drank ayahuasca tea until he crapped broth.     "Cept maybe that actually worked for Tork.   Oh, and people actually like Tork.    Sometimes when you are in a personal or professional slump, you need to remove yourself from the thing you're slumping at. 

I'd say going forward when Torres returns in July (it's an oblique, that's usually not 10 days).   That we keep Tork at first most days and toggle between Keith and Torres at DH/2B.   Neither are good defensively.   Tork is not a great 1b, but he has improved - he actually finished with 2 DRS last year.   Big, BIG improvement.    The unfortunate thing about the Tigers current active roster is Keith, Torres and Malloy are all DH material. 

[Motor City Sonics]

1 minute ago, monkeytargets39 said:

Don’t forget the full no trade clause

Maybe an injury bonus too.   Meaning, the more injuries you get, the more money you get.   That sounds like an Angels deal.  

[Sports_Freak]

51 minutes ago, Longgone said:

He never said he wasn’t changing anything. He said it wasn’t his swing that was the problem, it was other things. Totally misinterpreted.

This was the quote the media and some fans picked up on;

 

"As well as the usual database of video of each players’ at-bats and cage work, the Tigers have invested a small fortune in high speed cameras, motion and bat tracking systems, force plates to track balance and weight transfer throughout the swing, and much more. As he told reporters on Wednesday, Torkelson isn’t particularly interested in knowing all that information in detail.

“That’s not me. That’s not the way I roll. I’m pretty old-school in the fact that, you know, that felt good. the ball flight looked good. That must’ve worked.”

https://www.blessyouboys.com/2025/2/14/24365162/detroit-tigers-news-spencer-torkelson-spring-training-preview

[Motor City Sonics]

23 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

This was the quote the media and some fans picked up on;

 

"As well as the usual database of video of each players’ at-bats and cage work, the Tigers have invested a small fortune in high speed cameras, motion and bat tracking systems, force plates to track balance and weight transfer throughout the swing, and much more. As he told reporters on Wednesday, Torkelson isn’t particularly interested in knowing all that information in detail.

“That’s not me. That’s not the way I roll. I’m pretty old-school in the fact that, you know, that felt good. the ball flight looked good. That must’ve worked.”

https://www.blessyouboys.com/2025/2/14/24365162/detroit-tigers-news-spencer-torkelson-spring-training-preview

I think that stuff gets to be too much.   You don't want a guy out there overthinking it.    Torkelson was a monster hitter in college and a lot of that showed in the minors.    Hitting is a pretty natural talent for him.    As the Fad Four (The Rutles) once said "Let's be natural"

[Sports_Freak]

5 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I think that stuff gets to be too much.   You don't want a guy out there overthinking it.    Torkelson was a monster hitter in college and a lot of that showed in the minors.    Hitting is a pretty natural talent for him.    As the Fad Four (The Rutles) once said "Let's be natural"

But he did made a necessary change. And it's paying off.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

I think he was already working on his stance and swing but got SO tired of the media questions that he just blew them off by saying he wasn't changing. ML players don't make this big of a change and have this much success in a couple of weeks, more like a couple of months 

he was actually part way there when he came back from Toledo - at least in terms of being more aggressive earlier in the count and trying to cover more of the strike zone. Because it's hard to move averages late in the season I think people tend not to realize he did hit at an OPS rate 200 pts better than before he was sent down.  I would guess that once he decided that covering more of the zone was an imperative, he also knew an adjustment to his stance would be needed, but that would be an off season task. I think it's also possible that once they told him he had lost his starting gig, he stopped worrying about a lot of things, like whatever baggage he had accumulated with the Tigers - he probably figured - like a lot of us, that he was destined for another organization

[Longgone]

41 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

This was the quote the media and some fans picked up on;

 

"As well as the usual database of video of each players’ at-bats and cage work, the Tigers have invested a small fortune in high speed cameras, motion and bat tracking systems, force plates to track balance and weight transfer throughout the swing, and much more. As he told reporters on Wednesday, Torkelson isn’t particularly interested in knowing all that information in detail.

“That’s not me. That’s not the way I roll. I’m pretty old-school in the fact that, you know, that felt good. the ball flight looked good. That must’ve worked.”

https://www.blessyouboys.com/2025/2/14/24365162/detroit-tigers-news-spencer-torkelson-spring-training-preview

Nowhere does that say he is not changing or working on anything, only that he wants to approach it more viscerally and not so analytically. 

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, Longgone said:

Nowhere does that say he is not changing or working on anything, only that he wants to approach it more viscerally and not so analytically. 

Almost certainly not how the Tigers wanted him to approach it. Because that’s how he was approaching it for his three seasons with the team, and we all saw how much viscerally helped him.

I think it’s more likely that someone had a CTJ talk with Tork, something clicked, he buckled down to review the info, made the adjustments that he made, and improved his approach and results; than that the team said you know what, we’re use gonna leave you alone and let you figure it out by yourself, he made his adjustments all by himself, and improved his approach and results.

[kdog]

I prefer Jobe developing in the majors vs a stopgap like Cobb or Maeda; Cobb will get a shot due to innings limits and attrition….but he is a good contingency not a guy you rely on.

[Tiger337]

5 hours ago, Longgone said:

He knew what he needed to work on, the Tigers knew, and he worked on it. This crap about him being resistant to change is just that.

Yeah, I doubt there was one moment in the middle of the winter where he knew he needed to figure things out.  If that's the case, then what happens if the pitchers start pitchng to stop his new approach?  Does he need another moment to get him going? I would hope not.  

[Longgone]

8 hours ago, chasfh said:

Almost certainly not how the Tigers wanted him to approach it. Because that’s how he was approaching it for his three seasons with the team, and we all saw how much viscerally helped him.

I think it’s more likely that someone had a CTJ talk with Tork, something clicked, he buckled down to review the info, made the adjustments that he made, and improved his approach and results; than that the team said you know what, we’re use gonna leave you alone and let you figure it out by yourself, he made his adjustments all by himself, and improved his approach and results.

They didn’t “leave him alone”, they were in agreement with what he needed to work on, and he worked on it. 

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Longgone said:

They didn’t “leave him alone”, they were in agreement with what he needed to work on, and he worked on it. 

TBH, I also don't see that the Tigers have ever owned up to the fact that for two years they were constantly telling him he had to be more selective about getting 'good pitches to hit', only to realize last year that his real problem was not covering enough of the zone. IIRC it was Harris that started the shift in that conversation.

Edited April 7 by gehringer_2