4/7/25 3:10PM Yankees @ Tigers

[kdog]

I like this starting pitching staff much better than chaos; They have Cobb, Montero, etc as backup options if any injuries or ineffectiveness hit.

[casimir]

39 minutes ago, kdog said:

I like this starting pitching staff much better than chaos; They have Cobb, Montero, etc as backup options if any injuries or ineffectiveness hit.

Absolutely.  The pitching chaos was out of necessity.  But then it was wildly successful beyond what could have been hoped for, so it was fun to see in action.  Short sample size, all of the buttons were pushed right, all credit in the world to the Tigers.  But I’d hate to see it employed intentionally.

[monkeytargets39]

1 hour ago, kdog said:

I like this starting pitching staff much better than chaos; They have Cobb, Montero, etc as backup options if any injuries or ineffectiveness hit.

I’m pretty high on Hanifee for spot starts too.  Hes been very consistently good since we brought him up last year 

[holygoat]

Colt Keith is gonna have to put up at least .850 OPS to justify his mortifying lack of defense. 

[Jim Cowan]

.600 ball, y'all.  97 wins.

[Tiger337]

2 hours ago, holygoat said:

Colt Keith is gonna have to put up at least .850 OPS to justify his mortifying lack of defense. 

I wonder if Torkelson will be moving back to first and Keith to DH when Torres returns.  

[Graterol]

32 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I wonder if Torkelson will be moving back to first and Keith to DH when Torres returns.  

I get colts defense hasn’t been great, but I am really hoping they can talk Torres in to playing 3rd. That would really shore up our infield. 

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, Jim Cowan said:

.600 ball, y'all.  97 wins.

97.2 wins. Don’t shortchange them.

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I wonder if Torkelson will be moving back to first and Keith to DH when Torres returns.  

Assuming no roster changes, in the short term, probably rotate the three of them among 1B/2B/DH when they all play, and AJ will get roasted for it.

Unless Colt Keith shakes off his blues, though, I see the distinct possibility of spending a few weeks down I-75 for him.

[chasfh]

So, all of a sudden, are we going to have to be concerned about losing both Skubal and Mize after next season? The thing Mize hasn’t forced us to think about until now?

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

Assuming no roster changes, in the short term, probably rotate the three of them among 1B/2B/DH when they all play, and AJ will get roasted for it.

Unless Colt Keith shakes off his blues, though, I see the distinct possibility of spending a few weeks down I-75 for him.

Colt had a shaky start last season also - but he also had a better excuse then - IIRC he was also hitting some balls hard but having some bad BaBIP luck, which is not so much the case now.

Torkelson has made one error at 1b in 7 starts,  there was a ball he knocked down that went for single that would have a double but OTOH someone else might have made the out on, he's also made a 3 or 4 of good catches on batted balls and started 4 DPs. I'd say he's holding his own, though statcast has him down one OAA already.

Let's see if Gleyber plays any 3rd on rehab. Doubtful. Then again Baez is fine at 3rd if he keeps hitting - too early to tell there.

 

Edited April 8 by gehringer_2

[theroundsquare]

No jab at people suggesting it, but I think Torres is about as likely to play 3B for the Tigers as I am.  If he was going to play 3B he probably wouldn't be here.

[holygoat]

3 minutes ago, theroundsquare said:

No jab at people suggesting it, but I think Torres is about as likely to play 3B for the Tigers as I am.  If he was going to play 3B he probably wouldn't be here.

Right, if Torres were open to playing 3rd, he'd still be Yankee. The Tigers signed him knowing that he was 100% unwilling to play 3rd or any other position other than 2nd.

[SoCalTiger]

Torkelson has earned the right to be the full time first baseman in my book. At least for now. Keith has to be "fit in' based on his play and Hinch can do that. I doubt he heads to AAA. He is Harris's golden boy after signing that contract. 

[gehringer_2]

26 minutes ago, holygoat said:

Right, if Torres were open to playing 3rd, he'd still be Yankee. The Tigers signed him knowing that he was 100% unwilling to play 3rd or any other position other than 2nd.

I thought what I saw Gleyber say about it was a little more nuanced - he made it sound like he was refusing as much because they had given him no lead time to prep - they wanted him to go into a high stakes game at a new position cold. Of course that might be PR backfill, but he should also consider that if it's a payday he's looking for, he's a more valuable commodity as a 3B in today's game than a 2B.

Still and all, the episode in NY has probably closed the book on the issue.

Edited April 8 by gehringer_2

[4hzglory]

My son and I were having the conversation about Keith and wondered if at this point in his career, he's someone who needs to have 1 position and focus on it.  He became an average 2b by the end of last season.  Then he spends the offseason working on playing a new position, learning new footwork, stretching, new reads, when to try and field the ball, and when he needs to get to first, etc.  So almost all his mental prep is for that.  Then all of a sudden, he's back to 2nd when he still hasn't gotten the position he was working on all off season down.  For some players, no problem, they are back "home" to a position they are comfortable with.  Keith may not be there yet.  It doesn't mean a year or 2 down the road, he couldn't be effective at multiple positions, but in the very small sample size of approximately a week-10 days, he definitely doesn't look like he is.

 

I too think the best for the team overall would be to go back to Keith at 2nd, Tork at 1b, and hopefully Torres is willing to go to 3rd (assuming what he said the reason for refusing to do it in NY is accurate).  Then Keith can focus again on 2nd and hopefully get back quickly to where he ended the year last year.

[gehringer_2]

24 minutes ago, 4hzglory said:

Then all of a sudden, he's back to 2nd when he still hasn't gotten the position he was working on all off season down.  For some players, no problem, they are back "home" to a position they are comfortable with. 

Certainly appears true that Keith is not a 'natural' fielder like for instance Javy. There are guys who have/develop an innate sense of what to do in the field without having to think about it or learn the right technique because doing it right is what already makes innate sense to them. Colt isn't that guy. Certainly if they didn't have him working on both 1st and 2nd in the off-season to be ready for both, that was a mistake in hindsight, and maybe another measure of their pessimism about Torkelson. And TBH, a dozen games mean very little - we still don't know how Torkelson is going to play out.

Edited April 8 by gehringer_2

[RatkoVarda]

if everyone is healthy (by August? never?) the bench could be Rogers, Keith, McKinstry, Malloy - that's not bad at all

Dingler-Tork-Torres-Sweeney-Baez-Greene-Meadows-Veirling-Carpenter

[1984Echoes]

How is Keith's shoulder?

If it's 100% healthy, shouldn't the Org take another chance at seeing if he can thrive at 3B?

IIRC, he was better at 3B than Jung. And Jung was better at 2B than at 3B, and better than Keith at 2B.

That solves everything. Jung can come up and take over for Torres whenever the team is ready to make that move. No later than next year as Torres is a FA. But he takes over 2B whenever the Org is ready...

Just a thought.

[gehringer_2]

15 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

How is Keith's shoulder?

If it's 100% healthy, shouldn't the Org take another chance at seeing if he can thrive at 3B?

IIRC, he was better at 3B than Jung. And Jung was better at 2B than at 3B, and better than Keith at 2B.

That solves everything. Jung can come up and take over for Torres whenever the team is ready to make that move. No later than next year as Torres is a FA. But he takes over 2B whenever the Org is ready...

Just a thought.

It make so much sense I guess we have to believe it's the docs that say no.

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, SoCalTiger said:

Torkelson has earned the right to be the full time first baseman in my book. At least for now. Keith has to be "fit in' based on his play and Hinch can do that. I doubt he heads to AAA. He is Harris's golden boy after signing that contract. 

Do you think Harris will force Colt Keith to stay on AJ Hinch's roster despite terrible performance in order to save face?

[gehringer_2]

8 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Do you think Harris will force Colt Keith to stay on AJ Hinch's roster despite terrible performance in order to save face?

And does it even 'save face' in any meaningful way? If anything it's more to the forefront to see him struggle in the majors. That said, I think he's going to get more rope than this, he was a pretty good ball player through the 2nd half last year. I'd look to the example with Torkelson - last season they gave him 200 PA before they sent him down, my guess Colt gets at least 150 to find his footing. The exception would be if he just totally get the yips in the field, but I don't really think that's going to happen.

Edited April 8 by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

I gotta believe if the Tigers thought Colt Keith is as good as an average second baseman, they would not have tried to move him to first base in the first place, and they probably would have gotten another Mark Canha type for first base this season for a year instead of Gleyber for second.

[Tigermojo]

You guys know Keith has an elite walk rate right now sss? He's not going anywhere. They talked about Tork in right field so I don't think Keith will play anywhere except for first, second or occasional DH.

I think the answer is more time in the field for Carpenter and DH gets split between several guys.

[gehringer_2]

34 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I gotta believe if the Tigers thought Colt Keith is as good as an average second baseman, they would not have tried to move him to first base in the first place, and they probably would have gotten another Mark Canha type for first base this season for a year instead of Gleyber for second.

that's an interesting question. I'd go as far as believing they think he will bulk out of the position soon enough it didn't matter if he could still play it for another season. I just don't know that we can separate how decision making about Keith was colored by their prognosis for Torkelson, and the availability of Torres to sign. It all wraps up together. In fact if they had landed Bregman early and not pursued Torres, do you think they would have tried to move Keith to 1st this season? They could have asked Javy to play 2b, but they didn't know, we still don't know,  how Javy ends up.

Edited April 8 by gehringer_2