4/23/25 1:10PM Padres @ Tigers

[IdahoBert]

13 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

It's the Trey Sweeneys that separate good orgs from bad ones. There solid players out there all the time and some teams find them and get them, and other teams don't, and it's the strength in the middle and bottom of a team's line-up that is usually made up of those players that make for winning teams.

So often through pinch hitting and defensive replacements, AJ ends up using most and sometimes the entire 13-man position player roster.

From what I can tell, all of these are calculated moves, not something done casually, and that there’s a method behind it all. It’s fascinating to watch this unfold.

Maybe this has always been happening and I’m only now beginning to pay attention to it, but whatever is happening it seems to yield results that appear more fruitful compared to the payoffs that I used to see under other managers.

[ben9753]

No manager I'd rather have than AJ. Tigers are lucky to have him imo

[IdahoBert]

Just now, ben9753 said:

No manager I'd rather have than AJ. Tigers are lucky to have him imo

Indeed, we are very fortunate. It makes the team intrinsically more exciting than it used to be. So nice to know that his strategy and tactics go beyond always batting a slender Latino infielder in the second slot just because that’s what you’re supposed to do.

[casimir]

20 hours ago, chasfh said:

I get that recognition by the national baseball media doesn’t matter when taken against winning, and if I had to choose one over the other, I would definitely choosing winning over recognition ten times out of ten. It’s just a personal preference I have to want my team be respected on the national stage, and I get a charge of pride out of it when it happens. And it did happen during the MLB Tonight segment before tonight’s games, so I was happy to see it. If any of the cool kids think that makes me pathetic, then I plead guilty as charged.

No, don’t care.  Nobody gave the Pistons the time of day when they waxed the Lakers.  We remember well the game 2 of the 2006 ALDS rainout shenanigans.  I’ll take a victory over ass kissing any day.

[oblong]

4 hours ago, casimir said:

No, don’t care.  Nobody gave the Pistons the time of day when they waxed the Lakers.  We remember well the game 2 of the 2006 ALDS rainout shenanigans.  I’ll take a victory over ass kissing any day.

Karl Ravech said he’d had highlights for us “after the Yankee game”

[Tiger337]

Bailey Horn was optioned to Toledo.  

[chasfh]

14 hours ago, casimir said:

No, don’t care.  Nobody gave the Pistons the time of day when they waxed the Lakers.  We remember well the game 2 of the 2006 ALDS rainout shenanigans.  I’ll take a victory over ass kissing any day.

You’re sooooo cool … 😉

[chasfh]

17 hours ago, ben9753 said:

No manager I'd rather have than AJ. Tigers are lucky to have him imo

There were a lot of very angry people here years because we’d even hired him. I wonder whether they still feel that way?

[Tiger337]

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

There were a lot of very angry people here years because we’d even hired him. I wonder whether they still feel that way?

I still see that as a bad mark on his historical record and I think a lot of teams felt that way which is why he was available.  I was never angry and I am certainly not angry now.  When all is said and done, I think he may go down as the best Tigers manager ever.  

[chasfh]

4 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I still see that as a bad mark on his historical record and I think a lot of teams felt that way which is why he was available.  I was never angry and I am certainly not angry now.  When all is said and done, I think he may go down as the best Tigers manager ever.  

AJ Hinch*

[SeattleMike]

3 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I still see that as a bad mark on his historical record and I think a lot of teams felt that way which is why he was available.  I was never angry and I am certainly not angry now.  When all is said and done, I think he may go down as the best Tigers manager ever.  

I never thought managers mattered all that much. Last year has me rethinking that assumption, at least a little. 

[papalawrence]

AJ is the best I have seen at cultivating a culture, connecting with the players individually and collectively, and having a balance of x&o and analytics. Harris, etc al gave him what he needs to execute all of this. Sparky was also great at those aspects with the exception of having little analytics in his time. I do enjoy this team as much as I have any Tigers teams back to the '84 team. Now excuse me, I have to go take a dump.

[casimir]

9 hours ago, chasfh said:

You’re sooooo cool … 😉

I’m as cold as ice.  I’m willing to sacrifice (ass kissing).

[Arlington]

I was surprised when AJ was not voted Manager of the Year in 2024.  In my mind, he was a shoe-in (come 'on, winning with a .2 playoff odds, pitching anarchy, building a staff with discards, brilliant platoons) but he didn't receive a vote, if I recall. Wonder if the writers (or whoever votes) were punishing him for the Houston years. 

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, Arlington said:

I was surprised when AJ was not voted Manager of the Year in 2024.  In my mind, he was a shoe-in (come 'on, winning with a .2 playoff odds, pitching anarchy, building a staff with discards, brilliant platoons) but he didn't receive a vote, if I recall. Wonder if the writers (or whoever votes) were punishing him for the Houston years. 

Maybe they thought the Tigers could have done better in the first half...I doubt they put that much thought into it though.  I think it's either they were punishing him for the Houston scandal or they mailed in their votes befor the Tigers clnched a playoff spot.      

[chasfh]

12 hours ago, Arlington said:

I was surprised when AJ was not voted Manager of the Year in 2024.  In my mind, he was a shoe-in (come 'on, winning with a .2 playoff odds, pitching anarchy, building a staff with discards, brilliant platoons) but he didn't receive a vote, if I recall. Wonder if the writers (or whoever votes) were punishing him for the Houston years. 

It seemed clear to me at the announcement that writers have differing criteria as to who they would vote for manager of the year, since if the main criterion is actually managing a team to perform way above its expectations, AJ would have been the slam dunk winner.