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Tiger Cubs (notes on the minors)


gehringer_2

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29 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

he wasn't a very good GM though

He laid the foundation for getting the team off the FA boom and bust cycle and into a sustainable development system. He upgraded the draft evaluation system to bring more promising players into the system. He got the Tigers off Dombrowski's 'old washed up expensive relief pitcher' merry-go-round and toward building better bullpens. He understood the team had to embrace the tech. He made a couple of critical hires. Those were the plusses. The minuses were that they didn't always understand what their tech was telling them (e.g. it's more important for a pitcher to have more life on his FB than more cut on their breaking ball. This misunderstanding led them to Mize, who this regime has had to rebuild into a pitcher with a more effective fastball because in the majors neither the split or the slider could make up for his flat fastball), most of his signings were busts and they spent too much time in denial about it, he was pretty much a zero in terms of being able to pull together complex deals like his predecessor, got way too little back for the assets he had when it came time to cash them in, and in general lacked sufficient urgency to move things faster, though in fairness we don't know how much of the go-slow may have been coming from Ilitch, and despite the tech they had, they had no apparent clue on how to use it to coach hitting and finally, pretty much failed at international signings. So on the whole, he did some things that were critical in terms of re-orienting the operation, but also failed at a lot of the portfolio. And he had his share of just plain bad luck with Zimmerman and Austin Meadows.

Edited by gehringer_2
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2 hours ago, RandyMarsh said:

Wilmer Flores touched 99.5 in his scoreless inning of play today. A bounce back season from him would be a welcome sight for sure.

Sam Dykstra was saying the biggest thing will be to see if he can keep velocity up through the year as that has been a knock in the past.

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8 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

... pretty much failed at international signings....

This part we don't know for certain yet.

He's got multiple higher-end guys in the system.

And we don't know if they'll figure things out and make it to MLB... or if they'll all just flop out.

But I think we have to wait for the jury to come to a verdict on this; and they will be sequestered for at least a few years. A verdict that centers mostly, but not exclusively, around Christian Santana, Roberto Campos, Josue Briceno and maybe a couple others...

Quite a long time to render a verdict, but... it is what it is.

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2 hours ago, 1984Echoes said:

This part we don't know for certain yet.

He's got multiple higher-end guys in the system.

And we don't know if they'll figure things out and make it to MLB... or if they'll all just flop out.

But I think we have to wait for the jury to come to a verdict on this; and they will be sequestered for at least a few years. A verdict that centers mostly, but not exclusively, around Christian Santana, Roberto Campos, Josue Briceno and maybe a couple others...

Quite a long time to render a verdict, but... it is what it is.

If they do well, it will be because of Harris.  

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That may very well be...

But I don't think that changes the narrative any...

If those three "big money" signings flop, then G2 is correct and Avila was basically a failure at international signings.

If those three, and/or any other internationals signed by Avila make an impact for the Tigers, then it's not any different than any other thing he did with the Tigers:

He had some good intentions, and/or did some good things...

But it's taking Harris to "finish the job".

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19 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

He laid the foundation for getting the team off the FA boom and bust cycle and into a sustainable development system. He upgraded the draft evaluation system to bring more promising players into the system. He got the Tigers off Dombrowski's 'old washed up expensive relief pitcher' merry-go-round and toward building better bullpens. He understood the team had to embrace the tech. He made a couple of critical hires. Those were the plusses. The minuses were that they didn't always understand what their tech was telling them (e.g. it's more important for a pitcher to have more life on his FB than more cut on their breaking ball. This misunderstanding led them to Mize, who this regime has had to rebuild into a pitcher with a more effective fastball because in the majors neither the split or the slider could make up for his flat fastball), most of his signings were busts and they spent too much time in denial about it, he was pretty much a zero in terms of being able to pull together complex deals like his predecessor, got way too little back for the assets he had when it came time to cash them in, and in general lacked sufficient urgency to move things faster, though in fairness we don't know how much of the go-slow may have been coming from Ilitch, and despite the tech they had, they had no apparent clue on how to use it to coach hitting and finally, pretty much failed at international signings. So on the whole, he did some things that were critical in terms of re-orienting the operation, but also failed at a lot of the portfolio. And he had his share of just plain bad luck with Zimmerman and Austin Meadows.

tl;dr he had a vague idea of what needed to be done and no idea how to actually do any of it.

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2 hours ago, 1984Echoes said:

That may very well be...

But I don't think that changes the narrative any...

If those three "big money" signings flop, then G2 is correct and Avila was basically a failure at international signings.

If those three, and/or any other internationals signed by Avila make an impact for the Tigers, then it's not any different than any other thing he did with the Tigers:

He had some good intentions, and/or did some good things...

But it's taking Harris to "finish the job".

Yes, Avila had good intentions (from an overall perspective) and/or did some good things.  Not all of the workstreams were sufficient enough, however, for some reason or another.  I think development can be pointed at as a weakness.  In general, though, it just seemed like they just weren't gaining traction quickly enough.

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3 hours ago, casimir said:

Yes, Avila had good intentions (from an overall perspective) and/or did some good things.  Not all of the workstreams were sufficient enough, however, for some reason or another.  I think development can be pointed at as a weakness.  In general, though, it just seemed like they just weren't gaining traction quickly enough.

All fair statements imo, not that it matters, lol.

I will only say that the MLB field had lapped the Tigers in the technology department by 5, 10, 15 or more laps.  It cannot be said enough just how far behind the Tigers were in analytics and technology under DD.

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Cody Stavenhagen on yesterday’s breakout game:

“Official attendance was listed at 2,011. There seemed to be a lot of online interest in the prospect game, but the meager in-person attendance made for a sleepy atmosphere.”

As good as the Tigers pipeline is, I’m a bit surprised at the attendance numbers. If I were anything close to local, I’d have been in the seats. 

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29 minutes ago, SkyBlue said:

I will only say that the MLB field had lapped the Tigers in the technology department by 5, 10, 15 or more laps.  It cannot be said enough just how far behind the Tigers were in analytics and technology under DD.

No argument here.  It sounds like whomever took over for Dombrowski had a monumental task with the analytics and technology.

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2 hours ago, 1776 said:

Cody Stavenhagen on yesterday’s breakout game:

“Official attendance was listed at 2,011. There seemed to be a lot of online interest in the prospect game, but the meager in-person attendance made for a sleepy atmosphere.”

As good as the Tigers pipeline is, I’m a bit surprised at the attendance numbers. If I were anything close to local, I’d have been in the seats. 

I'm guessing 90% of people who call themselves Tiger fans have no clue who any of these players are.

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https://www.mlb.com/news/detroit-tigers-spring-training-prospect-report-2024?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

 

It's easy to look at those recent successes and believe they're reproducible with two 2023 top-40 picks in Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle. But there's a key difference in the developmental paths. Everyone in the previous paragraph is at least 21 years old. Clark and McGonigle -- both high schoolers this time last year -- are only 19.

Detroit is in for the long haul.

"It will be the same processes, but they're going to be even more process-driven if that makes sense," said Tigers vice president of player development Ryan Garko. "They didn't have those college years in a big program like Jace and some of the other guys have. So I think we do a lot more in the weight room, a lot more education around their bodies, around routines, around health, around the grind of the season. Everything's going to be new to them. There's nothing that can prepare you for a full professional season until you've gone and done it."

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  • 2 weeks later...

Toledo starts Friday. The other levels start a week later. We won't know them until next week.

Toledo also has 27 of 28 spots listed. Either a spot for Diaz is spoken for or there may be a waiver claim/trade coming.

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