2022 DETROIT TIGERS REGULAR SEASON THREAD

[Hongbit]

2 minutes ago, buddha said:

some folks on the board will always hate hinch because of the astros thing and will look to anything to fire him and claim he "cant control the clubhouse."

Im the opposite.   I wish he’d figure out how to get the garbage can gang going again here.   

Edited June 15, 2022 by Hongbit

[buddha]

1 minute ago, Hongbit said:

Im the opposite.   I wish he’d figure out how to get the garbage can gang going again here.   

me too!  if you aint cheatin, you aint tryin!

[Hongbit]

1 minute ago, buddha said:

why do you think he'll leave?

Because this is a shit show and a better job that isn’t so far away from winning will be open for him.  

[buddha]

Just now, Hongbit said:

Because this is a shit show and a better job that isn’t so far away from winning will be open for him.  

i'm scared larussa will die and hinch will get the sox job.

lol, what am i saying?  reinsdorf would still prop up tony and make him manager, weekend at bernie's style.

[casimir]

14 minutes ago, buddha said:

some folks on the board will always hate hinch because of the astros thing and will look to anything to fire him and claim he "cant control the clubhouse."

That’s not my position, but if he is collateral damage to a new regime, so be it.

[casimir]

10 minutes ago, buddha said:

i'm scared larussa will die and hinch will get the sox job.

lol, what am i saying?  reinsdorf would still prop up tony and make him manager, weekend at bernie's style.

Didn’t Hinch interview with Chicago?

[buddha]

1 minute ago, casimir said:

Didn’t Hinch interview with Chicago?

he was rumored to be the gm's choice but reinsdorf overruled him and hired larussa.

[Motown Bombers]

What always got me is the Tigers fired Dombrowski for his right hand man Avila. If you didn't think Dombrowski was getting the job done, why would you just switch to Avila? Mike was alive for that. I'm not sure if that was his decision or not but it's like when the Lions fired Millen only to just promote Mayhew. Granted Dombrowski was much more successful than Millen. 

[chasfh]

14 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

Because this is a shit show and a better job that isn’t so far away from winning will be open for him.  

I don't think there's any way Hinch will leave after this season because (1) I think there might be a succession plan in place in which Hinch eventually gets the GM chair, which is something he's been on record throughout his career as being a goal of his; and (2) if he leaves after managing the team to 100 losses and literally one of the worst offense in baseball history, who's going to be falling all over themselves to put him in the manager's chair somewhere else?

[gehringer_2]

3 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I don't think there's any way Hinch will leave after this season because (1) I think there might be a succession plan in place in which Hinch eventually gets the GM chair, which is something he's been on record throughout his career as being a goal of his; and (2) if he leaves after managing the team to 100 losses and literally one of the worst offense in baseball history, who's going to be falling all over themselves to put him in the manager's chair somewhere else?

yup

[gehringer_2]

6 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

What always got me is the Tigers fired Dombrowski for his right hand man Avila. If you didn't think Dombrowski was getting the job done, why would you just switch to Avila? Mike was alive for that. I'm not sure if that was his decision or not but it's like when the Lions fired Millen only to just promote Mayhew. Granted Dombrowski was much more successful than Millen. 

because Dombrowski's firing was driven by a personality conflict. The two of them had worn out their welcome with each other.

[chasfh]

4 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

What always got me is the Tigers fired Dombrowski for his right hand man Avila. If you didn't think Dombrowski was getting the job done, why would you just switch to Avila? Mike was alive for that. I'm not sure if that was his decision or not but it's like when the Lions fired Millen only to just promote Mayhew. Granted Dombrowski was much more successful than Millen. 

We spilled a lot of pixels on the other board litigating this one as well, but I'm pretty sure Ilitch fired Dombrowski for some reason other than that the team was going in the wrong direction. After all, if that were the case, why cut off the head and move the rest of the body up one slot each? Dave's entire front office team was handed the keys to the car while it was still in motion. If it were truly a wrong-direction situation, a lot more bodies would have been dropped that day.

I think Dombrowski was whacked because he did something Ilitch thought was the last straw. Some writer this week suggested that straw was because he insisted on Ausmus being manager and Ilitch didn't want that. That doesn't pass the smell test, though, because Ausmus hung around here for two more seasons after that. So that wasn't it.

I think Ilitch was mad because he let Dombrowski talk him into liquidating David Price, Joakim Soria and Yoenis Cespedes at the deadline in a show of waving the white flag (reminder: we were 50-53 and in third place 11½ games out on July 31), in prep for a rebuild, or at least a retooling. Ilitch desperately wanted a ring before he died, though, and didn't want to go through yet another re-anything. Four days later, Dombrowski was gone.

It would not surprise me to learn that Al Avila whispered sweet nothings in Mike Ilitch's ear in those days following the deadline, promising to put the team back on the winning track if he were made GM. I have no knowledge of whether he did that, of course, but it does seem very plausible that some high-stakes office politics could have accelerated the timeline on the firing. That led directly to the signings of Jordan Zimmermann, Justin Upton, Mike Pelfrey, Mark Lowe, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, as well as the trades of prospects for Cameron Maybin and Justin Wilson. That was the Al Avila version of "Going For It".

Once the old man died during the 2016-17 offseason, there was no need to pretend anymore that the organization was going to win anytime soon. ASfter that, it was all about moving money off the books for whatever they could get. And Al Avila handled that marching order flawlessly: he truly got whatever he could get.

[Jim Cowan]

56 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Cas comin' in 🔥🔥🔥! He smells blood! 🤣🤣🤣

There are posts in this forum that have called for the head of A.J. Hinch without any mention that it is Al, not A.J., who is the architect of this roster and system as of today. You seen these posts around here. I trust that you're not going to insist that has never happened so I won't have to produce any for you.

I was one of the guys replying to these folks to remind them that A.J. is doing the best he can with the crap talent and all the injuries, and I've taken a lot of fire for that. My read from those posts was that they thought the situation the Tigers are in now was mostly or all A.J.'s fault.

Of course, it's now several weeks or so after all that started and now it looks like everyone is finally getting on board with the truth: this tire fire is entirely Al Avila's responsibility. A lot of people still want to fire A.J., which I get because we're all mad and that'll scratch our goddamned itch, but now some here want to fire everybody, including Ryan Garko, who has been here for nine months.

I don't think it makes sense to fire one guy who's been here for nine months and another guy who's been here for a year and a half when this failure has been, to be generous, five-plus years in the making.

Now please, put the billy club down and take a breath ... 😁

"everyone is finally getting on board"

In other words, you can identify some people who previously were not "on board", and who thought that Avila should keep his job.  I wish you would because the rest of us are saying that no such person ever existed on this forum or its predecessor.

[Hongbit]

20 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I don't think there's any way Hinch will leave after this season because (1) I think there might be a succession plan in place in which Hinch eventually gets the GM chair, which is something he's been on record throughout his career as being a goal of his; and (2) if he leaves after managing the team to 100 losses and literally one of the worst offense in baseball history, who's going to be falling all over themselves to put him in the manager's chair somewhere else?

I’ve heard nothing about the first part.  Has this been speculated or reported anywhere?  Chris doesn’t seem like the succession plan type of guy.  

The second part is easy.   He’s a World Series champion with a good reputation managing current players.  GM’s like that combination.   The scandal is the only reason the Tigers were able to get him and every year that passes it gets farther away from blemishing him.  This is not a good team.  It’s proven obvious that the front office bought way too much into players coming off career seasons when building the roster.   I don’t think that will fall on AJ in baseball circles.     In fact, I bet he can spin this dreadful year as a positive learning experience that will make him a better manager.   Probably complete bs but some other team will eat it up.     I don’t think he has a problem finding a better job if he wants it.   

[oblong]

34 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

What always got me is the Tigers fired Dombrowski for his right hand man Avila. If you didn't think Dombrowski was getting the job done, why would you just switch to Avila? Mike was alive for that. I'm not sure if that was his decision or not but it's like when the Lions fired Millen only to just promote Mayhew. Granted Dombrowski was much more successful than Millen. 

I’ve come to think that DD started poking around for jobs and Ilitch does not tolerate disloyalty.  Fedorov signing that offer sheet with Carolina ensured his number will never go to the rafters.  Sparky bailed on the lockout refusing replacement players so they waited until he died.  

[casimir]

1 minute ago, Jim Cowan said:

"everyone is finally getting on board"

In other words, you can identify some people who previously were not "on board", and who thought that Avila should keep his job.  I wish you would because the rest of us are saying that no such person ever existed on this forum or its predecessor.

Chuck is just yappin out of his clown ass again.  And the Tigers got shut out.  SSDD. 

[oblong]

Little Caesar’s pizza is now the official pizza of the NFL.  Chris is happy.  That’s all that matters. 

[chasfh]

Just now, Jim Cowan said:

"everyone is finally getting on board"

In other words, you can identify some people who previously were not "on board", and who thought that Avila should keep his job.  I wish you would because the rest of us are saying that no such person ever existed on this forum or its predecessor.

I've given my reply and that will have to do. I will not accede to repeated demands to "out" people. Sorry to disappoint you on that.

[RandyMarsh]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

The Ilitches bought the team in 1992. They have owned the team for 34 first-round draft picks, and 23 of those picks have been right-handed pitchers.

They selected six straight RHPs over a five-year stretch in 1994-98, five RHPs during the four-year stretch of 2007-2010, and four more RHPs in four straight years 2015-18.

They used their two first-rounders in 2021 on RHPs as well, so they are in the middle of a RHP streak now.

That’s downright pathological.

On top of this in the 3 biggest trades they've made in the past decade in terms of getting back potentially a top 50 prospect that could be an impact bat they instead chose or atleast settled on a pitcher the centerpiece instead. I'm talking about Norris in the Price trade, Fulmer in the Cespedes trade and Franklin Perez in the JV trade. 

[Jim Cowan]

Chris isn't going to fire Avila.  But if he did, he would absolutely fire Hinch too.  The new GM picks his own manager.

Chris isn't going to fire Avila.  But if he did, a key reason might be the load of BS that Avila gave him about Hinch being a miracle worker.

[Jim Cowan]

4 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I've given my reply and that will have to do. I will not accede to repeated demands to "out" people. Sorry to disappoint you on that.

Or you could admit that you just made it up when you said "some people seem to want that".

[Motown Bombers]

2 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Chris isn't going to fire Avila.  But if he did, he would absolutely fire Hinch too.  The new GM picks his own manager.

Chris isn't going to fire Avila.  But if he did, a key reason might be the load of BS that Avila gave him about Hinch being a miracle worker.

I could see Chris doing what Mike did 20 years ago and hiring a Dombrowski type as president and letting him fire the GM and manager. 

[Tiger337]

12 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

"everyone is finally getting on board"

In other words, you can identify some people who previously were not "on board", and who thought that Avila should keep his job.  I wish you would because the rest of us are saying that no such person ever existed on this forum or its predecessor.

Avila has not been popular on this board for a long time.  Just because people question the awesomeness of the great AJ Hinch does not mean they like Avila as the GM.  

[casimir]

6 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Or you could admit that you just made it up when you said "some people seem to want that".

Put your billy club down and don’t question the smartest guy in the room.

[chasfh]

Just now, Jim Cowan said:

Or you could admit that you just made it up when you said "some people seem to want that".

Well, no, I didn't "just make it up". I replied to the pushback on it with a typical too-long post that was my characterization of what I meant to say, based on the last several weeks of reading posts about this topic. I'd be fine debating the accuracy of my recollection, but you seem to want something more personal out of it, so I'm just going to leave it with you now and move on.