2022 DETROIT TIGERS REGULAR SEASON THREAD

[Tenacious D]

I think there is zero chance that Miggy is playing baseball in 2024, for the Tigers or anyone else.

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, sabretooth said:

My recent pissy post and my testy text arguments with other fans has proven to me that this ^#^&%* team has gotten way too far under my skin.

Is it because 2022 was supposed to be the year the window was to be wide open; all the kids that had been drafted the last few years were to be on the team, healthy and productive; and the front office was to have patched the remaining holes with impact trades and free agents, resulting in a team that was to be solid and competing for a ring? Because I had fingers crossed for that plan, too.

[sabretooth]

7 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Is it because 2022 was supposed to be the year the window was to be wide open; all the kids that had been drafted the last few years were to be on the team, healthy and productive; and the front office was to have patched the remaining holes with impact trades and free agents, resulting in a team that was to be solid and competing for a ring? Because I had fingers crossed for that plan, too.

Yeah, I remained skeptical of AAs skills, but the Meadows trade seemed to be the indication that this FO was serious and capable enough of putting an interesting and winning product on the field, esp with AJ and Fetters' added value.

Heaven knows I don't like Avila at all, but I think he has been a victim of some extremely bad luck this year.

[sabretooth]

27 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

I think there is zero chance that Miggy is playing baseball in 2024, for the Tigers or anyone else.

That *should* be the case.

[Tenacious D]

24 minutes ago, sabretooth said:

Yeah, I remained skeptical of AAs skills, but the Meadows trade seemed to be the indication that this FO was serious and capable enough of putting an interesting and winning product on the field, esp with AJ and Fetters' added value.

Heaven knows I don't like Avila at all, but I think he has been a victim of some extremely bad luck this year.

Agree with this.  The pitchforks on Twitter calling for his firing wreak of laziness and group speak.  I’m not his biggest fan, but I did approve of recent trades, signing and picks.  This team has been victim of some rotten luck.

[casimir]

2 hours ago, sabretooth said:

Sorry, mistype, I meant 2024.  Hopefully there are rocking chairs being brought out in his honor throughout 2023.

Nothing will match this:

[casimir]

31 minutes ago, sabretooth said:

Yeah, I remained skeptical of AAs skills, but the Meadows trade seemed to be the indication that this FO was serious and capable enough of putting an interesting and winning product on the field, esp with AJ and Fetters' added value.

Heaven knows I don't like Avila at all, but I think he has been a victim of some extremely bad luck this year.

Are we simply seeing the flip side of luck from what we saw last season?

There has been a lot of bad luck with injuries, but I think that's more on the pitching side.  Meadows has been the flukiest of all and it has impaired the offense.  But this awful season from the sticks isn't solely due to Meadows, and its got to be time to make some sort of changes (including demoting Torkelson to work on his game).

[SoCalTiger]

Wow Miggy has an 8 million buyout of his 2024 contract. So 40 million on maybe average production from a DH for 2023. Avila is bad but DD is overrated also. 
Way overpay for Miguel. Let Max walk and then Al trades Verlander for trash. 
Sure wish we would have just paid Max and Verlander and offered Miggy a more team friendly extension. 
 

Revisionist evaluation for sure but out of the three the Tigers made the wrong decision on all of them. 

[Tenacious D]

11 minutes ago, SoCalTiger said:

Wow Miggy has an 8 million buyout of his 2024 contract. So 40 million on maybe average production from a DH for 2023. Avila is bad but DD is overrated also. 
Way overpay for Miguel. Let Max walk and then Al trades Verlander for trash. 
Sure wish we would have just paid Max and Verlander and offered Miggy a more team friendly extension. 
 

Revisionist evaluation for sure but out of the three the Tigers made the wrong decision on all of them. 

Ironically, you would have thought the position player would have the less risky.

[bobrob2004]

3 hours ago, sabretooth said:

I keep hearing a lot of fans outside of MTS say that Cabrera is their best hitter this year and where would they be without him and so on and so forth.  And when I go to the park even after his milestones have been reached, his is the most popular jersey and his arrival at the plate garners the biggest cheers by far.  Cabrera unfortunately is their only seriously marketable player at this point.

Hopefully sentimentality is spent in 2022/2023 and his resources are allocated elsewhere in 2024.

I've heard this about Willi Castro too.  "He's one of the Tigers hitters that is actually hitting!  You can't get rid of him!"

He has a below average 84 OPS+ and 80 wRC+.  His OBP is below .300 and his SLG is below .400.  His WAR is going to be below 1.0, while 2.0 is considered average.  Of course I want to get rid of him, and we haven't even discussed his defense yet.  Just because his offense production is slightly better than 80% of the team, doesn't mean he's "good."  And no, we are not "showcasing" him.  No contending team is going to want to give up anything, much less anything of value, for this AAAA player.  

There's only 2 players that the Tigers should keep, Greene and Torkelson, and Torkelson needs more time in AAA.  Everyone else can go.  That's how bad they've been.  Reyes and H. Castro could be useful in utility roles.  Meadows may be fine if/when he gets completely healthy.  

 

[kdog]

A.J. Hinch today, talking about the second half: "We need to look at how we can evolve better as an organization, as a team, as a coaching staff. We can't be satisfied that we're trying hard. This is a results-oriented business, and we are not getting the results that we expect."
 

He is in it now.

[Clinkeroo]

Wondering who is going to pick Baez’s throws out of the dirt with Tork going down.  He has a cannon, but he shoots like a stormtrooper.

[casimir]

1 minute ago, Clinkeroo said:

Wondering who is going to pick Baez’s throws out of the dirt with Tork going down.  He has a cannon, but he shoots like a stormtrooper.

They're going to sign a giant squid to play first base.

(Note to @buddha:  I don't really believe this.  I am just being sarcasticalistic.)

[romad1]

18 minutes ago, casimir said:

They're going to sign a giant squid to play first base.

(Note to @buddha:  I don't really believe this.  I am just being sarcasticalistic.)

Audaciously amazing snark!!!!

[buddha]

19 minutes ago, casimir said:

They're going to sign a giant squid to play first base.

(Note to @buddha:  I don't really believe this.  I am just being sarcasticalistic.)

noto to casmir, i dont think you walk on water either.

[casimir]

8 minutes ago, buddha said:

noto to casmir, i dont think you walk on water either.

I was just teasing you in good fun.

Besides, if Hinch were around, it would be wine and not water that I would be walking through.

[kdog]

"The staffing question is fair because we're all responsible," A.J. Hinch said. "As coaches, we have to challenge ourselves to continually try to reach these guys in different ways and get the best performance out of them that we can."

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, casimir said:

Are we simply seeing the flip side of luck from what we saw last season?

There has been a lot of bad luck with injuries, but I think that's more on the pitching side.  Meadows has been the flukiest of all and it has impaired the offense.  But this awful season from the sticks isn't solely due to Meadows, and its got to be time to make some sort of changes (including demoting Torkelson to work on his game).

You got your last wish, anyway.

 

 

[romad1]

2 minutes ago, kdog said:

"The staffing question is fair because we're all responsible," A.J. Hinch said. "As coaches, we have to challenge ourselves to continually try to reach these guys in different ways and get the best performance out of them that we can."

Oh, Staff change!?

[casimir]

6 hours ago, sabretooth said:

If Tork is going to succeed in the MLB, and I have every expectation that he will, he should be doing productive things by 2023.  Maybe Greene can be at least average or maybe above avg as well in 2023.  If so, they would rightfully become the face of the franchise.

I wonder how much of the rest of the lineup, the clubhouse atmosphere, etc, affects the two prized rookies.

[Hart]

4 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

Agree with this.  The pitchforks on Twitter calling for his firing wreak of laziness and group speak.  I’m not his biggest fan, but I did approve of recent trades, signing and picks.  This team has been victim of some rotten luck.

I feel like I have not never carried a pitchfork, at least until maybe the last month, but at some point it's just a matter results and not individual moves or bad luck.  He's been the main guy for nearly 7 years now it seems for every step forward, we take two or three steps back.  

Edited July 17, 2022 by Hart

[Hart]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

You got your last wish, anyway.

 

 

He's actually getting worse month by month.  I think his patient approach wasn't working so he decided to be more aggressive but that is not how he got to this point in the first place.  He's got to find that balance.  

[Tenacious D]

21 minutes ago, Hart said:

I feel like I have not never carried a pitchfork, at least until maybe the last month, but at some point it's just a matter results and not individual moves or bad luck.  He's been the main guy for nearly 7 years now it seems for every step forward, we take two or three steps back.  

That’s fair—I actually blame him more for the first 5 years of the rebuild than the last few, where I think he’s made some inspired hires and player moves.  Still, your point is valid—it’s ultimately about getting results.  I hold AJ and his Hinch-men (see what I did there?) culpable, too.

[sabretooth]

4 hours ago, casimir said:

Are we simply seeing the flip side of luck from what we saw last season?

There has been a lot of bad luck with injuries, but I think that's more on the pitching side.  Meadows has been the flukiest of all and it has impaired the offense.  But this awful season from the sticks isn't solely due to Meadows, and its got to be time to make some sort of changes (including demoting Torkelson to work on his game).

I agree.  They have been unlucky this year, but they have also used a completely failed strategy re: tanking since 2017, and another failed strategy in building the farm system since 2015 under AA. 

And while I like AAs recent trades and acquisitions, and I still love the AJ hire, AA has never been elite at player acquistion, I dont really trust his skills, and Chris I has been very hesitating to provide the push and the resources behind his GM to create timely success.

[sabretooth]

43 minutes ago, Hart said:

I feel like I have not never carried a pitchfork, at least until maybe the last month, but at some point it's just a matter results and not individual moves or bad luck.  He's been the main guy for nearly 7 years now it seems for every step forward, we take two or three steps back.  

I agree.  For me its both bad luck thus year, and the backdrop of a failed strategy since 2015 re: the farm system and 2017 re: tanking.

But let's be realistic, even if Chris suddenly grows a brain and fires AA, he's not going to want to or be able to hire some elite GM like Theo, and he would probably settle for the most available internal option like Menzin.  I have nothing against Menzin, but as a would-be rookie GM he would be a crapshoot, and I think the main problem is Chrissl' apparent low risk profit philosophy.

There are articles out there calling for Chris to hire Theo, but lets also recall that Chris has never shown the slightest indication that he gives much of a damn about what the fans or writers or anybody thinks about the Tigers.  He seems to care most about safe profits, and getting a top flight GM and placing a premium on winning is not the ultra-safe profits-first mode that Chris seems to prefer.