5/8 2:10 Tigers @ Astros

[Sports_Freak]

1 minute ago, Jim Cowan said:

It was worse than that, Hill was on the bench.  

I've seen fans here screaming for him but doesn't Hill strictly play CF? I suppose we could have had Hill in CF with Baddoo in LF. But Baddoo isn't much better in LF than our backup utility player, IMO.

[mtutiger]

3 minutes ago, chasfh said:

That's fine, you can conclude that Hinch is largely at fault. I disagree that he is largely at fault. We can leave it there.

I'm not saying that Hinch is blameless, and I've begun to explain as much, but people want to believe that's what I'm saying regardless, so ... 🤷‍♂️

I'm not saying Hinch is largely at fault. I'm saying that he largely avoids any blame in the bad times and when he makes mistakes because of Al Avila.

I like AJ Hinch, but I'm gonna call it like I see it. And call it out when the fanbase tries to have it both ways.

Edited May 8, 2022 by mtutiger

[Aar000n]

How can this team be so bad? 

[Jim Cowan]

1 minute ago, Sports_Freak said:

I've seen fans here screaming for him but doesn't Hill strictly play CF? I suppose we could have had Hill in CF with Baddoo in LF. But Baddoo isn't much better in LF than our backup utility player, IMO.

Baddoo is no gold glover for sure but he is at least an outfielder.  

[Jim Cowan]

Just now, Jim Cowan said:

Baddoo is no gold glover for sure but he is at least an outfielder.  

And he stubbornly started Willi in left again the next night, which I was going to yell about but then I thought nah, what's the point?

[Jim Cowan]

Niko, batting lefthanded, strikes out.

[mtutiger]

11 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

The whole team is slumping at once. What would you do, just release them all? Gotta ride it out. I call him out when I think he screws up, like putting W. Castro in LF. I don't like him out there with Haase on the bench.

'Slumping' implies guys aren't playing to the level they should based on their track record... if that's the case, I'm not sure why the players who are slumping don't get some blame (over either Al or AJ) for why things are going the way they are.

Edited May 8, 2022 by mtutiger

[Sports_Freak]

2 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Baddoo is no gold glover for sure but he is at least an outfielder.  

Yeah, he may have charged the ball and caught it. Or not. And he may have not caught some of those 350' drives that Castro caught. Those were the ones that scared me...lol

[Jim Cowan]

Will Vest sounds like a name for a lefthander, not a righthander.

[Sports_Freak]

1 minute ago, mtutiger said:

'Slumping' implies guys aren't playing to the level they should based on their track record... if that's the case, I'm not sure why the players who are slumping don't get some blame (over either Al or AJ) for why things are going the way they are.

What good would it do to throw them under the bus? These guys are pros, who would have guessed they would be struggling this deep into the season?

[chasfh]

8 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

I'm not saying Hinch is largely at fault. I'm saying that he largely avoids any blame in the bad times and when he makes mistakes because of Al Avila.

I like AJ Hinch, but I'm gonna call it like I see it. And call it out when the fanbase tries to have it both ways.

I guess I'm not clear on what Hinch is doing that's making them lose ballgames, whereas a neutral manager would not have lost them ballgames.

[Sports_Freak]

2 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Will Vest sounds like a name for a lefthander, not a righthander.

It sounds like something your 401k would do after 3 years at the company.

[BBFCFM]

We have 1 hit today.  1.

[Jim Cowan]

Tork with the 10 pitch AB there but according to GameDay the last 3 that he swung at missed by quite a lot.

[mtutiger]

8 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I guess I'm not clear on what Hinch is doing that's making them lose ballgames, whereas a neutral manager would not have lost them ballgames.

Playing Willi Castro in left field?

[Dave Christian]

9 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Tork with the 10 pitch AB there but according to GameDay the last 3 that he swung at missed by quite a lot.

Torkelson with3 K's today so far.

I hope he gets on track soon because I'm running out of patience.

[Dtrain72]

Just now, Dave Christian said:

Torkelson with3 K's today so far.

I hope he gets on track soon because I'm running out of patience.

Thing about Tork is that he's not gonna learn anything being sent down to Toledo at this point, but on the other hand, he has become one of the many black holes in this lineup....baseball pergutory.

[Jim Cowan]

Tigers go 1-2-3 in the 8th...but do not strike out!  This is it folks, this is where the big turnaround starts.

[chasfh]

5 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

Playing Willi Castro in left field?

Playing Willi Castro in left field is how Hinch is losing us ballgames?

I don't know ... Fangraphs has him at -0.1 defensive runs in 33 innings, while they have Grossman at -0.5 in 35 innings and Meadows at -1.1 in 113.1. I suppose Erik Haase is the best left fielder we have at +2.0 in 42 innings, but unless we run him and his 41 wRC+ out there nine innings a game every day, I'm not sure that Willi is the worst alternative.

Statcast has all four left fielders right around the same, with zero OAA and similar success rates. So they look like a wash.

Unless there's a specific Willi left field anecdote you're pointing to, which ... yeah, don't know what to say about that. Play a guy long enough someplace and he'll lose you a game with this anecdote and win you another game with that anecdote. So, dunno.

[Dtrain72]

3 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

Tigers go 1-2-3 in the 8th...but do not strike out!  This is it folks, this is where the big turnaround starts.

 

[gehringer_2]

I guess I'm glad I just got back. If we have 5 starting pitchers (Rodriguez, Pineda, Faedo, Skubal, Brieske=5?) and the DH isn't until Tuesday why are we doing a BP day today?

[gehringer_2]

Just now, chasfh said:

Playing Willi Castro in left field is how Hinch is losing us ballgames?

I don't know ... Fangraphs has him at -0.1 defensive runs in 33 innings, while they have Grossman at -0.5 in 35 innings and Meadows at -1.1 in 113.1. I suppose Erik Haase is the best left fielder we have at +2.0 in 42 innings, but unless we run him and his 41 wRC+ out there nine innings a game every day, I'm not sure that Willi is the worst alternative.

Statcast has all four left fielders right around the same, with zero OAA and similar success rates. So they look like a wash.

Unless there's a specific Willi left field anecdote you're pointing to, which ... yeah, don't know what to say about that. Play a guy long enough someplace and he'll lose you a game with this anecdote and win you another game with that anecdote. So, dunno.

Willi hasn't played enough for his fielding stats to mean much, but has clearly and grossly misjudged two balls out of a small number of chances. I not sure I want to wait until the stats prove out what we can see already - He's not good at judging fly balls.

[Jim Cowan]

3 minutes ago, chasfh said:

 

I don't know ... Fangraphs has him at -0.1 defensive runs in 33 innings, while they have Grossman at -0.5 in 35 innings and Meadows at -1.1 in 113.1. I suppose Erik Haase is the best left fielder we have at +2.0 in 42 innings, but unless we run him and his 41 wRC+ out there nine innings a game every day, I'm not sure that Willi is the worst alternative.

 

But, as you know already, no one was suggesting any of those alternatives.  Hill in center, Baddoo in left.

[BBFCFM]

Nice catch there by Tucker, robbed Javy.  

[mtutiger]

5 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Willi hasn't played enough for his fielding stats to mean much, but has clearly and grossly misjudged two balls out of a small number of chances. I not sure I want to wait until the stats prove out what we can see already - He's not good at judging fly balls.

Ding ding ding.

Fangraphs doesn't tell you everything. Castro cost them badly on Friday even if it wasn't an error