TWICE AS NICE

By:  Holly Horning & Kurt Snyder

“Twice as Nice” is now on Mondays! With the first week of the new season underway, we are back to our normal seasonal schedule.

As you know by now, Holly and Kurt have not shared their answers to the following question. This is so they can offer a wide range of perspective, which you also should know.

So, let’s check out the question ahead for our writers.

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What has been the most pleasant surprise for you in regards to this new Tiger team?

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HOLLY

I was fortunate enough to be able to get down to Lakeland for a couple of games once again this season and as is my habit, I like to go right in when the gates open so I can watch practice and warm-up drills.

The Tigers have been very old-school in their training and conditioning – performing exercises we did decades ago as school children. Half-hearted toe-touching, sit-ups and the like – all done on the grass and without any accessories such as weighted balls or stretch bands.

But this time was different and I had to blink multiple times to ensure I wasn’t seeing a mirage. Dozens of players were now performing what other MLB teams adopted years ago. Exercises meant to increase flexibility and build stronger cores – planks, crunches, hip abductor stretches and the like – using balance balls and resistance bands.

Sidling over to one of Lakeland’s long-time security “helpers”, he told me that the change in how the team gets in shape came from Matt Boyd. I later learned that Boyd works out with a top performance coach on the West Coast who helped him build his core and lower his fat ratio while building 15 pounds of muscle – all while wearing a bracelet that reports his performance, sleep and nutrition stats back to his coach.

Boyd’s suggestion to Kevin Rand, who now heads up the entire Tigers’ training and conditioning programs was taken up, in part, this season. The Tigers are getting younger and the increasing number of them have supported the adoption of standards that are now mainstream in MLB.

Now, if they can only get Jim Leyland to refrain from smoking on the field…

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KURT

During spring training, the Tigers seemed more disciplined at the plate, and to tell you the truth, after hearing about how Lloyd McClendon had been working with JaCoby Jones, I started looking for some crow to eat.

McClendon is one person I have been wanting to be wrong about and now that we have moved into the regular season, the surprises have continued.

There are steps to becoming better hitters fundamentally and Lloyd’s strategy with Jones and also Jake Rogers stressed how all hitters are different and you don’t give blanket direction.

However, patience at the plate is stressed across the board. In the spring, McClendon concentrated on better pitch selection and now he is shifting the attention to a more difficult step.

Lloyd has stressed that aggressiveness coupled with waiting for your pitch is the toughest of combinations and the rash of strikeouts in Toronto is just a growing pain when it comes to becoming better and more aggressive hitters. Even though the strikeouts were tough to watch, it appears that when it comes to being more aggressive at the plate, the players are listening.

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OPEN MIKE!

It’s the last Sunday of the month, folks, which means it’s your day! This is the day for you to be heard. Today is the one day during the month (normally) where you get the opportunity to comment on the Tiger topic of your choosing.

This is the one day of the week where we open up the comment parameters for you, so you can really get those juices flowing. Comments on THIS DAY ONLY can be expanded to a maximum of 8 sentences.  So, pick a topic and let us hear from you. What’s on your minds?

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 Totally Tigers loves your comments!  But please remember that responses are only published if they address today’s topic, are respectful and do not exceed the maximum response length.  All rules are at:   https://totallytigers.wordpress.com/commentsrules/.

 

 

THE SATURDAY SURVEY

 The Saturday Survey offers another way for readers to weigh in on a relevant topic.   So here is a poll to gauge the pulse of our baseball-lovin’ peeps.

As always, we welcome your comments, so please vote and then submit your reasons ( 4 sentences max!) for how you voted in the usual comment box.  Don’t forget to come back later and view the results!

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TWICE AS NICE

By:  Holly Horning & Kurt Snyder

The regular season is here, it’s underway and the Tigers already have a game under their belts. With a team expected to struggle to win games once again this season, you tend to single out individual players to root for and follow.

There aren’t as many stars as we are accustomed to watching, but there are still individual stories that are very intriguing, both good and bad.

Holly and Kurt, as is the norm, have not shared their answers to the following question. This is so they can offer a wide range of perspectives. Let’s see what question is ahead for our writers.

Who’s your Tiger for 2019?

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HOLLY

Gone are the days when you had the same favorite player year after year after year, especially now that the Tigers familiar roster has been decimated.

My favorite players for years – Justin Verlander, Miggy and VMart are reduced to just one. And given all the TMI about Miggy over the past year, it is very hard now to separate the character from the player. I cannot, in good faith, support and admire only part of a man and ignore the rest.

A favorite player for me has to be all-encompassing – someone with talent obviously, but also a man who strengthens the game and possesses great personal qualities like Al Kaline.

Which is why my choice, since late last season, is Matt Boyd.

You see how hard he works and the visible results but it’s also about his attitude, fight and bulldog mentality. He reminds me a lot of a young Justin Verlander. But this is also a good, decent man who is guided by strong principles in his marriage, work ethic and beliefs such as adopting dozens of young girls so they may avoid becoming victims of the sex slavery trade.

Which is also why it’s no surprise to see him as one of the top leaders within the clubhouse – motivating and mentoring many of his teammates.

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KURT

I have always been drawn by players who have a flair for the dramatic. Clutch performances that win games get my attention and players who have the ability to do it time and time again, season after season, continue to draw me in.

Although Miguel Cabrera has had some down years affected greatly by injury, I haven’t forgotten how great he has been in a Tiger uniform. He has already earned his spot as one of the greatest right-handed hitters in the game and I am convinced that he still has plenty left. He is a gifted hitter who still poses a threat sitting at that #3 spot in the order.

As for the state of his legacy, the off-the-field issues cannot be ignored. Clearly, those distractions have impacted him on the field – the arena I care about the most. Those are the times I am disappointed and feel cheated by a Hall of Fame caliber player.

Since the day he arrived in Detroit, I have been mesmerized by his ability. He truly has a gift and what I wish for him is to regain the magic he has brought to the game so many times. Selfishly, that’s all I want as a baseball fan.

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HURRY UP, ALREADY!

By:  Holly Horning

It’s Opening Day!

No matter how you feel about our team from year to year, hope always springs eternal on this first day of the season. We all look forward to it and if we’re lucky, we are even able to attend the game.

And if you don’t live in close proximity, you remember to carve that tv game time out of your professional calendar lest a client wants to book you, God forbid. Not that I’m naming names…..

And every year, we have different feelings about this team. For 10 years, we were very excited. We could feel it, taste it – knowing how close the Tigers were.

Then, followed by 3 years that were anxiety-producing. Knowing that the window had started to close and hoping, hoping, hoping that the team would finally put it all together.

The last 2 years were difficult ones. The realization that this team had started rebuilding and that times would become difficult, depressing and filled with deconstruction. Fond farewells took place regularly and 90+ losses became the new reality.

But this year will be a different year. Or rather, it needs to be different because it will tell us where the team is truly headed.

The Tigers can’t afford to have yet another season in which the roster continues to get torn down and the team sits in the basement when October hits. There needs to be visible, measurable improvement of some kind.

And if that doesn’t happen, it will say a lot about the talents of those in charge.

Which is why much of my time in 2019 will be focused on the players who didn’t make the Opening Day roster. Not as much on those who did.

The Tigers made their roster official just 24 hours ago and outside of a couple of players ( who made the roster mostly due to others’ injuries), there were really no surprises. It still is, for the most part, a collection of guys with contracts too big to move, familiar secondary players, temporary fill-ins and a handful of rookies.

The catching position is still in flux and considered by some to be a position in transition until a more promising prospect develops.

The infield has 3, maybe 4 players, out of 5 considered to be stop-gap. Miguel Cabrera is the only one considered to be a shoo-in to hold his position for next year.

The outfield has developed a little more with the arrival of Christin Stewart and Dustin Peterson but there are concerns as to whether they will stick beyond the next year or two. Castellanos will be gone one way or another after this year and the Tigers are left with 2 utility guys.

Starting pitching is an even bigger question mark with one guy who is there simply because of his contract and 2 other starters who are fill-ins for the year. Boyd is the Tigers’ best bet and Spencer Turnbull appears promising but has yet to establish a track record. Don’t expect Fulmer back next year in any meaningful capacity. In summary, the Tigers will need more starting pitchers in 2020 than they currently have.

And what to say about the bullpen? The hardest part of the roster to predict for any team. The Tigers have 2 who are unproven, 5 who are average at best and 1 (Joe Jimenez) who is part of the future.

So if we look at the roster overall, we have yet to see this influx of new talent beyond a player or two. The new talent that will make this team competitive. The new talent that will start to move the organization up in the wins column.

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If you think about it, hope for the future is comprised of the following players who will start this year:

2 players with huge, untradeable contracts

2 players with a 50/50 chance of sticking with the team beyond this year

1 utility player expected to stay long-term

1 outfielder who will stick because of his bat

1 starter

1 reliever

4 question marks (performance to be determined)

That’s 12 players out of 25. That’s a whole lotta other holes to fill. So much for Al Avila’s earlier quote about the team becoming competitive in 3 years. For the record, he was referring to 2020.

This is why I’m going to be paying much more attention to what is happening in Toledo and even more attention to who gets called up this season.

If the Tigers are going to be competitive again, they need to be bringing up more talent. More than 1 or 2 players. And doing it much more quickly.

And if they don’t, then the organization needs to look at the reasons why. Will it be because there is that historical lack of urgency? Or will it be because there is a lack of talent?

And if either of those reasons turns out to be true, then the Tigers also need to be looking at roster changes within their Front Office.

In either case, teams can’t take their time building their rosters. Especially today. The longer you wait to assemble a competitive team, the sooner you will lose some of those players to free agency because of the money they will demand. Remember, Chris Ilitch is not like his dad. His pockets are way more shallow.

Oh, and 1 more reason for the Tigers to hurry up this rebuild? Al Avila’s contract expires after next year.

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ANGEL IN THE OUTFIELD

By:  Holly Horning

Well, that didn’t take long. Less than 2 weeks after Bryce Harper said he would try to convince Mike Trout to sign with the Phillies – and incurred the wrath of the Angels and the powers that be within MLB for tampering – the Angels signed him to the biggest and most expensive extension in all of professional sports.

And despite the obligatory PR statement that he never considered leaving the Angels, this really was the only way this scenario could have played out. Trout was, simply, untradeable.

In this case, there simply was too much of a good thing.

Can you image the wrath the team would have received for trading him? Or the GM who would have gone down in history as the one who traded him? No one wants that on their resume. Just ask Harry Frazee, Red Sox owner who sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees and is still being blamed 100 years later.

But even if Trout could have been traded, GMs who were interviewed said that it was highly unlikely that any team would have had enough talent to exchange for him in any potential deal.

Signing now was also the only way to get Trout out from under the microscope leading up to the time when his current contract would expire. A spotlight that would have become unbearable for so many involved.

So here we have it. Mike Trout is an Angel for life. And if his contract ends up not working out, then it’s pretty safe to say that none of these long-term contracts ever will.

But this blog isn’t about the concerns of long-term expensive contracts. It’s about how one of baseball’s best players may not have the opportunity to sniff October baseball much at all.

And that is just a huge disappointment for everyone who is a fan of the game.

Most fingers will point to owner, Arte Moreno. A successful businessman who doesn’t have a stable vision for his team and what it takes to win consistently, let alone snagging the big prize in late October.

Moreno bought the Anaheim Angels and changed their name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim before changing it once again in 2016 to the Los Angeles Angels. Three names all in less than 20 years.

And Tiger fans thought they had an issue with the change in size to the “D” on the Tigers caps……

Long-time manager Mike Scioscia brought the team 5 division titles under Moreno but no pennants and yet he stayed. It helps when your wife is best friends with the owner’s wife.

Which is also why GM Jerry Dipoto resigned after 4 years of infighting with Scioscia. It’s hard to do your job when your manager bypasses the GM and goes directly to the owner with his needs. It’s even harder when the owner sides with his manager over his GM.

And like Mike Ilitch, Moreno signed players based more on an emotional value than one born of baseball wisdom. There was the Zack Greinke/Jean Segura deal. And then the 10-year, almost a quarter of a billion dollars to Albert Pujols followed by CJ Wilson. And then there was the Josh Hamilton signing…

And now that the Wilson contract is finally off the books, Moreno felt that money burning a hole in his pocket and added another huge contract. This time to Trout.

Long-term expensive contracts are one thing. But when you sign a player who is now making $35.5-$36 mill per year and then adamantly state in the same sentence that you are not going over the luxury tax, then it’s a whole ‘nother ballgame.

Trout alone will be making 20% of the Angels entire payroll. And when your starting rotation isn’t considered to be top shelf, how are you going to successfully compete? How are you going to beat the Astros? Especially when your team is the talk of the industry for the yearly decimation of the roster by injuries.

How are you going to sniff October?

Then there’s the hiring of Brad Ausmus as manager. The same guy who was winless in the playoffs with Detroit. The same guy who was unable to get along with Detroit’s stars and now is tasked with handling Pujols, Matt Harvey, Ohtani and Trout.

The same guy who was hired because he passed several written exams with flying colors. They said it, not me.

The Angels are a team of contradictions. An ever-changing identity. Ten different logos and multiple color changes just since 1961. No authentic chain of command. Monetary decisions made by emotion and not by analytics. A win-now mode headed by a relatively inexperienced manager who spent 2 of his 4 years with a team that finished last.

And now, signing baseball’s best player who may ironically collect every award known to man – but have a hard time seeing the playoffs. His current playoff record consists of only 3 games.

The Angels put all their money (both literally and figuratively) on one player and ignored the holes elsewhere. Holes that become bigger and more noticeable when you play in October. Another team did something very similar with another great of the game, Miguel Cabrera. How did that turn out?

Speaking of which, there are a lot of similarities between the Tigers and the Angels. Big contracts, superstars without rings, lack of payroll flexibility, owner-instigated signings, an unaccomplished manager at the helm and a long-term refusal to adopt analytics.

And ironically, the Angels fiercest rival, the Houston Astros, are the polar opposite of them in most of these categories.

And if things don’t work out for the Anaheim Angels, er the LA Angels of Anaheim, er, the LA Angels? Don’t go blaming the GM, the roster or even the manager. The blame starts at the top.

Most importantly, don’t go blaming Mike Trout.

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QUESTION OF THE WEEK

It’s time again to hear from our readers!   Today is the day to let us know what you’re thinking on a selected topic.

Sunday is now the one day of the week where we open up the comment parameters for you, so you can get those juices flowing.

Comments on THIS DAY ONLY can be expanded to a maximum of 8 sentences.

We can’t wait to get your thoughts on the following topic:

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In the absence of JaCoby Jones, should the Tigers consider an April audition for Daz Cameron?  Why or why not?

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Totally Tigers loves your comments!  But please remember that responses are only published if they address today’s topic, are respectful and do not exceed the maximum 3-4 sentence response length.  All rules are at:  https://totallytigers.wordpress.com/commentsrules/.

THE SATURDAY SURVEY

 The Saturday Survey offers another way for readers to weigh in on a relevant topic.   So here is a poll to gauge the pulse of our baseball-lovin’ peeps.

As always, we welcome your comments, so please vote and then submit your reasons ( 4 sentences max!) for how you voted in the usual comment box.  Don’t forget to come back later and view the results!

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The Tigers are nearing a crossroad in their rebuilding efforts.  They are expected to lose another 90+ games this year to make it 3 years in a row.  The roster has yet to see an influx of talented youth required to make the team competitive and it is expected that the team will be extending the rebuild longer than originally stated.

The results of the following survey will determine who or what is to blame, based on your responses.

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Totally Tigers loves your comments!  But please remember that responses are only published if they address today’s topic, are respectful and do not exceed the maximum 3-4 sentence response length.  All rules are at:  https://totallytigers.wordpress.com/commentsrules/.

 

TWICE AS NICE

By:  Kurt Snyder & Holly Horning

The Tigers endured some tough news this week. Michael Fulmer will indeed have Tommy John surgery, which may keep him out of action until the middle of next season. It’s a huge blow for the Tigers.

So what will this mean for Fulmer and his future in a Tiger uniform?

Kurt and Holly, as is the norm, have not shared their answers to the following question. This is so they can offer a wide range of perspectives.  Let’s see what question is ahead in regards to Michael Fulmer.

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Given that Michael Fulmer will undergo Tommy John surgery and be lost for the year, does he continue to have a future with the Tigers?

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KURT

My first response to this topic was to check when Mr. Fulmer becomes a free agent, and it’s not soon. Not until 2023.

When he returns next season and it really won’t be until the latter part of the year, will the Tigers be in need of a starter or does it make sense to get the most out of him from the bullpen?

Remember when Fulmer first burst onto the scene and the Tigers were trying to figure out if he had a spot on the Opening Day roster? At the end of the spring, there was some talk about how effective he could be late in the game, even as a closer.

How incredible would it be if he comes full circle and secures an important late inning role in the pen?

This is a rebuild, folks and that starting rotation is going to continue to evolve and hopefully get younger between now and next season. There may not be a starting role for Fulmer, but the bullpen? You have to consider everyone, don’t you? In Detroit, you don’t turn away anyone.

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HOLLY

The Tigers will probably make a decision on Fulmer before next January’s arbitration schedule and it will probably be based upon his recovery, the status of the rebuild and the progress of their promising rookie starting pitchers. Let’s also include Daniel Norris’ evolution and the emergence of Spencer Turnbull as factors.

Fulmer is out for this entire year and most likely for at least part of next year as well. Tommy John surgery recovery averages 15 months and when you haven’t been pitching for over a year, it’s going to take a while longer to get back.

In the meantime, the Tigers have to pay him $2.8 mill this year and retain him for 2020 as well. There is a decent chance that he won’t see action until late next year and it may not be enough time in which to build his trade value – the real reason for keeping him at this point.

So now we’re talking about the decision to retain him stretching into 2021 with the hope of trading him for prospects. But should his arm return, will teams bite on a player who has had 3 knee surgeries?

At this point, the Tigers and Fulmer are running out time as he becomes a free agent after the 2022 season. There’s no way they will pay bigger bucks to keep him so I suspect that his future as an active pitcher will last, at most, one more year.

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DEJA-VU ALL OVER AGAIN

By:  Holly Horning

Gee, Michael Fulmer is out for the year and scheduled to have yet another round of surgery. Is anyone surprised?

Since he started pitching professionally, Fulmer will undergo his sixth surgery this month. Three on his knee and the upcoming surgery will also make three on his elbow. Third time is the charm, they say.

There were a few hints along the way. Fulmer was acquired by Dave Dombrowski in the Yoenis Cespedes trade. By that time, he had undergone 3 surgeries – 2 on his knee and a minor procedure to remove chips from his elbow.

Yet, despite the horrible reputation of the Mets medical and training staff, NY was cautious in bringing him back at the beginning of 2015. They delayed his return by sending him to AAA to slowly build up his mechanics and strength.

Say what you will about Michael’s mechanics. A reputation of having a violent delivery just like Max Scherzer, who has remained injury-free in his pitching arm, btw. The concern here is not about the probability of injury.

It’s about the lack of a plan, ignoring the warning signs and a rush by the Tigers to get him back in the rotation despite knowing that there were substantial risks involved. They rolled the dice and lost big time.

The Tigers have always downplayed their players’ injuries, surgeries and recoveries. They’ve emphasized the success rate, quick recovery time and just before the start of any season, the player in question was feeling great and “right on schedule” with their recovery.

Have we ever heard the team state anything other? They continually practice an “all is well, nothing to see here so move along” policy.

Despite the official statement that Fulmer had “successfully” recovered from his right knee meniscus surgery in the off-season, he began spring training wearing a knee brace while he pitched.

Anyone got a problem with that?

Now, I’m not a doctor, but when you have an athlete who can’t perform without having to wear a big, cumbersome medical support device, there should be a big red flag waving over the entire scenario.

Especially when you’ve now had 3 surgeries on that same leg.

Maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t have him pitching juuust yet.

Physical therapists will tell you that when you have an injury and aren’t yet fully recovered, it can impact and change the entire alignment of your body. And when this happens, your body is trying to compensate for the injured area. And a direct result of this can be another injury to another part of the body.

In Fulmer’s case, it was admitted that he had lower body issues. He even stated that he had no power in his legs, which gives him the velocity in his pitches. He also confessed that his arms were taking over for the lack of strength in his legs and working harder as a result. All in the attempt to increase the speed of his pitches.

And when you change your form, you change your mechanics. And when you change your mechanics, you open yourself up to a greater chance to re-injure yourself. “Obviously, when you don’t use your legs, you try to overcompensate somewhere else. And although it may not have shown early in games, it’s showed now,” he said.

And with those tell-tale signs, what decision was made? Fulmer continued to pitch – but without the knee brace.

How many red flags are waving now?

Yet, he continued to pitch and his arms picked up the slack. No one within the Tigers organization worked with any sense of urgency to shut him down. And quite frankly, at the first sign of needing a knee brace on the mound, he should have been removed and continued to rehab until his knee had fully recovered.

Even the medical experts contacted for comments said that it was likely that the lack of power in his legs and the increased dependency upon his pitching arm to deliver probably contributed to the injury.

When Michael had ulnar nerve transposition surgery in 2017, the Tigers were quick to say that there was nothing to worry about. That it was considered to be minor and nothing at all like a more serious arm surgery.

Except that it wasn’t. It is now being blamed as a contributing factor to the need for his upcoming TJ surgery. It left scar tissue that led to ligament damage.

We knew that something was going on last week when Ron Gardenhire read – and re-read – a prepared statement to the press and wouldn’t deviate beyond the script. It was followed by a prepared press release that was particularly vague.

Yet Fulmer continued to pitch bullpen sessions. And the Tigers said that his session on Friday was much better.

Until it wasn’t and he was sent to see the specialists.

One would think that when you’ve had 3 surgeries on your knee and 2 on your arm, you’d be a little more cautious about your players. Especially one who was considered at one time to be your most valuable trade chip.

And maybe that really is the issue. It’s hard to believe that a team can ignore all the warning signs and continue to risk the health of one of their most crucial players. We’ve seen it happen to other Tigers so why not Fulmer, too?

So you have to ask why. Why the team ignored all the warning signs. Why they allowed him to pitch when it was evident that he wasn’t yet fully recovered.

Is it due to the incompetence of those tasked with medical oversight?

Is it due to a fear of rocking the boat and expressing a viewpoint that will not be favorably received by the powers that be?

Is it due to the Tigers wanting to quickly rebuild Fulmer’s record and reputation so they could trade him?

Was it due to desperation attributed to rebuilding or the need to have him in the starting rotation?

Or was it due to all of the above?

All I know is that this is just another example of a pattern. A pattern that will continue with other players.

A pattern that has effectively set the Tigers back in their
rebuilding process.

And it’s a lousy way to treat your investments – and your future.

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Totally Tigers loves your comments!  But please remember that responses are only published if they address today’s topic, are respectful and do not exceed the maximum 3-4 sentence response length.  All rules are at:  https://totallytigers.wordpress.com/commentsrules/.