TICK, TICK, TICK

by Holly Horning

If you were an MLB  manager with the name “Joe”, it’s been a bad week for you.  Y’all got fired.

The drumbeat of teams making changes is picking up.  No longer are teams waiting until the end of the year to hire and fire.  It used to be that if teams were proactive, they might have done something over the All-Star break.

Two managers gone, some training and conditioning staff, a hitting coach and a few other assorted individuals.

Joe Maddon and Joe Girardi got canned for many of the things that are currently going on with the Tigers.  Lots of losing, overall lack of offense and injuries.

The Angels’ have more than half of their starting lineup hitting under .200.  Sound familiar?  Even Mike Trout’s bat has gone cold recently.

Their GM also pointed out that they were also concerned with the number of injuries.  A number, btw, that is much lower than the Tigers’.

It’s a team that is also in 2^nd place in the AL West, 3 games under .500 and almost 10 games out of first.

In all, the Angels are in a much better position than the Tigers.  The difference is that they are considered to be a competitive team and thus more was expected.

Never mind the fact that Al Avila said early this year that the Tigers were no longer rebuilding.

Someone within L.A. actually felt it was important to pull the trigger now.

With the Phillies, much of the same.  Lack of offense and a record-setting bad defense.  Like the Angels, 3 games under .500 and 10 games out of 1^st.  MLB’s 4^th highest payroll that now qualifies for luxury tax penalties.

In this case, Girardi was the convenient scapegoat given that most MLB insiders are anonymously leaking to the press that the Phillies roster was put together very poorly.  Girardi was hired by Dave Dombrowski’s predecessor so for now, the blame is being put on him while the Front Office buys itself a little more time.

So with these 2 now gone, barely 2 months into the season, who’s next?  The 3 M’s.  Matheny, Mattingly and Martinez are widely rumored to be on the hot seats.

And no, it is said that A. J. Hinch’s seat is safe.  National writers concur that he is doing the best with what was given him.  Read into this what you will.

But it’s obvious that some changes need to be made.

The other day I dug into the Tigers’ offensive stats.  Stats in which they sit at #30 for all important categories.  Stats that show each player only getting app. 2+ pitches per at-bat.  Stats that show the team is on a pace to have the fewest runs scored since the team was founded in 1901.

This is bad.

If the Royals could fire their hitting coach – and they have better offensive stats than Detroit – how could the Tigers possibly hang onto theirs?

They have to make a change.  And soon.

Because Hinch isn’t going to agree to keep the same formula beyond 2022.

He also has an opt-out after this year but I believe it’s there to inspire change.  It wouldn’t be a good look for him to walk away, esp. when his team has done so poorly.

Hinch can use it as leverage which is what I believe was the original intent.

But who is the most likely candidate to implement those changes?

Chris Ilitch.

He spent over $243 million to add 7 free agents to this roster and this is what he gets.  None of them hitting and a team performing worse than they did last year.

Forget what you think about Chris not caring or being too friendly with Al Avila.  When you sink a quarter of a billion dollars into your team, you’re pretty steamed right about now.

Look at how he took Ilitch Holdings to new heights financially.  This man cares about money and getting a solid ROI.

Imagine how he feels every time Javy Baez goes up to bat.  He’s paying him $140mill and Baez is having his worst year at the plate by far.

His contract is being wasted.  So is Barnhart’s, Schoop’s, Meadows’ and others.

If your most highly-paid employees weren’t producing, would you stay silent?

Of course not. You’d be trying to figure out why.

The Tigers have to get better this year.  They have to be able to point to something to show progress.

So many fans have already written them off.  Six+ years of tearing down and rebuilding will do that. And stats show that after so many years, these fans will never return.

And this will be the true legacy of Ilitch.  Will he be willing to make the changes that his dad didn’t?  Has Chris learned lessons about how the team was run in the past?

For every year that the Tigers continue to be non-competitive, they will lose another swath of fans who are unlikely to come back.  Ilitch has to be seeing those empty stands and reading those attendance reports. Especially when payroll increased substantially.

I doubt he is going to sit on his hands and say nothing.

Maybe he already has. Maybe the Tigers are working on trying to find the right solutions or people to hire.

But if he doesn’t do anything, it will be the most disturbing sign fans will ever see.

If other teams make changes in their organizations while the Tigers don’t, despite being worse, it means only 1 thing.

They don’t place a priority on becoming competitive anytime soon.

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