MONDAY MUSINGS

by Holly Horning

Throughout the week, there are so many smaller stories hitting the media.  They may be bite-size, but often they are just as important as the headline-grabbing news.  Sometimes, even more.

And that’s what brings me to today.  A way to discuss some of these stories. A way to bring them out in the open for discussion.

And that’s the plan for Mondays.  Keeping track of these mighty little bits that hit my radar throughout the week and sharing them with you today because I know one or more will also resonate with you. So, let’s kick off this week’s musings…

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The Texas Rangers fired both their manager and President of Baseball Operations last week.  The GM, Chris Young, retains his job.  PBO Jon Daniels, with the team for 17 years, was fired because the Rangers’ owner said that the goals and timeline for rebuilding were not met.

Owner Ray Davis, like Chris Ilitch, had been thinking of replacing Daniels for most of the year and decided to wait until the draft and trade deadline were over in order not to disturb the lengthy process of preparing for both.  But unlike Ilitch, Davis said “For our fans, we must move with a sense of urgency… The fans got to be as upset as I am. I am not a good loser. We are treating this with a sense of urgency that’s why we made a couple of moves this week. We plan to put a very competitive team on the field next year…We will gain credibility with the fans with wins on the field. That’s what I hope these moves will do. “

Don’t you wish Ilitch had said something like that?

But it also appears that the Rangers had a definite rebuilding plan with goals and deadlines identified.  Daniels was fired because they were not met.

I don’t remember ever reading that the Tigers had any kind of a timeline with goals identified.  Never once did I read Avila telling us that the team was right on schedule or that a certain goal had been met. 

I do remember him stating back in 2015 that the team would have a Tigers Way of how to play the game.  But it only came to fruition with the hiring of Ryan Garko last year.  It takes 6 years to put something like this together?

No wonder Avila accomplished so very little during his tenure.

And if this is the case, I have to shake my head that such a large organization failed to have any kind of a written plan with the vision, steps and timeline clearly spelled out.  The Tigers shouldn’t be surprised that this project failed miserably.

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Concern continues to grow over the development of Spencer Torkelson.  It was hoped that a return to AAA would allow him to refocus on his hitting in a less-stressful environment.

But he continues to struggle mightily.  He is the 3^rd worst hitter on the team (through Friday’s games) with a .196 BA and .661 OPS playing in 24 games with 18 hits in 92 at-bats. 

Reports say that Tork is getting the lion’s (or tiger’s) share of attention from hitting coach Adam Melhuse.  Melhuse came from the Dodgers system and was promoted to Toledo for the 2022 season.

Good for him but bad for the team when they are ignored in favor of 1 player.

A. J. Hinch also sent Spencer some video but declined to describe them in further detail.

Whether or not Torkelson improves enough to return to Detroit is going to be another statement about the Tigers’ ability to scout, draft and develop their players.  It will be a huge knock on their system if yet another #1 draft pick is unable to succeed in the majors.

And the clock is ticking.  The Tigers cannot go yet another year without a full-time first baseman. The last was in 2020.  Miguel Cabrera was only part-time in 2021. 

It is damning that Tigers cannot even find a decent 1Ber – one of the easiest positions to fill – after all these years.  And there is still no heir in sight for the 2023 season.

Which one of these topics resonated the most with you?

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• More fall-out from Robbie Grossman’s statements about the Braves solving his hitting problems.

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