TICK, TOCK, TICK, TOCK….

by Holly Horning

Only 10 days into the 2023 season and now it’s already time to re-think how this year should play out.  How it needs to play out.

When the Tigers hired Scott Harris, we knew it would start with brooming departments and a slash-and-burn approach to the rotten roster.

And sure enough, 16+ players were released and at least that many were added.  This year’s roster has half its members having not played for the Tigers in 2022.

There was a concern that the team had not signed anyone of real significance. A difference maker.  Not necessarily someone with star status but a solid piece.

The rationale for not doing that was sound.  This team was such a mess and so far away from competing that it didn’t make sense to add those pieces now when the roster and its needs would continue to change dramatically.  And what wasn’t being said out loud was that Al Avila and his crew left this team in such a bad state that it would take much of a year or more to dig out from it.  The Tigers were never going to admit publicly that they had returned to rebuilding status.

Besides, a new regime usually takes that first year to do a reassessment.  So much of what the previous regime did and decided was faulty.  Harris and Co. couldn’t possibly go on the info his predecessor developed.  It would be building on top of bad.

We knew this was going to be a challenging year.  We were hoping that it would be a promising one as well.  Signs that some progress of moving forward was being made.

Development of prospects.  Better hitting habits.  A rebuilding of the starting rotation after injuries decimated it last year.  Better overall play.  Games that would be interesting to watch.

We knew these changes wouldn’t be seen right out of the gate.  That it would take half a season if we were lucky to see some tangible improvement.

We saw this year as the righting of the ship.

Only so far, it isn’t.  This ship is still taking on large amounts of water.

It can be fairly argued that this roster is the same or even worse than the 2022 one.  Some of the better pitchers – the only source of trade capital – traded for other pieces to fill in holes and not yet replaced.  Other players a year older.  The new shift rules negatively impacting defense.

Ten games in and the Tigers have only won 2 of them.  Never mind that they’ve been facing good teams.  It’s the perception that matters. 

They are last in the AL Central and already out by 4.5 games.  Their win percentage is .200.  Only the Oakland A’s are worse and that’s because they’ve played 1 more game.

If this team doesn’t change its trajectory soon – and I mean soon – this season will be over for all intents and purposes by the end of April.

All new leadership is expected to get a year’s free pass.  One year to create a new order and point their organization into a better direction.  Scott Harris was supposed to get a year to reassess.

He doesn’t have that time any more.

And that’s because this team has become unwatchable.  So bad at every facet of its roster.  Offense, starting pitching and the bullpen.

There’s no newness for fans from which to feed.  Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene made their debuts last year.  The shiny and new is no longer there.

This is also Javy Baez’s second year and most fans have seen enough.  The same with Jonathan Schoop’s contract extension.

Al Avila may be gone but his bad contracts live on.  We were relieved with the expiration of Jordan Zimmerman’s contract but now we have to live through yet another one.

Scott Harris has to find a work around.  It will be easy with Schoop, not so much with 5 more years of Baez and $120 mill in salary.  It’s why A. J. Hinch went down to Puerto Rico over the winter to spend some time trying to figure out how to motivate Javy Baez into wanting to be a better hitter.

We’ve started to see a few minor changes.  Schoop being platooned.  Tyler Nevin just called up.

But there needs to be more.

Half the hitters on this roster have batting averages under .200.  The middle of the batting order has been moved down.  And one of the few solid hitters is on the IL again for anxiety issues.

The bullpen is allowing half the runs they inherit to score.

I could go on but you get the point.

Normally, one wouldn’t be too concerned just 10 days into a season.  And many of us were willing to give the Tigers a year pass if we could be assured that this team was improving and moving in the right direction.

The problem now is that there has been nothing redeeming so far to watch. 

The good will has run out.

And that’s what the Tigers need to really understand.

Studies show that a team starts to lose fans long-term after 5 years of non-competitiveness or tanking.  The Tigers are going on year #8.

And fans don’t see anything right now that shows there is an end in sight.

In fact, just the opposite.

For those of you who read the social media threads, you see it.  Fans are angry.  They’ve had enough.  It’s really ugly reading those comments.

We see it here in TT’s comments.

Fans have rightfully seen enough.  And they want no more of this continued torture.

And that’s what Chris Ilitch and Scott Harris must understand now.  They have to listen to the fans at this point because we’ve reached the point of no return for many.

Over the past decade, the Tigers’ attendance has dropped 41%.  It’s easy to believe that if nothing promising comes out of this year, that figure will go well beyond 50%.

The bleeding needs to be stemmed now.  Forget the plan of focusing solely on reassessment and gradual rebuilding.

Something needs to be done now.  This month before it’s too late.

Working on improving pitching and hitting is going to take time.  The Tigers need to be faster and bolder in their moves.

There needs to be a sense of urgency.

They need to make more and bigger roster changes.  Even if it’s just for the next year or two.

But this team needs a difference maker.  Preferably at least 2 of them to get this roster over the hump until reinforcements are ready.

And they need them now.

Let’s hope that Ilitch and Harris know that this clock doesn’t have much time left on it.

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