HOLE-Y LINEUP, BATMAN!

by Holly Horning

The Detroit Tigers have a perceived chicken-or-an-egg problem.  Is their continued bad offense primarily due to a lack of talent or ineffective coaching?

While I lean towards the former – and there’s plenty of evidence, there’s really something else going on that’s been one of the biggest catalysts for repeated failure.

Their lineup is so easy for other teams to work around.

While many look at each individual player and their stats, it’s incorrect to believe that what they do at the plate is solely their responsibility.  This isn’t a team of 9 individual hitters.  It’s a lineup with 9 pieces that have to fit together in order to work.

Only in the Tigers’ case, there are a bunch of broken links.  A slew of holes.  And opposing teams are freely taking advantage of them.

Opponents work around a team’s weakest hitters.  And when the weakest hitters are followed by other weak hitters who pose no real threat, we shouldn’t be surprised by the results.

There are lots of fans who expect that having just 1 legit hitter could cure the ills of the rest of the lineup.

And that is unrealistic.

Let’s address the weakest hitters now.

The first is Miguel Cabrera.  He’s played in just under half this year’s games so far and hitting well under .200.  A total of 3 RBIs for his effort, an easy out on the base paths and a detriment to scoring runs.  Even as he gets moved further and further down to the #7 slot.

But we can’t blame Miggy.  Injuries have taken their toll and he is a shadow of the player he used to be.  He is doing the best he can given significant physical problems.  Keep in mind that no one, absolutely no one, is going to walk away from $32 million.

This problem resides solely with ownership.  Multiple reports say that the “play him” edict comes from the Ilitch family.  Scott Harris and A. J. Hinch can’t do anything about it but they are expected by the Ilitchs to resolve the dearth of hitting while the primary problem remains.

Then you’ve got Jonathan Schoop who hasn’t hit since 2021.  Despite trying to platoon him, the lack of depth puts him into games for late-inning defensive purposes and injuries (like the recent one to Javy Baez).

Next up is (was) Tyler Nevin.  Called up to replace Matt Manning but really to help cover for the expected long-term absence of Austin Meadows and to help at 3B.  Mashing in Toledo but hitting .050 (yes, you read that correctly) in Detroit until his demotion this past weekend.

The short of it is that the Tigers have 3 players – one third of their lineup – with no offense to offer or to help their teammates at the plate.  And that’s just with a quick glance at the lineup.

This is simply an astounding chunk of hitters one team cannot count on much at all.

Austin Meadows, a dependable hitter is gone for an unknown but presumed extended period of time.  And now the team has lost Kerry Carpenter to the IL.  To replace them, the Tigers called up Akil Baddoo, Zack Short and Andy Ibanez.

Are we excited yet?  To quote Miracle Max from The Princess Bride “Why don’t you just give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice over it?”

The Tigers now are hitting a whopping .222 as a team.  Do they have a single player who strikes fear into the hearts of pitchers?  Is there any hitter opponents work around?

We know the answer to that.

Currently the Tigers lineup is simply divided down into 2 groups – the weakest hitters and the weak ones.  And as such, you can’t ask the latter to make up for the deficiencies of the former group.

You simply can’t expect the rest of the lineup to compensate for the inadequacies of 3 other hitters.  Especially when Cabrera, Schoop and Nevin (or the most recent call up) come to plate every 3 innings.  It’s simply impossible to generate any real sustainable offense when they are still in the lineup.

It’s a huge hole that can’t be covered up or worked around.  Opponents know it and use it to their advantage.  Their pitchers get to stay in longer, they give up fewer (if any) walks and no one gets “pitched around.”

There’s no challenge.  There’s no threat.

And that’s why all the other hitters in the lineup have such poor stats. (Or in this case, poorer stats than they would normally generate if the team didn’t have that hole.)  Hitters get pitched to differently depending upon whether or not there are already runners on base and who is hitting behind them. 

With a significant number of weak hitters, you’re never going to have a lineup in which 1 player excels and puts up great numbers.   The entire team will drag him down.  No one on that roster is going to have an advantage at the plate.  In fact, quite the opposite.  Each hitter is somewhat dependent upon the other hitters who surround him.

Many fans have pointed to “under-performance” of most of last year’s roster when it really is about the makeup of the lineup that has dragged everyone down.

So how does this team get better offensively?

Adding 1 or even 2 new solid bats won’t help much if you’ve got all those automatic out players still in the lineup.  It really becomes a goal about reducing that glaring lineup hole in order to improve the team’s chances.

Cabrera can’t be jettisoned unless he goes on the IL.  So it means adding at least 2 players with even a little bit of punch to help close that hole.

Easily said.  Harder to be done.

Meadows remains a big question mark for the rest of the year.  Carpenter, when he returns, provides some hope.

That leaves Toledo as the best solution.

As we’ve been seeing, esp. with Nevin, putting up great numbers in AAA means little.  It doesn’t automatically translate to MLB.

Many wanted Parker Meadows to stay given his excellent spring training but even he continues to struggle at Toledo trying to hit LHP.  Unrealistic expectations by fans given that his experience was limited to AA.  It is almost impossible to successfully skip AAA and do well in the majors.

And now, there’s the clamoring for Justyn-Henry Malloy to be called up because he is the Mud Hens’ best hitter.  However, he’s only played 26 games at the AAA level.  He needs much more seasoning.

Right now, it appears the only viable solution is time.  Something fans don’t want to hear.

The top AAA players need more experience.  Trades right now are going to be hard.  Waiver wire signings aren’t going to bring anyone with a pop in their bat.

So it’s really waiting for the All-Star break to see how prospects are progressing and maybe effect a trade.

At this point, we have to understand that even the best coaching isn’t going to improve this lineup enough to really matter.  Other teams have so many ways of working around the Tigers’ lineup right now and rendering hitters ineffective. 

Better offensive numbers aren’t going to be put up until the Tigers add a couple threats to their lineup.  But they need to start by minimizing that hole created by one-third of their lineup.

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