FIVE FOR FRIDAY

/ totallytigersblog

by Holly Horning

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’re familiar with that roller coaster I’ve been writing about.  Well, folks, we’re on it again.  This time heading down the hill.

And this one is more serious.  There’s no guarantee that the Tigers will make it up that hill again this year unless changes are made.

I’m talking about the recent skid in which the team has lost 5 games straight (through Wednesday) and been shut out twice while scoring 1, 2 and 3 runs in the other losses.

So why is this different?  What does it all mean?

I’ve got my top 5 takeaways………

1. The Tigers’ strategy of “winning in the margins” is so precarious that it only takes a single injury to 1 producing player – Riley Greene – for the entire deck to collapse.  It shows just how superficial this lineup is once you slightly scratch the surface. 

2. Now that Green is on the IL, no one else has been able to step up and fill the void.  In fact, players like Javy Baez and Spencer Torkelson have regressed during this time when they’ve been needed the most.

3. After showing some promise, Torkelson has resumed his struggles.  In those last 5 games, he managed only 2 hits and 2 walks in 18 at-bats.  His slash line remains below average and just slightly above what he did last year.  Now that he’s reached 650 plate appearances, a ranking of #1 draft picks’ offensive stats puts him at #30 out of 32 players.  It’s still early but the longer this continues, the greater the concern.

4. The Tigers haven’t had depth in their minor league system for over a decade and it does take time to build it.  However, the current lack of players who can fill in is still so desperately thin even with all the acquisitions Scott Harris made.

5. We’re not seeing anyone currently on the roster or in AAA able to get this team out of its current hole.  And it’s sheer folly to think that by calling up an untested rookie will solve the problem.  The onus now is on Scott Harris to find a solution and that probably means going outside the organization for some help until reinforcements like Greene, Carpenter, Rodriguez et al return.  He simply can’t sit still and wait this out otherwise the Tigers will once again risk a potential return to the basement.

Do you have another top takeaway based upon these last 5 games?

Comments are limited to a maximum of 3 sentences. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page in order for your comments to be published.

What did you miss on our Twitter feed yesterday?

  • What does Thursday’s acquisition of Joe Rizzo mean?

Why should you follow Totally Tigers https://twitter.com/totallytigersbb on Twitter?

  • We tweet out breaking news before it’s published in the sports pages. The best news from the best sources.
  • Want more than 1 Totally Tigers fix every day? How about throughout the day?

25 thoughts on “FIVE FOR FRIDAY”

  1. They have Colt Keith and Justin-Henry Malloy. They both should be called up and others on this squad like Schoop should be dfa’d. We need to see progress- not more of the same.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Malloy has dropped off recently while Colt Keith has remained consistently hot all season at Erie. He should at least be bumped up to Toledo soon. Of everyone currently in the Tiger farm system Keith looks to me as the only position player with true MLB star potential.

      Liked by 5 people

    • Malloy had a tremendous first few weeks and has done very little since, so I’m not sure bringing him up is all that good an idea. Maybe it’s time to say what the hell and see what Keith can do.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. I agree with all your points. Torkelson’s -.3 WAR performance has been somewhat overlooked due to all the duds who follow him in the lineup. He is supposed to be a linchpin for the rebuild, but his is by any measure a bottom tier MLB first baseman.

    Liked by 5 people

  3. Tigers have no one they can call that could change the team’s fortunes. Harris has signed a slew of players off the waiver wire, hoping to catch lighting in a bottle. The team is fortunate they play in the worst Division in MLB.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. This doesn’t seem surprising – the lineup was pretty weak with Greene and Vierling (although surprisingly effective) and is even weaker without them. I think this is why the other decent hitters regress when they lose just two decent hitters from the lineup. Still need big league players – hope Harris brings some in this next off season

    Liked by 7 people

    • I think you have pointed out the flaw in Harris’s decision not to sign any hitters short term. Instead of “earmarking at bats for our young players,” he is giving them to guys who are clearly not part of rebuild 2.0. Having a couple of professional hitters in the lineup floats all boats.

      Liked by 8 people

  5. I don’t care about the Tigers W-L record this year, but I do care about the talent they’re acquiring to form the core of a competitive team down the road. So far Harris has brought in lots of below average mlb players without adding guys who figure to be significant part of a future winning ball club and has kept the Tigers in perpetual rebuilding mode.

    Liked by 5 people

  7. It’s pretty evident now that Spencer cannot carry or even spark an offense. It’s most disappointing considering he was a number one overall pick who slugged in high school and college. Simply put, he is who he is at this point.

    Liked by 4 people

  9. Doing something now means trades. Who can Harris trade in exchange for someone who can really help now without taking a bloated crazy contract in return? Like Bruce Springsteen said in his song Jungleland, all Harris can do now is “stand back and let it all be” until the offseason.

    Liked by 9 people

  10. The Tigers should send down Baez, Torkelson, Maton, Haase, Schoop, and Nevin. They should bring up Parker Meadows, Justin-Henry Malloy, Andre Lipcius, Michael Papierski, and maybe even Colt Keith from AA. Send down 5, bring up 5.

    Like

  11. Earlier this year Dan Dickerson said that it has been 5 years since the Tigers had players who could hit the fastball. The old adage that if you can’t hit the curve you won’t stay in the bigs, but if you can’t hit the fastball you will never get there doesn’t seem to apply to the Tigers. Might be time to forget launch angles and go back to the Charlie Lau approach-worked pretty well for some guy named Brett.

    Liked by 4 people

  12. I’m willing to give Mr. Harris two years to put a competitive team on the field. In July, the Tigers should be sellers: ERod, Manning or Skubal and some package including Baez should be readied. If a contender wants one or more of the pitchers they should have to also take Baez, he needs to be moved.

    Liked by 2 people

  13. Another area of concern is catching – Rogers is a good catcher who can’t hit, and Haase is a poor catcher who can’t hit. Haase really ought to be moved to the outfield, as he seems to hit better while managing a decent defense. The problem is where do they find a reasonable option behind the plate to offset Rogers.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Javier Baez has zero trade value. He is hitting .220 with 3 HRs. After the 2023 season the Tigers will still owe him $92 Million over the next four seasons,

    Like

Comments are closed.