The long holiday weekend is upon us. And for many of us throughout the country, it’s not going to be great outdoor weather.
If you can’t get to a game, I’ve got the next best thing.
Baseball movies.
My top 5 to be exact.
I’ve seen them all and while there are some headlined by hunky stars (a younger Robert Redford or Tom Selleck), they don’t always work their magic on me.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’m not a big fan of kids-playing-baseball movies either. Although I give some props to Walter Matthew and a very young Tatum O’Neal.
So which are my favorite movies?
Some old, some newer. Some that make you cry. Some that make you laugh. Some fiction, some real.
It’s a hard list to whittle down. But that’s the fun of having to make tough choices. My original list was three times as long.
If this weekend’s weather doesn’t cooperate, grab one of these titles and run with it!
1. A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN – Based upon the real stories of women playing baseball during the war. All-star cast and the immortal line “There’s no crying in baseball!”
2. ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD – (The 1951 version.) A bad-tempered manager hears voices from Heaven that promise him wins if he changes his ways.
3. DAMN YANKEES – Award-winning play and musical comedy movie with all-star cast. About the Yankees, Senators and making a deal with the Devil. “Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.”
4. FIELD OF DREAMS – All-star cast. Five-hanky movie. Simply the best baseball movie ever made. I even know who plays the voice that talks to Ray.
5. TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME – On the list of greatest movies ever made, a musical comedy with all-star cast of Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Esther Williams.
Is there a top 5 movie of yours you’d like to share? Tell us why!
Don’t see your comment? Comments are limited to maximum of 3 sentences. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page.
Remember when the only thing you had to fear at a baseball game was being hit by a foul ball or home run?
That is unfortunately no longer the case as MLB is increasingly dealing with crime and potentially serious incidences in and around its parks.
Enough where the Commissioner’s Office put out a memorandum the other day asking all teams to coordinate their security forces with the local police. On Monday, there were pictures of both groups at Comerica examining potential areas of concern.
We’ve gone from the days of Morganna the Kissing Bandit to female fans packing heat. Last week, 2 attendees were shot at a White Sox game. An investigation revealed that a female fan smuggled her gun into the game and it went off in the stands.
Maybe bringing a gun to a game was for protection from other fans. Fights in the stands are also increasing.
Or maybe it was a response to violence that is becoming more common just outside of stadiums. Or shot, as several were in Washington, DC back in late 2021.
If that’s not bad enough, we’re in an age now where fans are trampling on others’ moments in order to get attention. They’re going for their Instagram moments – photo bombing and intruding on newsworthy events in order to get their 15 minutes of fame.
And they don’t care who they inconvenience. It also appears that they don’t care about being banned or fined $5K either.
About a month ago, the Tigers experienced one of those moments. A streaker who ran onto the field during a game with the Twins. He managed to avoid being captured for a full 2 minutes, outrunning all security detail. He only got tackled because he got tuckered out from all that bobbing, dodging and weaving. Btw, Minnesota needs new security guards.
Now this week, 2 fans ran out to meet with Ronald Acuna, Jr. One hugged him and the other ended up pushing Acuna over. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt but it took security awhile to remedy the situation.
Thus, the memo from MLB to all teams about security procedures. The episodes are increasing in number.
It’s only a matter of time before some group, like those climate activists recently all over the news, decide to move their protests from the museums and highways to the ballparks.
The Tigers in particular have an upcoming event sure to attract the attention-seekers. Something they are undoubtedly now paying more attention to preventing.
Miggy’s farewell tour.
Remember when 2 young fans stormed the field after Hank Aaron hit the record-breaking home run? How they ran the the bases with him and patted him on the back?
Somewhere, there is at least 1 fan who is thinking about joining Miggy’s final celebration at Comerica. Hoping that it will give him media immortality.
It’s become a world where there are those who don’t think twice about hijacking someone’s big moment for their own. And the sad thing is that they feel justified and don’t feel it’s wrong to take away someone’s time to shine.
The Tigers have 12 more games at Comerica. The season ends with the last 6 at home. The last 6 games for Miguel Cabrera.
It will be interesting to see how much more of a police force will be present during these last home games, esp. those last 6. They’ve always had an officer in the dugout but don’t be surprised if a ring of them will be around the field.
Alfredo Amezago and Gary Jones may finally have some company in their coaching boxes.
It’s so very sad that our society continues to normalize the break down in the standards of civilized and respectful behavior.
It’s also apparent that MLB has to do more after the rise of violence and endangerment of both players and fans.
Let’s just hope that the Tigers have a solid plan in place for their remaining home games.
Because in the end, there should only be 1 person on that field getting all the attention.
The guy who wears #24.
Don’t see your comment? Comments are limited to maximum of 3 sentences. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page.
There is a very good chance this year that the Tigers will end up with less than 90 losses. An improvement over the 2022 season.
However, it is not expected that the team will reach .500 this year. And in win-loss percentage, they rank 11th out of 15 American League teams.
Progress is slowly being seen in less than 1 year with the new Front Office including both player, media and fan acknowledgement that the team is showing improvement under the new regime.
It’s looking more likely that the roster has found its new heart of the order being anchored by Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson.
But there are still some questions about offense as well as a number of infield positions.
The starting rotation will go into the off-season with a number of vacancies while the bullpen remains fairly strong.
As fans discuss when the Tigers will become viable again, it leads us to thinking about the current 26-man roster.
If the team wants to move forward, how many of these current players will remain as part of the solution?
How many of them will not be here in a year or two?
And will the roster solutions come from within or via free agency?
What about trades? Will the Tigers need to give up someone of value in order to acquire the needed pieces?
These are the questions to ask yourself and others as we ponder just how much the Tigers’ roster needs to change. Let’s kick start some good discussion threads here – and to take with you wherever you go during the rest of the week.
How much of the current Tigers roster will still be standing when the team reaches a competitive level?
Don’t forget to come back and check the final results!
Don’t see your comment? Comments are limited to maximum of 3 sentences. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page.
FINAL RESULTS FROM A JULY TOTALLY TIGERS POLL:
If your #1/#2 pitcher was throwing a no-hitter, would you remove him in the 7th inn as he faced the lineup for the 3rd time and his pitch count was elevated?
In any industry, whether it be financial services, automobile manufacturing or baseball, the very first step of any CEO – or President of Baseball Operations – is to get a lay of the land. To discover exactly what s/he inherited and its exact value at that time.
All of this is done before any major changes are made.
Because you can’t make changes until you know exactly what you have and what the major issues and concerns are.
For the Tigers, PoBO Scott Harris came into the job knowing, for the most part, what the major concerns were with the Detroit franchise. He quickly gutted several departments and then with the fresh eyes he had hired, started the re-evaluation of the team’s most prized resources.
The on-field talent.
In the process, one of the priorities has been focused on rescuing as much talent as possible from a system bereft of proper development and coaching. Catching players before they fell through the cracks.
For at least the last 2 decades, most of the very top draft choices flamed out and/or disappeared altogether. That or they were traded to other teams where they quickly flourished. And fans noticed this. It became a sad running joke in the social media threads.
The last decent Tiger draft choice who went on to have a solid career was Nick Castellanos. Drafted back in 2010.
The Tigers simply did not know how to develop the talent they were handed. And it’s the reason why Ryan Garko, hired less than a year before Harris, came in and immediately developed a Tigers Way manual for the entire farm system and made multiple changes to coaching staffs.
This year, Scott Harris and his front office have had to identify talent needing rescue at both the MiLB and MLB levels.
At Comerica, they worked with Eric Haase on his defense, which was previously poor. It improved tremendously, however his season-long drought at the plate is what got him released.
At first base, they’ve been working with Spencer Torkelson on his fielding and especially his offense. The new hitting coaches worked with him over the winter but are spending time with him daily during the season.
And it’s paid off.
He easily leads the team in both HRs and RBIs. Along with Riley Greene, they both rank at the top in OBP, SLG and OPS.
There were significant concerns that Tork was going to be another bust after his first year in Detroit. A year filled with struggles and little to no progress seen.
A tougher challenge has been veteran Javy Baez. There have been moments of promise this year at the plate but changing a 10-year veteran who played most of his career for other teams is hard to impossible.
Both Akil Baddoo and Kerry Carpenter have noticeably improved their fielding through extensive daily drills with George Lombard. They are still works in progress and one should expect further growth.
On the mound, a number of pitchers have also moved forward in their development. Matt Manning and Tarik Skubal have improved. And reclamation projects Michael Lorenzen and Tyler Holton have found success.
But it’s the minor leagues that are even more interesting.
Casey Mize is close to returning and it was interesting to hear that the Tigers have dramatically changed his pitching arsenal. Those infamous split-fingered fastballs are almost all gone, replaced primarily by a 4-seam fastball. In his first mound session against the Tigers last week, he was throwing 95 MPH.
In 2021, before the arrival of Ryan Garko, Kerry Carpenter found out that he was no longer able to keep up with the competition while he was in Erie. He felt himself floundering and about to be irrelevant. His coaches were unable to help. That’s when he took it upon himself to go outside the organization and hire Richard Schenck, Aaron Judge’s hitting coach.
That move saved his career. And it was just further proof that the Tigers’ farm system could not successfully develop players.
Parker Meadows has a similar story. He, too, was struggling in Lakeland back in 2021. But then everything started to click in 2022 – the first year under Ryan Garko, a new system and new coaches.
This year, the Tigers focused on making Parker a complete ballplayer. Working on his fielding and helping him improve how he hit certain pitches. Tiger fans were clamoring to see him but there was a solid reason why they delayed his debut.
And it had nothing to do with service time.
For the first time in memory, the Tigers want to develop every aspect of their prospects. They want to promote complete ballplayers. Guys who can advance to Detroit and struggle much less while adapting more quickly.
Fans are still clamoring for other top Toledo prospects to be called up. Simply because they put up some good offensive stats.
But there’s much more to it. Stuff that fans don’t see.
Pitches they can’t hit. LHP or RHP hurlers they struggle against. The inability to hit the cut off man or tendency to take circuitous routes to the ball.
Players like Justyn-Henry Malloy who can hit the cowhide off a ball but is still risky with the glove. Player Development is working on trying to find the right positional home for him.
Last week, A. J. Hinch summed up why certain players have not yet made it to Comerica: “We pressed the button on Parker (Meadows) because we think he can help us in all facets of the game. There are several players in Toledo right now that are knocking on the door. We don’t think those guys are quite ready yet.”
The Tigers aren’t jumping the gun as they have in the past. They understand that a too-early call-up can actually set a player back both physically and mentally. They are focused on creating opportunities for success.
This in stark contrast to the way Spencer Torkelson was handled by the previous regime. He spent exactly 1 year in the minors before being called up. There was nothing to indicate he had mastered the minor leagues.
Al Avila called him up out of desperation. Whether it was the fact that the Tigers hadn’t had a full-time 1Ber in 3 years and/or whether he felt the heat to show proof of a rebuild. But it never should have happened.
If Scott Harris had been in charge in early 2022, he certainly wouldn’t have brought Tork up.
But Spencer struggled all year long last year. He often talked about how hard it was to stay focused and positive. It was not a happy time for him.
It was a year in which he should have been in Toledo. Instead, he was a sacrificial lamb on the altar of Al Avila. A minor leaguer expected to complete his development at the MLB level.
And it appears that now, the new regime has saved Spencer from falling through the cracks.
It’s too late to do anything about past #1 draft picks like Jake Thompson, Jonathon Crawford, Derek Hill and Beau Burrows. Now that it appears Torkelson is back on the right path, Harris and his team are currently addressing how to resuscitate Matt Manning, Alex Faedo, Casey Mize and Jackson Jobe. Out of this whole bunch of #1 draft picks, only Riley Greene escaped relatively unscathed.
Each has struggled for more than a year and it’s going to take more than a season to get them back on track.
And if the Tigers are successful in salvaging a couple or more, it means that the nucleus of a competitive team may finally be forming.
It may also mean that all those years of tearing down and tanking may not have all been entirely in vain.
It’s just not the prospects that Harris and Co. are trying to save.
It’s also the reputation and viability of the entire organization.
Don’t see your comment? Comments are limited to maximum of 3 sentences. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page.
What did you miss on our Twitter feed yesterday?
The best ever video about baseball that will always make fans laugh.
Today, it’s about quick hits – thoughts that hit me from the previous week as well as connecting the dots regarding ongoing stories. Even the quirky bits, too.
There will be something here for everyone.
So let’s get to it! Here are the top 10 topics that hit my brain cells over the past week………..
1.Don’t be surprised if Michael Lorenzen wants back in with the Detroit Tigers. It was revealed that he gave up a lucrative shoe contract with Nike because he prefers a lesser-known brand. Lorenzen has lavished praise upon Chris Fetter and Robin Lund for making him a better pitcher and he may just decide that remaining so is the priority. It’s not all about the money for him.
2. So many Tiger fans are failing to notice how well some of the newest acquisitions are doing. First, there’s Matt Vierling who ranks among the top in outfield defense. But few even know about Tyler Holton, whom Scott Harris claimed off waivers. He’s the best reliever in the bullpen with a 1.62 ERA and .825 WHIP – and it’s not even close. Batters are hitting .157 against his changeup and .097 against his slider. He’s so good that he’s appeared in every analyst’s list of worthy Rookie of the Year candidates.
3. A team’s starting and relief pitching are so fickle year after year. Who would have thought that the highly-touted younger pitchers would struggle much of the year – if they weren’t already on the IL? And that questionable pitchers like Michael Lorenzen and Tyler Holton would thrive?
4. Speaking of relievers, Scott Harris got so much flack from fans for not trading Chasen Shreve who was on an expiring contract. But consider how trade-worthy someone actually is. Shreve was DFA’d and no team opted to pick him up. Just recently, he signed a minor league contract with the Reds. A GM can’t trade someone that no other team wants.
5. Justin Verlander is likely to be the very last pitcher who could reach 300 wins. But it’s going to be very close and the odds don’t favor it. He still needs 47 wins which means 2 20-game seasons plus another 7 wins this year. That’s a very tall order but if he can pitch another 3 years, just maybe.
6. With all the news about how the Chicago White Sox are imploding, much of the criticism has been rightly placed on owner Jerry Reinsdorf who hires his friends instead of competent people.
When you think about it, the Tigers have hired their buddies over and over again for decades – like Jim Leyland, Ron Gardenhire, Brad Ausmus and Al Avila. Dave Dombrowski was the lone exception. The Tigers finally broke their old habits by hiring A. J.Hinch and Scott Harris – and now, a growing number of other Front Office employees.
7. Speaking of Hinch, have you noticed how much whiter his hair is getting? The job will do it to you…
8. The Tigers made a statement by sending Spencer Turnbull down to Toledo immediately after his latest rehab outing, which didn’t go well. So far, we haven’t hear publicly from Scott Boras but rest assured he is still working behind the scenes to get his client those 4-5 days needed in order to qualify for the 5-year service mark and ability to attain free agency after next year. I’m sure there will be a push in a week or two to get him called up to Detroit.
9. The Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg is retiring this year and it comes as no surprise. He has had arm problems (and surgery) his entire career and yet his agent, Scott Boras, managed to secure him a 7-year contract extension at an additional $175 million. The kicker is that he pitched only 1 year since signing and just 1 game in all of 2022.
The Nats foolishly have zero insurance on him and are on the hook for the full amount. He’ll be earning $35 mill every year through 2026 (some of it deferred) and then another $26.6 mill through 2029. Talk about your albatross contracts – paying millions to a pitcher who will not have thrown a ball in 8 years. It’s just another reason why teams shouldn’t be doing business with Scott Boras. His contracts never end well.
10. The final push to squeeze every last dime out of Miguel Cabrera’s last year is only growing more urgent. Not just all the special events at Comerica but the announcements of when he’ll be playing in an effort to pack the ballpark. But if you go to any MLB merchandise sites, his items are front and center. And the ads on tv for special edition bats and jerseys play over and over.
Remember, when players are signed for huge amounts, teams develop a marketing plan to go along with that contract. The Tigers are paying him $32 mill this year and it’s just possible that they may recover all of that in merchandise and ticket sales.
Which one of these stories resonated the most with you? Pick one and run with it!
Don’t see your comment? Comments are limited to maximum of 3 sentences. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page.
What did you miss on our Twitter feed yesterday?
What happened when Miggy came to the plate to face Justin Verlander? We’ve got the video.
Many of the discussions this year in baseball have been about the AL Central. In particular, how it is MLB’s worst division and filled with failure and ineptitude according to a recent national article. In past years, it’s always been known as baseball’s weakest division.
The best team this year is only 5 games above .500. The rest have more losses than wins with the team in second place 7 games under .500.
As a Tigers fan, is this division a blessing or a curse?
Is the division title easier to get or is it simply a recognition that doesn’t mean much outside of the Central?
Does the mediocrity and payrolls of the other teams influence what the Tigers do?
Do the other 4 teams inspire the Tigers to build a roster that will perform at the top of MLB or simply give ownership the excuse to do only as much as needed?
What do you think?
Today’s blog addresses this dilemma and allows readers to share their thoughts in more detail. And hopefully, to actively engage with others by responding to their posts and creating back-and-forth discussion threads. The more the merrier!
For this one blog only, you’ve got 6 sentences maxto share your thoughts. Of course, you can also respond to other readers.
TT will supply the ammunition. One thought-provoking question. Several options provided. One hard choice to be selected. One vote.
Ready?
Make sure to come back and check the final results!
Comments are limited to a maximum of 6 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.
FINAL RESULTS FROM A JULY TOTALLY TIGERS POLL:
What do you think of Spencer Torkelson now?
Confident that he’ll turn into a solid player. 52%
This weekend, the Houston Astros are in town. Justin Verlander is scheduled to start Sunday’s game.
Verlander is still a hometown fave and the Tigers aren’t in the running for a wild card spot – or even near .500. But…. they are our favorite team.
Will you be rooting for JV to pitch well or will you be cheering on the Tigers? You can pick only one!
Make sure to come back and check the final results!
Don’t see your comment? Comments are limited to maximum of 3 sentences. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page.
FINAL RESULTS FROM A JULY TOTALLY TIGERS POLL:
Is it better to draft the top-ranked player available or to draft a player who is a better fit?
The grass always looks greener on the other side, especially when it comes to MLB’s owners. And a number of them have been in the news recently – and not for good reasons.
Believe it or not, there are actually official rankings for baseball owners. Multiple lists.
The biggest surprise may be that Tigers owner (officially it’s the entire family), Chris Ilitch is neither at the top or the bottom of those lists. He is still described as a “work in progress”, having taken over for his father who left the team in significant financial disarray and over a decade of operating in the red.
Chris is getting high marks for the latest hires and green-lighting a rebuilding that will finally modernize the Tigers. Next year’s rankings will tell us much more about how intent he is on building a sustainable team.
But for those of you with unwavering highly-negative opinions about Ilitch, be careful what you wish for! Roughly one-third of the other MLB owners have inspired significantly more dislike from their fans – and even from those who work for them.
Ready for some train wrecks? Here are the top 5 most infamous and bad owners in MLB. Grab your popcorn…..
1. JOHN ANGELOS (Baltimore Orioles) – Taking over from his ailing father, Peter, he has been sued by his own brother for draining his father’s finances and has had a lawsuit against the Nationals for over a decade now over tv revenue.
He has screamed at reporters and called them names more than once and chastised fans for their expectations. Recently, he told Orioles followers not to expect multi-year contracts for their top players because it would drain the team’s finances and raise ticket prices “massively.” What he doesn’t mention is that Orioles had MLB’s 4th highest revenue last year.
2. JOHN FISHER (Oakland A’s) – He is one of baseball’s wealthiest owners but has constantly run the team like a AAA farm club. For years, almost always having MLB’s lowest payroll. And a stadium he refuses to fix from holes in the roof, wildlife that lives in the stadium to bathrooms and locker rooms regularly flooding (and not just from rain, if you catch my drift). Now, he’s in the throes of moving the team to Las Vegas but there will be 3 years that the A’s won’t have a stadium and they are considering playing at a college for those years.
3. ARTE MORENO (Los Angeles Angels) – He has changed the team’s name and logo 3 times in less than 20 years. And this year, he announced he was selling the team and then turned around a couple weeks later and said he wasn’t. He bypassed his former GM regularly and gave top decision-making powers to his manager.
Recently, he was going to trade Shohei Ohtani and then he wasn’t. But the bottom line is that he has 2 of MLB’s top players and other than a brief appearance years ago (Trout), both Ohtani and Mike Trout will never see the playoffs, let alone a World Series. Maybe Ohtani can eventually escape.
This is also the owner who thought it was a good idea to hire your manager based upon a written exam. The man he hired? Brad Ausmus.
4. BOB NUTTING (Pittsburgh Pirates) – There have been no playoffs since he bought the team almost 20 years ago and he’s notoriously seen as being cheap and “very tight-fisted.” He has refused to keep a single star from the team and has lost numerous top players to other teams.
5. JERRY REINSDORF (Chicago White Sox) – He’s grabbing all the headlines currently with his team’s implosion. So much money spent and teammates savaging each other and wanting out. It is well-known that the entire team culture is so bad and that it comes from the top.
He’s kept the same people in charge for 20 years (hiring only friends) and after spending tons on the roster the other year in order to try to play October baseball, bypassed his GM and hired his buddy Tony La Russa to manage the team. We know how that worked out.
It is being said that his constant meddling has ruined the team and even the top national writers are calling for him to sell. If that isn’t enough, he’s now threatening to move the team unless he gets all sorts of freebies from the city.
BRUCE SHERMAN (Miami Marlins) – He has failed to address the serious lack of fan attendance that threatens the club’s existence and has always had the lowest (#29 or #30) payroll in MLB. He hired Jerek Jeter to help run the organization and drove him away after a couple years. Jeter said Sherman reneged on their agreement and kept cutting payroll despite contract promises that he would invest in the team. A number of other Front Office people have fled from the organization.
In contrast to these top 5, which MLB owner do you believe is the best? Tell us why!
Don’t see your comment? Comments are limited to maximum of 3 sentences. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page.
There are many Tiger fans who believe that Scott Harris should have come in and made major roster changes – including the signing of some solid free agents – immediately. But that would have been akin to making frosting before you even found a cake recipe that would work.
How can you build a roster when you don’t know what you have yet?
Even Theo Epstein said that it takes a full 3 years of making changes to the organization and the roster before you have a truly solid foundation on which to build. With each year, you dig further and deeper down into every area of the franchise.
And Harris worked for Epstein so he knows all about this.
It doesn’t matter that so many fans strongly believe they are owed a good team now because of all the previous nightmare years they’ve endured. We get it. Y’all have had great patience and now it’s time to be rewarded. But that’s not going to change the fact that the job of rebuilding this team has only just started.
It’s going to take another 2 years of work before this Tigers roster starts looking like something we really like.
The first step was the initial brooming. Multiple entire departments cleaned out and reformulated. New department heads hired. New positions created.
Then the first roster culling. Over 26 players were released or non-tendered as one of Harris’ early moves.
Almost every one acquired by Al Avila. All described as AAAA players. Most of them utility players – jacks of all trades, masters of none.
There was Niko Goodrum, signed in 2017, who could play any position but was weak offensively and defensively. After Detroit, he ended up playing 15 games for Houston before being cut and hasn’t found another job in MLB.
Similar to Goodrum was Harold Castro, a singles hitter with below-average slash line and poor defense. He spent 5 years with Detroit after spending 8 years in the Tigers’ farm system.
And Willi Castro who had 1 good year but it happened to be the 60-game Covid season. He spent 4 years in Detroit and has a similar profile to the other two.
They really were filler. And as we saw, none of them got MLB contracts after leaving Detroit. Minor league contracts were earned and 2 of the 3 reached MLB because of roster injuries.
Even Jeimer Candelario, who had his worst year ever in Detroit, was signed by the Nats (MLB’s worst team in 2022) for a single year at a pay cut. Teams that are looking to compete are not going to pay a below-average hitter and fielder an expected arbitration salary of $7-$8 mill/year.
Al Avila acquired these players and hung onto them forever.
He also signed Jonathan Schoop to 4 years (with extension). Scott Harris DFA’d him in less than a year. It would have been sooner had there been a viable replacement.
Nick Maton was one of the infamous “calculated risks” but it was more likely that he was part of the package for the more-desired Matt Vierling. He, too, has been given less than a year to show his stuff before being assigned to Toledo.
Speaking of that trade with the Phillies, Gregory Soto spent 4 years with the Tigers and was touted as being the next closer by Avila despite a 4.13 ERA and almost 1.5 WHIP. He was one of the first removed from the roster by Harris.
And now, there’s Eric Haase. Avila kept him for 3 years but he had less than a year to prove his skills to Harris. It was his offense that did him him. Rather, his lack of offense.
He stayed on the roster after last year because of his slugging and ability to call a great game. He was praised by all of the pitchers.
But he completely failed to hit LHP – hitting only .129 this year with 1 HR in 72 plate appearances.
And now, he is also gone before the year is up. Despite being beloved by his teammates and some strong skills behind the plate. Ironically, back to his original team that DFA’d him before he came to the Tigers.
The pattern is clear. Scott Harris is giving everyone 1 year or less to prove themselves. He’s not afraid to cut ties.
And that is a good thing. Teams will never advance with the same poor performers in place.
Changes have to be made if teams are going to get better. And the faster you do it, the sooner good things are more likely to happen.
It’s ironic that many fans were clamoring for these marginal players to be released. And then when they were, some of these same fans wondered why.
Now it’s getting real. And there will be even tougher decisions to be made.
We know the Tigers can’t adequately compete with the roster they have now. And it’s going to take more than a trade or two to make things work.
Starting rotations and bullpens are always transitional beasts by nature. There are always going to be changes there.
But Harris has only begun his more significant purge of the roster. But he’s started phase #2 before the end of the first year.
We can expect more players to be non-tendered or traded. Maybe a DFA or two.
If we look at the positional players, there are still questions at catcher, especially for the #2 slot. Carson Kelly has a 6-week audition.
First base is set but 2nd isn’t.
And while Javy Baez will return next year, his long-term future may not be certain. There’s a reason why Scott recently signed 4 shortstops in addition to the 4 he drafted. He’s planning for the near future which may be 2025.
Third base is also a question mark. Will Matt Vierling inherit the job? Or will it be someone like Colt Keith or Justyn-Henry Malloy?
The outfield is the only area of the roster that appears to be the most set. But there are more candidates than positions so expect someone like Akil Baddoo to be traded.
When all is said and done, half of all the positional slots are easily up for grabs. But replacements are not all going to come from within. Trades will have to happen and that just may mean that even more roster changes will be made.
Round #2 of the roster culling will continue over the off-season. This cut is going to go even deeper.
In the meantime, we’re actually seeing some sense of urgency on the part of the Tigers.
Finally.
And that in itself is a very good thing.
Don’t see your comment? Comments are limited to maximum of 3 sentences. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page.
What did you miss on our Twitter feed yesterday?
A decision has been made about Spencer Turnbull. Where is he headed?
The Detroit Tigers are currently 57 wins/68 losses and 8 games out of 1st place. They have yet to sit in 1st place or achieve .500 this year.
If we look at the team’s performance by month, we have:
Month by Month
Split
W
L
RS
RA
W-L%
March
0
1
0
4
.000
April
10
16
88
131
.385
May
16
11
116
125
.593
June
9
18
105
132
.333
July
12
13
108
120
.480
August
10
9
79
83
.526
And if we consider first half/second half splits, we have:
By Season Half
Split
W
L
RS
RA
W-L%
First Half
39
50
346
432
.438
Second Half
18
18
150
163
.500
Both starting and relief pitching have changed throughout the season. The Tigers have used a number of players at 2nd base and now changes have been made at 3rd base. The #2 catching position has also evolved as have moves in the outfield. Three players have been DFA’d/demoted while 2 new ones have been added to the catching position and outfield.
How many games out as well as a win/loss record don’t necessarily tell the whole story about a team’s progression. There are many other factors to consider that don’t show up yet in the record.
From what you’ve seen so far since the beginning of the year, are the Tigers getting better?
Are the pieces starting to fall into place?
Are the games becoming more exciting?
Are there players you feel are becoming the building blocks of a contending team?
These are the questions to ask yourself and others as we ponder the conditions to consider about whether the Tigers have taken a solid step forward in rebuilding. Let’s kick start some good discussion threads here – and to take with you wherever you go during the rest of the week.
Don’t see your comment? Comments are limited to maximum of 3 sentences. Please make sure to check out the other rules for posting under the link at the top of the page.
FINAL RESULTS FROM AN AUGUST TOTALLY TIGERS POLL:
How should big talent and personality be addressed when giving out mega-contracts?
Both talent and behavior require equal scrutiny before a contract is offered. 70%
Bad behavior and “me first” attitude are deal breakers. 27%
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?
Totally Tigers 