Thanks for the links. Lazy so-and-so that I am, did you find anything that points the finger at the infield or the outfield specifically?

The groundball/flyball ratio you noted indicates a fairly neutral staff with groundball leanings, from which you could reasonably assume the infield is to blame. Too many balls in play turned into hits, most of the balls in play were groundballs, thus …

Problem is, that seems counterintuitive to what I would wager most Tiger fans see as the defensive deficiencies on the club. An outfield of Sanchez, White, Monroe, and Higginson presumably leaves whole lot to be desired. But if they aren’t called into action as often as the infield, then how much did they really hurt the club?

I am an unabashed supporter of the Staff of the High Strikeout Rate, and as such am curious to know where Detroit’s total number of balls put into play ranks against the rest of the league.

While you can certainly exchange offense for defense as a means to an end, I think you can just easily relieve the burden on a poor defense by putting guys on the mound that don’t allow hitters to put the ball in play in the first place.