Maybe being on ESPN Sunday Night baseball will wake up the team; that hasn’t usually worked too well in the past though, has it?
As it is the Tigers are making a strong push to take their place at the top of the Seller’s List. But what do they have to sell, other than JD Martinez?
Leon was shipped back to Toledo for Chad Bell. I was hoping Chad would get another shot soon.
Today’s Lineup:
- Ian Kinsler, 2B
- Nick Castellanos, 3B
- Miguel Cabrera, 1B
- Victor Martinez, DH
- JD Martinez, RF
- Justin Upton, LF
- Mikie Mahtook, CF
- James McCann, C
- Jose Iglesias, SS
Pitching: Daniel Norris vs Drew Pomeranz
The same lineup for the 3rd day in a row. Maybe Brad’s printer is jammed and he can’t print out a new one. He appears to have forgotten that Alex Avila is on the team, and sitting there smiling in the second spot on the Faces of WAR lineup.
Kins single..great shot by Casty before the worst 3-4 combo in baseball go DP to put a damper on it…8-10 more and this one is PEN proof!
Mikie Mahtook has more home runs in the month of June then Cabrera and VMartinez added together….and he’s swinging the bat better than both of them.
For all the speculation about Miggy’s health and mental state (maybe there’s trouble down at the candy factory?), I think he’s just swinging the bat like an above-average hitter rather than a Hall of Famer. A couple months of not setting the world on fire shouldn’t be so amazing, maybe. My interpretation of the detailed hitting stats on him is that he is missing pitches he would normally get base hits on, swinging at pitches he normally would not, and making contact later and with less power than normal. The eye and the bat speed are a bit off, one would think.
Unfortunately, moving Cabrera and Martinez from the 3-4 spots… well, there’s really nowhere else to put them. Aside from 1-2. They have to be kept together and need power behind them (because they are such baserunning liabilities).
Look at Miggy from the waist down. The Tigers post him at 235…he looks more like 260+ to me
Yeah, but is that anything new?
VMart is pathetic..no explnation necessary…
Last two series..4 hitter…0 RBI..15 LOB….thanks VMart
Upton saves the day with the Grand Salami!….wow!
Upton is #1 on the Faces of WAR for a reason, and none of these guys are catching him any time soon. He is a streaky player, but when he’s good, he’s good.
Amen to that. I still think it’s an interesting question: If it came down to a choice, who would be better to have around 2018-2021 – JD or Upton?
Castellanos is also streaky, except that his hot isn’t as hot and his defense is better left unmentioned.
The real problem is that Hicks and Adduci are both more valuable, 60 games in, than either Miggy or VMart.
But yes, they only way we keep JD is if we somehow manage to deal Upton and and probably Zimmerman.
I’ve started to think that Detroit might go all out (taking on some cost) to unload Verlander, Cabrera, and V-Mart after 2017, and I still think that Upton will leave to play with a contender. So I no longer think it is out of the question, re-signing JD. Kind of a good news, bad news thing. Great to have him if it happens, too bad he’ll likely be playing for a losing team most of the contract.
Something to celebrate at last (3 games is a long time). But we have seen what the pitching staff can (un)do.
Four innings of bullpen. Look out. Bell, Greene, F-Rod/JWilson?
If all goes well, maybe Chad Bell can just pitch the rest of the game. I don’t expect things to go well, however.
There’s the difference between Norris and Boyd. Three innings of Houdini. Still… constant trouble. Reminds me of Porcello and Fister. Rarely easy.
This lead is nowhere close to enough…but maybe be an inspiration Brad will use Greene and.A and J Willie and it actually works…..
How bout the job Norris has done on Moreland tonight who is hitting
about .600 against them..
His best inning was his last.
According to ESPN graphic, the Tigers have a 96% probability of winning. Someone hasn’t been watching Tigers games.
+1…..what do they watch ,anyway!
I was not encouraged by Van-Man’s performance. Unless he can get past the 5th and reduce his pitch count, he will not be a viable starter.
Norris is the newest Face of WAR, apparently. Seems a bit dubious, but the guy he displaces, AWillie, really has slipped a bit.
If Adduci is still there without playing two weeks from now, this season is over.
As the real game begins…IS +5 enough?
Good to see AWillie not get slapped around tonight.
Mikie nice weekend. Hit the ball hard every time up…5/13 since thurs.
Nowhere to go but up. Might as well roll with him. Mahtook has a 7 game hitting streak going, batting .409 in 22 PA.
But upon further review, a time share with Romine is probably still in order. Mahtook has power but hasn’t come though with it in much of any game-changing ways, and he can’t draw a walk like Romine can.
Poor Lettuce, wanted everywhere. If he plays CF we suffer with Casty’s glove at 3B late in close games.
Oh, Lettuce can move around. He’s still free.
These discussions highlight just how marginal a team we have. And not just a few positions. If you think about it, we had a serviceable CF last year that we let go for nothing. His name was Maybin. Personally, I would still play Jones to start all games. He is our best fielding outfielder and we can hope he starts hitting. When Lettuce is our choice, you have highlighted the problem. I love the guy, but he shouldn’t be the answer at any position.
Yes, Maybin was a great spark last season, too bad he was injured so often (as usual). He was more than a little pricey, though. The Tigers put a lot of stock in Jones and expected to find some insurance in CF in-house or outside, and what they have ended up with is mostly… outhouse. Gambled and lost, so far. Unfortunately, I don’t think we can hope JaCoby Jones starts hitting, not this season. I’m back to thinking he was way over-hyped, all wishful thinking.
The Tigers were and still are a pretty good-looking team on paper, or I should say, in theory. The way they’ve played as a team makes most of the team look marginal now. But they are pretty much stuck with what they have, aren’t they? Being a seller at the deadline with nothing to sell won’t change things. I’m not much for the idea of trading JD or Kinsler and making the last half of the season more dismal in exchange for a few prospects.
Give it one last, full try. Then tear it up and start over. There are 100 games left. 60-40? Hardly seems possible now, but they didn’t get it together until 70 games in last season and finished 51-40 despite a number of notable injuries and other problems. If they throw in the towel in late July like they did in 2015, that’s when I take the rest of the season off.
Prediction: Miguel Cabrera’s batting average will be .300 by the end of this month.
A little quick math says he would have to bat .397 the rest of the month for that to happen. I’d happily bet against that.
+1 Not the current Miggy.
.397 is doable. I like making bold predictions. Last year, I predicted that Detroit would finish in the American League Central Division. Skeptics doubted me, but I had the last laugh. Also the first and only one.