2017 Season, Game Post

Game 2017.136: Indians at Tigers

6 Comments

Chad Bell gets his first major league start.

Today’s Lineup:

  1. Ian Kinsler, DH
  2. Alex Presley RF
  3. Nick Castellanos DH
  4. John Hicks, 1B
  5. Mikie Mahtook LF
  6. Jaime Candelario 3B
  7. James McCann C
  8. JaCoby Jones CF
  9. Jose Iglesias SS

Pitching: Chad Bell vs Josh Tomlin

6 thoughts on “Game 2017.136: Indians at Tigers”

  1. Warning: I have nothing much to do today, so I may just write some rants on the blog.

    What does the Tiger organization have against Ian Kinsler. He has certainly always given us all he has yet we continue to start him every day. Is it personal and Brad wants him embarrassed? Ian still has a year left and if we want to trade him (I wouldn’t) his current streak will not he helpful in getting any value. Machado should be given a clear shot at 2nd with Ian as his mentor. Of course, I ASSuME we would not be stupid enough to not sign IGGY out of arbitration.

    Miggy is on a forced 6 day vacation. Any chance they will get him medical evaluation of his many physical issues.

    The hardest part of the rest of this season will be listening to our “talking heads” (or is it the other end that this wisdom comes from?) rave about our prospects, most of which aren’t even ready for AAA much less the big leagues. I am happy we are beginning to fill the pipeline but next season will not be as good as this one especially if Miggy (the real Miggy) doesn’t return.

    One of the biggest obstacles to rebuilding is our (I CERTAINLY HOPE) lame duck manager. Brad can’t handle the every decision making that comes with being a manager. Hiring him without any experience was a huge mistake. Hopefully he’ll become a coach somewhere and begin to gain the experience he will need if he wants to manage again. By the way, replacing him might not be very easy. Who would want the job is my first concern.

  2. I get so frustrated thinking about how much we are paying these guys only to watch some of the veterans give up. As fans we’re enablers but I’d be fired in a day if I put forth the same effort that some of these guys are.

  3. Kevin, DON”T you have a multi year contract that guarantees your income? Even a raise next year even if you fail to perform this year.
    Oh well, so are the hardships of us common folks.

  4. Multi-year contracts can’t be avoided altogether, but Detroit just got overloaded with them. One thing leads to another. I may have said this already to the point of being tiresome, but the boat started to tip with the 5-year Anibal Sanchez deal, and then there was the Victor Martinez deal, arguably a still worse decision. These had some influence on the decision to pass on Scherzer and make Verlander and Miggy Tigers for life. OK, fine, course chosen, but that should have been the end of the free spending. Retooling if not rebuilding should have been in sight prior to 2016. Instead, Upton and Zimmermann. I wasn’t critical at the time, but I should have been. These were terrible and unnecessary acquisitions. If there was some doubt about J.D. Martinez or a need for more power in the outfield, or lack of confidence in the trio of recently-acquired pitching prospects, hedging their bets really didn’t require a commitment of 5 years and $200 million plus to two players who were hardly superstars, did it? I don’t think this was Al Avila’s idea. I think it was Mike Illitch.

    2017 was nearly a perfect storm in terms of expensive underperformance. The Tigers would seriously have been no worse off had Cabrera, Victor, Zimmermann, and Sanchez all been lost to injury for the entire season. You might even want to put Kinsler on that list, though he’s not one of the megabucks fellows.

    I am hopeful that Cabrera can be traded to one of the few teams that can afford it. If Victor doesn’t retire and seems to be good as new in ST, I still think the Tigers would be well-advised to trade him and eat up to 50% of the salary. Kinsler is needed less than the couple prospects they can get for him. Ditto for Castellanos. The sticking point for cleaning house is Zimmermann. The only way would be to package him with Fulmer, I think. I’d almost consider it.

    1. Good stuff Coleman. I don’t know that I disagree with any of it.

      The effort is disturbing. Also I’m researching RH power hitters to see if there’s precedence for a Cabrera recovery.

      1. See the BBRef “Similar batters through ages 33.” Hammerin’ Hank Aaron seems to be the exception, but otherwise there is a discernible pattern that is neither recovery nor precipitous decline. Once the BA slips it tends to stay there. Power and production dip accordingly, though not terribly. Good but never quite the same. See Albert Pujols, Mickey Mantle, even the great Willie Mays. Vlad Guerrero. Frank Robinson. Manny Ramirez except for one last blasting season.

        If Miggy was hitting .280-.290 with diminished power, that would be one thing. But that’s not it. You could see him becoming a V-Mart at his best from here on out, maybe. I hope that’s not what other teams see, because he’s untradabale if they do. Then again, six more seasons (or whatever it is) of a consistently productive Good V-Mart Type without the alternating lost seasons would be fantastic. Maybe that’s the selling point.

        Miguel Cabrera might have exhausted the superhuman by 2014 already. I don’t see a return to those monster seasons, least of all on a rebuilding team. I do hope the Tigers can move him.

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