Talking Tigers Tuesday
Mates,
Spring is at least slightly in the air and enough snow has melted up here that the ground is peaking through in a few places. The Tigers are riding a 5 game losing streak in Spring ball, sitting at 11-12. That record doesn't mean much, but hopefully its at least indicative of a heart beat. I do remember about 15 yrs ago when the Tigers posted one of the best Spring records and ended up with over 100 losses in the regular season. I have copied the roster down below, but its not updated for injuries.
So today's questions are:
1. Are the Tigers still in the middle of a re-build, or will they have a decent season this year?
2. How many wins will they get, and who will be the most important players to help determine that?
Starting Pitchers; Jordan Zimmermann Michael Fulmer Matthew Boyd Tyson Ross Matt Moore
Relief Pitchers Joe Jimenez Daniel Stumpf Drew VerHagen Blaine Hardy Buck Farmer
Closer: Shane Greene----
Catcher: Grayson Greiner John Hicks---
1B: Miguel Cabrera John Hicks Niko Goodrum--
2B: Niko Goodrum Ronny Rodriguez Dawel Lugo--
3B: Jeimer Candelario Niko Goodrum Ronny Rodriguez--
SS: Jordy Mercer Niko Goodrum---
LF: Christin Stewart Mikie Mahtook---
CF: JaCoby Jones Victor Reyes Mikie Mahtook--
RF: Nicholas Castellanos Victor Reyes Niko Goodrum--
Play Ball (almost)
XM
March 19th, 2019 at 11:42 AM ^
Yeesh that roster makes me cringe. I’ll go 70 wins.
March 19th, 2019 at 11:43 AM ^
Josh Harrison is their new 2B, still a bottom of the barrel team. Probably 4th in division (better than royals) with an upward trajectory. Good news is the AL is a list of haves and have/nots so they should be able to beat some teams but struggle with the big dogs. Id see them going like 70-91 this season. Late this season/Next season their pitching should come around with young guys moving in, hopefully they can hit on 2-3 of their 5-6 excellent prospect arms. Seem to have a lot of middle infield prospects to take over for mercer/harrison next year, and then hope Daz Cameron can take one of the outfield spots. Need to try to trade Castellanos this season, and then hope to develop someone to play 1B as Cabrera moves to a DH role.
March 19th, 2019 at 11:46 AM ^
They're shitty.
Starting Rebuild.. Sure young pitching but they flame out at a 60% rate. Meanwhile the hitters are Daz Cameron, Pareades?
63-99..Miggy most important player.. He can carry the team if he wants, but depends on his attitude
or cashing checks mode
March 19th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
Speaking of the Indians.......
We still have one of the best 1-5 rotations in the league with Kluber, Bauer, Carrasco, Clevinger & Bieber. And we've got Plutko & Salazar (if healthy) when needed.
Infield pretty good especially if LIndor comes back at 100% & Kipnis hits the way he did the last two months of last season.
Outfield is a HUGE question mark. A bunch of no-names out there that arent likely to hit much.
Bullpen an even bigger question mark. Gone are Miller & Allen and no clue who's going to replace them at this point.
My guess is we're going to play a shit-ton of terribly exciting 3-1 games most of the season in front of 12-15K fans at home and bore the living daylights out of everybody. We'll win the division (it's clearly the weakest in baseball IMO) but simply dont have the bats to go anywhere in the playoffs.
March 19th, 2019 at 11:59 AM ^
show-off
browns > lions
indians > tigers
next you're going to tell us that columbus is better than ann arbor...
March 19th, 2019 at 12:09 PM ^
Dont forget for a night anyways (last night) the Cavs > Pistons!
The only thing Columbus is "better" than AA in is...............
Well....
Um....
I'm sure there's something. Oh wait - I hear they have a football team there that's pretty good these days. Maybe that.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:17 PM ^
you just couldn't stay away from it, could you?
at least the red wings were better than the barons. wait, maybe not even that.
Miraculously, they still have a soccer team, something Detroit can't seem to pull off.
This is a really depressing subthread.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:13 PM ^
Yeah, but neither team has won shit yet either.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:16 PM ^
You've already got a perfect replacement closer in Brad Hand, but yes the outfield is easily the weakest spot for Cleveland. Leonys Martin, recently signed Cargo, and Naquin/Zimmer?
This may be one of Cleveland's last years to compete as Kluber is just now getting paid near his value $17 mil and Bauer is arb 4 eligible next year and likely gone shortly after.
The way you describe it takes me back to the beginning of Major League. It's still a nice stadium to see a ballgame. Perhaps you guys would like to trade multiple prospects for a heavy hitting young gun with positional flexibility? Nick Castellanos could turn you into a title contender.
March 19th, 2019 at 11:51 AM ^
Tigers have not lost 5 in a row. They lost 2 split squad games yesterday. Won the last two games before that.
I'm afraid they're not yet halfway through a rebuild.
Reed Garrett will be one of the pitchers. He's a Rule 5 acquisition. Lugo will not be on the opening day roster. I don't expect Reyes to be either. Fulmer probably starts on the DL.
Spencer Turnbull and Norris have both looked okay. One will be in the rotation until Fulmer is ready. I won't be surprised if they carry an extra catcher and pick up a late cut from somebody.
March 19th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
Josh Harrison is at 2nd base. Victor Reyes and Lugo will start in AAA. It will be another long season.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:07 PM ^
Cabrara is the key. If he stays healthy and produces it lifts this entire offense. Their swoon a year ago coincided with his injury. I'll say 72 wins. If they're sniffing .500 at the end of the season Gardy deserves manager of the year.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:14 PM ^
Unfortunately he won't stay healthy.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:17 PM ^
They had the same record the last two seasons. Not only was Cabrera out, but there was a lot less talent on last year's roster than in 2016. A ton less. I'll give Gardy credit for that. Too bad the ceiling is so low for his team this season.
Sure, his health matters. But he has nobody hitting in front or behind him. The only good pitches he is going to see is when they are down 8 runs...that may be in the third inning-still won't matter. Miggy and Caste could each hit 93 HRs and they still wouldn't score over 200 runs.
Is there a worse pitching staff in the majors?
Is there a worse front office in baseball?
Why would anyone pay to see this team play?
March 19th, 2019 at 12:13 PM ^
Should Fulmer be on this list?
March 19th, 2019 at 12:16 PM ^
1. Going to be another rough year...might as well let the kids play.
2. If the Tigers get to 75 wins, that is a great year. I think it'll be closer to 65.
The big question for me: how many games will Cabrera play at 1st base? I think you've got to limit him big time to avoid further injuries and general wear and tear.
Man, he's just breaking down. Last year he got hurt swinging a bat.
Yeeeeahh, Fulmer has a torn UCL and is going to have to undergo Tommy John.
So, scratch Fulmer from the list, XM.
This year is Deep-Six for Picks.
okay, well that didn't work out so well. hey, SRJK, can you pitch? tigers going to need someone...
as an aside, we had a conference here last weekend and the key note was by a former major league pitcher, world series winner, etc. says when he went from the minors to the pros he got whacked like never before. went on the juice and gained 60 lbs. also says they had virtual candy bowls filled with speed in the club houses - its the out-in-the-open secret besides the juice. crazy.
If he's saying that in a key note, that's kinda public info, isn't it? Wow.
I'm not surprised by this, but you know how widespread I think PED use is.
To answer you question, I really can't pitch, no. But that means I differ from most of the Tigers staff only in matters of degree.
Roger Clemens???
Pete Rose=Poster boy for "greenies". (Amphetamines).
I think we've seen the last of Fulmer pitching for the Tigers. He is quite injury prone.
I have a feeling they're going to surprise us this year. I don't see them making the playoffs or anything, but I think Gardenhire will have them competitive. I'm excited to see how the new guys do, how Cabrera bounces back, if Castellanos can continue to improve, and which prospects make the leap to the bigs. Zero expectations but hopeful.
Tigers front office seems to care very little about putting a good product on the field.
Couple years back they needed to empty their wallets and pay out those 2-3 huge contracts to Max S,David Price and or JV maybe the Tigers lose money at first,but that wouldve been a winning team for years and kept the seats full -thus bringing money back ...
I will go full BPONE and say 100 losses.
this.
I'm going to opening day and I love my Tigers but man .... looking like a 61-101 year.
Lifelong Tiger fan, but they are going to be bad again. Hope I am wrong, it's a long season.......
They need to go bat with their first pick. They are arm heavy. I think I’m beating a dead horse with this but still.