This bullpen is like McGyver. They can make a bomb out of wheat toast and chewing gum.
April 21st, 2017 at 12:50 PM ^
*MacGruber
April 20th, 2017 at 11:08 PM ^
and the Tigers aren't bottom 5 in relief pitching.
Finding quality relief pitchers are hard.
But it's easier if you have enough talent in the farm system to keep looking for a good combination, thats been a problem for the Tigers for a long time and I don't see how it gets better anytime soon.
April 21st, 2017 at 10:30 AM ^
Joe Jiminez
I hope not, but a three game sweep vs. another (now) ~.500 team is no bueno.
I'll be back in Michigan over 4th July week and planning on three games with friends while I'm there. I hope they are at least still hanging on to 1st place then.
Cleveland is the class of the division.
Of course a large portion of their losses have been comebacks by the other team, which... well, that's not encouraging either.
This was an atrocious series. Defense was horrible, guys aren't hitting, bullpen is terrible (though they just called up Jimenez and Hardy, which should help). Getting JD back will be huge, and VMart really needs to start hitting.
With all their problems something somewhat overlooked is Franky is pretty much done. Usually closer gets a ton of attention but there are so many fires right now he almost seems relatively reliable. Its a huge problem.
Yeah he looks terrible. Hard for a closer to be successful with a high 80s fastball, even harder when he doesn't have pinpoint control to make up for it. Much like Joe Nathan before him, K-Rod appears to be done.
Vmart looks done, bat speed is obsolete and he doesnt have a single XBH in the cleanup spot. They need JD back in the worst way possible.
Baseball needs a new stat. Like how when a guy gets a hit but we call it an error, when Victor hits a double but only makes it to first we need to call it a walker.
A guy can surprise us, but at some point a guy who is old and beaten up isn't just slumping a bit; he's in decline. With this roster it is kind of inevitable, and every time Miggy has a bad week I have to remember that at some point the "bad weeks" are going to be a regular thing.
I mean, they had to resign him after that season he had a couple of years ago, but this can't be a surprise to anybody.
April 21st, 2017 at 12:55 AM ^
Anyone see this all-timer last night?
Brad Ausmus said someone in the stands yelled "I got it!" twice when the Tigers dropped balls in the outfield.
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) April 20, 2017
April 21st, 2017 at 12:56 AM ^
Did they fall for the hidden ball trick too?
The title of the thread looks like the beginnings of a mathematical equation. Advanced stats! We can do this. The relevant equation looks like this:
(x * y)b = z
Where x = something like, oh, the current winning ratio expressed as a fraction; y = perhaps the estimated winning percentage or WAR or whatever based upon the team's hitting and starting pitching using some fancy advanced statistics or what have you; and z = the probability of the team making the postseason.
b is the value of the team's bullpen. b = 0. Do the math.
It's basically a 5 way tie for first...Crazy thing so far this year is that the parity is pretty incredible. Usually, there are a few teams dominating already with 1 or 2 losses. Every team in the league has at least 5 losses already (Baltimore is only one with 4)!
May make for a very interesting season. The Tigers would dominate if they could only play 7 inning games...Bullpen is horrible.
Tigers are technically in first, but they're also only 1 game out of last place and have an abysmal minus 21 run differential after only 15 games. So to the OP's question, I agree that's it's tough to recall a gloomier outlook for a first place team at this point.
There are exactly two arms that are reasonably reliable in the bullpen. Both are named Wilson. When Ausmus gets on the phone and asks for anybody else, he might as well be ordering pizza.
They are going down with K-rod. He was good at one point in his career. The Tigers are great at picking up dudes who are on the backside of their careers and hoping like hell that they still have something left. The problem is, is that they rarely do.
I've always had a problem with the idea that only a "closer" can pitch the last inning. Especially with the Tigers. Just put a guy out there who can get outs. At this point it's all anybody wants to see.
Was cautiously optimistic they would take 2 of 3 from TB. But that series was just so brutal. Glad to know bullpen changes were made. I kind of can't believe they are where they are with so many big sticks not hitting and the bullpen not named Wilson being a trainwreck.
The White Sox and the Twins are horrific, probably losing 90+ each. The Royals are going to blow things up at the deadline in July. The Tigers will probably finish above .500. That might mean 82-80, but above .500 nonetheless. However, their bullpen issues guarantee that theyh won't be much above .500, either.
I'm no expert, but hasn't Zim been a real disappointment?
I don't think they should have thrown the asked-for money at Scherzer, but he at least has continued to perform. Not clear to me that it would make a difference for the Tigers, but still...
I wouldn't be surprised in the least to hear that Zimmerman is still injured. Here's the scary part of his contract: we signed him the split second BEFORE the pitching market went nanners that winter.
I would not have paid Scherzer the contract he wanted, either, even in hindsight. Pitch for 7 years and get paid for 14 or 15 years due to salary deferrment? Get out of here.
For me it's worth recognizing that, some rough starts aside, it seems like the organization has done a nice job compiling young starters. Verlander's resurgence helps too, of course. And there are some pieces in the order that are still good; just a lot of holes, and JD looks good to bolt this winter, too. Tough job to rebuild an entire outfield.
April 20th, 2017 at 10:24 PM ^
traded our top catalyst in Maybin for nothing. signed upton to a terrible deal. Avila is in way over his head.
April 20th, 2017 at 10:40 PM ^
Don't forget he brought back Al Avila.
We hadit good with DD and Old man Ilitch for 10 years. Might be a lot longer than that before Tiger fans are happy again.
April 20th, 2017 at 11:18 PM ^
Fair enough, wasn't really defending the front office so much as appreciating that we had some young arms as a salve for not paying huge amounts of money for Scherzer.
Was K-Rod an Avila guy too?
Agreed on Scherzer. They were already laboring under the huge contracts to Cabrera, Verlander, Sanchez (at the time it wasn't ludicrous, like now), V-Mart, and were (are) still paying off a portion of Prince Fielder's bloated deal. They made a $144 million offer to Max, and he said no. At some point, you've got to cut bait.
The problem is and continues to be the bullpen. Sadly I think they aretwo arms away from being really good. Unfortunately, those arms are no where in the system.
Ausmus contract year. He's finally going to lose it. The team is paper thin and any injuries hurt more. JD Upton Iglesias, geez thats 1/3 of the lineup
The reason the OF defense so bad.. Lets see, coverted IF, rookie, rookie.
I'm most worried about Vmart, He looks cooked.
K-Rod should now be called Blow-Rod.
It's 1984 all over again. They won the World Series on my 16th birthday that year :)
April 20th, 2017 at 10:53 PM ^
April 21st, 2017 at 12:46 AM ^
They'll finish worse off than the Brewers, book it. The bad news is, Milwaukee's rebuilding with young talent, Detroit isn't.
April 21st, 2017 at 10:39 AM ^
April 21st, 2017 at 11:41 AM ^