I think we will learn this year/next year if the simple narrative that Ilitch is cheap holds up to actual test.
I know it doesn’t count for most here, but if he was cheap he wouldn’t have spent the 50m plus to beef up the internal system and stadiums for the players he has. He didn’t have to sign Keith early.
The Rays are amazing in how they draft, develop and then trade the good players away for more young players and draft picks when they get expensive. They are always competitive but they aint ever gonna win it all. So it’s just a never ending cycle of slightly better than mediocre.
Tigers have been trending that way for the last 3-5 years with regards to finding talent. Avila’s last few drafts and Harris has built on that along with better development staff.
Nope because they dont like to spend. Tigers aren’t close to them on that term of how they develop players
Whats talent though? Just cause they are good in minors doesn’t mean nothing to they make the majors.
Another issue with baseball is players aren’t cheap before free agency. As soon as they hit year 4 they start arbitration based on performance. The Jays for example are paying Vladdy 30 mill this year and he hasn’t even hit free agency yet. So small market teams have to trade the guys very early cause they can make so much in ARB.
Essentially players can outplay themselves from the franchise.
Fair point, but you have to show it in the minors before you can show it in the majors unlike the other professional sports.
Tigers seemed to have good to excellent players in Skubal, Meadows, Keith, Carpenter all home grown.
Now we see what Dillinger, Jobe bring this season and next season. With plenty of others coming behind them.
But, I’ve always been a glass half full guy and don’t approach it with a negative mindset.
It’s a puff piece and while I’m encouraged he needs to keep it up in order to make me a believer. MLB pitchers will adjust, can he adjust back then we will see.
I really hope he has turned a corner would be a huge piece for the Tigers.
The results were nothing short of stellar. The swing Torkelson displayed in rollaway cages and live batting practice sessions this spring featured only subtle changes. A more narrow stance. A change in posture with a hint of bend at the waist. A slightly different load. All the adjustments were nearly undetectable to the untrained eye. But somewhere in the early days of spring, teammate Riley Greene observed Torkelson’s tweaks. He could sense something big was coming.
“Once he told me about (the changes) and once I saw, I was like, ‘OK, this is really good,’” Greene said.
Torkelson accomplished his goal to be more athletic in the batter’s box. The statue-like swing that plagued him in the past — pretty in every picture but effective only when he ran into the right pitch — was gone. Instead, Torkelson began covering the entire plate, smashing balls to the big part of the field and tapping into his unquestioned raw power. He hit .340. Crushed five home runs. Finished the spring with a 1.069 OPS. The Tigers even tried him in the outfield as a means of helping him function on the roster.
“I’m very proud of Tork,” manager A.J. Hinch said the day before the Tigers opened their season, “because I feel like there have been portions of our time here together where he’s had the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
Of course, the big question is what will happen when the brutal nature of baseball eventually disrupts Torkelson’s hot streak. How will he handle things when the line drives pop into fielders’ gloves? How can he make sure he keeps listening to the voice on the right side of his shoulders even after he loses a few battles?
“Just trusting that it works,” Torkelson said. “Even when sometimes it’s gonna be an 0-for-6 but I stayed with that plan, I have to go into that seventh at-bat with that same exact plan, trusting that if I do that over 600 ABs, it’s gonna work out in my favor.”
If Torkelson can rediscover the 30-homer version of himself and get on base a tick more often, too, it would be a massive boon to a Tigers lineup still in need of thump and consistency.
a totally different story from last year down the stretch - when it seemed like our BA’s were trash, but we somehow scored enough runs. It’ll even out (right?).
Gleyber to IL, oblique. Be a few weeks. Tork’s leash gets longer.
JHM called up
Keith back to 2nd base I guess.
Our infield is less crowded.
This Jays fan keeps telling you guys… Tork is having a monster season. Trade us Tork please.
Really sucks to lose Torres already. WTF. So many injuries around baseball opening weekend.
JHM looked good all ST him and Tork both…
Tiger’s inheriting Lions injury bug…
Goal right now is to stay awake for first two innings… only one more night of these late night west coast games…thank goodness.
yea, this dipa isn’t going to help me in this pursuit.
Ughh, 17min til first pitch…i’m dyin here
Malloy with a lead off double
Carpenter with an RBI single
1-0 Tigers two batters in…
