DET On Arrival

 

I'm gonna say this very plainly. At the very end of April, the Tigers were 16-16. At .500, in 2nd, still contending. And then the rotation got hurt. And so in May, in total, the Detroit Tigers won...six games. And lost 22. And now they're in last in a division where being over .500 seems like a feat. 

And you can't really go 'what happened?', because it's fairly obvious. The Tigers have some hitting assets but are helped along by strong pitching. When Skubal, Mize, Verlander, Olson and Jobe are all hurt, plus Kenley Jansen and Brant Hurter, you're left with this lineup having to fend for itself, and at its current incarnation they can't outhit most teams. Dillon Dingler, the catcher, has the most home runs on the team with 11. He's the only one with over 10. Riley Greene, as good as he's hitting, only has 5. And the people you'd otherwise rely upon, like Spencer Torkelson, Colt Keith and Kerry Carpenter, aren't hitting whatsoever. Carpenter has power but isn't balancing it out. Plus, with both Gleyber Torres and Javier Baez hurt, the Tigers are resorting to a down Zach McKinstry year covering 2nd everyday, and that doesn't work anymore. Especially with a breakout Kevin McGonigle year next to him.

And it's not as if Dingler's a bad player, but the team was built so that he wouldn't have to do this much. I don't think he was expected to be the Cal Raleigh type this year, at least not completely. But it seems like, somehow, the lineup depth has dissipated, and barring Greene, Dingler and McGonigle, this lineup doesn't really offer much.

I'm intrigued by some of the ways the Tigers are filling the rotation vacancies though. They're going with Troy Melton in Skubal's spot essentially, and that's working, he's got a 1.42 ERA through his first two starts. They also tried out Ty Madden in Mize's spot tonight, and that didn't go quite as well. Otherwise, the Tigers are going with Jack Flaherty, who's worn out from a few consecutive full seasons, Framber Valdez, who also seems a bit wrung out and not his usual, dominant self, and Keider Montero who's been pretty good. But without Skubal, they've been equalized, and nearly every team in the AL Central's been taking advantage. Even with a huge offensive swell over the Rays tonight, it's not gonna be a shutout thanks to the Tigers' pitching.

The way through this awful stretch is a rebound of full-squad health, and I don't know if they'll get that til July at this rate. For now, they need an offensive upswing, and to get the heck out of last. Games like tonight's will help, but only if they can keep runs down in addition.

Coming Tomorrow- The Marlins dealt him. The A's cut him. And the Reds are watching him deliver a surprise smash of a month for them.