Foley Artist

 

...I'm sorry, I still don't get it.

Like, I get if you have a list, and you keep knocking off the guys at the top of the list because they're injured. Like 'Eduardo Rodriguez won't make the All-Star Game, he's injured...Riley Greene can't make the All-Star Game, he's injured'...and, like, you've gotta go far enough down the list to find someone relevant but not too far down to find someone who isn't playing well. 

And as I've figured out with many years of analyzing ASG ballots, different managers have different opinions on middle relievers. Ned Yost, when he'd manage the AL team, he'd put up like 4 or 5 middle relievers. People like Brad Brach, Darren O'Day, Kelvin Herrera and Chris Devenski were All-Stars because of Yost. Dellin Betances was like a 4-time All-Star because of Yost. Meanwhile, Dusty Baker only has 1 true middle reliever on this ASG team right now, and it's Yennier Cano, because Yennier Cano is THE middle-reliever of the moment. 

So to me, the logical choice for a Tigers ASG nominee was Jason Foley. On one hand, Foley is a middle reliever who nobody's heard of, didn't do much til this season and doesn't look the same as many of his contemporaries. Neither does Yennier Cano. Foley is one of the few things the Tigers can take away from their current season that isn't injured right now. In 37 innings, Foley has a 2.17 ERA, 33 Ks and only 9 earned runs. And it's not like AL managers haven't gone to the middle-relief well for the Tigers before. Most of the time, in the last few seasons, the Tigers will only get one ASG nod, and it will be a middle reliever. Joe Jimenez, Gregory Soto, Shane Greene even if he was closing games. For several years running, this has been the gig for the Tigers. So it's not unheard of.

Therefore I surmise that the reason Dusty Baker went with Michael Lorenzen over Jason Foley was out of a necessity to confuse the shit out of everyone in the league.

I have no problem with Lorenzen. He's a fun player with a lot of range that's been used in several roles for several different people. He was an excellent relief piece for the Reds, he proved he could start with the Angels last year, and so far in Detroit he's been one of the few healthy starting options remaining. But that can't be your only criteria. Not 'we wanted a Tigers starter but all the good ones were injured'. Lorenzen is doing fine this year, his ERA's 4.28 and he's 2-6, but 'fine' is basically all he's been. This isn't really befitting of an ASG nod to me. If Lorenzen was gonna make an ASG team, it honestly should have been as a member of the 2019 Reds. I'm glad he's getting this honor finally, as he's a great player, but it just seems a little short-sighted when better Tigers choices like Foley are right there.

I will give Dusty Baker credit. He's done this inexplicably while also still doing things I could have guessed he was gonna do, like slide Kyle Tucker into an open slot despite the fact that he's only alright this year. I think for the most part he knows what he's doing, but I've just accepted that there's some stuff I'm not gonna understand. I appreciate him putting up 2 more players from the city the game will be played in, that tends to help.

Coming Tonight: Was it really just a simple change of scenery that could bring this guy back?