Something Has Clicked in Detroit

 

Even as I'm aware that the Tigers will likely be sellers this deadline, and will likely be shopping Michael Lorenzen and possibly some relief pieces. But the remainder of the pieces of this team that are free agents relatively soon are injured, and there's so many who are under team control for the foreseeable future and probably won't be dealt. So it might just be Lorenzen.

And then I just looked at the rest of this team and...it made sense. What had been an indistinct mess of different gameplans and ideas is now beginning to look like a unified, organized vision for a Tigers team going forward. So, uh...I guess if they lose people at the deadline it's not gonna really hurt them too much.

Losing a starter in Lorenzen, which hasn't happened yet but probably will, will only set the team back slightly. Lorenzen's been a great addition, with a 3.49 ERA and a 1.093 WHIP in 17 starts, providing consistency and flair during Rodriguez's injury stint. But as good as Lorenzen is, he's only there to fuel the next generation. That he was pushed into a leading role in the first half is more the fault of injuries than his own dominance, but he's done a lot for this team. Right now both Matt Manning and Tarik Skubal are healthy and thriving; Manning already has a combined no-no under his belt, while Skubal has a 0.882 WHIP in his first 4 starts back. 

If Lorenzen goes, the rotation will consist of Manning, Skubal, Rodriguez, Reese Olson, and either Alex Faedo or Joey Wentz, probably Wentz cause he's done 16 starts. And then you still have Boyd and Turnbull as short term options, Mize coming back eventually, and Sawyer Gipson-Long somewhere in the picture as the team goes forward. That's...pretty decent going forward. There's incentives in place to keep things from scattering into disarray as they did when Mize, Skubal and Manning all got hurt.

Meanwhile, the lineup actually seems compact and concise. Some of the dead weight has been dropped, Jonathan Schoop's been cut, Jake Marisnick's elsewhere, and they seem to have a pretty compact group of 13 guys that are doing the right thing. Andy Ibanez has seemed to take 2nd base, Nick Maton has been starting more at 3rd but ceding more to Zach McKinstry on the offensive side, Vierling and Kerry Carpenter are bobbing for right field but still factoring into the team's future plans, and there's enough flexibility with the eventual return of Austin Meadows considering Akil Baddoo and Miguel Cabrera's relative disposability. 

With Riley Greene playing well, Spencer Torkelson's power bat heating up and the bullpen producing several nice seasons, the Tigers might actually be building something here, and one can only hope that it can be sustained once Mize and Meadows come back.

Coming Tonight: Bursting onto the scene like a bat out of hell and hitting for power like only few Reds before him, a guy who's making sure we don't count out Cincinnati just yet.