Uncustomed Heroes of 2023: Tigers

 

For a noncompetitive team, the Detroit Tigers managed to do a lot of very intriguing things throughout this season. And it starts with the fact that, despite going 78-84, the Tigers ended 2023 in second place. Over the Guardians. 

I mean...looking at this team, there's not a TON that screams second place. Good players, of course. Great performances, a no-hitter in there, and some great youth down the stretch. But this is a very mediocre team that made it to 2nd because they had the least things go wrong in the last stretch. Thanks to their reinforcements and healthy additions, the Tigers had an excellent September, which should, in theory, be a prelude to better times.

I hate to say it, though, but someone who might not be around long enough to experience the Tigers being good is Akil Baddoo. He was excellent in his rookie season in 2021, and hasn't delivered a full campaign worthy of that start yet. In 112 games, Baddoo hit .218 with 11 homers and 20 more strikeouts than hits. 

2024 Prediction: Mark Canha will ensure that Baddoo doesn't have to start as much, and he'll be better off as a bench guy.

This season marked the Tigers moving away from Eric Haase behind the plate and towards Jake Rogers, who made himself known with a strong start. Rogers actually finished the season with the 2nd-most home runs on the Tigers, which is interesting considering that Javier Baez, Austin Meadows and Jonathan Schoop were also on this team at one point. Rogers, in 107 games, hit .221 with 49 RBIs, and secured the position while Haase was dealt to Cleveland.

2024 Prediction: Rogers has maybe a year or so before the Tigers go with a homegrown, above-replacement-level choice, so he'll do well enough next year. 

In a year where the bullpen options in Detroit were better than ever [even without Jimenez and Soto], Alex Lange put on another understated but powerful season. Lange was given the all-powerful closing gig, and in 67 games had a 7-5 record, a 3.68 ERA and 26 saves. It remains to be seen whether Lange is a professional closer or just a great reliever, but what he did during this season was pretty nice.

2024 Prediction: Keeps the ninth. Breaks 30.

The Tigers' rotation was beaten up to begin the season, but then slowly people started getting activated and joining the fun. No, Casey Mize was not one of them, but his two battery-mates definitely showed up. Matt Manning got 15 games this year and got back to business, including being part of that no-hitter, and going 5-4 with a 3.58 ERA and 50 Ks. Manning just needs a full, healthy season and he'll be alright.

2024 Prediction: 30 games, 10+ wins, the undivided attention of the league.

You also had Tarik Skubal popping in midyear, having an even sharper 15 game run. Skubal went 7-3 with a 2.80 ERA and 102 Ks, a terrific stretch that brought to mind his early successes in 2020. 

2024 Prediction: A monster first half that will reassure fans that he can carry the rotation.

After coming up in Arlington and struggling to find a niche, Andy Ibañez found himself as an acceptable starting 2nd base option in Detroit, and he actually didn't do too badly for himself. In 114 games he hit .264 with 11 home runs, 41 RBIs and some nice defensive play. I do see him as a replacement guy for this period, but he's a sharp piece. 

2024 Prediction: His importance will decrease as the youth solidifies itself in this infield.

And then, while all the other pitchers were hurt, the Tigers brought up a rookie hurler named Reese Olson, and he actually was a pretty satisfying choice for a seat-filler. The 23-year-old Olson finished his rookie year with a 3.99 ERA  with 103 Ks in 17 games. With the crowded field only slightly decreasing with Eduardo Rodriguez's departure, Olson will need similar numbers to make 2024 work.

2024 Prediction: Doesn't start the season in the rotation, but has some crucial starts down the stretch.

And then there were these two rookies that showed up towards the end of the year. Parker Meadows was one. The truly upsetting thing about this season is because of his brother Austin's issues with anxiety this year, there was never a moment where both Meadows brothers suited up for the Tigers, and with Austin a free agent that's not a thing that'll happen in Detroit. Parker did manage to have a nice season, though, hitting .232 with 13 RBIs in 37 games.

2024 Prediction: The outfield spot is not his yet, but once the Tigers figure out who their new DH is, he might get some more chances to start.

And then you have another Tigers pitching prospect. One of, like, 7 or so in this roster. Sawyer Gipson-Long got 4 starts at the MLB level, and did pretty well for himself, with a 2.70 ERA and 26 Ks. Is this a season that would have happened had everyone stayed healthy? No. But it is a preview of what the Tigers could be getting more frequently soon enough.

2024 Prediction: There is, in all actuality, a chance that Gipson-Long makes the rotation out of camp. It's not 100%, as Joey Wentz and Alex Faedo still exist, and I honestly think it won't happen right away. But when it does happen, the Tigers will be happy with what they see from him.

Coming Tomorrow- The Twins won their first playoff series in 30 years, and some of these guys helped with that.

While I Was Out..

 

Usually I catch wind of a no-hitter, or prospective no-hitter, as it's happening. I check the score around the 6th, check back later and it's been broken up. Something like that. 

I had no idea the Tigers had pitched a combined no-hitter yesterday til after it happened. I was already intent on getting out of New York City and onto the train headed home, and so I just didn't check the scores. So by the time I'm seated on the train, decompressing, the game's already ended. The no-hitter's already in the books. I was caught a little off-guard.

The Tigers this year are a bad team that have enough moments of being defiantly good that they can't quite be predictable. They can be crushed by the A's and then they can crush the A's. They can get off to a hot stretch to end May and then flatten again through June. You can't call a team whose only ASG rep is Michael Lorenzen predictable. So the Tigers being able to no-hit the Blue Jays is something I never would have predicted. 

Matt Manning going 7 strong, maybe. Jason Foley and Alex Lange being lights out, sure. But this very mediocre team overpowering a team that should still be a figure in the playoff race this year? That astounded me, and I'm kinda glad we can produce a baseball climate where something like that can happen. 

The Tigers have Manning back, and they now have Tarik Skubal back, and with Reese Olson joining them to back Rodriguez and Lorenzen, they have a relatively good rotation heading into the second half. This no-no may be a fluke, but they may get a little better now that we know what the pitching can do.

Bad Time to be a Manning

 

The NFL season starts this week. And ESPN is already prepping its Monday night showcase of having multiple Manning brothers commentating the game while eating food or lying down or something fun. And then Peyton and Cooper are still hosting their game show on NBC. And I assume Archie is probably doing something lucrative as well. It's generally a good time to be named Manning.

...Except if you're Matt Manning, and you're stuck pitching in Detroit with little to no help.

The Tigers, even with all the contracts, have been notoriously bad. Only three players have a WAR higher than 1, and while one of them is, in fact, Javier Baez, one of the other two, Tarik Skubal, is injured, and the other one is Erik Haase, who was supposed to be just a backup piece all year. Everybody else, including all the rookies, and especially all of the starters, have been underperforming. You have Riley Greene, Jeimer Candelario, Spencer Torkelson and Jonathan Schoop on this team and none of them are really exciting people. Greene is getting there, and could be a standout next year, but he's bogged down with the mediocrity of this team.

And then you have Manning, who was injured for most of the year, coming back to Tarik Skubal gone, Peralta and Pineda DFA'd, DREW HUTCHISON being relied upon for innings, and people like Tyler Alexander having to start games. The good news is Eduardo Rodriguez is finally back, and he returned in a way that I didn't even know he was back until JUST NOW, but even he's not at peak Eddie form right now. Manning, to his credit, has a 3.86 ERA and 35 Ks in 9 starts, but just one young starter alone isn't enough. Joey Wentz is up and starting and he's not doing too memorably either. And you can go 'oh, if we get Mize, Skubal, Manning, Brieske and Rodriguez all healthy next year it'll be great' but then something else will go wrong. 

Here's how I sum up this team. Ryan Kreidler has been up for 7 games and he's already ninth in WAR on this team. Being up for 7 games, playing great defense and hitting .250 makes you more valuable to the team than Tucker Barnhart, Eduardo Rodriguez or Jonathan Schoop. 

I wanna believe it'll be better next season but I thought this season would be an improvement. And now that Detroit has Lions fever, another losing Tigers season is gonna be even more heartbreaking. Hopefully this team can do something, or else they're gonna be irrelevant for a while longer.

Coming Tonight [?]: A starter just trying to get innings in for a very weak team.

Uncustomed Heroes of 2021: Tigers

 

The 2021 Detroit Tigers. Uh...look, if it weren't for Miguel Cabrera, pretty much every Tigers team from 2015 til now would just be the mid-to-late-90s Brewers. Who the hell came out of those teams? Nobody even close to a Hall of Famer hiding in there. Jeff Cirillo? Jeromy Burnitz? Mike Matheny? Just a wasteland for people who are kinda good but never really get anywhere.

The Tigers made it to third this year on the strength of performances like Casey Mize, Jeimer Candelario, Akil Baddoo and Robbie Grossman. Aside from them, there wasn't a ton going on. The Tigers' usual band of young players tried making an impact, and a lot of them failed.

Willi Castro was the starting 2nd baseman this year, essentially warming it up for Niko Goodrum, who'll probably be starting there as Javier Baez takes short. Castro hit .220 with 91 hits in 125 games.

2022 Prediction: Will fade into the background as a utility backup and maybe have some contact moments.

Harold Castro had the better season of the two, and hit .283 with 37 RBIs in 106 games. He's clearly not at the level that he was a few years ago when coming up, but he's become a relatively useful piece, with a bit more upsides than Willi Castro and Victor Reyes.

2022 Prediction: A smaller role, then waived somewhere for him to get very hot in August. 

A surprising starting tool for the Tigers was former Brewers starter Wily Peralta, who made his way up around midyear and went from a bullpen piece to a starter. In 18 starts he had a 3.07 ERA, using small-ball, less Ks and more control to stifle opposing batters, despite a 4-5 record.

2022 Prediction: He'll make camp with somebody, maybe even the Tigers again, but I doubt he'll make the team.

And the last of the highly-touted Tigers starting prospects to make the bigs was Matt Manning, who joined Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal in the rotation this year. Manning went 4-7 with a 5.80 ERA in 18 starts, and, like Peralta and Mize, not a ton of strikeout numbers. 

2022 Prediction: A few more-big game starts, and 10 wins to boot.

Tomorrow, some reasons why the Twins came in last.