MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

Must have been a weak year for outfielders. Today, I'm not even certain he will catch a routine flyball. And I don't think he has hit a ball hard since he was brought up a few weeks ago.

 

Strip them of their title if they had that many roiders and give it to the Giants who had honest guys like JT Snow and Livan Hernandez and Bar… … well a bunch of mostly honest guys …

 

I'd do it if not for Marvin Benard, the dirtiest player on that team!

Just checked their B-R page and that team was a fucking trip. You could have given me guesses from now until July 4 and I never would have remembered their catcher was Benito Santiago, never mind that he ranked seventh on the team in WAR. Poor star-crossed Kenny Lofton ranked 11th despite playing only 46 games for the Giants.

 

But enough about Bernard’s helmet…

I think our opening day center fielder was Tsuyoshi Shinjo and was quietly sat down.

 

Smokey Jim Leyland may have been the greatest manager for using the reliever most likely to suck that particular day.

 

He had their 10th-most WAR, he couldn't have been that bad!

Shinjo was the guy the Mets signed instead of listening to Bobby Valentine and doing anything possible to sign Ichiro. Worked out well!

 

He was actually quite good in the field in his first few years and he’d hit just enough to keep him in the lineup.

But that was back when Obama was going to take everyone’s guns while Jade Helm played in the background.

 

He was tremendous--so good the Mets actually paid to lock him up long-term. Of course, it helped he couldn't hit and could be had at a discount, but still. He was a magician out there.

 

As SJ's resident Tigers fan, here's the lowdown. In short, there's been a lot of bizarre regression, some injuries and a little "what can go wrong will."

As mentioned, Cabrera is hitting .301. Sure, 40 of his 49 hits are singles, but I guess it just goes to show you that some skills never truly go.

In the realm of regression guys, Candelario has hit .291 and .271 in the last two seasons and is below the Mendoza line. Akil Baddoo, who the Tigers picked up off Rule 5 and turned into a free everyday outfielder, was so bad they sent him down to Toledo. Jonathan Schoop's batting average is down 80 points compared to 2020 and 2021. And Javy Baez is doing exactly what everyone thought Javy Baez would do, which is swing at everything, hit nothing and go back to the dugout and do crazy defensive things. Robbie Grossman, who was a useful piece in 2021, has been so bad, his on-base percentage (.311) is somehow higher than his slugging (.241).

In the injury realm, Meadows has been out for a month with vertigo and is supposed to be back in the lineup this week in Pittsburgh. As mentioned, Greene looked like a big leaguer in Lakeland and fouled a ball off his foot in the last week of camp and broke a bone. He is on a rehab assignment and will probably be in Detroit by mid-month.

As for Torkelson, I think he's actually belonged. The defense at first base has been pretty good, and he's got one of the lowest chase rates in baseball. He leads the team in walks, which says something about his eye, the rest of the Tigers' or both. The results just haven't come consistently yet. This isn't empirical, but rookie + deliberate eye has resulted in him getting hosed by trigger-happy home-plate umps more than anyone I think I've ever seen. And though I think those umpire evaluation metrics should definitely come with a grain of salt, the last I saw, the Tigers led baseball in runs lost due to bad home-plate umpiring. When it rains it pours, I guess.

For one two-day stretch this season, the Tigers first seven options at starting pitcher were all hurt. Eduardo Rodriguez is just coming off an IL stint for a lat, I think. Matt Manning's been out for six weeks with a shoulder. Casey Mize has been out for six weeks with an elbow sprain (yeah, I know about those). Big Mike Pineda got hit by a comebacker and broke a finger on his pitching hand. Tyler Alexander, who was very borderline to begin with, has been out for six weeks with elbow problems and is on a rehab (and will come back as a reliever). Spencer Turnbull threw that no-hitter around this time last year and had a Tommy John in like August.

The scary thing is that given that, things could be so much worse. Alex Faedo has been good, Beau Brieske pitched six innings in the Bronx last weekend and didn't throw up all over himself, and they've been getting half-decent contributions from very marginal guys. And Tarik Skubal has been a HORSE. (He got hit by a comebacker but he turned out to be OK) Best player on the team right now by a mile. The pitching coach, Chris Fetter, formerly of U. of Michigan, has made some huge strides. I mean, even the Tigers bullpen is pretty good this year. That's how many miracles he's been doing.

If the hitting regresses back toward even decent, they can still challenge for what I thought they might achieve this year, which is being within striking distance of .500 (they had gotten back to within 9 games of even before they got swept in the Bronx last weekend). It's not good, no, but it's not like 2019 where they're terrible because you know everybody sucks.

 

Skubal does look like the real deal. I like Torkelson. He isn't good yet, but the pieces are there. He's got serious power to go with that good eye. He and Greene should give them some nice pieces to build around.

One key for Torkelson is going to be to stick to his approach even if he is getting squeezed by umpires. Julio Rodriguez was having the same problem in April, but the production has come in the last month or so.

 

Cleveland barely even plays this season. I think they’ve been rained out eight or nine times now.

 

Health permitting, Rodriguez is going to be an absolute monster. He's sort of gangly and awkward now but you can see him figuring it out in real time. Give him a couple years to grow a bit leaner and get over the growing pains and watch out.