We Got TWO MustC videos!!!

The Tigers catchers were flashing their gloves in defensive wizardry the other day vs. Texas. Watch the awesomeness!!

 http://m.mlb.com/det/video/topic/47076644/v1410935683/must-c-catches-mccann-avila-make-fantastic-grabs


We also had the bats going in full force, starting in the 1st inning. We haven't done this in the first inning since 2013.

http://m.mlb.com/det/video/topic/47076644/v1410412083/must-c-combo-tigers-go-backtobacktoback-in-1st 

I wish I could post them so they look like a video, but this is all I know how to do. Enjoy!

J.D. Martinez

How about J.D. Martinez, huh?

Last year, he misses seven weeks, has no rehab assignment, comes back and promptly hits a home run off none other than Chris Sale. This year, he spends seven weeks or so on the DL again, comes back and singles in his first at bat, but hits TWO home runs in his second game back!!!

I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, with him missing fourteen weeks (roughly) in just a couple of months, we might get to keep him this off-season. But, when he comes back like this, I just don't know. 

The other thing in our favor is, free agents are no longer going to be getting the huge payouts and players can't get huge raises, thanks to the salary caps, luxury taxes, and penalties for going over. It may not matter, we may still lose him, but at least this is good news for other guys who will become stars (say, Michael Fulmer). 

I obviously have no clue what will take place in the off-season or anytime before that, but you might just want to savor this now. Enjoy watching J.D. play, because you might not get to see it for much longer.  

All Star Voting

The email arrives and I sigh as I roll my eyes. Those same eyes turn to check the calendar. Yep, we are one month into the season and we're voting for the July All-Star game. Am I the only one who sees a problem here?

I try to be really upbeat and positive in general and especially here. But I have to point out what I view as a major problem.

TIMING
All-Star voting starts one month after the season starts. What that means is, there are players who are off to torrid starts who will cool, players who are starting off slow who will heat up, and players who are on the DL now. Fans have the unfortunate tendency to vote based on current numbers, not track records, or they look at the wrong numbers.

Two examples from the Tigers (because that's what I know best) are Jim Adduci and J.D. Martinez. It would be lunacy to vote Adduci into the All-Star game now because A) he might not even be in the Majors by July and B) he won't sustain the way he's hitting right now. J.D., on the other hand, has missed the entire season so far, so he won't get hardly any votes, based on past voting patterns. 

LOOKING AT THE WRONG THINGS
Here is the problem with how people vote - they vote based on hitting only and what your team did. Hitting changes. Players go through slumps. A really good hitter can be in a slump when he goes to the All-Star game. The flip side is, no one seems to really care about defense. I don't care how good he is as a hitter, if he's not the best defender, don't vote for him. 

The way I try to vote is a mix. I'd prefer to have a guy who is a better defender than hitter, but I usually try to pick guys who are pretty good at both (disclamer: I honestly believe we have several guys like that on the Tigers).  

To give another example, I'm voting for Alex Avila for catcher. He won't win, but I'm voting for him anyway. James McCann will be an All-Star someday, but for now, Avila is the better defender and, especially at catcher, you want a premier defender. I really don't even care about hitting for the All-Star catcher. He needs to be a brick wall behind the plate. 

I mentioned people vote on how teams perform and that's not fair to certain players. When the Royals were winning big for the past two years, they got so many players into the All-Star game. I'm not saying they're not good players, but it's not fair to exclude really good players, just because their team isn't performing as well. 

I don't have any numerical evidence to back up these claims, I'm simply stating the trends I've seen. I don't mind people voting for their team's players, unless their player is not good enough. There were several years when I didn't vote for Castellanos at third because there were simply much better options. I think he has earned the trust to go to the All-Star game. Do I think he will? No. But he has become a player that is good enough at his position. 

The solution to this problem? Postpone the voting until June. June 1st the All-Star game voting starts and you have about a month to vote. That's plenty of time and it will give a better sample size to see who really is having an All-Star worthy year. 

Outfield: Defense or Offense? Must We Choose?

There is a Detroit Free Press article (pardon the word usage) that makes the case that, when JaCoby Jones is healthy, the Tigers have a dilemma: is their outfield going to be know for it's offense or defense?

The dilemma stems from Jones himself, a premier defender, possibly one of the best centerfielders in the game, but a poor batter (at least for now in the Majors). His fill ins, Jim Aducci, Tyler Collins, & Andrew Romine, are better batters (again, at least for now) but poorer defenders (comparatively).

I would make a counter argument to the Freep article - we don't have to choose. 

Looking at defense, Jones is a great one by all accounts. Lloyd McClendon sings his praises (something we're told rarely happens) and Jones has looked good in center in his time in Detroit. However, all that does not make the other options bad. The sport writer community here in Detroit seems to believe that Collins or Aducci in the outfield is a liability. (Romine generally plays infield, but he has shown some skill in the outfield too, of course). Now, I don't have all the numbers, but numbers can be misleading. Supposedly, we have a below-average outfield when we are healthy. I have a very hard time believing that, but that's for another time. Putting Collins, Aducci, or even Mahtook in the outfield is not a liability. They're not going to hurt you out there. Maybe they won't make a play that Jones would have made, but they aren't Jones. Not everyone is a premier defender or they wouldn't call them premier.

If you read the article, Seidel gives the example of a ball Collins laid out for and couldn't quite haul in. The opinion is expressed that Jones probably would have made the catch, saving the runs and the Tigers would have won. Maybe. Maybe Jones would have caught that ball and those particular runs wouldn't have scored, but other runs could have and we had the opportunity to win in the 9th and didn't capitalize. It was a close game and we just lost.

Switching over to offense, Jones was struggling a bit before he went on the DL. Not really surprising, considering the Tigers wanted to leave him at Triple A at least for the beginning of the year, until J.D. got hurt. He's a rookie trying to hit Major League pitching. I think we should expect some struggles. Collins has been hitting well, Aducci is on fire (he'll most likely come down out of the atmosphere at some point), and Romine is, well, Romine. Enough said. Mahtook has a low batting average, but he's also not had much playing time. If the Tigers went with Jones, our lineup is able to handle it if he struggles. But would that be good for Jones?

In the spring, the Tigers kept saying they wanted Jones to develop more before coming up. An injury forced their hand, but with Collins and Aducci doing so well, why not just leave Jones in Toledo until you need him? If Aducci begins to struggle, then call Jones back. (There might be something in here about how many options Jones has, but I know nothing about that, so I can't address it).

My thought is this: Collins and Aducci are solid in the outfield and are hitting. If you stick with them, you'll be fine. Jones is stellar in center and we could deal with him struggling. I don't see major issues with either choice and I don't think we'd be harmed by either one. Might one be better for us? Maybe. But then we are picking from two viable options, not which one will be less damaging. 

 

Help From Unlikely Places

Miguel Cabrera? J.D. Martinez? JaCoby Jones? Who are they?

It's never good to lose players to the DL, especially for a lengthy period of time, but it's always made easier when your replacement players step up to the plate (no pun intended). That is EXACTLY what John Hicks and Jim Aducci have done for the Tigers. 

Not that there is room for them to stay, but when our starters get back, I think it's going to be hard to send these guys back down. They've hit well and been plus defenders. We certainly weren't hindered by them in any way. Now, we definitely miss our starters and I'm super excited that Cabrera is coming back today, but it is nice to know that we have such capable players to call upon when there are injuries. 



Do you have a topic you'd like me to talk about here? A certain aspect of the Tigers or baseball you'd like to know my thoughts on? Send me an email at smylinggirly.blog@gmail.com, or leave your question in the comments!

Don't Freak Out

I'm not going to spend too much time on this, but...

DON'T FREAK OUT YET!!!!!!

It's only eight games in and, already, the topic of "discussion" is the bullpen. I seriously think that even if we got a bullpen like the Royals had a couple years ago, the sports writers would still complain. I think that all they know now is to worry about the bullpen. I think the fans are conditioned to gripe about our relievers. 

The thing is - and I know you've never heard this before from me - no team will be great at every position. 

Let that sink in for a moment.

You CAN NOT have a superb offense, defense, starting rotation, & bullpen. It's not realistic. One or more of those will be at least average. You can hope for average. But you can't have an above average team in everything. 

If that's what you want and/or, are expecting, then maybe sports isn't your thing. I'd recommend writing fantasy novels. 

Eight games in people. Let's not sound the alarm yet. 

 

A Fresh Start // Opening Day 2017

Opening Day is my favorite secular holiday. 

I know it's not a holiday according to the calendar, but it should be. Baseball is back and it's a fresh start. In the Anne of Green Gables series, Anne says, "Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it." That's what a new baseball season is like. A clean slate with limitless possibilities. On Opening Day, everyone has a chance at October. 

For some reason, there are those in baseball who seem to think it's necessary to predict who will do what, what the standings will look like, etc. I don't understand this tendency and I ignore all the numbers and predictions for two reasons that are interconnected:

1. There are no major injuries yet. Sure, you might start the year without a player for a little while, but you're not without several key players at the same time like you might be later on. A team with all the potential in the world can't win if they aren't a whole team for prolonged periods of time. 
2. Baseball is finicky. There is so much luck in baseball. Games can be won or lost on a seeing-eye hit, a bloop single, or any other crazy little thing that isn't anyone's fault. A player can get injured on an innocent play. You never know. 

Tigers fans can attest that these things are true, and I'm sure many other teams' fans can as well. It comes down often to who has the least amount of injuries and how many of those injuries are with your pitching. Because, as we all know, it all comes down to pitching.

But we don't need to worry about all that yet. That's all in the future. For now, sit back, turn on your TV or radio, and relax, because....

IT'S OPENING DAY!!!!!!!