fb

Latest News:

A.J. Hoggard has hilarious wardrobe malfunction during Michigan State vs. Mississippi State game

Michigan State guard A.J. Hoggard has hilarious wardrobe malfunction during win over Mississippi State.

Photo of Kentucky girl goes viral following loss to Oakland University

Kentucky girl goes viral after Oakland University sharp shooter ruined her night!

Dylan Larkin Says Detroit Red Wings Feel They ‘Belong in the Playoffs’

Dylan Larkin Says Detroit Red Wings belong in the playoffs following Thursday's win over the Islanders.

Nobody could have predicted the Detroit Tigers would be this bad

I can’t fathom how bad the Detroit Tigers have been this season.  When you rewind a few months and recall just how optimistic most of us were about the team this year and look at what they’ve provided us thus far, it is enough to make a person nauseous.

Sure, the organization has been stricken by injury at what feels like a record pace, but injuries are part of the game.  Manager A.J. Hinch mentioned earlier in the season that opposing teams will not feel bad for this club, and the healthy players need to go out and perform.  That’s the problem, though; essentially, no one is performing well.

Before the start of the 2022 season, if you were to ask me what my biggest concern is surrounding the Tigers, I would have promptly answered with; their bullpen.  Little do I know.  Ironically, their bullpen has been basically their only strength this year aside from starting pitcher Tarik Skubal.

The Detroit Tigers, despite missing their entire Opening Day rotation aside from Skubal, are getting solid contributions from a mix-and-matched starting rotation.  The Tigers are not losing games due to the laundry list of injuries to Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Eduardo Rodriquez, and Michael Pineda.  They’re losing games due to their abysmal offense.

We’re heading into the Memorial Day Weekend, and the Detroit Tigers have won exactly one series this season.

http://gty.im/1398359540

What is wrong with the Detroit Tigers?

This was supposed to be a team hovering around .500 and within striking distance of a Wild Card spot throughout the month of September.

A couple of months ago, I looked up and down Detroit’s starting lineup and was excited.  Was I worried about a recession from players like Akil Baddoo, Eric Haase, and Robbie Grossman?  Sure, but what we’ve seen is more than a recession, plus it’s a lot more than just those three.  The Detroit Tigers are getting basically no consistent offense for anyone.

You quickly realize just how bad this season could potentially be as the summer wears on. Baddoo is in Toledo; Haase doesn’t even appear to be a fraction of the threat at the plate he was last season.  Robbie Grossman, who hit 23 home runs last year, isn’t hitting with any type of power.  Then you add the struggles of Jonathan Schoop, Javier Baez, Jeimer Candelario, and Spencer Torkelson. Of that group, the only player hitting above .200 is Baez at .201.   There is no reason why Miguel Cabrera is pacing any MLB offense at this stage of his career, but that is just what’s happening in Detroit.

Cabrera takes a team-leading 18 RBIs into tonight’s game with Cleveland. He’s also slashing a team-best .300/.346/.753 among the regulars.

Also, I hate to break it to you, but the Detroit Tigers can’t even look to Toledo for help because there are simply no players worthy of a promotion aside from Kody Clemens, who should have been recalled weeks ago now.

Help is on the way for the Detroit Tigers, but will it be enough?

http://gty.im/1224917751

Sure, Riley Greene is on his way back, but I don’t expect he will make much of an impact on the offensive side of things this season.  The hope all along was for both of Detroit’s top position players (Torkelson and Greene) to get their feet wet in 2022 and prepare for takeoff in 2023.  What I mean is, I expected they’d play every day, get a feel for what life and expectations are in the big leagues, and hit the ground running next season.  Don’t forget that highly touted players like Mike Trout and Barry Bonds struggled as rookies. We need to curb our overall expectations for these top prospects in year one but look forward to what they will provide the organization with in the future.

If you’ve been following the MLB this season, you’re likely aware that offense has been down across the league due to a ‘dead ball.’  That being said, Detroit is currently on pace to score just 460 or so runs this season, well under what this franchise achieved back in 2003.  Just the thought of that is cringe-worthy.  Are you mentally prepared for a 100-plus loss season?

[irp]

There are plenty of questions to ponder as the year goes on, but one thing is for sure, the Detroit Tigers need to make some profound changes this offseason if they continue this pace for the remainder of the season. Do you think manager A.J. Hinch will exercise the opt-out in his contract and skip town following the season? Al Avila can’t survive this, can he?

Newsletter

Don't miss

Michigan Football Assistant Greg Scruggs Resigns

Greg Scruggs Resigns from the Michigan Football Program.

Juwan Howard releases statement after being fired by Michigan

Juwan Howard releases statement two days after being being fired.

Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes Attends Alabama Pro Day

Brad Holmes Attends Alabama Pro Day and he got a good look at some top players.

Detroit Lions re-sign Scott Daly

The Detroit Lions just announced the re-signing of one of their own.

Photo of Kentucky girl goes viral following loss to Oakland University

Kentucky girl goes viral after Oakland University sharp shooter ruined her night!
Bob Heyrman
Bob Heyrman
Bob currently serves as the Editorial Director at Detroit Sports Nation. Bob's writing is comparable to the third starter in a rotation. Sometimes he throws junk that finds the barrel of the bat and gets smacked over the fence, but the odd time he can toss a complete game shutout. Bob is a passionate lifelong Detroit sports fan. Bob loves the city and can often be found downtown taking in a sporting event or a cold beverage at a local watering hole.

A.J. Hoggard has hilarious wardrobe malfunction during Michigan State vs. Mississippi State game

Michigan State guard A.J. Hoggard has hilarious wardrobe malfunction during win over Mississippi State.

Photo of Kentucky girl goes viral following loss to Oakland University

Kentucky girl goes viral after Oakland University sharp shooter ruined her night!

Dylan Larkin Says Detroit Red Wings Feel They ‘Belong in the Playoffs’

Dylan Larkin Says Detroit Red Wings belong in the playoffs following Thursday's win over the Islanders.

1 COMMENT

  1. My friend Keith and I have been grousing about the Tigers, specifically Al Avila, for the last couple of years. We recently joked about starting a blog fireAlAvila.com à la fireJoeMorgan.com that was popular a few years ago.
    Specifically, Al Avila is a bad baseball man and a poor evaluator of baseball talent. His one claim to fame is finding Miguel Cabrera 20 years ago. I think he has run out of currency on that find.
    Let’s see if we can build a case to fire Al Avila. Initially I was a bit perplexed that my friend Keith and I seemed to be the only ones calling for Avila to be fired – voices crying out from the wilderness. Now “calling for” is a bit of an exaggeration because we don’t have a microphone. So I did a search and found a “fire Al Avila” article on your website.
    Naturally there was nothing from the Detroit papers. Those guys are useless tools. But naturally they jumped on the “fire Jim Harbaugh” bandwagon even though Jimmy is performing at a high level. Everybody seemed to forget that Lloyd Carr went 1-6 against Tressel and the gulf just widened exponentially from there with each subsequent mis-hire. But I digress.
    As I said, my search turned up an article on your website. The article made the main point that Avila has been in-charge for five years and the team is foundering. He’s let first-tier players go and gotten next to nothing in return.
    I am just going to point out a team salary comparison based on 2022 payroll. According to spotrac.com the Tigers’ 2022 26-man roster payroll is $98 mil. Sorting by win pct. We have:
    26. DET 0.411 $98 mil
    27. WASH 0.356 $108 mil
    28. CINC 0.351 $68 mil
    29. KC 0.339 $75 mil
    30. OAK 0.339 $36
    as of10JUN2022.
    This list pretty much tells the story of administrative incompetency. The best we can say about Al Avila is that he’s put together a team of really likable guys. I root for these guys to do well. My only worry right now is that Avila will try to pin the debacle on A.J. Hinch and Mr. Illich will be stupid enough to fall for it.
    And another thing (from my friend Keith):
    The common excuse for the Tigers’ poor performance since Avila took over is that he inherited a mess; an aging team with a farm system bereft of talent. Let’s remember that he also inherited a ton of trade capital: Justin Verlander, Nick Castellanos, and JD Martinez? And what did he get in return for a Cy Young winner (and future hall of famer), an eventual NL batting champion, and AL RBI leader?
    1) Franklin Perez (no major league games in 5 years, currently with AAA Toledo)
    2) Daz Cameron (67 MLB games since 2020…batting .191 with an OBP of .260, a 162 game WAR of -5) (note: stats might be slightly better due to recent performance)
    3) Jake Rogers
    4) Paul Richan
    5) Alex Lange
    6) Dawel Lugo
    7) Jose King
    8) Sergio Alcantara.

    3) Jake Rogers: currently supposed to miss the 2022 season, in 2019 and 2022 he appeared in a total of only 73 games and hit .182.
    4) Paul Richan: currently in single A Lakeland (at 25 years of age), no MLB games since his acquisition.
    5) Alex Lange: 68 MLB appearances since 2021 with an ERA of 3.1 and a WAR of +1. This is the only functional MLB player on the list.
    6) Dawel Lugo: 113 MLB games for the Tigers from 2018-2020. Batted .236 with an OBP of only .270.
    7) Jose King: currently on his 6th season in the minors, now in AA Eerie
    8) Sergio Alcantara: Had a .143 batting average (.217 OBP) in 10 games with the Tigers in 2020. No longer with the club

    QED

Comments are closed.