As the league championship series get underway, there isn’t a whole lot of news out of the Detroit Tigers. Minor league reliever Tanner Rainey elected free agency last week. The Tigers parted ways with first base coach Anthony Sanders and assistant pitching coach Juan Nieves, following in the steps of Joey Cora, who was replaced by new third base Billy Boyer in the middle of the season. AJ Hinch’s coaching staff is going through an overhaul, and after his comments in the end of the season presser
about playing a different style of baseball with all the young players who arrived this season, picking the right coaches will be part of that.
The Tigers finally started stealing bases in September. With speed players like Kevin McGonigle, Max Clark, Ben Malgeri, and other hopefuls like Brett Callahan and John Peck in the fold, the opportunities to run a lot more are there. We’ll have to wait to see if a revised coaching staff, particularly at first base, can help them capitalize on the upgraded speed and contact ability in the lineup.
The only other real notable news is top outfield prospect Zyhir Hope’s nice start to the Arizona Fall League season. The power hasn’t shown up yet, but the 21-year-old left-handed hitting right fielder is hitting .294 early on. Hope has walked five times against six strikeouts, and looks very comfortable at the plate. He just hasn’t crushed anything through 22 plate appearances.
On the other side of things early on is infielder John Peck, who is hitting just .059 through 19 plate appearances with seven strikeouts. Obviously it’s quite early, but Peck is one of the more experienced hitters out there and should thrive with time. Meanwhile, Bryce Rainer has only appeared in three games and hasn’t done a whole lot either. He does have a double and a walk, and hasn’t struck out yet. We’ll take that as a positive as cutting down the strikeouts is the big thing standing between Rainer and a rapid run to the major leagues in the next year or two.
Hard throwing right-hander Jalen Evans, an unaffiliated free agent reliever signed this year to a minor league deal, struck out two in his sole inning of work. Evans is 28 years old already, but he does have a high-90’s fastball and a quality breaking ball to boot. The Tigers have tried to find some high powered relief arms on the waiver wire or in minor league free agency to try and develop more options for a their seriously weak relief core. Maybe Evans can find a place in the pen next year, but he’s very much a longshot, as are fellow hard throwing right-handers Yilber Diaz, Moises Rodriguez, and Yuniel Curet.
- Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reported that the Atlanta Braves were interested in Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline, but refused to consider 21-year-old right-hander Didier Fuentes in a trade. In other words, we wanted to pretend we were involved to our fans, but weren’t remotely serious.
- Katrina Stebbins at Motor City Bengals looked at a proposed Tigers trade for Bryce Harper, but hell naw. Bryce Rainer, Kash Mayfield, and Cameron Flukey to take on that contract? Pass. Stebbins concludes the same. Let’s trade for Jhoan Duran’s last year before free agency instead and call it a day.
- In other bad proposal news, Mark Feinsand for MLB.com mentions the Tigers as a possible landing spot for second baseman Jazz Chisholm. I like Jazz. Pretty good player and has some edge this clubhouse sometimes seems to lack. However, just about the last thing we need is more left-handed hitters or second baseman. Rejected.
MLB News
- Adam Zimmer at Brew Crew Ball came out with an amusing Haters Guide to the Los Angeles Dodgersover the weekend. Don’t sweat it Adam, we’re all behind the Brew Crew at this point.
- David Laurila’s Sunday Notes for FanGraphs is generally required reading for the occasional tidbit of key news and analysis. There’s nothing on the Tigers this time around.
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. underwent laser corrective surgery on his vision last week. Blue Jays fans will be happy to hear that after a brutal year by the young slugger’s standards.
- Eric Fisher from Front Office Sports examined what MLB’s new proposals to the MLBPA would actually look like if they played out.
- Ryan Divish of the Seattle Timesconsidered candidates to take over as Seattle Mariners’ manager next season.
- Just Baseball took their own crack at year end MLB awards.
Long time major leaguer Justin Turner had thoughts on the trend toward hitting gurus selling one particular move or pattern, emphasizing timing and optimizing your own swing rather than everyone trying to jump on a trend.
JJ Cooper of Baseball America pointed out prior to this season that prospects were running through the minor leagues faster than ever. Seems to have only gotten faster this season.
