Detroit Tigers News: Ian Kinsler is not a fan of Angel Hernandez

On Monday night, Ian Kinsler and Angel Hernandez got into it over balls and strikes. Kinsler took a pitch he thought was a ball and Hernandez called it a strike. After a small conversation, Kinsler took the next pitch and with some snark, asked “What about that one?” Hernandez immediately tossed Kinsler. You can find the full visual recap via Victory Views. Additional props to them for remembering to include the Kinsler classic “Do your job.”

Usually when this happens, it blows over, and everyone gets on to the next game. But Kinsler was not having it. In statements made on the record to multiple reporters, Kinsler ripped into Hernandez. You can find the full comments via Anthony Fenech here, but I prefer to rank them by shade thrown:

5. “If I get fined for saying the truth, then so be it. He’s messing with baseball games, blatantly.”

4. “I’m not mad at him for being bad. He just needs to go away.”

3. “No one wants you behind the plate anymore.”

2. “You need to re-evaluate your life, man. Just go home right now.”

1. “I’m just saying it’s pretty obvious that he needs to stop ruining baseball games.”

Pretty obvious indeed. Also included in the article is a quote from an anonymous American League executive (Dave Dombrowski?) who stated “He said what 90 percent of every other player thinks.” The MLB is reviewing the incident, and Kinsler is definitely getting fined. But maybe this will finally get some movement on the “Get rid of the Angel Hernandez” train. It’s long overdue to leave the station.

Other Kinsler thoughts

With some tepid interest in Kinsler still showing around the league, MLive provides five reasons the Tigers shouldn’t give him away on waivers. I was surprised there even was a push to move Kinsler for pennies on the dollar. Sure he is having a down year, but his BABIP is 30 points under his career average. Not to mention he has a reasonable contract, is still a plus defensively and most importantly, is the soul of this team. You either need a good return or you keep him.

Remember when the Tigers were on the left of this graphic?

We are still doing this I guess

Yesterday, it was reported by Jason Heyman that the Tigers and Astros had recently reignited their talks around ace pitcher Justin Verlander. Outside of the fact that there was a phone call, there was nothing noteworthy in his story. The trade remains beneficial to both sides but a long shot to be completed. The teams have not talked sense.

The question is, at what point does this exercise no longer become news. Despite the lack of any new findings in the report, it was still picked up by every major website and put through the news cycle.

Now, I understand that we are in the dregs of August with little excitement outside of Giancarlo Stanton and how the AL Wild Card race is shaping up. It’s the nature of beast when there is little other news. But feel free to ignore all further reporting around this subject until terms are being introduced and prospect names start leaking. Then you can panic.

Fulmer update

Michael Fulmer’s return to the mound produced an ugly result, but since the Tigers have nothing to play for, his return can still be viewed as a win. That’s because Fulmer feels healthy:

“I feel good,” he said. “I think that’s the biggest key right now. Everything else was pretty negative.”

I still would have liked to have seen some extended rest for Fulmer, but as long as he is not experiencing the numbness, that’s all that really matters.

For your free time

Updated prospect lists for the AL Central — I much prefer this list to the preseason’s. Good luck convincing Miggy to sit. The Kansas City Royals continue to prove computer models wrong. I need Shohei Otani in the US and I need it yesterday.

Giancarlo Stanton is crushing all the home runs. Click for the grocery cart beer celebration. He now has six in six games and as many home runs (22) since July 5 as the entire San Francisco Giants team.

Baseball is awesome