Good Monday morning, fan. After a promising start to the weekend series in Atlanta, the Detroit Tigers dropped the Saturday and Sunday showings to post a series loss against the Braves.
As the team has an off day to prepare for their next matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays, we have the opportunity to look to the future of the franchise. The MLB draft commences on Monday evening — on MLB network and MLB.com, if you’re watching at home — and the Tigers are in possession of the fifth overall pick. Do they use this pick to draft a position player for the first time in what feels like a decade? Most signs point to yes, but the world is an unpredictable place.
It’s getting drafty in here
The results the Tigers have seen from the draft in recent years has been a bit of a mixed bag. The draft tends to be a crapshoot the further away you move from the first round, and for every Justin Verlander that we have seen taken there is at least one Matt Anderson. With the fifth overall pick on Monday night, the Tigers have the chance of maximizing their opportunity to add a future contributor at the major league level. Opinions as to who they should pick are abundant and include players ranging from J.J. Bleday to Riley Greene.
The later rounds hold a suggestion for Jordan Brewer from the University of Michigan in round two. The general consensus seems to be that a position player needs to be drafted in the first round. As long as there is a defensible argument that the team selected the best one on the board when their pick comes up, I’ll be happy. Just to stay fun and frustrating, the Tigers purport to be keeping their options open, saying they will probably be drafting a bat, but the team maintains that there is no guarantee. Neat.
Insult to injury
Miguel Cabrera’s knee is feeling less than friendly at the moment. He was pulled from Saturday’s game, missed Sunday’s tilt, and underwent an MRI that the team is now sending out for a second opinion. The issue has been present for a bit of time, and appears to have finally caught up with Cabrera. The team states that they know what’s up with the knee, but are sending it out for a second opinion. They say this is standard procedure, but it doesn’t strike me as stellar news. It appears doubtful that this doesn’t end in some amount of time on the injured list for the big man.
Net gains
After the latest incident in which a baseball left the field of play at a speed that is close to impossible to avoid, resulting in the injury of a fan, the conversation around how far netting should extend has once again entered the forefront of conversation. Ron Gardenhire has thoughts. After a decade of coaching third base in the hell hole that was the Metrodome, Gardenhire saw first hand how things could go. He wants to see netting down the lines all the way to the foul poles. It’s not an opinion I disagree with.
Is this tank on?
Jules Posner wrote an article for Forbes last week that examined the state of the Tigers, their “tanking” ways and whether they were working. Above all else, the article seemed to come away with the opinion that if this organization is tanking and in the process of a rebuild, they’re not doing a great job at it. There is a focus on a lack of talented depth to cover even the most basic injuries to major league players and a reliance on a farm that is misguided in its assumption that any of the guys they are counting on will pan out.
The overall conclusion of Posner’s article is that successful rebuilding teams are making smart free agent signings and stashing major league level talent at the Triple-A level in anticipation of needing them, two things the Tigers don’t seem to be doing right now.
Baseball is awesome
I miss Max Scherzer every day.
Max Scherzer, Refusing to Leave (after 117 pitches/14th K). pic.twitter.com/ToXqxymgrl
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 2, 2019
Around the horn
The Twins have crushed their way to overdog status. MLB hitters set record for most home runs in a month. Jay Bruce headed to Philly. Beeeeeeeeeeeees!