Pardon the very off topic and self-serving post. I’m trying to make a point to myself more than anyone else…
Having watched the Tiger farm teams the Mud Hens and Seawolves both lose in the last week or so I got to wondering…
Detroit Tigers organization complete standings as of 1600hrs, 12JULY2017.
With the notable and impressive exception of the West Michigan Whitecaps, the Tigers organization is just not very good from top to bottom. Aside from the Whitecaps only the Lakeland Tigers are above .500.
I’m not a baseball expert (or stats for that matter) but it would seem that something is amiss. You have to go down four levels to get to a winning team.
Mr. Avila is Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations & General Manager. That means that at the top level he is responsible for the players on the field. As assembled they are clearly not getting it done. Whoever or whatever combination of folks that have assembled this group has not gotten the job done. Having watched a majority of Tigers games (thanks to MLB network) it is my belief that the blame does not fall with the coaching staff. Pitching is obviously our weakness but our bats haven’t come through in the low scoring games either. V-mart and Miggy are well below .300. J-up seems to be on a bit of a roller coaster ride. McCann has a rocket for an arm but at .201 I have to wonder if he is a liability, especially with Avila hovering at the .300 mark.
| Team | Rank/Division | Wins | Losses | % |
| Detroit Tigers | 4th AL Central (1 game above last) | 39 | 48 | .448 |
| Toledo Mud Hens (AAA) | 3rd International League West | 41 | 46 | .471 |
| Erie SeaWolves (AA) | 4th Eastern League Western | 43 | 44 | .494 |
| Lakeland Flying Tigers (A Adv.) | 3rd Florida State League North | 43 | 41 | .512 |
| West Michigan Whitecaps (A) | 1st Midwest League Eastern | 58 | 27 | .682 |
| Connecticut Tigers (SS) | 3rd New York-Penn League Stedler | 9 | 10 | .474 |
| DSL Tigers (R) | 7th San Pedro | 13 | 21 | .382 |
| GCL Tigers East (R) | 4th(last) Northeeast | 3 | 9 | .250 |
| GCL Tigers West (R) | 4th(last) Northwest | 6 | 9 | .400 |
Trade Rumors
I’m still pissed at letting Scherzer go…
Verlander – My home boy. I can see the conversation now, “Hey JV the Cubs called and wanna talk!”. There is silence as he stares in disbelief, then JV begins laughing uncontrollably as he closes the door on the way out. IMHO the only 2 places he would go is LA or New York, think Kate Upton.
Justin Wilson – You’ve got to be kidding me. We finally have a decent closer after the K-rod disaster and y’all are talking this?
Avila – He is batting .299 as of this writing. His replacement is batting .201. Math ain’t my strong suite but…damn. Keep Avila, spell him with Hicks (another home boy).
J-Up – He has been clutch the last 2 seasons. Can’t see the Tigers without him.
Fulmer – ROTFL. Our future and only Tiger to make the All-Star team.
The rest of the bullpen – Keep Verlander, Fulmer, and J. Wilson. I’ll take arguments on Greene. The rest can go.