Javier Báez
Last year the Detroit Tigers were pretty exciting the second half of the season. This year was supposed to be a competitive one.
That's not the case. At 24-39, they have the third-worst record in the American League. Some days they look as if they couldn't beat the Toledo Mud Hens.
Despite a number of injuries -- and there have been plenty -- Detroit News columnist Lynn Henning blames "the team’s lengthy inability to bring everyday players to manager AJ Hinch’s lineup."
That simple. There has been too little talent brought through Comerica Park’s front door. Too few quality players drafted and developed; too few Latin American prodigies signed and groomed for eventual work in Detroit. Other, more popular, targets for Tigers fans and their ire are misplaced. ...
The Tigers have steadily failed to bring bats aboard. Rather than assembling a framework of young, dynamic hitters who drive the ball and get on base, the Tigers have marshaled too many cut-and-paste bodies: Candelario, Schoop, Grossman, Barnhart, Willi Castro. ...
In what other year did a Detroit team lose 80% of its starting pitching — in April and May? In what other season that a rotation was ravaged did the Tigers also lose, at the same time, their starting outfielders? ...
It can be said with authority that this is the most insane season of baseball in Tigers history.
