Yikes! Bob Nightengale of USA Today has it right: the Detroit Tigers have “turned into the Midwest version of the New York Yankees.”(August 27)—well, the front office at least. Club president & GM Dave Dombrowski reminds fans of the Yankees of old, when George Steinbrenner routinely stocked the Yanks with top-line players. Now the Tigers have one of the highest payrolls in the Majors (from 5th to 3rd highest depending on source).
Courtesy blogs.houstonpress.com
The Tigers most recent move –bringing David Price to Motown—gives Detroit an incredible lineup of starting pitchers. It includes three former Cy Young winners (that’s right, three) with Price, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander … the last three winners, in fact. Yowza!
But what appeared to be a “can’t lose” proposition for Detroit at season’s start is turning into a struggle. It may end a nightmare.
The Tigers started the season just fine, winning 27 of its first 40 games, and were 7 games up on Kansas City and Minnesota in the Central Division race. But a losing string came next (12-20) and the Royals took the lead briefly. Then Detroit perked up and the Royals struggled. By All-Star Break the Tigers jumped to another big lead: they were 15 games over .500, the Royals only 2. Prospects look good.
Things have unraveled since. The Tigers have been 19-22 since the break (through August 28) while the Royals have gone 26-13. The Royals regained the Central Division lead and Detroit is battling the Mariners and Yankees (among others) for the second Wild Card spot. That’s NOT the way things were supposed to turn out.
One story here is about the Royals. They’re balanced and impressive—full of promise—a team that’s coming into its own. They can hit with the Tigers and they have a better team ERA. There’s no mystery about KC. Not so with the Tigers. The club is inconsistent. Outcomes on the field are telling, sometimes shocking. Consider this: recently, over a week’s time, three starters (Price and two call-ups) couldn’t make it through the 3rd inning. During that stretch the Tigers were blitzed in back-to-back games by the last-place Twins—20-6 and 12-4.
Yes, Detroit has had injuries—Aníbal Sánchez most notably (last year’s AL ERA champ)—and the Tigers have played all year without two starters: SS José Iglesias and LF Andy Dirks. But new additions—outfielders J.D. Martinez (from the Astros) and Rajai Davis (from the Jays)—have played well. Martinez’s hot bat (+.300 BA, 17 HRs and nearly 60 RBIs) has kept him in the line-up all year. And Davis’ combination of speed (31 stolen bases), glove (0 errors in CF), and bat (.280 BA) made it digestible for the Tigers to trade centerfielder Austin Jackson to the Mariners in the three-way deal that brought Price to Detroit.
Courtesy espn.go.com
A sore spot is relief pitching. Joe Nathan hasn’t been consistent as closer (5.25 ERA, 1.6 WHIP) and the rest of the relief staff has been up and down—mostly down—and generally unreliable. Joba Chamberlain (a presumed bright spot) started strong, but he has pitched poorly lately (+6 ERA during that stretch); and Phil Coke’s performance has been just the opposite—he started poorly, but has had good outings recently (4.17 ERA overall but in the low 2s since mid-June). The bottom line is this: when Tigers’ relievers come into the game it’s anybody’s guess what will happen.
And while it’s clear that Miguel Cabrera “isn’t himself”—he has gone 30 games without hitting a HR, the longest stretch of his career—that dip has been balanced out by a +.300 BA with a league-leading high in doubles. Cabrera’s inability to hit the long ball has been countered by what Victor Martinez has done: he’s closing in on 30 HRs (hitting more HRs this year than at any other time in his career) and he’s currently #2 in the race for the league’s BA title.
When it comes down to it, batting-wise, the Tigers are doing well: the team is 2nd (in the majors) in BA, 2nd in on-base percentage, 2nd in slugging percentage, and 4th in runs. Pitching is another story. The Tigers are 10th in quality starts and—get this—23rd in three statistics: opponent batting average, WHIP, and ERA (all data are from ESPN, 8/28/14). That’s not championship caliber play.
Beyond the numbers the story is less clear. The Tigers continue to talk about the club’s “family environment,” but you get the sense that “there’s more to it.” There’s speculation (I’ve heard it) that Jackson’s trade had an impact on club morale. And it’s unclear just how well the club has adjusted to Brad Ausmus as manager. This is Ausmus’ first field-level job of any kind, a stark contrast to the experience Jim Leyland brought to Detroit. By all accounts Ausmus is viewed as a “smart baseball guy,” but less clear is the players’ respect and whether he can motivate. At issue is how he’ll compare over time with other baseball “smart guys,” like the Rays’ Joe Maddon.
Courtesy rantsports.com
Another issue is focus and competitive edge—not easy for any team, like the Tigers, which is loaded with talent. Nightengale included a telling quote in his article, loquacious Torii Hunter the source: “Sometimes you get complacent at the top. You get comfortable, and then you don’t have that drive and that motivation. It can happen. Not just in baseball, but in life. And the next thing you know, you get slapped in the face.”
In some ways the Tigers’ circumstance is similar to what the Buffalo Bills experienced when they made repeated runs at the Super Bowl, but never won. The Tigers anticipated winning a championship last year—Leyland’s last—but the Red Sox took them out of it. The Giants did the same the year before. It’s difficult for teams to sustain championship-level rosters and performances. So now is the Tigers’ time, and everybody knows it.
What happens next is a story worth following.
