Detroit Tigers Tueseday ambush: The streak ends
By Ash Thompson
It has been a rough week for Detroit Tigers fans. Players went on the DL and young players had some questionable calls go against him, but a team meeting resulted in the end of a losing skid.
It’s never great for a team’s prospects when their closer goes on the DL. That’s the lead story for the week for the Tigers. In a season loaded with injury concerns, the team gets to add one more. Pitcher Shane Green went on the 10-day disabled list with a strained right shoulder. The hope is that with some rest he will come back without the nagging pain.
The big club just ended a ten game losing streak, but the future is looking bright so far this season for the Tigers. The prospects on the farm have received an A- for their performance to this point in the season from MiLB.com. 2017 draft pick Alex Faedo got the bump to Double-A after 12 productive starts for the Lakeland Flying Tigers.
Team meetings are never fun. They don’t happen unless everything is going poorly. The productive ones don’t involve a lot of grandstanding, they don’t involve a manager standing up and berating players. They involve frank discussions and honest conversations. After a ten game slide, the team had a meeting and got the job done against Toronto.
Mike Fiers didn’t come out of the dugout for the ninth inning after a one run, three hit eight-inning performance. Ron Gardenhire wouldn’t promise Fiers the entire inning so Joe Jiminez came in, blew the save, and cost Fiers a win. Fiers was cool about it after the game, the team won and after a bad run that’s clearly what matters.
Joe Jimenez looked decent in his debut as the Tigers closer, but the Ump didn’t give the young buck credit on the close ones. That’s pretty common, whether Umpires want to admit it or not. The psychological effect of familiarity is well documented. The relative reputations of players often come in to play on the tight calls. Human nature was not on Jiminez’s side against the Blue Jays. Everything turned out O.K. in the end, with a Tigers win.
Journeyman outfielder turned first baseman Jim Adduci is in the big leagues. He may play his first game in Wrigley field during the two-game midweek series with the Cubs. It’s a nice moment for the recent Tigers call-up who has spent time playing in Japan. He grew up less than 20 miles from the stadium.
Anthony French of the Freep offered up some trade deadline thoughts on the Tigers. He thinks Boyd, Iglesias, and Castellanos will stay. He gives Green and Fulmer a 50:50 shot to be dealt to contenders.
Next: Detroit Lions pre-training camp offensive roster predictions
That’s pretty much what you’ve missed if you haven’t been doggedly paying attention to Tigers news for the last few days. Coming up, the team has a two-game series in Chicago with the Cubs, and spend the weekend at home for three games against the Rangers.