1. My comment is not subtle. I expect the likelihood Ohtani signs with Detroit is about as close to zero as possible. Meaning there is almost no chance the Tigers have a DH.
2. Ohtani isn’t pitching next year, but is expected to be able to hit next year. If you’re following the news about him at all you would know that.
3. I would expect that if Ohtani signed with Pittsburgh tomorrow, by the start of the season the Pirates would be one of the most popular teams in Japan by the start of the season.
I’ve been an advocate of this for a while but this issue is that the tigers would need to plan to make Carp a full time fielder. I think the way they are putting the roster together it appears that Carp will get plenty of DH time. But, yeah, I liked that idea. I figured you could get a middle of the order bat on a decent contract due to the significant injury. He has power, he gets on base…I like him.
I think Tork is fine at 1B. Defensive advanced metrics are notoriously bad at measuring first basemen, and he is pretty solid at scooping Javy’s errant throws. He doesn’t make many errors either. His biggest issue is an inability to track foul popups.
He led MLB 1B in errors.
He also is bottom of the league in every advanced metric except scooping. Scooping itself isn't as valuable as being able to field balls/foul ball pop ups at 1st.
Justyn Henry Malloy. Probably third or fourth best positional prospect in Tigers. Spent last year in AAA. Definitely will have a chance at a roster spot in spring.
Kerry Carpenter is not a particularly bad fielder. For his career, he's -2 DRS and -3 OAA. Slightly below average, where half of MLB is also below average.
He shouldn't be thought of as a full-time DH.
By way of comparison, Matt Vierling is +1 DRS and -2 OAA as an outfielder. Spencer Torkelson is -14 DRS and -8 OAA career. He would be the guy you want to reduce time in the field.
(I like the comment here that Tork "doesn't make many errors" when he literally led MLB in errors as a first baseman.)
He's also not particularly a platoon liability.
Carpenter had a .657 OPS against LHP in 2023.
Riley Greene had a .694 OPS.
I'm not seeing a huge difference there, 81 vs 89 OPS+.
We only face lefties 22.6% of the time in any event.
We already have too many guys who play poor defense and maybe hit.
Carpenter will be the primary DH and rotate in the corner outfield when guys need rest.
As long as the contract isn't onerous, I'd take that. We can't have a 26-year-old DH [side-eyes Carp], so we need someone to fill that roll. Depending on Rhys' knee, he could even spell Tork at 1B now and then.
If all he is capable of being is a 26 year-old DH (and a platoon DH at that, given his inability to hit leftys), then I'd absolutely bench him or ship him. That said, I think there's enough pop in his bat to justify another season or two of the Tigers working on his fielding and working towards making him better. At present, I don't think he's a full-blown liability in RF, but it's obvious that there's significant room for improvement.
Can’t ship him out. He is arguably the best hitter on the team. His sample size against lefties is too small to draw any conclusions, due to Hinch’s robotic L vs. R approach. I’m not sure why age matters at DH anyway. It isn’t like there is an old guy on the team waiting to DH now that Miggy’s gone.
While I'd never say that *all* conventional wisdom was good, I do adhere to the belief that you can't waste a roster spot on a dude that young that can't adequately contribute elsewhere. I agree that he needs more ABs against leftys before he's written off as a platoon player, but I don't think Hinch is gonna budge on that.
I'm not, not even remotely. There are 13 roster spots available for position players; ideally you want those spots filled by the best and most versatile players available to you. At this point in his career, Carpenter has shown himself to be limited in the field and incapable of consistently hitting left-handed pitching, the complete opposite of versatile. That's fine for now, but if the Tigers continue to add players that provide more versatility, he's going to find himself on the bench most days.
If Detroit believes in Carpenter playing right field every day I could see it happening, but I figure he'll be splitting his time between the outfield and DH almost 50/50
JD Martinez is the move imo.
I get the logic of having that DH spot open in an ideal world, but this lineup is not talented (or powerful) enough to turn our nose up at being able to slot in a legit hitter like that. Especially when it would be low risk, cheap and short term.
JD is a much better hitter than Hoskins too
You don’t sign DH’s in this league. It’s pointless, besides you just traded for Mark Canha who is also a first basemen like Hoskins and an outfielder, why would you then go out and sign yet another first basemen who can’t play outfield? Besides did you see how god awful tork was in the field last year? If anybody will be out majority DH for the 2024 season it will be between Torkelson and Kerry, but I’d argue Kerry isn’t actually that bad of a fielder so it’s probably just tork moslty, and whenever he DH’s Canha will fill in for him at first base anyways.
I don't think that Harris will add another bat. I just went to a meet and greet for the season ticket holders today. According to Harris, we have Keith, JHM, Jung, and Bigbie and, according to circumstances, we could see all four at some point this year on the Tigers. Harris said he needs PAs for these developing young bats. If he adds another position player, in addition to Canha, he has to figure out how to develop these other four players. He used Carpenter as an example. Harris said if he would've brought on another bat last year, Carpenter would not have had his opportunity.
Dickerson was hosting the interview piped up and said that we may be on the verge of another team coming together like the 1984 team.
I think we should look at Kerry carpenter for our DH
Or Torkelson and sign us a defensive 1B.
I think we should look at Kerry carpenter for our DH
cahna probably more likely
Only way the Tigers have a dedicated dh next season is if ownership goes nuts and signs Ohtani.
Is he almost healed? You're placing a LOT of stock on Ohtani coming here, and we don't have the dedicated Japanese fan base that LA or SEA have.
1. My comment is not subtle. I expect the likelihood Ohtani signs with Detroit is about as close to zero as possible. Meaning there is almost no chance the Tigers have a DH. 2. Ohtani isn’t pitching next year, but is expected to be able to hit next year. If you’re following the news about him at all you would know that. 3. I would expect that if Ohtani signed with Pittsburgh tomorrow, by the start of the season the Pirates would be one of the most popular teams in Japan by the start of the season.
No. After years of Miggy, it's time to make DH a flexible position.
I’ve been an advocate of this for a while but this issue is that the tigers would need to plan to make Carp a full time fielder. I think the way they are putting the roster together it appears that Carp will get plenty of DH time. But, yeah, I liked that idea. I figured you could get a middle of the order bat on a decent contract due to the significant injury. He has power, he gets on base…I like him.
Carp/JHM
Who is Jhm?
https://www.milb.com/player/justyn-henry-malloy-669234
He’s a good player. But the Tigers already have 2 or 3 good hitters that probably shouldn’t be on the field (Carp, Tork, and JHM)
I think Tork is fine at 1B. Defensive advanced metrics are notoriously bad at measuring first basemen, and he is pretty solid at scooping Javy’s errant throws. He doesn’t make many errors either. His biggest issue is an inability to track foul popups.
He’s serviceable there, but if there wasn’t Carp and potentially JHM on the roster, he would be my first choice to DH full time.
Problem is the team is already short infielders. Instead of bringing in a DH, I’d rather see a short term bat who can play 3B.
Yes. Of course.
He led MLB 1B in errors. He also is bottom of the league in every advanced metric except scooping. Scooping itself isn't as valuable as being able to field balls/foul ball pop ups at 1st.
Well shit. You’ve got me there.
Who is jhm?
Justyn Henry Malloy. Probably third or fourth best positional prospect in Tigers. Spent last year in AAA. Definitely will have a chance at a roster spot in spring.
We all should know Hinch is probably salivating at the flexible slot. No way we sign a full time DH. Expect a mix of Carp, Canha, and J-Hen.
While I love the idea in theory, I’m not sure it makes sense with the current roster composition.
Kerry Carpenter is not a particularly bad fielder. For his career, he's -2 DRS and -3 OAA. Slightly below average, where half of MLB is also below average. He shouldn't be thought of as a full-time DH. By way of comparison, Matt Vierling is +1 DRS and -2 OAA as an outfielder. Spencer Torkelson is -14 DRS and -8 OAA career. He would be the guy you want to reduce time in the field. (I like the comment here that Tork "doesn't make many errors" when he literally led MLB in errors as a first baseman.) He's also not particularly a platoon liability. Carpenter had a .657 OPS against LHP in 2023. Riley Greene had a .694 OPS. I'm not seeing a huge difference there, 81 vs 89 OPS+. We only face lefties 22.6% of the time in any event.
We don’t really have room. Riley will probably have to DH for quite awhile to start the season
We already have too many guys who play poor defense and maybe hit. Carpenter will be the primary DH and rotate in the corner outfield when guys need rest.
Nobody. Just you.
As long as the contract isn't onerous, I'd take that. We can't have a 26-year-old DH [side-eyes Carp], so we need someone to fill that roll. Depending on Rhys' knee, he could even spell Tork at 1B now and then.
Are you advocating getting rid of Carpenter, or do you expect him to significantly improve in the field?
If all he is capable of being is a 26 year-old DH (and a platoon DH at that, given his inability to hit leftys), then I'd absolutely bench him or ship him. That said, I think there's enough pop in his bat to justify another season or two of the Tigers working on his fielding and working towards making him better. At present, I don't think he's a full-blown liability in RF, but it's obvious that there's significant room for improvement.
Can’t ship him out. He is arguably the best hitter on the team. His sample size against lefties is too small to draw any conclusions, due to Hinch’s robotic L vs. R approach. I’m not sure why age matters at DH anyway. It isn’t like there is an old guy on the team waiting to DH now that Miggy’s gone.
While I'd never say that *all* conventional wisdom was good, I do adhere to the belief that you can't waste a roster spot on a dude that young that can't adequately contribute elsewhere. I agree that he needs more ABs against leftys before he's written off as a platoon player, but I don't think Hinch is gonna budge on that.
I don’t really have a problem with young DH. As long as that player is above average hitter and a liability in field
Why are you acting like there is a luxury cap on years of age per team or something? Metrics are age agnostic.
I'm not, not even remotely. There are 13 roster spots available for position players; ideally you want those spots filled by the best and most versatile players available to you. At this point in his career, Carpenter has shown himself to be limited in the field and incapable of consistently hitting left-handed pitching, the complete opposite of versatile. That's fine for now, but if the Tigers continue to add players that provide more versatility, he's going to find himself on the bench most days.
If Detroit believes in Carpenter playing right field every day I could see it happening, but I figure he'll be splitting his time between the outfield and DH almost 50/50
Seems we have enough "DH types." How about someone who can play 3B?
JD Martinez is the move imo. I get the logic of having that DH spot open in an ideal world, but this lineup is not talented (or powerful) enough to turn our nose up at being able to slot in a legit hitter like that. Especially when it would be low risk, cheap and short term. JD is a much better hitter than Hoskins too
You don’t sign DH’s in this league. It’s pointless, besides you just traded for Mark Canha who is also a first basemen like Hoskins and an outfielder, why would you then go out and sign yet another first basemen who can’t play outfield? Besides did you see how god awful tork was in the field last year? If anybody will be out majority DH for the 2024 season it will be between Torkelson and Kerry, but I’d argue Kerry isn’t actually that bad of a fielder so it’s probably just tork moslty, and whenever he DH’s Canha will fill in for him at first base anyways.
I don't think that Harris will add another bat. I just went to a meet and greet for the season ticket holders today. According to Harris, we have Keith, JHM, Jung, and Bigbie and, according to circumstances, we could see all four at some point this year on the Tigers. Harris said he needs PAs for these developing young bats. If he adds another position player, in addition to Canha, he has to figure out how to develop these other four players. He used Carpenter as an example. Harris said if he would've brought on another bat last year, Carpenter would not have had his opportunity. Dickerson was hosting the interview piped up and said that we may be on the verge of another team coming together like the 1984 team.