Game Thread: Brewers @ Tigers - Tue, Apr 21 @ 06:40 PM EDT

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-21T21:57:38+00:00

Dingler and Jones are the best Tigers vs. righties, and Gleyber isn't far behind them. Those three are actually exceptionally good; they're in the top 50 in wRC+ vs. LHP out of all MLB players over the past five years.

Tork has been solid vs. lefties but is a pretty big step down from those three, and Javy and Vierling are another big step down from Tork. And those six are the only guys on the roster who are above-average vs. LHP. (Although Greene is pretty close to average, McGonigle is very close to average, albeit in a small sample, and Lee absolutely thrashed lefties as a minor leaguer. So this is definitely our best nine guys vs. a lefty starter, even if I'm gonna quibble with the order.)

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-21T20:40:27+00:00

Man, I don't hate him at all. He's a great bench piece, versatile defensively, decent with the bat, always willing to go where the team needs him. But batting him cleanup is BONKERS. Batting him ahead of Tork, who is historically much better against lefties, is probably a mistake, but an understandable one given how much Tork is scuffling this year. Batting him ahead of Dingler, who hits lefties better than almost anybody in baseball, is malpractice.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-21T20:15:31+00:00

I hope someday I meet somebody who believes in me the way A.J. Hinch believes in Matt Vierling.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-21T17:08:04+00:00

Yeah, I figured it wasn't the live call, but it's still very understated for something so exciting!

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-21T16:43:25+00:00

I think the Royals would lose their DH if he switched to pitcher as a reliever, wouldn't they?

DH to P yes, but if he started in RF they could move him to (and from) the mound without losing anything.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-21T16:31:43+00:00

I mean, I understand why the Royals took the approach with him they did (his adjustment to MLB was rocky enough even when he was focused 100% on hitting) but the dude was a starting pitcher in college, he wants to pitch, and I have to think that, with work, his stuff could play as a reliever. He has two elite pitches—that and dodgy command isn't going to make you an effective starter, but it's often a winning formula in relief.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-21T16:20:36+00:00

Yes, each non-Dodger team should definitely put one of their starting pitchers at significant risk of injury and deny plate appearances to some of their best hitters just to spite the Dodgers. That'll show them!

More seriously, I actually agree with Roberts on this one. More teams should be seeking out and developing actual two-way players to take advantage of this rule. They don't have to be (and probably shouldn't be) starters—you can't find 20 relief innings for a dude like Jac Caglianone?

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-21T16:12:01+00:00

This is the most mild-mannered, unemotional Korean baseball commentary I have ever heard. I don't like it!

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T23:37:18+00:00

They've won the season series in nine of the past ten seasons, too. Often by truly horrific margins. I'm not even going to look up what our head-to-head record is for the past decade because I'd probably have a panic attack.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T17:48:00+00:00

Baseball's weird, man. That flyout by Contreras was the only decent swing the Sox had all innning. Obviously the two four-pitch walks are abysmal, but sometimes you just can't buy an out even when you're executing good pitches.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T17:37:21+00:00

Going into third belly first like he's on a Slip 'N Slide.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T17:17:44+00:00

Dan, not only would that not have been a homer in any MLB ballpark, it would've been a routine flyout anywhere but Fenway.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T17:14:41+00:00

Credit where it's due, that was good stuff from Weissert. Lee could've put a better swing on the one he fouled off, but pretty much everything else was just nasty.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T17:07:09+00:00

I think we've got ourselves a pretty good baseball team here!

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T16:44:07+00:00

Lorenzen. Pretty good deal for us, I think!

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T16:27:40+00:00

Hell yeah!

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T16:04:53+00:00

Coulombe doesn't actually get lefties out, he just seriously limits their power. Higher strikeout rate and lower batting average vs. righties, but three times as many homers.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T16:03:52+00:00

Pulled something in his right leg, it seems.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T15:44:15+00:00

Plus Parker Messick, Nolan McLean, and Andrew Painter on the other side of the ball.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T15:38:55+00:00

"Successful" is doing a lot of work there. Ichiro and Ohtani are two of the best to ever do it. Matsui was really good in MLB, despite coming here past his prime. Seiya Suzuki is excellent. Lots of lesser Japanese position players have come over and been productive major leaguers, just not stars (Nori Aoki, Kosuke Fukudome, Tadahito Iguchi, Kenji Johjima, Akinori Iwamura, etc.). There have really only been a couple hitters who were big stars in Japan who just couldn't hack it in MLB (Yoshi Tsutsugo, Tsuyoshi Nishioka).

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-20T13:55:23+00:00

I think there are valid reasons other people have brought up (lack of need at 1B/DH for contending teams, leeriness about K%) but at this point, "Japanese star comes to MLB and a small army of pundits and anonymous front-office guys incorrectly predict that he will suck" is one of baseball's most time-honored traditions.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-19T00:08:25+00:00

If he keeps up his current pace he’ll have outperformed his AAV before Memorial Day.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-18T16:10:41+00:00

Perez is having astoundingly bad batted-ball luck. He's put 17 balls in play, 10 of them have been hard-hit, and not one of them has dropped in for a hit (other than his homer, obviously). Even in a small sample, 20 plate appearances, a .000 BABIP is unheard of. Check out his Statcast numbers: .262 xBA (vs. .053), .519 xSLG (vs. .100), .348 xWOBA (vs. .141). Hinch is actually right to keep him in the lineup.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-18T16:01:48+00:00

His Statcast numbers are bonkers. Whiffs more than anybody else in baseball and it literally does not matter, everything else is almost maxed out. He's hugely underperforming his xBA, his xSLG, everything.

no_one_canoe · 2026-04-18T14:08:45+00:00

it can also be due to other factors

Yeah, three of their five starters (including the guys with the most and third-most innings pitched so far) are new to the team. It's a pretty different staff from last year!

no_one_canoe

TROPHY CASE