Tonight's Lineup in Cleveland (6/12)

[Peter Welch]

Tonight's lineup in Cleveland vs. righty Tanner Bibbee (4.09 ERA in 14 starts).  The Tigers often struggle against Bibbee, who is a decent pitcher, but seems to pitch even better against the Tigers.

He likes to challenge hitters with his fastball up in the zone and the Tigers' hitters are suckers for high pitches.  We'll see.

1. Kevin McGonigle (L) 3B
2. Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
3. Riley Greene (L) LF
4. Dillon Dingler (R) C
5. Kerry Carpenter (L) RF
6. Colt Keith (L) DH
7. Spencer Torkelson (R) 1B
8. Zach McKinstry (L) SS
9. James Outman (L) CF

So the James Outman era begins.  He's certainly been making a lot of outs at the plate in the past couple of years, but he can play passable defense in CF.  We should be happy and lucky if he hits like Parker Meadows.

If Hinch leaves Outman in there against a lefty reliever and pinch hits for Carpenter and Keith against a lefty reliever it will be very annoying.

I suspect, though, Vierling or Perez will pinch hit for Outman against a lefty.

Jack "Crapshoot" Flaherty on the mound for the Tigers.  Flaherty has been pitching ok in last few starts.  He usually gets crappy run and fielding support, though.

Peter

[David Panian]

I’m glad to see Greene batting third. It’s been very annoying to have our best all-around hitter not having a guaranteed plate appearance in the first inning and having a better chance of getting an additional time up late in a game.

David

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[Roger King]

The Outman era begins in spectacular fashion.  He it out man!   

His solo HR cut Cleveland's lead to 2-1 in the 3rd.  Still the same score as the Tigers head to bat in the 5th.

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[Peter Welch]

As usual, the Tigers can't do much against Bibee and only get 2 hits against him, solo homers by Outman and Tork.  That's it.  Tigers lose 3-2.

As I predicted, the Tigers were chasing high pitches tonight.  They also got some hittable pitches from Bibee but did nothing with them.

Flaherty threw 63 pitches in 3 innings and was yanked after 3 so it became basically a bullpen game for the Tigers.  The bullpen only allowed 1 run in 5 IP so that was decent.

I know Cleveland has good pitching, but they seem to get even better against the Tigers.  Sigh.

Peter

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From: Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com>
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2026 8:21 PM
To: David Panian <dpa...@gmail.com>
Cc: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>; detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Tonight's Lineup in Cleveland (6/12)

 

[Roger King]

I didn’t follow much of the game, but I saw that Flaherty only went 3 innings. Checked a couple of the Tiger sports writers on Twitter and they said he left the game with some kind of leg discomfort.

Not that I wish an injury on Jack but certainly no loss if he has to go on the DL and it would solve the log jam in the starting rotation!  Of course it really shouldn’t be a long jam because he should be in the bullpen anyway. 

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[Peter Welch]

Flaherty had thrown 63 pitches in 3 IP so he was laboring anyway.   Hate to say it, but Flaherty going on the IL wouldn't be the worst thing from a roster standpoint.

I know it's exciting that Skubal and Mize are coming back, but it would be more exciting if our hitters decide to wake up against Guardians' pitching for a change.

Peter

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From: Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com>
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2026 10:23 PM
To: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>
Cc: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com>

[Peter Welch]

Greene back to batting 5^th today so he didn't get to bat in the 9^th when the Tigers were threatening.  Instead Vierling batted 3rd before Dingler and Greene so Vierling batted in the 9^th with 2 runners in scoring position and was the final out.

Peter

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From: David Panian <dpa...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2026 5:50 PM

To: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>
Cc: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Tonight's Lineup in Cleveland (6/12)

[Michael Borshuk]

I will never understand how this is not more of the media conversation around Hinch. His overmanaging feels so costly to me. It makes me mental. 

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[Peter Welch]

Way too much lineup tinkering by Hinch trying to gain some magical "matchup".   The Tigers don't have the bench players to do this.  It kind of worked the last 2 years because we had some righties who could hit lefties well, but that's gone completely out the window this year and Hinch foolishly sticks to his script.

Hinch needs to play his best hitters regularly regardless of whether the opposing pitcher is a righty or lefty.   

The everyday lineup right now should be:

Torres, 2b

McGonigle, ss

Greene, lf

Dingler, c

Carpenter, dh

Torkelson, 1b

Keith, 3b

Perez/Vierling, rf

Outman, cf

Vierling/Perez should never bat above #8 or #9 and Jones should never be in the lineup.  Jones needs to be gone.  Nice guy by all accounts and a popular teammate, but he's just not hitting and has zero defensive value.

McKinstry can pinch run and start maybe once per week to give someone a rest, and Rogers can give Dingler a rest behind the plate occasionally.  That's it.

Peter

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From: Michael Borshuk <michael...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2026 10:04 PM
To: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>
Cc: Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>

[Roger King]

Hinch is getting the benefit of the doubt from some because of the injuries and because he “has to work with the roster he has given”. But my view is he and Harris are super tight and there’s just no way Hinch isn’t in on personnel decisions.

I just don’t buy that Harris forces guys like Vierling on Hinch and he’s protesting. No, he thinks Vierling is a better player than he actually is. I have no doubt Hinch wanted Jones on the roster this year because of the matchup potential, etc.

Hinch is a key part of Tigers roster decision-making. Kind of an assistant GM in all but name.  

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[Peter Welch]

Yes, Hinch is almost a shadow GM.  I don't even know what the heck the nominal GM Jeff Greenberg does.  He stays in the background with Harris/Hinch being the "face" of the personnel decisions.

Hinch has been dealt a tough hand with injuries and lack of productive hitting depth in Toledo, and it's a fair excuse to some degree, but he also is mismanaging and overthinking his lineups in pursuit of matchup advantages that are trying to squeeze blood out of a stone.

At this point Carpenter and Keith should be playing everyday against righties and lefties and Greene and Dingler should be batting 3rd and 4th.  

Having Vierling come to the plate in the 9^th against Cade Smith with 2 runners in scoring position while Dingler is on deck and Greene is in the hole is complete lineup mis-management and not giving your team the best chance to win in a game you really needed to win.

Hinch seems to be the only person who doesn't recognize that his righty platoon hitters are terrible.

I also think Hinch is ruining Colt Keith's development as a hitter.  Keith might be better off going to a different organization.

Peter

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From: Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2026 8:05 AM
To: Michael Borshuk <michael...@gmail.com>
Cc: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>; Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>

[Michael Borshuk]

I am much more inclined to value a set-it-and-forget-it approach to lineup management though I know that platoon advantages are one way to improve on a talent deficit. The problem, as you said, is that the RH options on this team are so miserable. And batting Greene fifth so often just seems incredibly dumb for the simplistic metric: it means he is likely to bat fewer times. SHEESH!

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[Peter Welch]

Yep, no point in platooning when you don’t have good platoon players.  Hinch has yet to realize this apparently.

But also there was no excuse to turn one of your top hitting prospects (Keith) into a platoon player especially when he hit lefties ok as a rookie and hit lefties ok on the minors.

Also, they made the questionable decision to turn Kerry Carpenter, who was one of the better hitters our system has produced in recent years, into a platoon player 3+ years ago.  I think that was a mistake.  

I'm fine with platooning when you have the players to do it.  Sparky Anderson and Earl Weaver liked to platoon if needed but they often had good platoon players to work with, plus they managed in an era when you had more hitters on your bench including pinch-hitting specialists. Those days are long gone.

I just don't like Hinch taking guys like Carpenter and Keith out of the game by the 5th or 6^th inning because you might need them in the late innings to face a righty setup guy or closer. 

Disappointed in Hinch's slavish stubbornness.

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Michael Borshuk <michael...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, 14 June 2026 14:00:24
To: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>
Cc: Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>

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[Michael Borshuk]

Rusty Kuntz > Jahmai Jones

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[Peter Welch]

Kuntz with a .892 OPS vs. lefties in 1984.  Heck yeah!

Peter

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From: Michael Borshuk <michael...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2026 6:09 PM
To: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>