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Originally Posted by DamPenguin
I was barely 10 years old when we last won the World Series... I think we missed out on a golden opportunity when we had Verlander, Scherzer, Miggy, Pudge, Maglio, etc... because basically our pitchers didn't know how to field bunts... Leyland is an all-time great manager, for the Marlins, maybe even the Pirates but not the Tigers (my opinion)... I like Hinch... I hate to lose Skubal but at this point and the way the game is played now I totally understand why we would let him go... now the thing that irritated me this past season was how we absolutely deteriorated with the approach the batters had... at the beginning of the season we were patient, getting walks and being aggressive with pitches in the strike zone... by the end of the season only Gleybor Torres could occasionally draw a walk... it was like Javier Baez became the hitting instructor for our team... I want to win, obviously... but it blows my mind that something that worked so good for the most part of the year gets basically shelved... we turned into a completely different team than what had us with the best record in baseball for the most of the year... I just don't get it, but that shouldn't come as a surprise after all these years.
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David Price, Rick Porcello, Prince Fielder....team was stacked. I agree though, how did that team not win the a WS??? The bunting aside those teams didn't hit when it counted. As for Leyland I remember the press conference when he said "I don't know anything about Detroit....In fact I don't know anything about the American League" or something close to that. I thought at the time "what are we getting ourselves into? Who says that at a presser??" Well he certainly figured it out and I did think he was an excellent manager for the Tigers. He was exactly what that organization needed at the time. He held players accountable but still allowed them to be themselves. I don't get the same feeling for Hinch. What Hinch does well is take the bullets in the media for his players. He never throws anyone under the bus but the counter to that is you don't ever get a lot out of him. I question how he holds the locker room together. I'm not there so I have no proof whatsoever, but I don't feel guys really come together under his leadership like they did with Leyland if we are making comparisons. Maybe I'm way off becuase that magic run to the playoffs two years ago was special but even then I felt like Hinch was somehow detached from all of it as he makes another platoon switch. for the hitting this year i think you will notice that it went south a lot sooner than you think. It was great for April and the first part of May but when injuries started piling up and they put Meadows in CF the wheels started to come off. They had built such a giant lead it took a while to notice all of it. Anyway good stuff DamPenguin, you bring up fun stuff to talk about as it gets colder outside!!