The Tigers have the fewest wins in baseball in the past four seasons. They haven't finished above .500 since Miguel Cabrera was an All-Star and Michael Fulmer was Rookie of the Year. At this point, a mere .500 season would feel like a success. It would certainly feel like progress.
Just don't try that on the club's new manager.
"I think it’s tough when you’re in my chair to really talk like that," A.J. Hinch said Tuesday on the Stoney & Jansen Show. "I know fans are super engaged on what progress means and you have fancy phrases like ‘stay with the process.' And it does take stages of your rebuild to get back to being a stable winning environment. Down here in the trenches, it doesn’t change our day to day. I want to win every day."
The Astros had the most wins in baseball in the final four years of Hinch's tenure in Houston. He won't accept losing in Detroit, even if the circumstances are different. Because the circumstances are also sort of the same. The Astros had the fewest wins in baseball in the four seasons prior to Hinch's arrival.
Which meant they had a bunch of high draft picks and a ton of young talent in the pipeline. They went from 70 wins to 86 in Hinch's first season at the helm. Why can't the Tigers make a similar jump in 2021?
"You’re not going to hear me concede anything," Hinch said. "I don’t know what’s possible and I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to be a .500 team. That’s admitting 81 losses. Why the hell would a manager do that? That’s not motivating your players to bring your best every day. We will play the whole schedule that we’re allowed and we’re going to have a winning mindset and winning habits, that I can assure you."
To Hinch, it's less about aiming for a particular record than it is instilling the right attitude in his team. The record, over time, will take care of itself.
"We’re all realistic with what we’re trying to do with our young players, but I have to instill a mindset that we can win today. I have to bring our guys to the ballpark every day expecting to win today’s game and then the series and then have a winning week and if you have a winning month, those are building blocks and that raises the bar of expectations," he said.
Speaking of young players, Hinch is already having fun watching Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene in spring training. He said the coaching staff had to tell Torkelson to relax in Monday's workout because he was going so hard in basic fielding drills.
"He’s learning third base. One of the youngest guys in the camp and he’s diving after plays yesterday in the drills. And we’re like, 'Hey, you don’t have to dive in an angle drill,'" said Hinch. "But he’s going to do his best to live up to the potential that everybody wants him to."
At the same time, Hinch has been having a little fun at Torkelson's and Greene's expense.
"I’ll poke fun with them because they’re famous before they’ve even done anything. I mean, Torkelson hasn’t even taken a (professional) at-bat and we’re talking about him being a great contributor. I try to throw it out there in front of everybody just to take the burden of expectations off these guys. We’re going to need more than just Torkelson and Greene for the future to be bright."
On the other side of the spectrum is Cabrera. The 37-year-old is entering his 19th big-league season, his 14th with the Tigers. He's played more games than any active player besides Albert Pujols. And this year Cabrera wants to play more first base after spending all of last season as Detroit's DH.
Hinch is willing to give him the chance, and not just to keep Cabrera happy. He said if Cabrera can play first base "once or twice a week," it will allow other vets on the team to get the rest they need.
"I’m not going to play him so much that he can’t handle it physically. But if I’m talking five, six times a month and he gives us 25 to 30 games, that will help Ramos DH, Candy can get a day to DH, Scoop can do it, Mazara can do it, Grossman can do it. There’s a tangible benefit for a lot of guys on our team to Miggy playing first.
"It’s not just sticking him there to make him happy. It’s not just sticking him there abruptly without preparing him, and I think he understands that. I met with him yesterday. He is in good spirits."