A.J. Hinch needed a second chance, and the Tigers were happy to give it to him. Hinch is grateful to be back in the game. But a month into his first season, you have to wonder if he's having second thoughts. You have to wonder if he'd sign up all the same. Having seen what he's seen, you have to wonder if he's wondering what he got himself into.
Have you watched the Tigers play?
This team looks worse than the one that was rebuilding last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. This team looks worse than maybe any team in franchise history, including the one that lost 119 games in 2003. This team looks like the upside-down, inside-out version of any team Hinch managed in five seasons with the Astros.
So maybe this is the last of Hinch's punishment for what went down in Houston. Maybe this is his public penance. Maybe managing a club that's getting dragged across baseball, most recently by an organization wronged by Hinch's Astros in 2017, is the fair and proper way for him to return to the game. Not that anyone's crying for the Yankees.
But the Yankees had to feel pretty good sweeping Hinch and the Tigers last weekend in New York. They had to especially enjoy a 10-0 drubbing of Detroit on Friday night, the Tigers' second double-digit loss in a row. Hinch went four full seasons in Houston before the Astros lost back to back games by double digits. It happened in his first month with the Tigers.
Just how dreadful was April for Hinch's new team? Worse than anything he witnessed with his old one. From 2015-19, the Astros were never shut out more than three times in the same month. The Tigers were just shut out five times in April. The Astros never scored fewer than 100 runs in a full month of play. The Tigers just scored 75. The Astros never lost more than 17 games. The Tigers just lost 19.
Friendly reminder: the 2014 Astros lost 92 games. The 2020 Tigers were on pace to lose 97. Both clubs had the fewest wins in baseball over the four seasons prior to Hinch's arrival. Hinch showed up at the ideal time in Houston, just as guys like Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer and Dallas Keuchel were entering their primes. He's shown up in Detroit to watch Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal combine for an ERA north of 5.50 and to watch Willi Castro hit south of .200.
If the Astros were further along on their competitive timeline, let's not pretend the Tigers were supposed to flail for another season. They were supposed to improve this year, in a way that would foretell meaningful success in 2022 and beyond. After a month of play, there's nothing to believe in other than the fact that Riley Greene is starting the minor-league season in Double-A. Maybe he can save us in September.
This is brutal. The Tigers are the worst team in baseball by such a wide margin that nine teams have already lapped them in the win column, including the Royals. Kansas City won the Word Series, razed and rebuilt its roster and is back to winning again in the same time that it took Al Avila and the Tigers to ... to do what? To fix their farm system? The kids are graduating and the club's still failing. To slash their payroll? Financial flexibility means nothing if Chris Ilitch doesn't want to stretch.
Back in February, Hinch was asked if a .500 season would constitute progress for the Tigers. Like any good manager, he shot the notion down: "That’s admitting 81 losses." You have to wonder how quickly he'd accept that now. You have to wonder how eagerly he'd sign up for 81 wins, with the Tigers on pace for 44. Hinch had to take his second chance. But he has to wonder if he should have taken the first one he got.