Javier Baez is who he is at this point in his career, a flashy glove and an empty bat. Both the numbers and the eye test bear that out, even if some of his fielding metrics have slipped. He's a bad player getting worse who's not even halfway through a six-year, $140 million contract.
The Tigers can't afford to keep playing him everyday if they have visions of winning in the near future. But Baez has three years and $73 million remaining on his deal after this season. It begs the question that president of baseball ops Scott Harris was asked Tuesday on MLB Network: At what point do the Tigers have to make a decision here?
"That is not a question for the here and now," Harris said. "Right now, we are focused on trying to get the most out of him. He’s really an asset for us defensively. We have a lot of pitchers that put the ball on the ground, especially in the bullpen, and we really rely on him to make the plays behind them. He made some really nice plays over the last week or so that helped us."
Baez, 31, has been steady for the Tigers at shortstop this season, if not quite an asset based on defensive runs saved (0) and outs above average (minus-2). At the plate, he has an OPS of .506, which is second to last in the majors among 154 qualified hitters. He's tied for last in wRC+. All of his hitting metrics are headed in the wrong direction.
"On the offensive side of the ball, he’s going through some adjustments right now," Harris said. "He’s on the other side of 30, but it doesn’t make him old. He still has that fast twitch, he still has that athleticism. We just gotta find a way to help him make some adjustments to get back to barreling balls and punishing mistakes like he did in a Cubs uniform back a few years ago. So we’re just focused on trying to put him in a position to help us win games."
By the end of the season, that might mean simply cutting Baez loose. For now, it means salvaging whatever value remains in a failed investment.
As for the Tigers' younger hitters, who comprise their position-playing core, Harris said that Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, Spencer Torkelson and Colt Keith are "still finding their way."
Greene was the best among them out of the gate this year, while Carpenter has surpassed him of late with an OPS of .915 on the season. Torkelson has raised his OPS by more than 50 points this month, albeit to just .644, while Keith has raised his by more than 200 points, albeit to just .590. On the flip side, Greene's OPS has fallen by nearly 150 points this month, to .763.
"These guys are still finding a way to handle all the shapes that different pitchers are throwing at them, but more importantly to achieve the level of consistency in their preparation and routines and their game-planning and the adjustments they need to make at-bat to at-bat and pitch to pitch," Harris said. "We’ve seen flashes with all three of those guys.
"Certainly, Carp and Riley are a little bit ahead in terms of their performance. I think with Colt, his aggregate performance belies a really strong May. He’s starting to come out of the adjustment period. I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet with Colt, but we’ve seen a lot of positive signs in the last few weeks."
Harris, who was bullish last year on letting prospects like Keith and Justyn-Henry Malloy develop in the minors before exposing them to big-league pitching, said Tuesday that "there are a lot of young hitters around the league that are really struggling right now because there’s no substitute for the caliber of pitching that they face in the big leagues."
"You can’t take young hitters and just give them a little more time in the minors and all of a sudden prepare them to face (Jared) Jones and (Paul) Skenes, who we’re coming up against the Pirates (this week), and certainly some of the veteran starters who are pitching with a ton of stuff and command at this level that our young hitters just don’t see in the minor leagues."
The Tigers are 26-27 with an even run differential entering play Tuesday night. Their offense ranks 20th in the majors in OPS, while their pitching staff ranks 10th in ERA.
"We’ve shown some flashes of really exciting play on both sides of the ball," said Harris. "I think we’re searching for that consistency that comes with the maturation of young hitters and young starting pitchers in the big leagues. With youth often comes variance and I think we’re living that week to week here, but we’ve seen a lot of positive signs under the hood and some of those are translating to performance in recent weeks."