Comments on: Lloyd McClendon thinks he fixed Brennan Boesch’s swing

By: bendrinkin

bendrinkin — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:16:30 +0000

His swing must be more focused on “doing whatever it takes to help this ballclub win games.”

By: datdangdrewdundunituhgin

datdangdrewdundunituhgin — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:46:45 +0000

shortening his swing is something that needed to happen last year, not this year. there were glaring holes in his swing from the moment i saw him. he had no chance of ever hitting something hard that came at him low and in due to that cartoon loop he had. glad to hear him working at it, but really mclendon should have been adjusting last off-season. i’d trade 4-5 HR a shorter stroke would bring for 30 pts of avg and 5-10 more doubles. the impatience at the plate is something that has to be corrected, however.

By: coryfor3

coryfor3 — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:04:47 +0000

I think the idea of most of these hitting coaches is funny. Look around the league- I don’t think there are too many hitting coaches that ever figured out a way to fix their own swing let alone someone else’s.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:00:56 +0000

It would be really great if this year our bats were hot too. Miggy & Fielder didn’t hit much in the post-season last year. That was painful. I am optimistic for this season though. Grrrrr!

By: paperlions

paperlions — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:49:31 +0000

Every team has holes….luckily for Detroit, they are pretty much guaranteed a playoff spot because there isn’t any other good team in the AL Central….even is by some miracle a team in that division was competitive this year, they still have the advantage of facing 3 really bad teams a lot, which no other AL division has…..so….you know that are playoff bound….after that…it is just about getting lucky enough to win 3 short series in a row….and their pitching gives them a leg up on that.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:46:33 +0000

Agreed on Hunter, even if I did have to break up with him. Our big problem was we had a number of really great players (Miggy, V, Fielder) and then really sucky players (Raburn, Kelly). We don’t have much in between. It would be an upgrade for us in some places to have replacement players.

What do you do first? Fill your last hole in the OF, upgrade your SS, find a stellar closer, or deal w/ 2B? Sigh.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:00:09 +0000

Too funny. I had an F-150 a long time ago, I was that guy broke down on the side of the road with his head under the hood all the time. Then when I worked in Paraguay we had an F-350, we lost months of work time because that piece of crap couldn’t stay in one piece. I owned a 1991 Chevy S-10 from 1994 until 2011, I sold it to my neighbor, it has over 260K miles on it, still runs. Now I have a Tacoma. My dislike of Fords is well earned.

Hunter is a huge upgrade for them, even if he falls off from last year.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:56:11 +0000

Their other sucky options were what? Raburn. Kelly. Geez. Thank god we’ve upgraded a bit (although I’m nervous they are keeping Boesch & Kelly lurking around). Adding Hunter helped. Dirks is better than those yahoos, so maybe that’s enough to seal the deal. We keep sucky players on the roster way too long. Look how long it took to shed Inge. That’s a thing for us.

FYI, I spent all morning at the Ford dealership getting a repair. Sigh.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:50:44 +0000

It would be grievous if they were playing him over a better player…their other corner OF options were pretty bad too, weren’t they? Failure to add better options through trade or FA and hoping for a minor miracle likely isn’t the best option here….getting all that offense from CF and 3B was great….but they were giving it all back in LF, RF, and DH last year.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:36:44 +0000

and, yet, we keep him…and Loyal Leyland plays him. Argh!

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:40:09 +0000

A corner outfielder who hit like a utility infielder last season? That waiver bait, not trade bait.

By: Minoring In Baseball

Minoring In Baseball — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:38:23 +0000

Big upside for the Tigers of Boesch is back to his old form. His power can come in handy for sure. I’m always rooting for the guys who come up through the system.
-Mike
http://minoringinbaseball.com/

By: paperlions

paperlions — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:30:15 +0000

The only real difference between “good Boesch” and “bad Boesch” was 30 pts of BABIP and a couple of HRs. He doesn’t walk much and MLB hitters now have enough film on him to attach his weaknesses, unless he adjusts, the difference between “good Boesch” and “bad Boesch” will always be a little luck on balls in play. He’s 28 with no defensive value, if he can’t hit well above average, he really has no value at all to an MLB team.

By: elwaysmilehighdenver

elwaysmilehighdenver — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:03:42 +0000

Boesch needs to hit like he did in 2011 or he’ll be dealt in a trade mid season. Jimmy “smokes” Leyland has to get more consistent production out of this lefty.

By: chacochicken

chacochicken — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:03:08 +0000

Is it the best swing of his life?

By: scoregasmic

scoregasmic — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:00:09 +0000

@Darth my thoughts exactly…I love when a I read that a Tiger is “in the best shape of their life” good things always come out of that

By: jonrox

jonrox — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:57:27 +0000

Is it safe to be mildly optimistic, given what he was able to accomplish with Austin Jackson last year?

By: darthicarus

darthicarus — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:49:42 +0000

Not going to lie, part of me hoped to read that Boesch’s swing was in the Best Shape Of Its Life.