Tank Games

As we watch the Detroit Tigers struggle to reach the finish of the season, there are plenty of people that believe that the team should go out of their way to lose games.  The thought is that the more games they lose the higher the draft pick they will get in next year's draft.  The higher the draft pick, allegedly, the better the talent.  The better the talent, the better your team gets.  Pretty straight forward thinking.  I see a few problems with this strategy, as do plenty of others.

The first problem I see with this idea is that with baseball prospects, even the guys that are coming out of college, are still several years away from playing in the MLB.  By all accounts, the major leagues are on a much higher level than even the minor leagues so if a fanbase thinks that a number one or two pick is going to have an immediate impact on their team they don't really pay attention.  There are once in a generation type players that can have an immediate impact, but there doesn't appear to be any player like that in the upcoming draft.  They'll settle for a top five draft pick for next year's draft and the front office that the Tigers have will most certainly do an excellent job selecting their next player.

The MLB draft seems like a crap shoot when it comes to comparison of the other major sports.  A lot of that hinges on players getting drafted so young.  There are plenty that get drafted right out of high school, and yes they can decline to sign with the team that drafts them and pursue a college career.  You see that quite a bit that a player will get drafted out of high school, not sign with the team, and then several years later get drafted much higher because they have developed.  Even those generational players that get drafted spend some time in the minors before getting called up.

It takes time.  It always takes time.  With all the holes that are in the Tigers roster, it's a good thing for them to take their time developing their young players.  Al Avila traded away five veteran players and got nine players back.  There have been a couple that have played in the Major League with other teams and have even seen some time with the Tigers this year.  The majority of the players are in double A or lower.  There are players that they have drafted that are about the same level.  So the next crop of talent is going to come up soon, and they are going to come up together.  That is how you seemingly come out of nowhere and start winning plenty of games.  Look at the Royals in 2014 and 2015.  Look at the Cubs the past couple of years.  The Astros.  All of them were terrible for so long.  They drafted talent, developed the talent, and then were seemingly relevant.

I feel like I have written several posts like this, and part of it might be trying to convince myself that this is for the best.  This is how the Tigers are going to get good again.  Gone are the days of winning now.  In five and six years they'll have the win now mentality, but for now it's going to be terrible baseball to watch.  Just keep an eye on the minor league teams if you want to get excited about baseball.  That's what will keep you going.