Forever hopeless Detroit Tigers lifted by the leadership of Hinch

LLANO, Texas — When Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A.J. Hinch were suspended for a year because of their role in a sign-stealing scandal, there was informed speculation that their careers in Major League Baseball were finished.

How would Hinch be able to assemble a coaching staff with everyone knowing that any team he managed would be under extreme scrutiny?  Talk about distraction.

Only a truly hopeless team would resort to Hinch.

He was happy to find the Detroit Tigers, a perfect fit if ever there was one.

The shock is that the Tigers, who were a typically horrid 9-24 to start the season, have been transformed into the hottest team in baseball.  They’re 7-0 since the All-Star Game; they’ve won 42 of their past 59 games, for a winning percentage that’s unheard of in baseball: 71.2.

Largely ignored by national media, heroes suddenly abound in the Motor City.  

• With five starting pitchers injured, reliever Tyler Alexander made an emergency start on Thursday and allowed the Texas Rangers one run in 3 2/3 innings.
• Willi Castro, promoted from Toledo on Thursday morning, tripled to lead off the second inning.
• Jonathan Schoop’s double in the third inning extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
• Lefty Gregory Soto, the Tigers’ lone All-Star, pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve the 7-5 victory.  It was his third save in three days
• A major factor in the surge is 32-year-old journeyman pitcher Wily Peralta.  In five starts since June 26, he’s allowed just one earned run over 26 2/3 innings.  It’s just the fifth time in the Tigers’ 127-year history that a pitcher has had five consecutive starts allowing one or zero earned runs. 

Obviously, this team is responding to the leadership of Hinch, whose one-on-one counseling sessions sooth the veterans and inspire the young.  The ballwriters in Detroit marvel the way we did in Houston at how Hinch utilizes the specific dimensions of a ballpark.  Comerica is speed-friendly, so he writes lineups filled with players who run aggressively and force the defense into errors.  The Tigers have 59 stolen bases.

Meanwhile, Jeff Luhnow continues to be shunned by the sport, despite his truly brilliant work in Houston.  He hired Hinch and Brent Strom, an unemployed pitching genius.

I spoke with an Astros source who maintains contact with Luhnow, and he said, “I think Jeff has been ostracized.  I doubt he will get another job in baseball.”

There are key differences in how Hinch and Luhnow responded to their punishment.  Hinch came clean, acknowledged his malfeasance.  Luhnow denied knowing about the trashcan delivery system.  He didn’t come clean; he insisted he was clean all along, and he sued the Astros for $22 million.

While Hinch was invariably gracious to everyone he met in baseball, Luhnow displayed frequent arrogance.  Many people within the Astros’ organization disliked him, and he was even more despised by those who worked for other teams.  

Luhnow is 55, and a man of his intelligence and drive is almost certain to have success somewhere.  He’s looking at opportunities in soccer, a sport that has failed to embrace analytics, which is Luhnow’s forte.

His story will have a second chapter.  But it probably won’t be in baseball.  Not even the worst of teams will be interested.