The Tigers announced today that right-hander Alex Lange has been optioned to Triple-A Toledo. Fellow right-hander Mason Englert has been recalled from Toledo to take Lange’s spot on the roster for now.
The move highlights what a struggle the season has been for Lange so far this year. In 21 appearances on the season, he has a 4.34 earned run average. That’s obviously not a disastrous figure, but Lange has that mark despite not allowing a home run yet this year. He has struck out 23.3% of opponents but given out walks at a massive 18.9% rate. The lack of home runs has helped him strand baserunners at an unsustainable 54.3% rate.
It’s been a steep drop for a guy who was Detroit’s closer not too long ago. In 2022, he made 71 appearances with a 3.41 ERA, earning 21 holds in the process. His 11.4% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 30.3% of batter’s faced and got grounders on 55.6% of balls in play.
In 2023, the results were somewhat similar. He racked up 26 saves and six holds, posting a 3.68 ERA in 67 appearances, but with his peripherals moving the wrong way. His strikeout rate dropped a few ticks to 27.4%, his walk rate jumped to 15.6% and his grounder rate fell to 50.6%. As mentioned above, his strikeout and walk rates have continued trending in a concerning direction this year, with his ground ball rate also falling to 45.8%.
The growing control problems have clearly created some concern among Detroit’s decision makers and bumped Lange down the bullpen pecking order. Jason Foley has taken over the closer’s role with ten saves on the year, compared to two for Lange. Each of Andrew Chafin, Shelby Miller, Alex Faedo, Will Vest, Joey Wentz and Tyler Holton have picked up at least a couple of holds this season, while Lange has just one.
On top of being moved down the chart, he’s been bumped off the active roster entirely. He’ll head to Toledo to try to get a better handle on his stuff. “We decided the best place for him to go work on (strike-throwing) is in Toledo,” said manager A.J. Hinch, as relayed by Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic on X. “Could be a short stint. We’ve sketched out his next week to 10 days.”
Getting Lange back on track would obviously be good for the Tigers, with the club currently 23-26 and in fourth place in the American League Central. Despite Lange’s struggles, their relief unit hasn’t been the problem overall. They have a collective 3.58 ERA that’s good enough for ninth in the league, but moving up even further would obviously be a welcome development.
For Lange personally, this isn’t likely to have a huge impact on him financially, assuming Hinch is correct in stating that this will be a short stint. Lange came into the season with his service time count at two years and 112 days. Since a new year rolls over at 172 days, Lange needs 60 here in 2024 to get over the three-year mark. He’s already accrued 56 days to this point, meaning he should easily get over the line as long as he’s recalled at some point, even if it’s for just a week or so.
If Lange gets hurt on optional assignment or the Tigers decide to keep him down due to continued struggles, that would change things. Coming up shy of three years of service would eliminate any chance Lange has of getting to free agency after 2027. It would also prevent him from qualifying for arbitration if he’s under three years. Since he’s just under the three-year line, he would normally be in line for Super Two status, but only players with 86 days of service in the immediately preceding season can qualify for Super Two. Lange is shy of that right now but it would be a moot point if he is recalled and gets over the three-year line at any point, since he would automatically qualify for arbitration at that point.
It’s about time! Lange has cost the Tigers in high leverage situations too many times dating back to last season. I’m hopeful he finds the strike zone again and can return to being a productive part of the pen.
“It’s been a steep drop for a guy who was Detroit’s not too long ago…”
Yeah, there are a couple of places with a missing word in the article.
We have lost so many games this year with no offense, I said in the off-season we need a big bat. Lange is not our big problem. Watching starters get beat 1-0 2-0 is a joke. Couple good hitters would have made a big difference. Next our pitchers will be afraid to throw strikes knowing they have no run support.
The Tigers could use average hitters. Instead, 9 out of 13 position players are hitting below average and most of them are downright worse.
Closer?
No mention of throwing at home dugout? I didn’t watch the game. Did it happen?
I didn’t notice that happening and I was watching the game. I thought it was unusual that Hinch, not Fetter came out for a mound visit. I could see that Hinch did all the talking, and Rogers and the infielders gave them distance on the mound. Jason and Dan speculated that Hinch was angry about Lange throwing five straight curveballs. Lange stayed in and finished the inning.
AJ was upset b3cause Lange asked for a new ball and fired the old one into the screen. Lange is from the local KC area and kind of melted down
He scares me every time.e he comes in with a lead. Hopefully he figures it out.
This was true for me last year when he was full time closer. I am hoping he’s down at Toledo longer than the stated 7-10 days. It’ll take longer than that for him to figure things out. I don’t think that Englert will be in Detroit for long if Shelby Miller is activated soon, however.
He’s like the Fernando Rodney Roller-Coaster all over again.
“It’s been a steep drop for a guy who was Detroit’s not too long ago.”
He’s still Detroit’s.
If he pitches in high leverage situations couldn’t you try pitching him in lower leverage situations before sending him down? It’s like taking your struggling cleanup hitter and sending him to the minors instead of simply moving him down in the order first.
No. Your comparison is like apples and oranges. High leverage, low leverage, the guy can’t throw strikes. He needs to regain his command, period. Also, if you notice, they already have a reliever who pitches in lower leverage situations and that is Joey Wentz. He is out of options and would have to be DFA’d if they wanted to send him down. That’s why he made the team in the first place. Also, reverting back to your comparison….batters have that happen more often than you think. I believe they optioned Torkelson in his rookie season two years ago instead of him being moved down the lineup. He was hitting third or cleanup at the time of his demotion.
His ERA and FIP are both a little over 4. Last time I checked that’s not bad.
They gonna option Torkelson next? Maybe they should.
He’s very unpredictable. One night he strikes out the side and the next there are 5 runs no outs, and a bunch of hits and walks. He seems to be the same no matter where they play him. Foley was the closer at the start of the year but he’s had some issues lately too.
His FIP for 2024 is 3.94. His career FIP is 3.94. Pitch him in blowouts if you need to. He’s performing like a big leaguer. The walks are clearly a problem but he’s not giving up any hard contact.
He needed to go down. Check his May stats, not career stats.
FIP under 4
FIP schmip. Have you ever seen him pitch? No, he’s not pitching like a big leaguer. He’s pitching like he’s lost total control of his command. MCBB has it pretty accurate, except the fact that the striking out the side is fewer and further between. He needs the time in Toledo to get his command back, if indeed he can. He’s, by far, the worst pitcher in the Tigers bullpen currently.
If it makes anyone feel better, Gregory Soto is having an even worse season. Neither of these guys ever had the right make-up to be a true closer. Swing-and-miss stuff doesn’t matter if you hit your spots less than 50% of the time.
Not surprised about Soto whatsoever. Lange’s lack of command reminds me way too much of him. When they are good, they’re unhittable, but when they’re bad, they most of the time cost games.
Yep. You can only get so far as a team without a consistent high-leverage guy. Emmanuel Clase is the biggest reason Cleveland has won 33 games. He’s only given up one ER in 25 innings.
For the most part Jason Foley has been the consistent pitcher out of the bullpen. That’s why he’s been brought in to close games. Clase is one of the best closers in the league, no doubt about that.
The issue with Foley is his velocity has noticeably dropped since the beginning of the season. He was routinely hitting 99-101 and now he’s mostly sitting around 96 so he’s not getting the strikeouts that he was. He’s still effective at getting groundballs though and is definitely the closest thing to a closer that we have, so I’m hoping he’s not pitching through some kind of elbow/shoulder pain.
What about him?
Those walk numbers are absolutely horrifying. Hope he gets it figured out quickly.
Yeah, you forgot about the whirlwind way they’ve moved on from Al Kaline and Ty Cobb as well.
Pining for Briggs Stadium and Navin Field?
I thought the headline read “Tigers option Artie Lange”.
Lange makes Papa Grande and Todd Jones look like hall of fame closers….could never trust him when he came out in the 9th
Crazy how you post the same base message every time about every team. At least you are consistent! More consistent than Lange.
I hope Lange works on his other pitches and comes back with a plan that doesn’t include the constant use of the curveball. I think he can still help us if he makes the adjustment. I am watching Flaherty have another solid start and this putrid offense is getting shut down by Gausman who has struggled for much of the year. The only team with a poorer offense is the horrible White Sox. I think we will be selling at the deadline and Flaherty could bring in some talent but it would be great if we could sign him long term. I doubt that is an option for Flaherty at this point, especially if he continues to pitch well he will want to go to free agency.
I like Flaherty and he has looked great so far. I wonder, if it turns out that he has found a comfort level with Fetter and the other coaches if he might consider staying at a discount. He chose Detroit over other options this offseason. Skubal, him, Olson and Mize is a good top 4 with Jobe coming soon.
If the offense doesn’t start showing more signs of life, it won’t matter how good the pitching is. Tork, Keith and even Baez have started to show signs of life. They need more. Harris and Greenberg might need to consider shaking things up with another promotion (Jung, Leonard, Malloy) or a trade for another bat.
I like Flaherty too but it wouldn’t surprise me if he were gone at the trade deadline.
Regarding Tork and Baez, they are slowly gaining traction offensively but have regressed a little since the Arizona series. Keith looks and acts more comfortable at the plate.
Jung is struggling at Toledo as of late. Leonard is ready for a rehab assignment. So if there is a promotion coming, it’s Malloy or maybe a return of Baddoo. Never know when or if a trade for a bat will come.
I’m is disagreement with all the hype of Tiger’ MiLB position players. With the exception of Josue Briceno in Lakeland-A, the Tigers’ MiLB system is devoid of MLB hitting talent. We are stuck with sub .220 hitters for years to come.
Next year….again, next year?…..errrr….
If the Tigers keep hitting this poorly the season is going to do down the drain fairly quickly, if not hasn’t already. Based on this current “streak” I doubt they’ll win 70 games this year
Is it time for Tigers to make some changes ?
I’d say yes. Can’t win games with 3 to 5 hits
Long season looms without some moves made
They can’t go much longer without making moves. Sure, it be nice if they could trade some guys, but they have guys without options who are serviceable, but it’s time to move them. So other teams are just waiting because they can. They scored big with Perez. There may be more guys with options like that.
I believe the baseball is jimmied up, and they need A.I. system same as the minors have. They have a bunch of guys like Flahrety or Canha that could help someone today. McKinstry Urschela, move them to someone. Carson is first string, the other day Rodgers throwing the ball to empty third base just highlighted that. They are searching for the right mix for sure, but lets see some new faces. GO TIGERS
Excited to see Derek Hill Jr, I mean Max Clark in the outfield in 5 years. Ryan Kreidler at short. Or Payton Graham? Who knows… whoever the next “Can’t Miss” prospect they bring along. These 20 year rebuilds are so exciting….
They need to either extend Flaherty or start looking to trade him. I would hate to see another Erod situation. At least with Flaherty, they can make a qualifying offer.
I’ve read.much criticism regarding Hinch, whom I like.
But I have noticed, the defensive.positioning is horrible. Several times, plays 2nd.too far up the middle leaving practically the who.right.side.open, batter just pushes one through the right side…..= runs.
NOT THE PITCHERS FAULT.( not something to do with RISP.and a man on 1st.)
Doesn’t shake up the line.up, very rarely plays ALL of the top BAs in a game. Someone is always sitting who has a better BA. He manages like he needs to pace a winner.
How about we sprint and act as desperate as lt fans are?
Doesn’t let the jocks.compete under.pressure = which is the fun part of the game= pulls pitchers in tough spots.
And then turns around leaves a pitcher in to.fry.when that pitcher is obviously having a bad day.
Hinch.needs.to go.back to.basics as well.getting too fancy.
Wasn’t it.just a couple of weeks ago, the era was.half.that?
We’re not in it to win it.
We are in it to make money.
We will go as low as the chump fans will tolerate.
And then some…..
I’ve got CIDS and HDS.
Doesn’t matter who’s pitching and how good or how bad, the Tigers are in complete free fall right now. If the pitching is nails, offense can’t score a run, if offense shows up, pitching doesn’t show up.
How bout getting a hitter or two or three ?
How do you know this about Tork? They all need to go to Carp’s swing coach…He is by far their best hitter.
Who saw the Guardians and Royals being damn near the best teams in baseball? The Tigers are still in the Wild Card hunt, but I doubt they will go get them any help. If it is going to happen, it’s gonna be up to the young players figuring it out…