Detroit Tigers fans react to fresh criticism of Javier Baez’s poor offerings to team’s woeful 2022 offense: "Needs to pull more bWAR out of his hat"
The marriage of the Detroit Tigers and Javier Baez has been a rocky one so far, to say the least.
Baez, the flashy and talented infielder who rose to fame over seven-plus scintillating seasons with the Chicago Cubs before he was dealt to the New York Mets in a 2021 deadline trade and signed with the Tigers that winter, struggled mightily as the poster boy for Detroit's putrid offense in 2022.
The 30-year-old native of the Dominican Republic signed a six-year, $140 million contract as the Tigers' prize free-agent acquisition of the 2022 offseason, but proceeded to produce the worst offensive numbers of his nine-year big league career with a .238 batting average and .671 OPS over 144 games.
Javy Baez's 2.5 bWAR led the Tigers in 2022
That's the lowest team-leading bWAR over a full season in Detroit's 121-year history https://t.co/KUIM2BO37g
The good news is that Javier Baez led the team with a 2.5 bWAR – which is the formulation that Baeball Reference uses to calculate Wins Above Replacement Player. The bad news is, it was the lowest team-leading bWAR in the 121-year history of the American League club.
So, who is to blame for this laughable statistic: Baez or the Detroit Tigers? Fans weighed in on all sides of the question.
Looks like El Mago needs to pull more bWAR out of his hat instead of a rabbit twitter.com/talkinbaseball…
El mago strikes again twitter.com/talkinbaseball…
Pain. All I know is pain twitter.com/talkinbaseball…
Javier Baez had a bad season. Of this, there can be no doubt. However, that his worst MLB campaign was still good enough to lead the Detroit Tigers in bWAR is quite an indictment of the team overall.
This team signed zero position players. twitter.com/talkinbaseball…
@TalkinBaseball_ A lot of people are taking this as a shot at Baez. I don’t think that is the point here.
i don't think i've ever been this unenthusiastic about Tigers baseball in my entire adult life. twitter.com/TalkinBaseball…
Baez has long been known to be a player who thrived in exciting and pressure-packed situations. The Tigers were practically Soviet in their drudgery last season, finishing 26 games out of first place in the American League Central with an average of just 19,634 fans attending each game – the ninth-fewest fans of the 30 MLB teams.
Detroit has seemingly created a situation where a player's worst can somehow count as the team's best.
@TalkinBaseball_ Javy Baez is the worst best Tiger ever
Why must you kick yes while we’re down? twitter.com/talkinbaseball…
@TalkinBaseball_ This is both absolutely fascinating and absolutely pathetic
Meanwhile, the Cubs, who landed minor league outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong from the Mets in the Baez trade, are sitting back and eating popcorn while they await the No. 1 prospect in their farm system to begin manning center field at Wrigley Field soon.
Tigers fans can take some solace in the fact that Mets fans share at least some of their Baez pain.
I’m so happy we traded Pete Crow-Armstrong for half of a season of this dude 😒😒😒😒 twitter.com/talkinbaseball…
Where do Detroit Tigers and Javier Baez go from here?
With nary a free-agent acquisition or big transaction to improve the team in Motown this winter, things may not be getting any better for Javier Baez and the Detroit Tigers.
The best move for both parties may be to divorce at some point in 2023, with the Tigers having to accept a below-market value trade in order to save on some of the many millions owed to Baez through 2027.
Of course, if Baez could improve on the 2.5 bWAR, it might help facilitate such a deal.