AJ Hinch is doing his best to cover for Javy Báez but Tigers fans aren't buying it

Tigers management wouldn't be caught dead saying a bad word about Javier Báez in public, but fans might respect them more if they did. What makes Báez's long decline exponentially more frustrating is that the team doesn't seem to be willing to call it what it is.

His contract has been lampooned as one of the worst doled out in baseball history, and the way it's panned out has almost certainly scarred the front office over the last few years. But if you were to ask AJ Hinch, Scott Harris, and Co., they'd say that they're looking forward to seeing how he'll be able to bounce back this year.

Last year, none of the Tigers' late-season success had anything to do with Báez, who put up the worst fWAR year of his career at -1.1. He was placed on the 10-day IL near the end of August and moved to the 60-day just three days later, and even as the rest of the hitters were flourishing around him that month, he was batting .214 with a .283 OBP.

This year, he's back at spring training, fresh off hip surgery. He made his season debut against the Blue Jays on Feb. 28 and went 0-2 but, miraculously, drew a walk. He went hitless (and walkless) in his next outing against the Phillies, then logged a double against the Blue Jays again on Monday to raise his spring average to .167. Yay?

Again, the Tigers won't say a bad word about Báez in public. Instead, Hinch said, "When Javy is healthy and when Javy is staying within the strike zone, and he's getting on base, he can help a team win. Obviously, Javy can make a team better."

Tigers' excuses for Javy Báez aren't getting any easier to swallow as he continues to slump in spring training

But the thing is that Báez doesn't get on base, and that's sort of the whole problem. He's famously had the league-lowest OBP in all of MLB in 2020 and 2023, and he easily would've done it again in 2024 if he hadn't played in just 80 games. He doesn't stay in the strike zone, either, and all of the memes can attest to that. Since joining the Tigers, he hasn't done anything to make the team better.

The Tigers are never going to stop pretending like Báez will be able to contribute to the team somehow, because they're stuck with him. They'll never be brave enough to just release him with all of the money they still owe him, even though their plans to platoon him with a rookie this season speaks pretty clearly to their level of faith.

Hinch said his goal for Báez is to "just get him healthy, both his body and his bat." Being healthy is one thing; being productive is another. This is a wildly low bar the Tigers are setting for their highest-earning player, but it's the unfortunate reality at the moment.