DETROIT — The losses are piling up like dirty laundry. The mood has gotten rather depressing. Sometimes, talking helps, right?As the Detroit Tigers take on the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa, let’s dive into the issues plaguing this team in Part 1 of this mailbag.Later this week, we’ll look ahead to the trade deadline and the longer-term future.Questions may have been lightly edited for length and clarity.The flawed idea of building with platoon multi-position players — also a Giants thing when Scott Harris was there — how much of that has to do with the egos of the POBO and manager? Also, was the highly touted farm system a fraud? — Brian K.Welp, we might as well start hot.Look, I’m not going to get personal, but the broader point of your platooning question is worth discussing. My understanding was always that the constant mixing and matching was supposed to be more of a temporary strategy, a way to maximize parts on a roster that didn’t have an abundance of high-end talent. And guess what? For a while, the Tigers (like the San Francisco Giants you mentioned) had a ton of success. I even defended the strategy earlier this year based on that track record. To me, however, it always felt like there would be an expiration date as players got older, as arbitration considerations came into effect and as your roster hopefully got better.One thing I don’t love: This is Year 6 of A.J. Hinch and Year 4 of Scott Harris. Kevin McGonigle, Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler are legit everyday bats. Otherwise, the Tigers are still platooning to an extreme degree — they have the league’s highest amount of pinch-hit plate appearances this season and entered Monday with a .141 average and 26 wRC+ from pinch-hitters to show for it.Fairly or unfairly, Colt Keith is not being used as the everyday bat he was once billed as. We’ll see what Max Clark ultimately becomes. Even prospects such as Max Anderson and Hao-Yu Lee seem to profile as short-side platoon players. I wonder if we’re starting to see the developmental downside of this philosophy.The Tigers have prioritized left-handed bats in drafts under Harris, and that might one day bear fruit. Still, it would be nice for the Tigers to have more everyday staples in their lineup. I’m not sure exactly how they’re going to get there in the short term.As for the farm system? I don’t think fraud is the right word. The Tigers produced McGonigle. The likes of Clark, Bryce Rainer and Josue Briceno are still highly touted prospects. While a lot of other orgs would probably still take the Tigers’ system over their own, the depth is certainly thinner than you’d like.A couple of years ago, it was fair to wonder if the Tigers were the next Cleveland Guardians — a burgeoning pitching factory. Troy Melton and Keider Montero are nice success stories, but I think it’s fair to say the Tigers aren’t quite the high-octane developmental machine they have aspired to be. It seems they’ve started to prioritize command and shapes over sheer stuff on the pitching front, and that hasn’t been working. Additionally, injuries haven’t helped.The Tigers’ methodology on the farm is miles ahead of what it was only a few years ago. Ryan Garko and others are good at their jobs, but for a team battered with injuries, there haven’t been great options in Triple-A Toledo. There’s a disappointing lack of talent in Double-A Erie right now. It’s time to start seeing more from their international pipeline, too.Some of the “fraud” perception comes from the trap of relying on prospects. Whether you’re a fan or an executive, it’s easy to think the next wave will solve everything. In reality, developing everyday big leaguers is a hard thing to do.There’s a graphic floating around of the luckiest and unluckiest teams in the league. The Tigers are by far the unluckiest with -8.8 fewer wins. The team is clearly underperforming all over the place, but how much of this slump is attributable to just “bad luck?” — Tom Z.I think the team’s 5-12 record in one-run games and 0-5 in extra-inning games is unusually unlucky. And while the rash of injuries is obviously unfortunate, I otherwise have a hard time blaming bad luck for much of this slide.The bottom line is that the Tigers don’t defend well. They don’t run the bases well. And at least in May — when their strikeout rate was the second highest in MLB — they didn’t do much at the plate to suggest they deserve better results.In short, this team hasn’t done a lot of the little things that can help breaks go in their favor. The team’s Pythagorean record — based on runs scored and runs allowed — is 26-34. It’s hard to watch this team every day and say they deserve a whole lot better.At what point do you believe the Tigers will start calling up players like Max Anderson, Max Clark and Ben Malgeri? I would think by August for sure, but this season is pretty much cooked, and I would think they would want to get a good long look at them. — Brad R.I got a bunch of questions about impending promotions, so I’ll address them all here.Anderson has an .813 OPS in Triple A. You have to think he’s a candidate to get called up at any time. Maybe even the same with Malgeri, who has a .911 OPS and has really put himself on the map.The truth, however, is that neither player represents a magic-bullet solution. There are reasons they haven’t been called up yet. Anderson is hitting .167 with a 42.9 percent whiff rate against pitches 95 mph or greater. Malgeri has a .296 average against 95-plus but is still whiffing against those pitches at a 40 percent clip. He’s also whiffing 35.8 percent of the time against breaking balls.Like Gage Workman and Hao-Yu Lee before them, there’s no guarantee they actually represent better options than what we’re seeing right now. The same applies to Eduardo Valencia, Trei Cruz, etc.Do I think it’s time to at least try something different for a spot or two on the roster? Yeah, but how much will it actually help? I’d temper expectations.As for Clark, it’s harder to say when we will see him. He’s been a little better recently but still has only a .717 OPS and two home runs in Triple A. He has a 46.3 percent groundball rate, which would be the 25th highest in the major leagues.I know some scouts have struggled with how to evaluate him recently, based on his struggles to consistently lift the ball and instincts in the field that haven’t been as good as once advertised. Given his tools, Clark is still a very talented prospect with a promising future.Especially if this season ends up lost, I wouldn’t be stunned if we don’t see Clark until very late in the year, enough to preserve his rookie eligibility for next season.Why has the back two-thirds of the offense cratered? Is this a BABIP/luck issue, poor approach, knock-on effect from Gleyber Torres/Kerry Carpenter injuries, or a continuation of last year’s tailspin? — Caleb Y.All of the above?Yes, the Tigers have somewhat underperformed their batted-ball metrics. They entered Monday with a .229 team batting average but an expected batting average of .241. While their .282 BABIP is a bit below the league average, a lot of the other metrics that were encouraging early in the season have tapered off after such a miserable May. I also find it interesting that the Tigers have the league’s second-highest fly ball rate (42.8) in an era where balls to the outfield are being caught like never before.Obviously, the Tigers miss Torres’ steadiness and Carpenter’s game-changing left-handed power. Things would be a little better with them healthy, no doubt, but the reality is every team has to deal with those types of injuries. The Seattle Mariners have been without Cal Raleigh and are still in first place despite a slow start.You could argue the biggest problem right now is that the bottom of this batting order just isn’t very good. When players like Zach McKinstry or Jahmai Jones aren’t hitting, and others such as Zack Short or Hao-Yu Lee are playing far more than anyone would like, it’s not a great recipe.This is the type of stuff that’s keeping me up at night because there doesn’t seem to be one clear explanation.Why hasn’t Jace Jung been given another opportunity? In last year’s spring training, he was the next big thing and briefly the third-base starter. Is there really no place for him? — Jerry P.Yeah, again, I’m not sure Jace Jung would magically fix all the team’s woes. However, I’d like to see Jung get more of a fair shake in the major leagues. A rival evaluator recently expressed that Jung might be an upgrade over some of the players the team has right now. He’s at least capable of putting together a competitive at-bat.Jung isn’t a perfect player. He’s not a great defender. And a .228 batting average in Triple A isn’t exactly what you’re looking for.Still, it’s odd that Jung still has only 132 MLB at-bats over three seasons. When he’s been up, playing time has been sporadic. He’s never really gotten a true run, and it feels like he’s in the dog house for some reason.What is the best way to evaluate Kevin McGonigle’s rookie season to this point, in light of all the losing? — Brad M.We’ll close the mailbag on a positive note here. McGonigle is really good!It’s a shame his rookie season is going to waste, but the Tigers did an excellent job drafting, developing and then extending McGonigle. He’s going to be a very good hitter in this league for a long time. His 3.0 bWAR entering Monday, at age 21, is tied for the fourth-best in baseball.Whatever the future holds, McGonigle is going to be a big part of it.