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not at all what this was originally about. The point of contention was your statement that we hadn't hit 'peak Tiger' yet because the team was great in 25 and we have peices to add. All I'm saying is that you can't just say that because in all probablilty major pieces are going to be lost. If you lose Skubal and Mize next season (assuming there is one ) you need 9 new War to get to where you were in 25 before you can say you are any better. That is no foregone conclusion. It's actually very possible '25 was 'peak Tiger.' I hope not, but that story hasn't been written. Melton and McGonigle maybe get you the 9 back, but then you still have to add from there to be better. Jobe - maybe, Oslen - maybe, Clark - maybe.

If you want to put it in more historical terms, I could find maybe 100 playoff teams where if we subtract two guys from it, they lose enough WAR to … wait for it … put them out of the playoffs. So what are we even talking about here? How terrible Harris is because he did not transcend that during a building year? Then he’s terrible. There’s your conclusion.

He's also got a mortgage from his wealthy father who sent him to $80k a year boarding school. Real working class hero.

If we had a CF whose OF play was on a par with Shorts SS play and hit just as badly, that would be an improvement over any day when Perez was out there -- obviously depends what it would have cost for that marginal improvement. Really, we should turn the argument around because the issue is really just Perez - period. He's fielded poorly in RF and CF and he hasn't hit. I think if you look at his performance you can say two things, he certainly has hit below expectation, so you can say a GM can't go by anything other than what a guy has done, and on that score, Perez has simply disappointed. If you look under the covers a bit, what you see is that he has completely fallen off the cliff as a LHB. His LH OPS 2024/2025/2026 go 708/688/476. Mostly because his LD rate is minscule this season. As RHB he is still OK (with relatively few AB his RHB OPS is 785). Of course since you already have Vierling as a RH OF, you only really want Wenceel as LHB, and on that score, he has been simply terrible. The numbers say you are absolutely better off just playing Matt all the time (687 career OPS against RHP) and forgetting about the platoon. But who-know-who is filling out the line-up cards.

New acronym to use... https://open.substack.com/pub/pebblehunting/p/terrible-luck-and-the-pitchers-who?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=epdue

What I'm saying is it wasn't hindsight. Any front office with any analytics (and looking at past history) could easily see that Suarez was extremely likely to continue the decline he was beginning to show at the deadline.

It doesn't matter what looks very good to many fan, his underlying stats and history from previous seasons fairly easily predicted a sharp decline in the 2nd half - maybe not quite as bad as it was, but he was way outperforming in the first 1/2 of the season (which he also did the year before). A GM isn't responsible to look good to the fans. He is responsible for using the data and evaluations he has available and making a decision on the worth of that player. It was fairly easy to see Suarez wasn't worth Melton (who they specifically required) and his profile of high K rate and poor defense didn't fit what the team needed. And he was the biggest bat available at the deadline. It's easy for you to say you're not the GM, so how could you know, but that is exactly the point. You have no idea what was available for trade and what it would take. All we can do is go by who was traded. Suarez brought back the biggest return of the bats, and we know they required Melton from us if we were going to get him. So we know he wasn't a fit. Who else should have they traded for that was traded? Naylor?

In hindsight, sure. And now? Untouchable. There's a possibility we lose both Mize and Skubal. We'll need all the pitching we can find. But a hitter with 36 home runs and close to 100 RBI at the deadline is very tempting. Again, in hindsight, I'm glad we didn't trade for him.

Trump's meltdown on Meet the Press was glorious. Calling him out on his election lies caused his face to go from orange to beet red.

They are the specific club and the specific player that the article sited wanted Melton (who was rated around our 9th prospect IIRC). They did want the specific pitcher we needed and even you said you wouldn't trade.

Sometimes you trade a stock because it was losing money or not growing only to miss out on the upside and the stock you buy does the same.

36 home runs and close to 100 RBI at the trade deadline would look very good to many fans. Diving into deeper stats may have showed warning flags but sometimes those are ignored. As Chas pointed out, Tiger 3rd basemen out performed him. And like I said, his stats would (or may have) been worse at Comerica

Canada is also playing on home soil, in an expanded tournament, with a real coach. So round of 32 is the minimum target, and if they win the group (vs Switzerland, Bosnia, Qatar) Vancouver will host that game. On the other hand, Canada has 0 wins and a whopping 2 goals scored total in their illustrious World Cup history, so they may well lose to Bosnia, lose to Switzerland and draw with Qatar.

Is that your benchmark? A CF who is the equivalent of Zack at short? Because I might counter that we already have that in CF now, and without giving anything up for it. I mean, sure, Harris didn’t do anything to make us feel alive, but them’s the breaks.

I just said he was traded for less than blue chip prospects. People think Arizona wanted our best young players and they traded him for much less. But whatever, I did say we dodged the bullet, hindsight is wonderful.

I didn't even realize that Platner was drawing 100% disability from the VA. So now on top of everything else, the piece of trash is scamming the government. Can't have it both ways, either this guy is gaming the system or he actually has some serious mental health issues.

I haven’t dug into it much but do the stats actually bare out that Vierling has been bad in CF? I get the eye test says he’s limited but atleast according to Savant +2 in OAA in CF. 92% success rate against an expected 89%. Now is he hitting as well as he should, absolutely not. However, I would bet on that righting itself out more so then some journeyman or over the hill vet providing better production at the cost of a prospect or more money against an already really tight money situation. Perez I can’t defend, he’s been terrible and if we were healthy would not be on the team.

eeww

This has been my philosophy a few years now. The current system has outlived its usefulness and needs an entire overhaul. Unfortunately the system is also stuck in the grime... https://bsky.app/profile/mcopelov.bsky.social/post/3mnwunrrtak2i Mark is correct. There are no "fair maps" under single-member districts. https://leedrutman.substack.com/p/why-you-cant-just-ban-gerrymandering

Skubal sauce

Have not done the timeline but...if true...nobody will care because the MAGAs have a fairy tale and everyone else hates him already. Post by @mywitsend.bsky.social — Bluesky

If you want to put it more saberish terms, the two of them were worth ... wait for it.... 9 WAR (fangraphs) and 9 WAR of pitching talent doesn't grow on trees (as me old mum used to say). All reasonable methods of estimation should converge toward the same value.

WALL-E levels of space junk are coming.

Meadows has/had a history of injuries. Using Javy out there, and have him playing so well out there, was nothing short of amazing. But we had all off-season to improve our lineup that went into a major slump the last 6 to 7 weeks. And CF and RF were the 2 spots most in need to replace weak utility type players. But it's fine, our opinions have clashed since last year, and while I think Harris has done a very good job in some areas, my opinion is he is very weak and ineffective at trades. We can agree to disagree. Even if I'm right..😁