Leaderboard

They can still evaluate young players while plugging in some short-term veterans via free agency or trade. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. They don't have enough legit young players to fill a MLB roster.

We still have Channel 20? I just hope they don’t preempt Batman or Gilligan’s Island for any games.

the defense will be seider and edvinnson and then five goalies.

This is a check in the Scott Harris column.

Apparently BA just published their top 100, and we had 5 (unverified—saw on the Tweeter):

Which made sense, because after the deluge, Harris had to see what we had that we could salvage, so we could jettison the rest and build from there. Then we fill in the holes where we need it. Looks good on paper, right? The big problem for us is that a lot of that plan simply fell through. The plan was for Tork to take a decent step forward and be a better than average hitter, and for Keith to hit better than a 68 OPS+ and hopefully playable a passable 2B, and for Javier Baez to put up at least the replacement level season he was projected for, and Parker Meadows to have a decent rookie season, and Kerry Carpenter to stay healthy and rake, and for Matt Manning to finally take his permanent place in the rotation, and for Casey Mize to step up to the top half of the rotation, and for Tarik Skubal to be an ace, and for Jack Flaherty to be good, and for the bullpen to be the same level of good as last year. And we got only two of those, and parts of two others, all on the pitching side. That's why we're floundering toward the bottom of the league instead of contending for the third wild card spot. Fans will blame Scott Harris for not planning for the contingency of basically everything going wrong all at once and having something tucked in his pocket he could pull out at the point anything goes upside down and we don't lose a step. I think it would be harsh to hang it all on him for not doing that. Nobody makes plans for when basically everything goes wrong. Nobody does that. There are not enough controllable major-league-quality resources available for teams to keep in stock when basically everybody goes upside down. When it does happen, you absorb it, hopefully learn key things from it, and make adjustments for the next year. I would completely agree, though, that we are either at or near the point at which Scott Harris is going to have to call an audible on his plan. I'm not sure what that would look like, exactly. Maybe it's a big shakeup of optioning or DFA'ing a bunch of guys and calling some wild cards up from Toledo, or signing whatever free agents are still available (come on down, Tim Anderson! 😜). Maybe it's firing some or all of the hitting coaches. I don't know what kinds of impactful choices are available to us at this point, but sometimes the mere appearance of trying to do something and failing is a better look than just staying put and hoping.

Time to warm up Miller.

Sounds like some sort of strategy expert. 🤔

Flaherty will probably want to sign at a place he can have a chance of winning. That's not in detroit.

People in the thread asked for his methodology and he basically said subscribe to my sub stack. 😂 I don’t think so.

Every Sunday home game, the Tigers should pick a random fan to play SS. Call it a try out. Could it work? Of course it could! If they don't try, they have already failed.

Just you and me against the world

There's only one way this is going to stop: Biden has to start nailing public appearances, period, starting with Stephanopoulos. Biden has to look sharp, be articulate, and most of all, not rush his words like he did to open the debate. I think his trying to speak faster than a drug commercial reeling off side effects is the main thing that caused him to stumble all over the place. He doesn't have to speak slowly, and in fact he shouldn't because that would be just as bad, but one of the core things he needs to work on moderating the speed of his delivery. Because he needs to projects confidence every time we see him from now on.

i bet he hated the seider pick. after all, he was a consensus 20th pick!!!!!

Yeah, that whole thing in that podcast about just how competitive Scott Harris is on a personal basis just rang hollow, mainly because it is so tediously unremarkable in an industry defined by its competitiveness. I appreciate Harris's plan and I think it's flaling not because it's a bad plan, but because so many things we all thought we could reasonably count on went so spectacularly wrong. The man is in a tight spot, and I sympathize with his situation because I believe it's not exactly his fault. But it is his responsibility, and when something like this happens, big boys in big pants do big things to set it right. Now, in our case, the scope of "big" is limited. We're not going to trade for Juan Soto or Elly De La Cruz or Ketel Marte, because they're not going to be made available to us; and we're not going to find an All-Star who's still sitting out there waiting to be signed; and we're not going to bring in someone off the pile like Evan Longoria or Hanser Alberto or AJ Pollock or Josh Harrison (or Tim Anderson!), because they're probably below replacement level by now. Just about the best we can hope for now is that somehow Harris can flip our dwindling (e.g., Flaherty) assets for at least one major-league ready infielder. That seems like a pipe dream, but even if it could happen, that's not going to save this season. This season is, for all practical purposes, done. No one wants to hear this, but our options are kind of limited in the offseason, too. Yes, I understand this is a decent free agent class, but remember that the "agency" in free agency means players get to choose where they go, and very few players would choose to go to an organization that has lost for eight years running and will be projected to lose for a ninth next year. When it comes to free agents, we are in a class with the White Sox, Rockies, Marlins, and Nationals. That's how players think of us at this moment in time. Harris could take a big swing at talking a pitcher like Max Fried into coming here on an overpay (if Baby Doc were to allow it) because we have a track record of making pitchers good, but Comerica is basically death to hitters, and short of somehow reconfiguring the park into a home run hitter's paradise, anyone who has a choice is almost certainly not going to choose to come here. The best shot Harris has of signing anyone this offseason, I believe, would be Willy Adames, and that would take an offer in the range of Baez years, and that would make it a tough sell to the fans. In the end, it looks like the surest way we're going to start winning is by building the winner from within, and then adding pieces once we get that core in place—in short, Harris's plan now. It sucks that assets we have now that we were counting on are flailing and setting back the timeline even further, but let's face it, that's our reality now. Ain't no magic wand gonna fix it. If somehow Tork and Keith could come out of the gates raking next year, just those two guys, even if everyone else does what they're doing now, we're going to have a completely different view of this team. To me, that's the main thing we have to hope for. But if they don't, and we end up going through this all over again next year, people's jobs might start being in jeopardy.

Just to throw a little cold water on Madden's most recent start, Louisville's .711 OPS is good for absolute last in the International League (.773). That's a cheaply calculated 92 OPS+. Yes, I know, I'm a ray of sunshine at parties, too.

OK, but here is part of the issue at hand. This organization has been going through sink or swim evaluation for too many seasons in a row. I understand the front office has been turned over. What happened prior shouldn't necessarily be on the current's resume. But the current organization needs to understand that this fan base has been through enough of a stretch of uncompetitive baseball. @chasfh astutely went through a laundry list of things that didn't work this season (must be in another thread), a list where if those reasonable possibilities were more 50/50 rather than 20/80, then we're probably in a better mood today. Too many things went wrong as opposed to neutral or right. OK, fine, that's baseball, it happens. But you can't build upon that disappointment with another season of disappointment, a scheduled season of wait and see without addressing known and reasonably anticipated weaknesses during this upcoming offseason. I doubt they could do enough shopping this offseason to acquire too much talent. Should that happen, I think they can move out some current for future. I understand Harris' desire to build this organization with deeper roots to acquire and develop better than in the past. I appreciate that, I implore that, we should all be happy with that. At the same time, the current needs to be addressed. I sometimes question whether or not the current front office understands what the fan base has lived through. Sure, they can look at losing record after losing record after losing record. But does that really resonate with folks that have not been living the entirety of it? I don't want to hear about personal competitive natures on a friendly podcast. Show me that nature by building sooner and later.

Tigers blurb on Kiley McDaniel ESPN column($$)

When is the Stephanopolous interview? That along with some town halls can do a lot to stop this.

Sometime I've gotta re-watch some of these super old sitcoms and just laugh at how the changing slang terms make certain phrases have very, very different meanings.

Canha is probably playing through a debilitating hip injury.

No face tackling of the plate required when you hit the ball very, very far.

No, I don't agree. They need to figure out ways to bring hitting in because they cannot count on enough of it coming from within. They need to look at free agency and trades. What they have returning in house won't be enough to compete in the division.

Ok and KCP is signing here why? And KCP is signing here for that cheap why? Come on Buddha, you know very well why the Pistons have no shot at guys like KCP and have to settle for scraps. If Harris didn't have deep ties to Michigan he's not coming to Detroit either. This is probably the worst job in the league for a GM, one of the worst even in good times because not only is it an undesirable market it's not a basketball market either and now it's a market with a long losing tradition so it's a tough sell for players to come here. The only real ways to improve are drafting and developing or trade of players who don't have no trade clauses. I'm not advocating for the Harris signing btw, just stating the reality of the situation. The Pistons need to get to the cap floor so this is how they did it. Harris isn't a nothing player, he can provide a little scoring like Bogey so.... yeah, there we go. It's....something.

Probably the most offensive thing ever posted on MTF. Bigbie? Baddoo? Cruz? Vilade? Navigato? Kreidler? Pure Insanity.

Gen X Vs Everybody

I don’t think that. I think we thought we had at least a puncher’s chance at the playoffs, and if we were reasonably close we’d need him for the push. But selling him at the deadline was a decent fallback plan, if not for the injuries that are sapping his value.

How about a constitution test. I am pretty confident about who would and would not pass that test.

A written cognitive test is entirely reasonable. Give them 3 hours, SAT style. speech and physical limitations being roadblocks to the job is actually discriminatory and ageism.

I may be wrong, but I think he was just Walt here, but Walt was just part of his username over on MTS. I just tried to confirm but either can't find out how or this site doesn't have that option like the old one. I saw a facebook post indicating someone from an OOTP league passed away, but no name, regardless I felt horrible. He was a solid guy with a young family. Last thing he did was have his organs donated, saving and improving the lives or countless others.

I'm a fan, but not being able to play a position really limits his potential.

With young athletes it can be a ‘lead a horse to water” kind of thing. You may give them great advice they follow when you’re watching then they go try to break the apparatus in the weight room when you’re not.

That should about do it with this offense.

What if Simeon Woods Richardson's kid marries Sawyer Gipson-Long's kid?

Generation wars. Boomers vs. Millenials. Millenials vs. Gen Z. Gen X vs. whoever. Sigh.

It worked with Lorenzen.

I'm enjoying Dan Petry in the booth and Andy Dirks at the desk.

Looks like Biden needs to fire some staffers.

Somebody should find their way into whatever Invision bulletin board these Biden people use and tell them they need to grow some balls, change their soiled underpants, and move on. 😉 1 big thing: Biden's staff panic after debate Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios President Biden's debate performance has left many of his own aides worried about his mental fitness and angry about what they see as a lack of candor from Biden's senior advisers, Axios' Alex Thompson reports. "Everyone is freaking the f*** out," one official said. 💥 Behind the scenes: Senior White House officials addressed the president's lackluster performance with staffers last Friday, the day after the debate. Many officials felt they were given talking points, with no real explanation of why Biden appeared unable to string sentences together or articulate a case for himself over former President Trump. The lack of answers from senior aides has continued this week, leading to growing anger and resentment among many inside the White House and the Biden campaign. 👀 "It's dark," said an official involved in the campaign. "It feels like there is zero leadership or information. People are being told to keep their heads down and keep working, but they're not seeing the president or being given any reason why they should have faith in him." 💬 The other side: Many of Biden's most trusted aides believe the debate was just one bad night and expect it to blow over. It would hardly be the first time he's defied critics even within the Democratic party who say he's too old, they note. "We have a lot of experience keeping — and spreading — the faith in moments where we're counted out; by staying focused on delivering for the American people and building on the most successful record of any modern presidency," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said. Go deeper.

Yes, I did that! Although, to be fair, I was not the one here who came up with "punched-in-the-mouth look". But I liked it! Also, I didn't realize you were one of the cool kids who uses dark background. Mad respect, bruh.

How do people you know look when they hit 84?

Regardless of what Langford does, I’m on board with the Clark pick (I was not at the time). He’s a better fit in Comerica and should be more well-rounded. Looks like a legit leadoff guy, which we’ve lacked for a long time.

Pipeline updated their ranking today. Clark 10, Jobe 11, Jung 42 and McGonigle 65.

Have you looked at my avatar. I'd say that answers it. Would I prefer someone else, yes. I've wanted a competitive primary process all along.

I like compare him to Mussolini. Il Douche

There is a non-zero chance you may have that opportunity in 130ish days.

Well said. People who complain about Tork don't understand he was the choice for being a #1-1 pick by most publications. I always say it was bad luck for the Tigers to have the 1st pick when there wasn't a multi-talented player to draft. No Bobby Witt Jr for us! And he was taken 2nd?

I just learned on facebook that Walter Partlo passed away yesterday. This is really sad and shocking to anyone who knew him. He was still young and seemingly vibrant and I believe it was totally unexpected. For those who didn't know him, he was a long time poster here. He had quite a life - Marines, PhD, professor, good family man and all around great guy.