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Had an MRI on my head. Ain't nothing in there. No clots, no tumors. Funny that they asked what kind of music I wanted on the headphones and I picked Bossa Nova (neither tech ever heard of it) because it chills me out the most and I can still hear in the right ear. About 20 minutes into the scan a song came on and the rhythm of the machine and the song were in PERFECT UNISON and I started to laugh and they must have a camera on my face because they thought I was having a panic attack, but I told them it was just laughing. I thought I'd have to start over. I am a bit claustrophobic, but that wasn't the problem, it was so painful on my neck in that position. So - No perforations in the ear canal or ear drum In fact, the doc says my eardrum looks great, perfect color, no swelling. No blockages, almost NO earwax, there was actually more on the right side, the good ear, and the sucked it out (and it kinda hurt). So the theory is - at this point - that I have a virus that is causing major inflammation right on the nerve, behind the eardrum. That's not likely to show up on an MRI. So they've given me a high dose oral steroid, I took the first dose Tuesday afternoon and the last two mornings. Tuesday, rubbing my finger around the ear, I could not hear a thing. Yesterday, the finger test - I could faintly hear something deep in my head if I blocked the right ear, Today I can hear slight rustling in the left ear when I rub my ear without blocking my right ear. So maybe this is actually getting better. I think I'll know if this is the answer by Saturday. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to go see Stranger Things in a theatre today because it's VERY loud, but I got Vertigo about 4 times at the AMC Livonia. The carpet has these swirly patterns and when I looked down I got Vertigo. Then I went to look at the menu, but I tried to read it using reading glasses which made me really really dizzy. Driving was fine, however. I am hoping to be able to hear actual sound by Saturday. This is so scary. Music is like the absolutely #1 joy in my life and I miss hearing it the way I am supposed to. Regarding the steroids, I am waking up in the morning with absolutely NO PAIN. That's kind of nice.

I am encouraged by the Tigers direction. The Tigers recent actions seem in line with the 2000 to 2022 Cardinals. Always competitive, did not worry about windows, winning season 22 out of 23 years, in the playoffs 16 out of 23 years, and almost never signed a free agent for more than 4 years. Good things can happen if a team is consistently competitive. The 2006 Cardinals were 83-78 and beat the Tigers in the World Series. I think most free agents are over hyped, over valued. Long term contracts are high risks that can set the franchise back years. In the history of baseball most players decline substantially in their mid/late 30s (barring pharmaceutical assistance). Maybe the one free agent exception is a 6 WAR player who could go into the HOF with an English D on his hat. The current Tigers roster offers realistic 1.5 to 2.0 WAR potential at every position and throughout the starting rotation (counting on addition by subtraction at SS - sorry Trey Sweeney). Does a long term, high risk free agent with a ~3.5 WAR ceiling make sense if the team can consistently develop talent internally?

I'm not in love with him and he's neither a close friend nor family member, so I have no personal stake in Scott Harris. The idea I'm pushing back on is the conclusion people have already appeared to have drawn that because Harris has not signed or traded for the biggest names in the game by now, that he's never going to do so for whatever reason. And we're not the only ones who say or imply this. Stavenhagen says this, too. Have you heard the annoyed tone he has whenever he mentions Scott Harris's name on his podcast? That strikes me as wholly unprofessional, but only because i am applying the standards of journalists to him. I also aw something along these lines from at least one of the writers at MLBTR as well. They have a professional interest at hand, though, so that may be part of their frustration with him. Harris came in on Day One and laid out a long term vision to fix the franchise he was inheriting. He was never going to be done by now. The rot was so deep, it was always going to take more than three years. We are not at the end of the process. We are more like smack of the middle of it. We haven't even gotten the top prospects onto the team yet and people look like they are already giving up on the playoffs this year, and even more gobsmackingly, are clamoring for the trade of our generational talent for whatever we can get back in return. Not everybody here. Other posters have been very careful to articulate they like him more than not, but to a person, they express also impatience at the lack of big headline moves as of this date. But it's January 1, for crying out loud. We have no idea what this team is going to look like in mid-February, let alone March 26. I can understand grousing on March 26 if we do nothing between now and then. But he has also guided us to two playoff appearances in his first three years which, if anyone would have predicted this in August 2022, they'd have been laughed off the forum. I regard that as proof of concept and has earned him continued leeway to spool out the plan. That's what I'm going to do. But I can also see why you think I look incredibly thin-skinned with my responses as well. I appreciate the feedback.

Too many people here think baseball is stratomatic where outcomes are binary. There’s strategy, philosophy, long term goals, internal processes. I guess you are all right. Scott Harris sucks donkey balls. You can go back to the glory days of Randy Smith and Jose Macias. At least he had a plan. Quit listening to talk radio and twitter. Those folks don’t know ****

He may have had input in their desperation run, but the fact is he traded key pieces at the trade deadline. You can maybe give him credit for giving Hinch the OK to execute pitching chaos, but he put the team in a position where it was almost impossible to win. I simply don't believe the plan was to trade two of their best pitchers at the deadline and then win with pitching chaos. That was an experiment to help them get through the season and a miracle happened. They kind of tried it again in the second half of 25 and it didn't work. 2024 was a lot of fun, but it was luck.

his performance in bringing in and developing young talent has been really good. it's great to see the team's minor league system being lauded. otoh, he got played by eduardo rodriguez. he totally blew the offseason by failing to sign bregman. and he single handedly knee capped the team with his trade deadline acquisitions. and he's done nothing of substance this offseason. it seems he's developed a reputation as a mark around the league. i'm starting to edge out of the harris camp, but i'm still "harris curious." let's see if mcgonigle, clark, and maybe briceno pan out into impact players. my overall mood is that they are wasting skubal's best years because they have a "philosophy" and refuse to deviate even a little bit even if the circumstances change. but we'll see. i generally agree with the philosophy, but a little bit of bending this time might have benefitted them.

People realize Candelario bottomed out the last two years, right? The Reds cut him after 1.5 years of very negative WAR production. Granted, the year of control he was non-tendered was pretty productive for the Nats and Cubs. I just want to make sure it is known just how bad he got on his contract with the Reds. Also, not signing Framber isn't some cheapness, do the minimum deal. You've built a team with some kind of special sauce for makeup and team-before-self attitude that should increase the likelihood (By the way, for all we know, this could have been why Candelario was non-tendered). You don't blow that up by overspending on a pitcher who... checks notes.. intentionally crossed up and injured his catcher this year without some extensive assurances that was anomylous.

He was right to make the deadline trades and lucky that things turned out different than planned. I think it's disingenuous to suggest that the way they made the playoffs that year was part of some grand scheme by Harris. That season was a lot of fun, but it was lucky and won't be repeated. It's interesting that the 2025 was pretty much the mirror image of 2024 which I think is more the ramdomness of baseball than anything they did wrong.

I doubt Harris is involving himself in game decisions. He came to Detroit looking to upgrade every aspect of the organization. The clubhouse, staff, fan experience, minor leagues, culture, nutrition, medical, performance, control the zone, come here to improve, etc. Too bad he sucks and has no impact on the team....

Again, I think Harris is a good GM and I Iike his overall plan. I just think he is very rigid and I would prefer that he took more risks. I don't understand why people get so sensitive to any critique of Harris at all.

I am an alumnus of a school with perennial top 5 basketball team, an emerging blue blood, with arguably the best (if not most articulate) head coach in the country that is a legitimate national championship contender. The fan base erupts after a loss or a bad half. The social media algorithm is turned up to 11, I think.

That’s a good question. I think there are ripple effects that go beyond what that signing in isolation would mean to the business’s bottom line, one of which is how attractive Detroit might look as a destination if we commit to the best pitcher in the game today. There might be a model for that, but I wouldn’t know how to model that myself. Speaking as a man who negotiated for a living, I have a strong feeling it would help us anttract other talent. As for the $40 million a season—I’m certain Harris would leap at the chance to sign Skubal for $40 million a season for four years. Even $50 million a season for four years. I know I would.

the tigers are one injury to skubal away from bring a below .500 team. progress is not always linear. ask the detroit lions.

Johnson didn't prop up anything - he cleaned house. Shelton, Jenkins, and Davis from last year's starting OL are all gone. He completely rebuilt a new one, and it's definitely not average. 3rd in pass blocking (86.8 efficiency), 4th in run blocking. Ranked 2nd overall by PFF in December. The interior is elite with Thuney and Dalman. Ben Johnson was spoiled last year with an all-world veteran center, Decker mostly still playing at a high level, Sewell, solid guards, and depth. With so much talent, athleticism, and especially experience, he could run just about any play he wanted. And it would usually work. He knew he'd have to recreate something similar in Chicago for his offense to work, so he did

I don't agree at all, and nothing personal, but this might be the worst characterization of his tenure anybody here has made.

You know, this Indiana team might be for real.

People who use the internet to scam and steal should have their damn hands cut off. Discussing with our radio station engineer and IT guy that fact that pretty much EVERY SINGLE WEBSITE is infected with viruses, and most of the time the actual host of the website has nothing to do with it and no knowlege. So by going to any and I mean ANY music-oriented website, or You Tube or anything is now risky and our company might start actually blocking sites that we need to use for research every single day. They don't want to do this, but it's gotten so bad that they are considering it. I just really hate dishonest people. Just go earn a living not ****ing someone over, please. It can be done.

well sure, but we cant give up Song just to marginally improve at 3b, he's the 16th highest rated prospect in our system!

I do want the Tigers to extend Skubal, but I am not a fan of the Free Press article portraying the Tigers as currently mediocre and the future hopeless without Skubal (42-20 when Skubal starts and 131-131 when Skubal does not start over the last two seasons). Since 2022 nearly every position on the Tigers roster has improved (Javy was the highest WAR player in 2022). The Tigers needed Skubal and improvement at other positions to make the playoffs. If Skubal does go elsewhere, the Tigers will need development and contributions from multiple players(Turn 5 losses into 5 wins in a season) to remain a playoff contender. Jobe, Melton, maybe a healthy Olson, McGonigle, Clark, ... are on the horizon.

I had no problem with the value proposition per se. They could not have gotten any more for Isaac. My complaint was that they mishandled Paredes to where he never had a chance to show us - or potential trade partners, that he might have had more value, which he subsequently did.

I guess seeing what they do for Skubal will tell us more than just fans speculating on a message board. But really, those player long term decisions are way, way in the future. Harris may have moved on by then and the new GM will get all the credit for the Harris players who help us win. 🤣🤣

Are you saying it's Harris's fault for making the trades, thus putting the team with a 1% chance of making the playoffs on July 31 in a position where it was almost impossible to win? Or are you saying it's Harris's fault that the team had a 1% chance to make the playoffs on July 31 in the first place and Hinch saved his bacon? I just want to make sure I'm raking Harris for the right reason for endeavoring to screw up 2024.

i'll be happy when the pistons are no longer in first place so teams will stop getting up to play them...

wallinder was a big time project. he was a "reach" when they drafted him (but so was seider...). he was big and talented but unrefined and seen as soft. he's still big and talented and still seen as soft. i'm not sure that plays in the nhl. like you note, they may wait until after this year and bring him up like they did with johannson. but will they have room? say they trade for faulk. that gives them seider-ed, faulk-johannson, asp-chairot for this year. i know chairot is up at the end of this year, but i can definitely see them giving him an extension over johannson/wallinder/tuomisto. chairot is still a viable 3rd pair dman who can play 2pair in a pinch and not get caved in. johannson just isnt cutting it, imo. too small and cant move the puck. just to bring this roundabout post full circle, i could see then bring up wallinder next year and let johannson go. wallinder at least has nhl size.

The general philosophy of not spending big money on a free agent is a good one. dont pay ridiculous prices for the down years of production when you can often get similar production from younger, cheaper players. that's been a mantra from the more analytical type observers for a long, long time (shoutout to baseball think factory and those of us who used to read rany and rob on the royals...). however, there are exceptions to that rule. i would argue that the tigers were in such an exception when they were blessed with one of the best pitching talents of his generation and seemingly decided to only tinker on the margins to help them win. results wise in the major leagues, i think its hard to argue harris has improved the major league team dramatically outside of skubal's starts. when skubal doesnt pitch, the tigers are decidedly average. results wise in the minor leagues, the tigers have succeeded in producing some highly anticipated talents. if they pan out, harris' approach may yet be vindicated. my analytical brain likes to think it will be. my "old man who has watched baseball for 50 years" side still has doubts.

Even Chas thought that was a mistake.

No they don't according to some around here. They are flat broke and are about to be in cap troubles. The reality is, they are ok, not great, financially right now. Assuming they restructure some of these deals, they can create more cap space and be in an even better spot. I expect a Jared Goff restructure that adds a 4th or 5th year to his contract. I also think over the next year or two that we may get a restructure of Sewell and/or St. Brown's contracts. In all three cases, Goff, Sewell, St. Brown, they will likely get a bigger signing bonuses and added years of guaranteed money to help lessen the current cap hit. Anzalone is not good enough right now, not young enough, and not at a position of great value, to warrant keeping him around. I wouldn't bring him back and I wouldn't bitch if he went somewhere else and had a nice season. I didn't bitch when Jonah Jackson left and his position is more important than Anzalone's is.

How do you know Harris didn’t have any input? They literally said, at the time-not after the fact, they got together to plan out the rest of the years pitching plan due to the shortages. Sure it was some luck but it happened and they won the games. I don’t have the secret decoder that tells me which wins and losses a POBO is responsible for and which are not. All I know is since he’s taken over things have been a lot of fun at Comerica Park. Some people don’t like his hair or something like that.

Class is dismissed on that one. The final exam answer was that it's wrong.

uh oh, you are going to be lectured!

So basically the national guard was sent in due to Faux News. We definitely live in the dumbest of times.

Either way. I’m in favor.

I associated it with the likes of “big ass” as a unit of measurement. No parameters but you know what they’re talking about with a big ass car or a big ass tree.

And, at the same time, blame only Harris for the collapse of ‘25.

You can’t not give credit to Harris for the end of ‘24 and pretend it’s all due to Hinch and Fetter. That’s now how modern orgs work. The front office doesn’t just hand off the players and keep their nose in the spreadsheet.

I’m in the suddenly shrinking pro-Harris camp, but anything short of a ALCS advance is on him. He inherited a manager and many players who played significant roles in our ALDS appearances—it’s now up to him to continue to develop and add to that team.

Shame on the officiating crew for not using common sense and giving Georgia two free plays to try and beat Ole Miss. It's almost like John Gotti got to someone before the game and told the officials Georgia better win. They added a free second on the clock. Then gave Georgia a free kick, which Ole Miss stupidly didn't defend and should have. I thought the clock ran on an onside kick, but apparently not since that's technically a free kick. A dumb ending to an otherwise great game.

That's interesting. I recall hearing a story that in an early season 2003 game, after sacrificing a guy from 2nd to 3rd, Ortiz high-fived the entire dugout, apparently feeling pretty good about himself. Grady Little pulled him aside and told him, "next time, just drive him in," which was supposedly the moment Ortiz understood his new role.

Captain Ahab next to her didn’t offer his opinion on your prowess?

No perforations. No earwax blockages. Theory is that the nerve is being blocked by viral swelling, but I am doing a head MRI to see if it's something else. Wish me luck. They gave me steroids for the possible viral swelling. I'm really hoping that's what it is.

Were the Tigers listed as in the hunt for Alex Cobb last offseason? See, they're just stealthy in that regards.