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Good Area Scouts build relationships with players in their areas over several years. They talk regularly, they know the families. Players are talking to any scout/team that is showing interest and whether they want to divulge other conversations is their discretion and how they want to play the game. Area Scouts are talking to players as the draft is happening..."We are thinking about grabbing you here. If we do that, does a $20k bonus get it done?" If they've fine their job, the bonus question is just confirmatory and not a real question. The teams are doing the math on their bonus pool in real time as a result of this information. When the draft concludes they have a high confidence in how the signings are all going to play out.

This is not a clerical error. It is routine business and these players told the Tigers they would sign for these bonuses before they even picked them. There will not be any animosity toward the club over this.

Nice night at the ballpark tonight. Tigers win, got to meet and talk with the Melton family and ms Bruce as well. She is quite attractive in person and very professional. Now two more gentleman.

Well in my simple mind says that if we are trying to make the playoffs and have a run you certainly do not trade your best pitcher and the only advantage you have over EVERY team in the playoffs. And if we are trading Skubal then trade everyone else with an expiring contract I mean just make a decision but be “All In”

completely disagree from an organizational standpoint. A playoff run brings in millions of $ this season and the fan interest leads to more millions. Plus the boost in playoff experience for the players that will still be here.

R.O.C.ing in the USA.

He can't see his reflection in the mirror so he doesn't know how hilarious his comment is.

So here is the thing in Hao-Yu Lee's favor. In the first 82 PA from his call-up, his OPS was 527. In the 79 since, it's 839. So for the time being at least, he's playing over replacement level. SSS or a player finding his legs? Prolly some of both. That said, I still wouldn't give him any of Gleyber's ABs.

With the numbers we know, the Tigers are a bit over slot right now with Adams's number in. (Yes, by the way, Adams's is correct grammar.) They still have about $353K (net) they can go over slot if they sign everybody in the Top 10 before getting more than a financial penalty.

Good

I don’t think he makes it there before the runner. They were about the same distance from the bag when he lands and he was starting on his back foot. He made the right play by taking the highest percentage out. Tork to my eyes anyway is elite when it comes to scooping the ball. Probably the only elite thing he does that keeps us from moving on.

They took a break from talking about the NFL and WNBA?

Wonder what McG didn't just touch 3rd

The Area Scout's job is to get to know the player, understand what it will take to sign them, etc. They are vital to a team being able to execute a draft strategy.

Tuchel didn't play Saka against Argentina? That's insane in retrospect.

"Adams's" is indeed the standard possessive form in most style guides (Chicago, APA, MLA). AP Style also now generally recommends adding 's to singular proper nouns ending in s, so Adams's is correct. "with Adams's number in" → "with Adams's number included" is a little more natural. "everybody" → "everyone" is slightly more formal, though either is fine. "before getting more than a financial penalty" was the one awkward phrase. "without incurring anything more than a financial penalty" expresses the idea more clearly.

If the Tigers are going for the playoffs, they're going to keep Skubal. On that, I would bet my dollar against your dime. If the Tigers are going to give up on the season instead, then they might as well trade not only Skubal, but Mize and Flaherty, too, and Torres if they can, for just about whatever they can get that's better than whatever the value of the comp pick would be. If they're going to sell, they might as well go all the way rather than half-assing it trying to thread a needle with the smallest eye possible, and just go for a full reset of the current situation. They've got a pretty solid foundation of good young players they can build around, so it's not as though they'd have to tear everything down to the studs. Sell them all or sell nothing. That's what I think the choice probably is. And my guess is that as long as they are within shouting distance of a playoff spot, I think it's going to be sell nothing.

It will work it. It always does.

You're being facetious here (I believe?), but I do think the fly in this ointment is the idea that any organization would gladly empty out the top of their farm system for two months of one pitcher, even someone as aces as Skubal. I just don't believe that's how organizations roll anymore, and I posted a good portion of an article here yesterday that discussed that very thing. I also believe it's too much of an ask for a team to put together a deadline deal that doesn't materially cost us now while also substantially improving our farm system at the same time. I mean, if that's your standard for the deadline, then you might as well start calling for the head of Scott Harris right now, because the chances of him pulling off the kind of deal that returns an two-time All-Star pitcher to help us win this year and a #11 Pipeline outfield prospect to help us be a perennial contender for years into the future is one in something with at least one comma in it. This is where I think the 2024 Flaherty deal may have skewed our expectation for what a successful 2026 deadline should be, in the same way the 2024-25 playoff runs have skewed our perception of just where this organizations stands in the long arc of the current development cycle. (FTR, I think we are still building toward the apex.) Which begs the question: if you as Tigers GM don't get the kind of three-way deal for Skubal you'd like to see—a deal which, by the way, I'd be more than fine with seeing—do you keep him instead? Or do you take whatever we can get for Skubal, as long as the return is at least marginally better than a comp pick?

Also this is why you don't just clean house in the scouting department when a new front office takes over...

I think he could have gotten him at third too, but I'd guess a key is that is that he had to look away from the runner to field the ball, so as he came down and turned the fastest decision is go straight to the throwing position instead of trying to pick up the runner, maybe see that was too late for 3rd and get nobody.

why isnt it both?

Standard operating procedure toward the back end of the first 10 rounds... The Braves' 9th rounder this year got $500.

Dan Dickerson and Bobby Scales spent quite a bit of time talking after last night's game that they feel fielding analytics doesn't do an adequate job of measuring one's scooping ability and that Tork has worked very hard at that aspect of the game.

LL, I’m going to guess that you had the same visceral gut wrenching reaction I had when you saw his disgusting “joke”. I swear. It feels like it’s getting worse out there. And I’ve learned to trust my gut instincts about these things. It is getting worse.

OK... I'll bite. I'm getting on the Peyton Graham bandwagon, even before the John Peck bandwagon... even though Peck is a year younger, in AAA, and probably the better fielder. Call Graham a late-bloomer. But in the past two years (high-A and AA) he's hitting .290 with a .392 OBP and .816 OPS... but what's really striking to me is the 68 SB's and caught stealing only FIVE times. 68 and 5. not a bad ratio. I'm interested. Not completely sold just yet... but very, very interested. I would imagine both Peck and Graham get invited to spring training in 2027. And then we'll just see what happens from there...

I think Lee would be fairly likely to split time at 2nd and 3rd playing at least 5 times/wk with Torres DHing 2-3 times/wk. i see Malgeri going down before Lee. They have Outman, Vierling, McKinstry, Greene, and Carpenter who can play OF. Lee can play some 3rd. McGonigle and McKinstry SS. Lee’s bat and glove are proving to be considerably more valuable than Malgeri, or Valencia.

This is tricky to articulate, but, I’ve had my own peculiar type of damage throughout my life that I constantly acknowledge and work on, so I have enjoyed shows about people who struggle with their own damage and work to overcome it. That can be inspirational to me and I root for them to succeed. I do find shows that practically celebrate people’s damage—where it’s portrayed as a good thing because they pretend the damage is necessary to feed their talents, so they lean into it and flaunt it and win with it—to be off-putting, because that doesn’t feel real to me. That’s a very different thing than living with the damage and doing the best you can with it while working on it. I hope I threaded the needle right on this one.

Daniella is quite good at what she does.

And Lee. The Kids Are Alright

Wao Yu Lee

LOL - so much for playing for platoon splits. Your two main man LHH give you nothing, the RHH brings in the runs against the RHP after the RHH gets on base.

Permanent moratorium on Simmons in the booth, please. Please? PLEASE!

So in the top of the fourth Dingler just stood there like the house by the side of the road as Ernie used to say…

Yes, mine is terrible too. Once again mlb.tv screws the pooch. I just checked and I have 820 MBPS going on so it’s not my connection. Of course the ads aren’t choppy.

sigh anyone else getting audio/video choppiness from mlb.tv?

If this is what a “normal” person looks like, count me out.

No offense to 70 year olds, but as a 59 year old I feel I only have 11 more years of active fandom before I become one of those geezers living in the past watching VHS of late 1990s games from a lazy-boy in my basement. Rebuild, fine, but uh, could we get a move on please! 🙂

I mean both those guys are seniors, it's why you take them at the back half of your top 10 to help your flexibility around the other guys who either get floated down or you are going over slot. Yeah those signing bonuses aren't great but they still get to play baseball professionally.

What “violent” Antifa demonstrations?

damn, LS is so disillusioned he's starting his own team!

His last two seasons in Philly were a lot like Simon's points-wise, though Drysdale scored more in one season and Edvinsson has slightly more if you combine the two seasons. Edvinsson plays slightly more minutes but Drysdale has drastically better fancy/possession stats than Edvinsson. A lot of that is due to Edvinsson getting way harder zone starts than Drysdale though. So a lot of give and take here, but I would say they are comparable players with Drysdale being less than a year older than Edvinsson. Edvinsson's stats also take a big hit when Seider isn't paired with him (Seider takes a minuscule hit when not with Simon which shows that he's the one really driving things). It would personally be tough for me to swallow him at a 12 million per year contract but I know other people rate him more than me.

Finally the nightmare of no games is over.

Special anniversary today