casimir

This place needs a baseball game. Are there any Australian Baseball League games today?

Except that the bullpen wasn't all that good, so.....

Wait, was it papa Doc or baby Doc with the bandaid?

Great. So what’s the tie that binds to the Ilitches? Father and son?

Right there with you. There are less lobs now than there were earlier this season, teams have picked up on that. There seems to be a little bit more post game than just out backs this season, but it’s purely in the paint. As you say, he needs to extend out a bit. If he can show a nominal jumper, that gives him more room to dribble drive by slower bigs, which I think he still has a quickness advantage there more days than not.

I have no idea what it means or why it’s lasted this long.

Maybe. And just for the record, I’m counting Venezuelan casualties should we find out that innocent happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time types. Not that we’d necessarily get that information from the current clown crew.

My point still stands. I wouldn’t consider might be major leaguers as untouchable. Might be hall of fame players are untouchable, and even then they could be acquired under certain circumstances.

You trust what's coming out of Washington?

Hinch?

"<May> turn into solid major leaguers" doesn't sound untouchable to me. Sweeney, Malloy, and Jung were in that category at one point, were they not?

I have my doubts here.

I’m not sure the better story, Indiana or Ole Miss. I guess as long as they both win next week, I have a little more time to decide.

To your final sentence, at this point I hope that’s what they have Keith focused on this offseason. I’m fine with him at 3B for a season, let’s see how it looks. Can’t be as bad as Castellanos, right? But that’s a spot to claim right now, and Keith’s bat bears playing. Along those lines of defensive versatility, some guys can do it, some can’t. As much as I appreciate that as a skill set and consider it valuable to an individual player and in the roster making of a team, there are some guys that just can’t do it. Maybe they can flip from LF to RF or 3B to 1B, and maybe that’s stretching it a bit. It’s ok. Not everyone on the roster has to be able to play multiple positions. Baez, McKinstry, and (to a lesser extent) Vierling can offer that safety net. I thought Kim would have been a great addition to the team as a SS and freeing up that trio to be a really good bench. A guy like Jones is going to have a tougher time because he can’t really do anything defensively and he’s on the short end of a platoon. I suspect he won’t make it through this season, I kind of think his offensive output last season might be better than it gets from here on out. On the flip side, I don’t necessarily think McKinstry repeats his offense either, but he has value to a team defensively. It’d be great to see IFs line Lee, Jung, and Anderson show they can hit and handle a few positions, but I guess I have my doubts.

Based on what? He’s only ever played at DH 35 times in his career. I doubt he has the defensive range for it.

I’m a little skeptical on a plan to make the playoffs, although I will acknowledge there was a different feeling at the beginning of August than there was at the end of August. If this plan was August 31, ok, I don’t dispute it. August 1? They were almost double digit games out and behind a handful of teams at the beginning of the month. Just traded away Flaherty. They may have been dabbling in pitching chaos by then. Hardly when you say we’ve got ‘em where we want ‘em. But I was sucked into it at the end of August. I remember thinking if they could take the series in San Diego, well, the charge was for real. As it was, they took only the last game, and I still didn’t want to disbelieve. I guess I’d love to know when that meeting was. And depending on that answer, I’d like to know what was in their coffees.

This place needs a live baseball game or a hug. Maybe both.

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

I don’t agree that Harris woke up on third base. I think there was a little more talent in the farm system than the Tigers might have been credited for. I think Harris took a development system that was getting a little better, thanks to Ryan Garko and others, and injected a little more fuel into it. It sounds like he and Chris Ilitch and others have worked on improvements to the development system and other infrastructure, such as facilities, scouting, training, and international players. I’ll agree with you in a parallel way that it’s a little disingenuous to grant a majority of the credit for the 2024 playoff run to Harris. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve any. Obviously he acquired some players for that run. But you’re right, he punted on the season at the trade deadline, which was the correct decision. It just somehow worked out differently than the situation at the trade deadline suggested it would. There’s still some work to do for 2026 and for the long term. But I think Harris has them headed in the right direction. Get a few more arms and I think they’re sitting very well for 2026.

They acquired Isaac Paredes to play 3B in the Tucker trade. They also added 1B Christian Walker, which, that ain't worked out so well.

Gulf of Mexico.

1-6. Of course it’s going to be a blue blood like Indiana to break the curse against a ramshackle Alabama squad.

That’s how I feel. We all understand things happen throughout a baseball season that create a reality that can be different from preseason perception. So, while I think that they are the best team in the division right now., I realize they aren’t guaranteed of anything. Rewind a year. Did everyone see Houston missing the 2025 playoffs? I doubt it. But it happened.

You’re incredibly thin skinned in regards to any notion of negative criticism of Scott Harris. He definitely doesn’t deserve to be run out of town. But he also doesn’t walk on water.

Nope.