casimir

This is probably true. Rogers and Kelly. Torkelson and Keith on the right side of the IF. Baez at SS. Greene, Meadows, Canha, and Carpenter as the OF and DH on most days. That’s 8 of the likely 13 position players. Vierling, McKinstry, and Ibanez are likely on team as 3B and bench options. That’s 11 after that trio. Now there’s 2 lockers to fill from among Lipcius, Perez, Kreidler, Leonard, and Baddoo (looking only at the 40 man roster). I don’t think Lipcius showed enough in his debut to consider him at this time. Maybe he has an outstanding camp, that’s probably the only option. Perez probably needs more time at AAA, and now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure I forgot about him when thinking about Toledo’s potential IF. Baddoo is the only OF of the bunch, but the Tigers already have 3 lefty hitting OFs going north. Kreidler might be the best defender of the IF here, but will that be enough? I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of the last roles filled by someone not already in the organization. If they could find a utility player that can play a legit CF if needed, I would think Harris would be all over that. I know a lot of focus is on the question of 3B, but I don’t know how comfortable I feel about the CF depth. Meadows is unproven offensively, and I don’t think this team has enough offense. It could work but there’s some risk there. Greene and Vierling can play up the middle as well, but I get the impression that’s not how the Tigers want to go about it. And that’s it as far as CF depth unless anyone feels like McKinstry is an option.

I think Stavenhagen mentioned a good point about Malloy on the pod today. Last year Malloy was in a new organization, maybe didn’t feel all that comfortable from the get go. He returns, he’s not the new guy, so maybe (and this is my crap at the wall theory) he feels more at ease and it shows on the field this season? Ok, fine, 3B isn’t going to happen. But can he handle a corner OF spot and bring that bat with him to the bigs? Give him LF or RF, let him stay on the grass. In fairness, he wasn’t jerked around the field from game to game last season, so I don’t think that was an adverse variable. But Keith has that contract and Jung has some expectation about him. So, they are IFs by trade, Malloy probably isn’t. And as you’ve mentioned, there’s no clock running yet, no reason to start it until it needs to. His offense, if it translates, would be welcome in Detroit. But let him work on being a more complete player in Toledo while he can.

It’s gonna be like when Jordan and Pippen faced Kukoc in the Olympics. Or, maybe just a little short of it.

Competition? Dig it.

But if this were a bakery all star game, 2021 gets the call for turnovers. So there’s that.

A potential Toledo IF of Kreidler, Lipcius, and Leonard from the 40 and Malloy, Jung, and Hiura off of the 40. Add in Baddo and Bigbie around the OF. Some actual SP in the rotation with Dingler behind the dish. Damn, Toledo have a little something something this season.

It must’of been the exchange rate math that tripped him up.

Wow. I knew catchers handled 1B quite a bit for the 2023 Hens, but I didn’t realize it was about half of the innings. You bring up Lipcius at 2B or 3B. I would think Jung at either of those will be the first lineup decision and Lipcius gets the other of those two defensive assignments. So, will flexibility be the routine down there or will Jung get more 2B repetitions with a longer term view on Keith getting over to 3B? Heck, what kind of leash does Lipcius have anyway? I’d imagine he’s probably on the slippery slope side of the 40 to begin with given his strengths and weaknesses.

Yeah, that accusation above seemed like a stretch.

I think I recall one of the "perks" of Vierling at the time of his acquisition was that he could handle 1B every now and again to spell Torkelson every now and again. He played all of zero innings there last season for the Tigers. Also of note about Vierling, he has a bbref similarity of 973.3 with Skeeter Barnes. I saw Barnes ply his trade as a Mud Hen at Ned Skeldon Stadium (RIP to that track). This sentence has absolutely nothing to do with the 2024 Tiger spring training, but now you're engulfed with memories of Skeeter Barnes and/or Ned Skeldon Stadium and/or Mud Hens.

Its mid February. I'm ready for the lawnmower thread.

Not only will he not pay any of these fines, he's not going to be jailed either. And unfortunately he will continue to be a threat to become president again, until death of course.

Looking over his numerals, he’s got a stealthy hard hit rate, a glaring strike out rate, and a reasonable walk rate. His still only 27 years old. If he’s nothing more than off 40 insurance for 1B at Toledo, it’s a fine acquisition anyway.

Kreidler has to stay healthy to hit, too.

Defensive mentor for Malloy?

Allez les Expos!

Nice area.

While it might be lower odds, I wouldn't rule out a 6 pack of expansion teams. 6 divisions of 6 teams each. Can't do it? Well, baseball expanded by 4 teams twice before. The short term cash influx would be too much for the current owners to pass up and it might be a way for baseball to rip up the current television contracts.

He's done a couple of studio pre/post games for Piston games this season.

Exactly zero. (1) Harbaugh is gone, so there's no point person to go after. (2) Who/What is the governing body of NCAA football anymore? (3) Penn State (albeit a weak PSU), Ohio State, Alabama, and Washington had the chance to do more damage to Michigan than any investigation result will do going forward. None were successful. Those game results are etched in memory. Reggie Bush won the Heisman that was eventually forfeited. Without looking it up, who was the runner up? Did they get the trophy after Bush's was vacated?

The first 9 guys sucked and Williams is trying to find something? Second game of a back-to-back on a west coast trip? The entire situation is a mess and logic sometimes doesn't apply?

A suspension would be one way to keep Stewart out of the starting lineup.

It appears like that might be a possibility. The thing with Keith that has been seen and mentioned on here before is that it seems like it takes him a bit to get his bat acclimated to a higher level of competition after promotion. So, given that history and given that he might still be working back that arm strength that he had before his shoulder injury, I'm hoping the Tigers give him rope at 2B this season. Work through the offensive growth this season, get the arm strong, and then he's a legit everyday bat next season.

Just to be clear, I'm a bot.

Too late for Holtmann.