casimir

Nope, postponed due to rain.

I think I agree with you about the position players. They're still young enough that they need camp to develop and refine skills rather than in years way past where we've seen veterans need spring to knock off the rust or more recently just playing a bunch of guys to see who might be able to stick. 3B and a couple of bench roles are probably what's up for grabs. The one thing that seems lacking to me is a RHH CF if Vierling is counted on at 3B. Or are we looking at Ibanez at 3B vs LHP and Vierling in CF? As for the pitching, I think there are spots that are definitely claimed, but still some others that are up for grabs. Lange is a good example and I think there's reasonable doubt about him. Additionally, I think there are questions about how to cover 1,400 innings with 13 daily active roster spots. How to keep those arms at the MLB healthy as much as possible and also the reserves in Toledo ready to fill in when needed.

Maybe it’s more like they can’t to DFA him, but he’s injured? I kind of feel bad for him. I suspect he played out of position too much (he didn’t seem to have the reaction to play 3rd and looked more comfortable up the middle) and he was lost at the plate. I don’t know if maybe one fed the other and/or he could just never get out of it. They certainly allowed him time to reverse his season.

Maton is out of options and doesn't seem to be an incumbent of any sort for the major league roster. Is Kreidler out of options? I suspect he might also want to rent rather than buy.

In spite of the victory, the Pistons still have a comfortable 2 1/2 game lead on last place.

There goes the neighborhood.

30 reams to 34 teams seems an odd expansion. The 34 just seems an weird number for even alignment. 30 to 36 teams would seem like too much expansion in one move. I think we’ll see Seattle and Las Vegas to go to 32 soon. And I suspect 32 to 36 not too far afterwards with some Mexico and Canada involved in those 4 expansion teams. Honest concern: How rooted down to Detroit is the Piston franchise if Drunk Uncle Tommy sells?

I don’t know. I think Harris should’ve allowed Dan Campbell to announce this signing as part of his postgame victory media session tonight. On the other hand, this news might inspire the Lions to that victory.

Lions? What?

Wow, this kind of came out from nowhere.

Jones’ shadow’s chin took the brunt of that elbow. Cunningham barely even moved his arm. Such a weak call.

Ain’t my money.

True about his OPS+, his ISO in particular was weak. But I think that goes back to his game of putting the ball in play and getting on base. Now that I’m thinking about it, the popular theory suggests he could’ve hit for more power had he been amenable to sacrificing some AVG. But as his speed declined, he never made that transition to SLG. So maybe that theory just doesn’t hold true. He hit for pretty good power in Japan, but it never manifested itself in MLB.

This nooner precedes a night home game for the Wings followed by tomorrow's 2pm Piston game? Granted, tomorrow's night game was moved up a few hours due to some other athletic activity that might be capturing Detroit's fancy. But the LCA "field crew" is going to be a little busy this weekend.

Well, he could have also rolled over and grounded into a double play. Wait, nope, he wouldn't have been doubled up. I'll admit, I'm a bit of a slappy. He was a highly successful player that had a game that really stuck out from the rest of the crowd. The contact, the speed, the defense,..... the first step out of the box while putting the ball in play on the ground to the left side. Oh gosh yes, I'd take a leadoff hitter like that right now, especially with the changes to the rules affecting base running. And drilling down on the base stealing, Suzuki finished with 509 SB and 117 CS, a success rate of 81.3%. Rickey Henderson was 1,406 and 335, a 80.8% success rate. By no means is it a perfect comparison, the eras are slightly different. Supbar walk rate of 6.0% vs MLB average of 8.3% is noted. But let's also note his 10.1% SO rate vs 18.9% average. So, OK, he walked only 75% as well as league average. He flipping struck out half as much as everybody else! I think given his highly successful BABIP over the years, it was imperative for him to swing at what he could make contact with to get on base for those hitting behind him in the lineup.

Yes, I remember hearing this story from Bob Kendrick on the Black Diamonds podcast. I cannot find the article, but memory (yeah, I know) has it that he was very eager to meet Ernie Harwell when he made his his "vs Detroit debut".

Oh, and haircuts. Rose has to be bottom of the barrel there, so points to Ichiro by default.

But do his stat rates include his defense, specifically his laser cannon arm, or his baserunning? From my understanding, Rose was kind of moved around the diamond less because of his defensive prowess and more just to get his bat in the lineup. Baserunning, I don't know, maybe it was somewhere around a push?

And just imagine what his totals would have been had he been stateside his whole career.

I know the crowded ballot theory is out there. But I wonder how many voters are submitting full ballots to where we see these wacky voting variances on the sa,e player.

I hope Beltre's plaque doesn't have a hat. I hope his plaque has some sort of reaction for when people inevitably touch his head.

I'm surprised it was as high as it was. I don't know that I'm surprised he made it on the 1st ballot. This is Todd Helton's vote year by year. That seems like quite a climb from 16.5% to 79.7%.

Beltre getting 95% on his first ballot really surprises me.

Multiple wins in a calendar month?