casimir

Maybe. Just looked at his stats and only 4 games played in CF the last two seasons. I suppose he could have been pushed to corner in the Reds’ system, I don’t know.

2 options remaining? Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a 27 year old, but that flexibility could be helpful for the Tigers.

I don’t get it.

I’ve heard that the loading dock cameras are pretty popular viewing way before tip off.

Once upon a time, Buffalo was a popular consideration for MLB expansion. It seems like they've been passed and lapped.

Montreal attendance was over 2 million several times.

You're awesome, I don't care what the rest of these people say about you.

Looks like Perez played 24 games in CF last season. I think it’s a fine idea if he can hack it. I’m just going off of memory right now, but I don’t think there’s much CF talent in the upper end of the farm system.

https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/american-league/detroit-tigers/ This season was actually an option that the Tigers picked up after trading for him. He’ll be a free agent after the World Series parade, and hopefully he has some new finger jewelry to remember his time in Detroit.

Has a spring training broadcast schedule been announced yet for either radio or television?

Daylight keeps lasting later and later into the evening.

Gadzooks.

Hold on with the defeatism. There it is. I’m in the seeing is believing camp.

Nope, free agent after this season. Malloy taking his place on the 40 works well. I think that’s part of the reason for acquiring Canha. He’s a known quantity with only one season of obligation.

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.