casimir

Alright, so hear me out on this a bit. Baez goes on bereavement. Replace an IF with an IF. They are experimenting with Vierling at 3B, which is fine (although part of the risk reared its ugly head in this game). They have McKinstry, Short, Maton available for SS, that trio plus Ibanez for 2B, and that quartet available for 3B (along with Vierling). That gives them 4 bodies for up the middle, which seems fine for a week. 2 on the bench if Vierling is at 3B, but he's going to get some OF time, too. So 1 on the bench as a minimum. Not ideal if someone comes down with a day-to-day issue, but it ain't like they'd have to shuffle Cabrera out to 3B. OK, so bring up an IF for an IF for coverage. They could bring up Nevin, wouldn't that be dandy? No, bat stinks and can only play the corners. Even if only for a week, look for other options. They've also got Perez, Lipcius, Leonard, and Kreidler on the 40. Kreidler is working back from injury, so, OK, reluctant to bring him up. They're probably holding out on the first 3 because they simply don't feel they are ready and/or they want to keep rookie status (which..., whatever). But Lipcius is 25 already and has over 550 PAs at AAA (.277/.364/.408 with a 67 BB to 100 SO split). Seems like he could have been a reasonable call up, although he recently missed time due to injury also. Why pick up Diaz? He was readily available, wanted a warm body that plays up the middle, and he can be simply released after a week without affecting the 40 going forward and preserving rookie status? I can see that angle. But again, on the outside looking in, why not give Lipcius the big league locker?

Neither does Diaz.

I've seen this on occasion from other 1Bdudes as well. My guess is its a combination of the runner still being a ways from the base and backing up on the bounced throw is a better hop angle to catch. If the former isn't available, the 1Bdude is forced onto the inside of the bag to make a tougher catch. It looks similar to how an IF waits back on a bounce as opposed to coming in on it.

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It might be a good time for Baddoo to go on a hot streak.

Win Mercer.

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Too many "if"s.

Well, its going to be tough to keep fans from doing what they do on Saturdays in the fall. And gambling is a hook to keep the interest going for those without a specific team.

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What’s wrong with that? Did we think his no hitter would be comparable to anything he did as a Tiger?

So if/when more conferences are eliminated, conference championships also go away. It’s just a regular season followed by playoffs. In the case of Wisconsin-Nebraska, do you go to Indianapolis knowing that there’s another game to play, or do you go to a warmer bowl game? Now move those fan bases to playoffs. Do they travel early, wait for later? Does it depend upon their seeding and/or who the competition is?

Some of those guys can be bench players and/or in a platoon role. But too much of the lineup this season has been populated by platoon and bench players. Ibanez can go in the off-season. Get 3B plugged and they’re in a better position next season. Keep playing Vierling there. Small sample size, but Carpenter is at .766 vs LHPs. Keep playing him vs LHPs. If the Tigers can hit on those two, the off-season becomes easier.

Yes. There has been much criticism about the Big Ten West the past few seasons. Why keep it going forward? Adding USC and Oregon to the west does strengthen that subset of teams, but why risk cutting out an obvious #2 seed from the championship game because of geography?

I kind of wonder if they make a play at Chapman. I don’t know that he fits perfectly. As you mentioned, he doesn’t control the strike zone. He also is a fly ball hitter and doesn’t have much speed. I’m not sure if his defense has started to slide or not, but it probably still would be an upgrade over what we’ve seen this season. Add into that the fact that the free agent pool seems shallow and he’ll be 31 early next season. Although, who knows, maybe the fact that he’s not a household name and his age works against him in the market? A ready right now everyday bat at 3B and a more developed bat from Torkelson would go a long way for this team. Everyday players at the infield corners, Greene, Carpenter, and Baez (even if it’s much more on the defense with a nominal rebound to the bat) would be a nice start. Then the mixing and matching of Vierling/Baddoo/MeadowsP in an OF slot and McKinstry/Maton/Short at 2B until Kieth is ready don’t stand out as much. And who knows, maybe Vierling shows effective enough at 3B through the rest of this season that the 3B is already in house. Ideally that would be grand. Then the capital that would have been used there (free agent salary, trade options) can get used to upgrade elsewhere. I think it’s worth it to evaluate that through the rest of the season.

I had forgotten about the PBP duties early on. Now that you bring that up, I think that’s why I wasn’t much of a fan early on. I guess it was just a tough spot that needed to be filled. Harwell probably couldn’t go all 9. So, yeah, by default whomever was paired with Harwell was going to do some middle inning PBP work. Luckily the Tigers eventually grabbed Dickerson to do that.

I’m available.

Whatever makes sense for the student athletes.

Nah, just do away with divisions. This guarantees the two top conference records make the championship game, that should be the goal of the championship game.

Same. He didn't appeal to me at first. But... There was always a respect and appreciation for this. So for whatever reason that I didn't find him favorable to me early on, his honesty grew on me. He could praise and be critical. You could tell he was a Tiger fan, but he also knew when/how to voice his disdain and heartbreak. I think he grew on some of us because he was able to share his feelings as one of us. If only we had a nickel for every time we heard him mutter "oh, geez, no excuse for that platy" and then he is quiet and you wonder if he actually had to take the headset off and get up and walk away from his seat for 30 seconds. But he'd always start the game with unbridled optimism that today was the Tigers' day, no matter the circumstances. Maybe yesterday stunk, but today is a new day, let's go get 'em today. This thread should be appreciation for Price. But given what recently happened in Baltimore, let's give the Ilitch family some credit for the radio side. Mike brought back Harwell. He knew what he meant to Detroit, to MIchigan, to Tiger fans. He and Chris have allowed the radio guys the rope to be critical at times. Sure, there's a line that they have to maintain. There's a modicum of professionalism that they need to adhere to. Nobody wants to listen to constant bashing and whining and complaining. But the radio crew has been able to be pretty fair over the seasons.

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Let’s just call them minor teams rather than colleges.

UCLA’s Chip Kelly points to Notre Dame football as an example for realignment That makes one of us. I kind of like this idea. I don't know if 64 is the right number. I honestly don't know what that number should be. And maybe that is left up to the individual schools. If Toledo wants to dance with the big group, so be it. If they want to remain with the latter half, fine. There will be pros and cons to either decision. Everyone becomes independent, and then conference championships go away. But, those can be replaced by playoff games. Now you can go a full field of 16, although I don't know how the TV scheduling for those games get handled. 2 Friday night games, 6 Saturday games? And the time slotting is similar to what the NCAA BB tourney does? So, say a 7pm and 9pm game on Friday? 11a, 1p, 3p, 5p, 7p, 9p on Saturday? Avoid Sunday and the NFL. As far as regular season scheduling goes, they could go with a mix of contractual team vs team agreements and random home & homes assigned by whatever governing body is berthed out of this to fill out 12 regular season games. If that means Alabama vs Toledo in a home & home, let's do it. Nick Saban can have a homecoming. And as far as qualifying for the playoffs, you go with a BcS type computer system rewarding teams on a spectrum for better wins and punishing them for horrid losses with marginal wins/losses in between. And, yes, add variable components for road wins and home losses.

I may be wrong, but I think I've heard that Baddoo has another minor league option after this season. I can see an Opening Day roster spot battle between he and MeadowsP. But Baddoo hasn't done enough to consider himself anything more than an incumbent in name only. Ibanez and Haase are easy write offs. I see Ibanez and Short as repetitive, with Short having better plate discipline and better defensive versatility. Kreidler probably factors in this discussion to some degree. I think there might be some substance to Maton suffering from bad luck on batted balls in the first half. I think there's a batter chance of him returning than some people want. And that goes up if he does indeed have a minor league option left. But I cannot see him as an option for 3B, not regularly anyway. He just doesn't seem to have the reaction time. Up the middle infield, sure. And maybe he is simply a bridge guy until Keith is ready. Its still kind of tough to envision what the roster could look like next season. I'm not sure Harris' hot stove is indicative of what we will see going forward. Cabrera comes off of the books. Rodriguez probably walks. Gotta think Baez is sticking around. Those are probably the big known items going into the offseason. Obviously there are serious offensive needs to tend to. So, there may be in house options to fill some roster slots, but those options probably aren't going to move this team in a significant way towards .500.

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