casimir

Willi Castro brought some serious will to win to Minnesota. Discuss.

Did he inherit Cabrera's 2023 fielding mitt?

Oh, I know. You're Wimpy or bust.

I heard this opinion which makes sense. In a three game set, perhaps part of a team's strategy is to take the 3 best SPs and then you fill in your bullpen accordingly. Maybe this gets a team to 24 or 25. Then you decide whether you need another position player (maybe for defense, base running, or whatever) over another pitcher. That might be part of the rationale here. Or maybe he's just simply pitched himself off of the playoff roster altogether. I still wonder about the workload he has had this season vs prior seasons and he was bound to hit a wall somewhere after 100-115 IP.

Do the Tigers gain anything by removing Shepard and replacing him with Impemba and his prior incident? Was Impemba that much more of a game caller that they take on the possible headache associated with him? Morris was a World Series winning franchise hall of fame pitcher who could actually add some sense to a broadcast (although not nearly as often as he could/should have). His mouth got him nontendered from the booth.

I guess the more I think about it, the more I don't like the length of the contract coupled with the fact that he might be declining already. At his peak was 2021 and might be the blip in the radar. That's questionable. What isn't questionable is that each season after 2021 saw a decline (I'm tossing out his debut season of 2020 because 2020). Do the scouts see something which indicate a bounce back is likely? We have numbers to look at, but they've got other data points to use. If they did happen to bring him aboard (1) what is the entirety of the trade and (2) what happens with Keith & Jung? Both are a part of the equation. I question where he fits in defensively now and the future. If he is passable at 2B/3B now, then it doesn't make sense to acquire him knowing that Torkelson is already at 1B and I prefer keeping the DH spot for partial rest days or some final piece of the puzzle type acquisition that cannot field.

Can't argue that. The slobbering up to Jack Morris in particular was painful at times.

The Willi Castro factor.

I wonder if internally they have a deadline to move Bogdanovich. At this point, do they wait out through camp and see if a team realizes they need more shooting or maybe someone gets dealt a substantial injury?

While I think the Tigers can improve the situation, I do have a bit of empathy for Shepard. I’ve got to think as a professional broadcaster born & raised in Michigan, this had to have been a dream job for him. It’s got to be an absolute gut punch to lose that opportunity.

I’ve thought about Cronenworth as well. It’s a long term deal, going through 2030, but never above $13M per season. A lefty handed bat on the IF is nice, but defensively does he fit well? Does he have the range for 2B? Does he have the arm for 3B?

Hold on, I've previously stated my demands to trade for Kim. So now after trading for Kim, the Tigers also get Jung Hoo Lee, too? Holy smokes, I am the smartest man alive! I am killing this offseason for you people. You're welcome.

Nah, its good. There are no game threads to whine and complain in for a while. We need to keep those skills strong throughout the offseason somehow.

Maybin had a story about it. Somewhere along one of his stops, guys on the bench referred to a strikeout, maybe it was specifically a called 3rd strike to end the inning, as giving a guy a chair to sit down.

I don't know if the Tigers are leading a revolution. I think we've seen one inning relief appearances for a while now, starting with LaRussa's bullpen specialization. And now reduced outings from SPs are becoming more prominent. At some point, there are going to be innings that need to be covered by someone. From an ergonomic standpoint, I've wondered for a while what the difference would be on a pitching arm that goes 100 IP over 50 games and 100 IP over 80 games. How do things like warm up pitches factor into a workload?

Is he from MLB radio?

Well, I'm not sure that I would assume Baddoo will be returning. But, still, that would mean 3 incumbent LHH OFs.

Its been said multiple times, its not a crop of free agent position players this offseason. I think if the Tigers bring in new position players, it'll be via trade. Meadows look reasonable at the plate in his debut, and I think can be the CF out of the gate. Baez is going to return, like it or not. Rogers showed enough to be a primary catcher. That's pretty good defense up the middle. If the Tigers can get good enough offense to where this trio is stuck in the bottom third of the order, that's probably the best possibility going into 2024. Greene, Torkelson, and Carpenter will hit in the top 6 spots of the lineup. The key will be adding sufficient bats to the top 6, keeping Greene healthy, and keeping the lesser fielding OF from causing too much damage on a daily basis. In other words, the less time Carpenter (and/or Malloy if promoted) have a fielding glove on, the better. But that means getting bats and defense at 2B, 3B, and RF. It'd be nice for one or two of those spots to be right handed hitting (RF is probably the best spot). Maybe they can figure out a way for it to work with only one of Malloy/Carpenter in the field and the other at DH. But will Greene require more time at DH than we might like? That's kind of tricky. I suppose they can try it for next season and see what happens.

What is Kiner-Falefa going to rebound to? His next season of an OPS at .700 or higher will be his first.

Alright, so what does this represent exactly? Is this a reflection of performance during the just completed season? Is it a futures value estimation? Is it a combination of both, and maybe something else, too? Justyn-Henry Malloy (nice typo, MiLB) played more innings on the dirt (510.0) than the grass (382.1).

I should clarify what I said about Faedo as a RP vs SP. I think Faedo will probably be a candidate for spot starts or as a guy that comes in after an opener. I think that's fine for him. He's someone I'd have no problem getting through a lineup once and see where things are at that point. HR rate doubles and SO/BB is cut in half the second time through. Interestingly BABIP remains consistent (and I'll be honest, I didn't realize how low it was to begin with).

I found him pretty annoying before those allegations came out.

Pass.

I guess I’m confused what you mean by competitiveness. Do you think that is coming from within through prospects and player development? If that’s the case, which sure there will be some of that, then what’s the point of bringing free agents in on long term deals? I’m not sold on Manning, Turnbull, Lange. I’d move those guys along with any RP that brings back value. Ideally they find an IF that can handle one of 2B or 3B, a rangey RHH OF, a backup C. I think moving Carpenter might be a good idea as well. His value is probably at its peak and I don’t think he’s a viable defender on anything he has to go back on. And/or Malloy can be traded as well. There’s no need to “hide” one or the other in a corner on a daily basis. Just find a buyer and focus on acquiring and developing players that can play on both sides of the ball.

I wonder if makes sense to build Mize up throughout the season to where he’s a SP by the trade deadline? A much more gradual per game stamina ramp up that extends beyond spring training. That might allow them to get an extra SP on a one year deal with the premise of flipping later on while Mize has built himself back up to SP work (on the good side) or just keep the pitcher if Mize’s recovery isn’t going so well (on the bad side).