casimir

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It ain't a good lineup when it can be objectively said that Kody Clemens' .745 OPS bat would be an upgrade at any one of several positions.

I served that one up like a Wentz meatball, didn't I?

There was letting him to go to begin with. But then there was also angst about not attaching the qualifying offer or whatever vehicle there was at the time to receive a compensatory draft pick for losing him via free agency. Will Rhymes (53 games), Carlos Guillen (47), Scott Sizemore (40), Ramon Santiago (25), Ryan Raburn (18), and Danny Worth (12) handled 2B the next season. Good times.

This is a phrase that should never be used in response to me.

That's rude to the Royals.

Yup, not many other options to go to right now. My completely amateurish opinion by glancing at the stats for 15 seconds is that he's getting barreled up more this season than last. Is he tipping pitches? I mean, look at that HR% jump from last season to this.

If his hitting isn't going to get any better, and he's a defense only SS, that contract becomes ugly if/when that remaining strength is gone. Is a defense only SS worth $25M/season if his defense fades away? I guess he might still have the baserunning acumen, but if he ain't on base, how does he use it? I was happy with offering him 4 seasons with a 5th option, although he wasn't my first SS option that offseason. He got 6 total, with the opt out. OK, fine. I never thought his hitting would completely disintegrate like it has. I don't think he will opt out, but who knows.

I want to laugh and cry at this.

There's still 14 other assistant coach chairs to fill. Plenty of opportunity to find an Xs and Os coach or two.

Keep chasing the dream until they take your locker space away from you, kid.

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Per bbref, its been since 2019. https://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/2023/PHI202306050.shtml

If he's not giving up hits, that's a pretty darn good WHIP of 0.83.

I must have missed that part.

Cody Stavenhagen mentioned on the Turning the Corner podcast that Skubal tossed a bullpen to make up for the difference. He also mentioned that (his opinion) Colt Keith looks more comfortable defensively at 2B than 3B. Thinks its possible that he stays at Erie through the first half, and is then promoted to Toledo. I wish he'd have mentioned Justyn Henry-Malloy's move from 3B to LF, just for some context.

Detroit Tigers vs Chicago White Sox Watch: Phillies - NBCSP, Tigers - Bally Sports Detroit Listen: Phillies - 94 WIP, WTTM 1680, Tigers - 97.1 The Ticket

I’m considering what the goal probably was going into this season. The fact that the division has developed into an absolute dumpster fire wasn’t completely impossible, but it was highly unlikely that this Tiger roster would have delivered enough to make things interesting for themselves. Things have changed over time, but it’s hard to see this continuing into the summer.

Go ahead and glare at that lineup, Matt, but you’re overdue on delivering a quality start.

I’d go further than this season with the marathon for this team. This season and the build of its roster is to try to decide what might be usable next season and the season after. It’s been awfully fun to be this close to .500 and the “division lead”, but I don’t think either are really the prize this season. The almost .500 record is buoyed a bit by favorable success in one run games and in extra innings. The division is a dumpster fire and Minnesota would be 2.5 games behind the last wildcard if the AL went strictly by record rather than factoring in geography for the postseason. So we’re enjoying a bit of a mirage right now. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s delusional to think there’s anything more to this season than prepping for next season.

You’re also English sucks, two.

Malloy might be a bit of a victim of unfortunate BABIP lately. His OBP is still awfully healthy. He’s also gotten a few games in LF here lately. I wonder if they’ve decided his future is the OF and/or we’re about to see Keith moved up to Toledo shortly. Maybe their futures are such that they’ll have two “primary” positions and between two they’ll be the 3B with some LF and 2B duties as well. I don’t mind the proposition in general. I don’t know if either are well suited for those roles are not. I was in a discussion about kids and high school and college and studying a couple of days ago. I don’t know if this is a reasonable analogy or not. Malloy might be “naturally smart” as a hitter in the minors, but he still needs a bit more work at studying before he gets in college at the majors in order to be successful. And this is in terms of his defense as well as his offense, although I don’t think anyway is his accusing his defense as being naturally smart. Its kind of silly to me to see posts and complaints about Torkelson’s shortcomings to the point of some folks actually ready to call him a bust at the rule old age of 23 years and 282 days old. And a few posts later, there’s bemoaning about how Malloy and Keith (both of whom are younger) aren’t yet promoted. I also wonder, had Harris been around going into last season, would Greene and Torkleson have been ticketed for Toledo rather than Detroit? Maybe neither were really ready then. Maybe they needed more polishing up, but Tiger manglement mangled up their progression. Greene is ready now. Torkelson hits the ball hard for the most part, but we’ve seen questionable strike zone judgement. Bottom line for me is that there’s no victory this season that I’d chase right now if it comes at the consequence of the future of the few prospects that the Tigers have that might be due up in 2024/2025. Yes, watching Nevin and Ibanez struggle this season stinks. They’ll be gone once Greene, Carpenter, and Kreidler are healthy (and baseball gods willing that there aren’t other injuries that foil that plan). It stinks for now, but I think patience is the rational path here. The division looks there for the taking, but the Tigers just don’t have the roster for it, especially with the litany of ailments that have been hitting lately.

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I'm not sure they ever really had one this season.