casimir

I don’t know. It was probably known up front and just not public. He needs Portland to move him to an amenable situation given his lack of no trade clause. If he screws them, then could do the same in return. It does seem like there is some mutual respect in this particular situation.

But if they had drafted Halliburton rather than Hayes, they might not have been left at the lottery altar for Wemby this draft.

Let’s not get stupid.

Well, that’s an interesting question. Lorenzen has been the only reliable starting pitcher on the matrix of health and results. The offense has stunk, but Candelario would be only 1/9of the lineup. As far as which could fetch more on the trade market, we just might well see that answer in the next month. But I contend that there was room for both salaries on the roster this season to begin with. If there wasn’t, then someone is lying.

True. And I guess here’s the other thing. Fielding percentage isn’t the end all be all metric. But, 3 different seasons of substantial below .900 at 3B? That’s Elmnesque. So, it’d be nice to here an inside scoop on his OF chops. Is RF or 1B worth an effort? The bat numerals look worth trying at the right time. And I think the general preference is that hitters also field, part when they have age on their side. Can his glove play somewhere or is there a potential of hiding one or the other of Malloy/Carpenter on a daily basis?

Well now, let's think about next season. Greene in OF everyday. Carpenter's bat is in the lineup vs RHPs, its just a matter if he can get more playing time and how much he uses a fielding mitt. I think there can be a spot on the roster for Baddoo, but he's still not a guarantee at this point. Vierling probably falls into that category, also. MeadowsP, is questionable at this point. But if they go with that incumbency, there's probably an OF/DH of Green, Carpenter, Baddoo, and MeadowsP vs RHPs and Vierling is going to play vs LHPs. Easily there's room for another RHB in that mix. Now at 3B, Maton is obviously having issues on both sides of the ball. McKinstry has slowed down and seems more suited to a bench role, although one that could see some regular playing time. I don't think either (and we could roll Short and Ibanez in here, too) are everyday or even everyday vs RHPs type of 3B. So there's an opening there for Malloy/Keith to debut next season at 3B. Can either handle it defensively, or looking at career/age, can Malloy be tried there enough before Keith is ready for a promotion? The OF could have 4 LHBs out there. Torkelson & Baez return as RHBs. 2B (again, just looking at incumbents) are LHB heavy in McKinstry/Maton. I think Short has earned a return as a RHB IF bench guy. Catcher looks like a RHB, although with day/night games and workloads and such, creating a platoon there is something of a fool's errand anyway. A RHB at 3B isn't going to crater the lineup. And given Malloy's OBP not necessarily being dependent upon AVG, if he can maintain reasonable offense in Toledo, I could see a window of him at 3B in Detroit. DUring that same window, the LHBs in the OF (Carpenter, Baddoo, MeadowsP) get time to be sorted. In particular, I wouldn't think Baddoo is etched in stone going forward. He might be the guy on the hot seat if Keith hits & fields well in Toledo and Malloy hits in Detroit. A pretty good amount of if there, but I don't think its too far fetched. And none of this takes into consideration any moves that get made this upcoming offseason. So who knows for sure.

Well, but here's the flip side to it. There are two other 3B of varying degree in Toledo right now. Sure, they may be used at other positions and there is the DH, too. But, Maton is already 27. The bat is suspect right now. He has played defensively elsewhere. I'd prioritize reps at 3B for Maton/Keith over Maton simply because they seem to have the longer window of potential with the team. 3B can easily be handled by the 2 of them and they would have time at their other positions. Maton can play middle infield in Toledo. Who knows, maybe there's a bit of familiar comfort on the defensive side that translates to the bat. I guess the scary thing is, maybe there isn't a defensive 3B to be had among the trio?

I think there's a market for Bogdanovich given his offense. I'm not going to argue with you that he might be overrated and Burks might be underrated to the point where they are more equal in talent than some would think. But the market might not necessarily value these talents correctly, either. It just takes a GM/owner to think they need more offense to create interest in Bogdanovich. There's always a bit of an illusion to some folks about how good the best player on a crappy team is. And part of that illusion could be overlooking the defense for the offense, particularly if a team thinks it already has pretty good defense and rebounding already. And with Cunningham's return, and with Ivey having a season under his belt, reliance on Bogdanovich by the Piston should decrease. So that illusion is going to fade just a bit, too. So, there's probably a bit of motivation by the Pistons to make a move, particularly with Harris on the team for a season. I wouldn't expect Miami to be a trade target. I think they tend to operate differently than the rest of the league and are quite successful with that approach. Bogdanovich probably doesn't match their DNA. But, there are 28 other teams to kick trade ideas around with. Less than that if you filter in cap space, philosophy, needs/strengths, etc. But does that 28 reduce down to 0? I doubt it. So as long as that number is higher than 0, I think there's a market for Bogdanovich.

This could very well be true (I'm drawing a blank on who the free agents were). But the opportunity cost reward isn't necessarily 0.5 WAR. Mixed into that is the reasonable expectations of what Candelario could provide. A repeat of 2022 is possible because he has shown the capability of it. But he's also shown the capability of putting up much better numbers if you go all the way back to 2021. If retaining Candelario would have made it impossible to sign a Lorenzen to his contract, then this team has bigger problems. Certainly the Tigers needed to address the starting rotation. I liked the Lorenzen signing, he's done well enough to justify the risk of signing a non SP (recently) to fill a spot in the rotation. I think that was a reasonable gamble. But for crying out loud, what's one more $7M on top of around $117M, especially when a reasonable possibility exists that the bat comes around and he becomes a trade candidate? I guess the variable that we on the outside cannot calculate is that of did both sides simply exhaust the working relationship to its end? I don't know one way or another, and I'm not going to assume any of us know either. Maybe Candelario needed another environment. Maybe the Tiger brass decided they couldn't do much more with Candelario. It could be somewhere between innocent and acrimonious, and again, we don't know one way or the other. But there is the possibility that it was just time. Its entirely possible that Candelario's 2023 wouldn't have occurred with Detroit. That's part of the vexation of baseball. There's more to assembling a major league winner than just playing rotisserie baseball.

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I guess I forgot Maton and Marisnick on the current 40. If Marisnick returns, this team has problems. Hopefully Maton can salvage a bat and be good enough defensively to play 2B vs RHPs.

All star Jose Cisnero?

I’d guess this as of now: Torkelson, Baez, and Greene returning and playing everyday. Carpenter returns, should play everyday now to see if it’s something that could work going forward. Vierling and McKinstry likely back as bench pieces. Baddoo likely back vs RHPs. Malloy makes his MLB debut, plays regularly, position to be determined. MeadowsP and Keith have a chance to make the team, but I’m not sure it’s guaranteed. Cabrera, Schoop, and Nevin are gone. Haase is not helping his cause. Short, Ibanez, and Kreidler might be in position to bump one another off, can’t imagine the whole trio returning and perhaps there will be room for only one or none of them? I’m sure I missed somebody. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens. I think last offseason was plugging holes and coming up with a roster with options. I think the theme of this offseason will surely be different to an extent. I think we’re going to see more of an effort to competing in the division rather than just filling jerseys.

Ibanez? Seems like too much of a free swinger. Moving on from Baddoo and McKinstry?

Good environment to sell Bogdanovich.

It’s easy to assume Candelario was due for a bounce back season. I’m guilty of that. But what we can’t quantify is how much of this season is a bunch back to the means, simply a return to form (and maybe beyond form). And we also don’t know how much of that can be attributed to being in a different environment. Perhaps there’s something that occurred in Washington to help his rebound that wouldn’t have happened in Detroit. Perhaps he simply needed the rebirth of a different setting to start fresh. I don’t know, I don’t think any of us can know. Heck, Candelario might not even know. But, hey, good for him to extend his career. Harris didn’t have an easy decision with him this past off-season. I think there was reasonable rationale to retaining him and similar to letting him loose. I’d have probably preferred to keep him, but I was vehemently against Cisnero and look how he’s done. So what do I know?

I suspect a bit of the struggles he has had are due to maybe going through any struggles for the first time and trying to figure out that process of getting through it. We know how well he did at ASU and in his short stint in the minors before his debut. When he was demoted to Toledo, he still struggled for a time. I suppose that could indicate a physical adjustment that took some time, but I wonder if he was simply fighting with himself a bit.

I’d rather not send a player given the fact that (1) none of them are really all stars and (2) the Tigers have had enough injuries this season, no need to chance the Tiger rep step off of the platform and break an ankle during team photos.

Can he pitch?

That’s not actually me. I’m blonde.

Jim was drunk in the 90s.

If he’s healthy.

At least he didn’t get hurt.

I’m playin’ chess here.

Hopefully Brooklyn follows through on matching any offer.