casimir

Ah, the trade for David Price. The one where they pulled Austin Jackson from the game in like the top of the 7th or 8th inning because it turns out you can't keep playing in a not yet finished game for a team that just traded you to another team.

Pretty sure you can hear the bench calling for the "Brittany Spears" play as they're setting up.

The situation stinks, but it is what it is. Candelario is posting a season that fits within the confines of what he has shown in his somewhat inconsistent past. He's at an age which is generally considered around prime production. His likely salary wouldn't have been ridiculous had it not been for his dismal 2022. Aside from 1B (which is kind of a minor point), the 2023 Tiger 3B production specifically and 2023 Tiger offense as a whole has been pathetic. At the time the decision was made, I fully understood the risk/reward being somewhere around a coin flip. Yet here we are now and its easy to look at numbers without using proper context of time and shrug shoulders and complain why the Tigers made such a foolish mistake. Sometimes these decisions work out. Sometimes they don't.

The story of he and Willie Horton exchanging pleasantries after an inside pitch was pretty amusing. The photograph that they showed of the kumbaya was good. So for those that missed, Tanana (rookie season) pitched one to Horton a bit too inside to Horton's liking. Horton noted his suggestion from a shorter distance, teammates joined on field to listen to the critique. I don't think any punches were thrown. But then there was a reskirmish after Horton thought he heard some more chirping. Well, the Angels had a 3Bdude that looked like Tanana, and Horton started to wander over in his direction to reestablish his side of the story. The 3Bdude, probably fearing for his life, had to remind Horton that he was merely a doppleganger to the events, the pitcher was over that way. Tanana made mention that Mickey Stanley may have saved his life here/

That was the best part of the broadcast. I don't know, but I suspect there is a bit of self guilt inside of him that he gets the flowers of the hall of fame nod et al while Whitaker is held to second fiddle status. They were both very good players on their own, but the sum of the parts and the rarity of its duration is what makes it special. The hall really botched it by not inducting both together.

Yikes. It sounded like an away game, too. That probably just added to your "enjoyment".

Thanks a lot.

That's an interesting point, although he has played 1B in the past and he is a switch hitter.

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Alek Manoah makes his return to MLB in this game. Is it purely coincidence that it’s vs the hapless Tiger lineup? Is the timing simply right because there is the all star break to squeeze another start out of him if tonight goes right or keep him in his slot with some extra days off from the all star break?

I’d worry more about the defense than I would the offense. Elmn at 3B? That might attract viewers in a macabre way, but I’ll take a pass on that.

Regarding Maton, I think the emphasis of that deal was to move Soto at his top remaining value (output & salary). So, if not Maton, than maybe they would acquired someone else along with Vierling and Sands, or gone with another deal with another team. And then even if Candelario and Maton were on the same squad, do we know that there wouldn’t have been a deal for McKinstry? Maron & McKinstry aren’t just 3B options. Clearly they fit the prototype utility player that Harris/Hinch had eyes for lately.

The way things have gone with development, the Tigers should be happy to worry about top dollar arbitration cases with their own home grown talent.

Until the next two game losing streak.

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Still don't. Which brings to mind, what is it that precludes Malloy from being a 3B? Is it something that precludes him from playing 1B, even as a backup to Torkelson?

I think Torkelson was clearly a notch or two below Greene. But Greene as also had the fortune of BABIP so far in his early career. It was .354 last season and he struck out at a higher rate than league average. If that BABIP normalizes, that 98 OPS+ drops. The results were what they were, but perhaps the 98 was inflated a bit.

Getting primed for the midseason tournament.

Yes. And we can go all the way back to last season when Torkelson and Greene didn't look all that ready at the plate.

Exactly. The offense stinks, but the Tigers already have a DH playing OF (but not against LHPs). Defense is an important component of the game, too. They don't have to be fully developed defensive players to be promotable, but they need to have a certain level of adequacy. Malloy has never registered a fielding percentage above .887 in any of his 3 minor league seasons at 3B. Fielding percentage isn't the end all be all, but that first number needs to be a 9. It just has to. The Tigers gave a it a try this first half of the season. It just doesn't look like its going to work out. The bat still looks useful. So let him get defensive reps in the OF before he makes his MLB debut. He's going to have to field somewhere to hit anyway with Carpenter and Cabrera on the MLB roster this season.

Oh geez.....

I think the 9 game losing streak was the low point of the season so far. These past 2 games have stunk, and they've been against one of the 2 worst teams in the league. But every team loses 2 in a row, and the combination of 1-0 and a blowout isn't uncommon.

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I’m not going to assume another 3 to 6 years of losing. I’m going to wait and see how Harris operates. I don’t think last season is necessarily indicative of what to expect. Maybe it turns out to be so, but I want to wait and see how things go.

Been a few Ls, eh?