casimir

Agree on the rules. Somebody got pulled out of retirement to order to use that salary solely as a trade chip. And then the player retired again. I think it was Keith Van Horn.

Yes, I missed Calvo. Good catch. I was looking at baseball reference. Obviously the clue of Wentz being listed as the only healthy pitcher not in Detroit narrowed that one down. As for Marisnick, that’s an E - Casimir, not an E- McCoskey. I lazily tossed out the term release when it should have been designed for assignment. I stand corrected, that one is squarely on me.

Maton in LF and Malloy in RF last night. Keith at DH. Maton has had a start at each of 2B, SS, 3B, and LF in Toledo.

I doubt Marisnick pushes Greene to a corner. It would seem like once he is healthy, he is back to the everyday CF role. He was playing well enough to retain the job. And then Vierling and Baddoo as backup CF options. Marisnick is probably going to lose out to the 40 man roster crunch, too. Its not just the active 26 that he is going to be a victim of, but the lack of minor league options, too. Who knows, its the all star break already, he might decide to stick with the organization for the rest of the season if he is offered a spot in Toledo after release.

I'd like to think that Nevin and Schoop are at the top of the list for cuts. Maybe Schoop signs a minor league deal elsewhere and does well enough to get a promotion this season. There's just not enough time to resurrect his season enough to become tradeable. Marisnick, maybe as well, but he's playing somewhat regularly right now. Part of that is due to the lack of healthy CF options. I suppose the Marisnick/Greene swap is an easy one to make. As far as the pitching options go, there's no harm in moving healthy bodies down Toledo. If the list that I am looking at is correct, Wentz is the only healthy 40 man pitcher in the minors right now. Looks like 47 total on the 40 which includes 8 on the 60 day IL. So there is one spot of wiggle room to work with for guys returning from the 60. But that's before the fun of minor league options.

That's interesting.

I gotta figure out how to photoshop his picture onto a milk carton for a game thread.

A play in game sounds kind of fun.

Hinch, Fetter, and Nieves deserve a bit of applause for how they’ve handled bullpen games this this season.

The increasing BB/9 season after season is not encouraging. Sure, the SO/9 are fun. But Lange is not the lock down reliever that he is perceived to be. If he can get it together here before the trade deadline, it might be wise to sell if the return is there.

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There was a time when the saying was to take an athletic kid and make him pitch left handed. But looking at the annual salaries in the NBA, at least the AAV, wow, it’s just kind of mind blowing. Granted, there are fewer NBA jobs than in the other big 4 sports (maybe big 5 if soccer is included?).

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.