casimir

Lost Ballparks is the podcast. Face still has his wits about him at 94 years young.

I listened to a podcast with Roy Face as the guest the other day. Supposedly he got into a game as a relief pitcher and picked the runner off of 2B and then the runner off of 1B before throwing a pitch. Then he retired the hitter on one pitch. Three outs, one pitch, no double play, no triple play. That seems rare to me.

“Cash considerations” is probably the going rate for a 31 year old OF with a career WAR through that date of 0 and OPS+ of around 95.

But I think the Castro issue(s) goes back to the needing versatility on the roster because of the lack of flexibility with some of the other players. They only had 12 position players most of the time because they needed 14 pitchers. 2 catchers. Cabrera was a DH only, and really cannot be expected to do that everyday and maybe not even every other day. So now they're down to 9 guys to cover 7 defensive positions. It doesn't leave a whole lot of options, and so a couple of the only options were to keep the Castros around because they could be shuffled around the IF/OF if needed. I know a lot of folks are optimistic about Carpenter's bat. But I think they did a disservice to him and themselves by DHing him in 12 of his 31 games in Detroit. He's going to have to become at least an adequate fielder. It doesn't help the Tigers to carry to DHs on the roster unless they've got everyday players everywhere else around the diamond.

Detroit Pistons vs Brooklyn Nets

I don’t know. CastroH was arguably one of the better players on the team last season, so there was some reason to play him. CastroW was still young enough and trying him at a new position was probably a last ditch effort to see if anything clicked. Reyes was a body to throw in the OF when there weren’t other options. I think they were rolling with 14 pitchers a lot as well, so there wasn’t much off time for position players. When you factor in the backup C and Cabrera confined to DH, that leaves two fielding bench options on the bench to start a game, assuming that Cabrera was indeed healthy enough to meander up to the plate as the DH. Hinch didn’t have many options last season.

That’s why the MTF political forum exists.

It kind of looks like some of his counting stats were affected after age 31, possibly from injury? It looks like missed some playing time there. I think in general theory, I am fine with players that had several all star type seasons and maybe modest production aside from that and/or players that were above average for an elongated period (beyond several seasons). I would say Rolen is more along the former and Whitaker maybe some kind of a combination of the two rather than one or the other. I think there's plenty of space for both of their plaques in that room (which I honestly think is one of the more boring display rooms in the building). Its not to take anything away from Rolen, but it seems kind of odd that he is the sole HOF entry (via traditional vote). Helton was close enough that I would guess he gets voted in next year.

That's good stuff. You know, that brings something up that I think sometimes gets forgotten about these nominations/inductions. The families of the award winners, the parents in particular. All of the time logged with Rolen when he was a kid, just tossing the ball around in the yard, or even coaching, or transporting, or supporting through the tough times, and now that has all ultimately culminated in this honor. Hopefully they get to share in the festivities at Cooperstown.

Scott Rolen is now Hall of Famer Scott Rolen.

Take the over on the Piston games and their matador defense. Every. Single. Time.

Ewwwwtroit basketball....

If this isn’t one of the puff pieces, and if it isn’t followed by actual results on field results…..

Nice of the Pistons to spot the Bucks a quarter before the first quarter was over.

Milwaukee Bucks vs Detroit Pistons

If he doesn’t attempt to block, it’s still a dunk. It also would give Minnesota the sense that the rim is unprotected. So, yup, Senguin is doing what needs to be done.

I think it’s worth noting that Alperen Senguin averages a shot block per game. Just not on these plays.

That’s actually Luis Aparicio’s brother Trey Aparicio with the 33 jersey.

I don't know that they are significant. But it is an interesting reverse.

That's a fair question.

Ha! That was my first reaction, too, but I am also reminded of the fact that Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh, so maybe they flubbed this one up. I agree, a lot of the bluster about Andujar is likely from 2018 rather than the past few seasons. I don't know what's happened with him that last few seasons. Maybe there's a reclamation project here, maybe there's not. Like I said, I wouldn't claim him, but if he becomes nothing more than a minor league contract type of player, then what are the Tigers out if he doesn't even make Toledo?

I don't think I would claim Andujar, but I'd be interested in offering him a minor league deal with an invite to camp. He doesn't seem like the type of control the strike zone player that Harris has mentioned. He does have a lower career SO% than league average (16.7% vs 22.6%), but he also has a career BB% lower than league average (4.1% vs 8.5%). The Tigers have several options from which to choose for 3B (and, sure, let's be honest about the quality in spite of the quantity), but it seems like RHH corner OF is still kind of shallow. Maybe he serves as nothing more than depth at Toledo in case of chaos among 3B/OF in Detroit.

My amateurish guess is that the way to envision prospects and their future values is more along the shape of a triangle such that the upper prospects are few and far between and as you descend from one tier to the next, the population of similarly skilled players expands. So, just for grins, the top 3-5 prospects are a tier, then you've got another dozen that are about the same, then another 25 that make up the next group, and on and on. But a lot of folks like to get focused on cardinal ordering rather than relative grouping.

It faces Canada. Who doesn't like Canada?

Only 36 more days until the first spring training game.