casimir

Hinch was named Tiger manager on October 30, 2020. Scott Coolbaugh was named hitting coach on November 7, 2020. Are you suggesting Hinch took the job and had no say as to who would be on the coaching staff?

That’s a good point about making opposing pitchers work.

Yup. They don’t need to be all stars next season. Just drive down on the weaknesses (SO% for instance) at the plate, maintain good defense. Be solid everyday players in 2023. They’ll still have growing pains, but be competitive, don’t be outmatched.

Someone’s in a good mood.

The Spurs are making a push.

If Harris were wise, he'd have this place on mute.

I think one of the things to keep in mind regarding Greene and Torkelson is how awful the Tigers' offense was as a whole last season. Granted, the lineup wasn't exactly filled with quality major league hitters, especially later in the season. But given that environment, its probably tough for rookies (one who missed a chunk of the early season due to injury, the other who doesn't have much professional experience at all) to perform well at the plate. The Tigers fired one hitting coach and reassigned the other. That's probably more than just a cosmetic move by a new front office. I think there's some cause for concern given the previous regime and the questionable prospect development. Both were drafted where they were expected to go. Greene was considered a top tier prospect and Torkelson was pretty much the top prospect, right? I would think both are still young enough that with the correct instruction, they can still have good careers. We've seen the flashes from Greene while in Detroit. Torkelson had a pretty darn good 2021 season and 2022 was tough. Both are still in their early 20s, so they're still learning the game. 2022 was frustrating as hell, but I'm still optimistic for both.

Michael Wacha Seeking A Two-Year Deal Should the Tigers be on Wacha Watch?

There's no doubt those kinds of arrangements exist. It doesn't seem much different than a minor league with a spring training invite and an out after spring training and/or some time after that (maybe 30 days of the minor league deal). Its not really a baffling position to consider that a 31 year old 4A player with very little for a MLB resume wouldn't have much trade value. Do you know of deals in the past where a similarly skilled and credentialed player has been moved for something of substance?

Houston Rockets vs Detroit Pistons

Something we can all agree on. Kumbaya.

Nah, I was done with Hill. Hill’s value is in playing defense if he can stay healthy and a team can cover his meager offense. The Tigers need offense. And unfortunately Hill seems injury prone.

It’s the “only cash considerations” comment that is baffling to me. What did you really expect via trade for him?

But there's also a pretty hefty difference in the resumes of Grossman and Thompson. The situation maybe shouldn't be one or the other, but if the Tigers are going to try to build up the trade value of one of the two, which one has the better track record that might more reliably forecast a couple of months of production? And as far as hot AAA lines go, hey, great, a 25 game heater in Toledo for a 31 year old journeyman OF. We really expect that to be flipped for something of value? That doesn't pass the sniff test.

Sure, anyone that saw that season coming is completely full of crap. But, hey, at least the Tigers got cash for him. The Padres dumped him for absolutely nothing in May.

Avila was a bad GM, ain’t no doubt about it. But the whining and bemoaning about what could have been with Trayce Thompson is comical hindsight.

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.