casimir

In his prime, Phillips was awesome. Switch hitter, worked counts, had some pop, stole a few bags, could be moved around the diamond. So fun. There was a game in his second go around with the A's, they were playing in Detroit. In one of the later innings, LaRussa shuffled he and another IF back and forth between 2B and 3B based on the hitter for Detroit. It wasn't a current day shift, although the Oakland IF was shifting a bit from line to line. Phillips and this other A were essentially swapping defensive positions during the inning. Oh, yes, its this one.

I'm drawing a blank on who could have been the Milwaukee representative on some of those nonMolitor Brewer teams. That might be interesting to look back at. Sure, having Ripken as the seemingly annual starting SS takes away one slot. And then there's never a shortage of OFs when Yount moved to the grass.

Hall of Fame SS/CF Robin Yount is on a podcast that I am listening to. Guess in your mind how many all star games he made. Got it a number? OK. It ain't that many. Only 3 times. Seems odd to me that a hall of fame position player would have MVP votes in 7 seasons, including it in a season where he wasn't named to the all star game, and only 3 all star game appearances.

It doesn't look like rosters are posted, but there is a pretty prominent photo of Cabrera on MLB's WBC link.

Same, but with the way politics has been cascading into a grease fire, what will we end up with for options?

Forfeit. They ain't messin' around with the tank.

Washington Wizards vs Detroit Pistons

Ban him.

I thought the clip was fun. He never really came across as a demonstrative type of person, so that was interesting to see. Of course, he was never in a playoff type of game like that, so that could be part of the reason we never saw that kind of emotion out of him.

This one resignates with me.

Thank goodness the dance team came out to break up the potential brawl.

Sure. The strike zone might be octagonal area above the plate rather than just the front or back of the plate, but the break of the ball up/down or right/eft or any combination of those can't be that great above the plate. The slow pitch softball scenario brings to mind the Tiger Stadium right field upper deck overhang and the lore of how it turned against the wall outs into home runs. Holy heck, that place has been gone damn near a quarter of a century now.

Detroit Pistons vs Dallas Mavericks

Upset?

Man, I remember in 2021 somebody theorized that Hinch had his hands all over the organization, much more so than as the field manager. Why he gave up some of that power to Avila after the success of 2021, I just cannot imagine,

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