casimir

Navigato was also untaken in the rule 5 draft. Any team could have had him for free, and nobody drafted him. I tend to agree with Kreidler. It seemed a head scratcher to keep him on the 40.

Yes, very true about the medicals. I’m just going with what I’ve seen about him being available in May. And by that assumption, I also assume he’ll be ready for IF duty as well. Maybe wean him into it at first, maybe that means some rehab in the minors. But if he can be ready around Memorial Day, who is the better 3B option currently on the team? No question Bregman is the better player and I understand that’s who most folks want. But if he signs elsewhere, how do the Tigers pivot?

I’d prefer they try to rehab some worth of Torkelson. That might mean he need to kill it as a Mud Hen and the return still won’t be reflective of what his potential was. That sucks. But I don’t think trading him now is going to net much of anything at all anyway. He’s not going to be a headliner for Bichette even if Toronto thinks they can fix him.

I think Kim could probably that stop gap for the next 2 seasons with the assumption that he’ll be not available to begin this season. I think that’s fine given that someone that is assumed to be a part of the IF (or OF with Vierling going to the grass to cover that) is likely to be hurt at some point this season. Essentially he’s an early season trade acquisition that can lengthen the lineup but won’t cost any prospect capital. It’s just money and they can find a spot on the 26/40 for him.

Maybe a simple swap of Thompson and for either Harris or Hardaway? And maybe that’s based on the opposite front line? I think there should be enough offense workload covered with at least 2 of Cunningham/Ivey/Beasley in the backcourt. If the Harris that was hoped for would show up, that’d be helpful. Having Thompson and Stewart in the game is nice defensively, but I’m not sure if that’s giving up too much on the offensive side. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like getting that 3rd option on the floor has not been easy or not consistent enough.

Reports are coming out that Jimmy Carter has passed at 100 years old.

I didn’t think about going directly to Cabrera for quotes. I don’t know, seems like not much to me unless Cabrera were to come out and refute it. As for Cabrera’s relationship with the Tigers, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s only ceremonial in nature right now. I don’t think there’s anything necessary awkward or nefarious if that were true. The guy has lived the baseball life for years. If he wants a break from it, maybe he wants more family time right now, or is sick of the travel, or whatever the case is, so be it. I would think that the “special advisor” roles are like that for former players/managers. You get a title, you’re invited to things like Leyland’s number retirement, you’re a combination mascot/official. Now Leyland probably does do some scouting and serious baseball work that the front office can use. It just seems like that’s his nature, a true baseball lifer. Maybe it’s not in a full time capacity like some of the other (younger) front office personnel. That’s my wholly unqualified opinion.

Urshela should’of had more presence in the headline?

You know, you can’t find a good trough urinal anymore like you used to be able to back in the day.

Yeah, they were due. A 3-1 trip out west, I’ll take it. I’m not sure last year’s ensemble could’ve gone 3-1 on a road trip to Oakland University.

It’s unseasonably warm here today. I took the bicycle out for a spin. (1) It’s been a while, so it wasn’t the easiest of treks. (2) The unseasonably warm was being blown in by some fairly strong gusts, so it wasn’t the easiest of treks. Regardless, it was a better time than shoveling snow would have been.

I just wonder if he was brought up too early and that’s stunted his growth. They brought him up and he hit in the lower third of the lineup. The bottom third of the lineup isn’t where to put a 1B bat. And the Tigers weren’t so offensively blessed that a prospect that’s ready for the show should’ve been in the bottom third of the lineup.

I’ll politely pass on the early 80s nut cruncher shorts, thank you.

Keith might be an everyday guy. I guess now that I think about it, he was one of the LH bats that seemed to get more time vs LHP than others. Whether that’s by design or necessity is debatable.

Yeah, it has that sort of feel to it right now, doesn’t it?

If Keith is the primary 1B, I find it hard to see he, Torkleson, Carpenter, and Malloy on the roster at the same time. I don’t think the roster flexibility is there unless they employ an everyday 3B. I know the theory is that Hinch loves to platoon and mix and match. I don’t know if he really loves it or just realized that he had to do it last season as his best chance to win games. And he was pretty darn successful with it. But I suspect he’d rather have 6 or 7 legit everyday starters in the lineup. If there are too many platoons on the roster, that’s going to weaken the lineup on a day in day out basis. I’d say Greene and Meadows are everyday players. Vierling could probably do so as well, but I’m not as sold on that. Is Torres an everyday 2B? 13 position players, disregard C as an everyday spot, and now you’ve got 11 roster spots for 8 lineup spots. Let’s be generous and say the 4 mentioned above are everyday players. The leaves 7 roster spots for 3 lineup spots. I guess that could work, but how does the rest of the roster get populated? I don’t know, I think there’s another free agent move and a couple of trades coming that will affect what popular opinion might suggest this team’s clubhouse looks like now.

Wow. I just watched him coaching after he was fired. That’s kind of weird.

I recorded the game per usual. Worked from home today, never really had a chance to watch it and didn’t just want it on in the background. Finally able to flip it on around 7:30pm next night. I was pretty stealthy with avoiding the final score, I usually screw it up and accidentally pull into an app that reveals the score to me. Wanted to give in and call it off at 18 down. I mean, they’ve already beaten the Suns and Lakers on this trip, what are the odds they go 3-0? But, no, I’m just a lot bit stubborn sometimes and decided to stick with it for no really good reason. Such a good comeback. Now, I’ll record the Nuggets game. But if they fall behind by double digits, I’m not so sure I stick with it. I think all the magic pixie dust has been used up on this trip.

It appears 1B is going to be below average at this point in time. I’m not a fan of Keith at 1B. But he was a rookie last season and he did have a bit of a good streak in there at one point. And to oblong’s point, who knows what other moves are in store for the team. Did anyone think signing Torres to a one year deal was likely or even remotely possible? There’s plenty of time for trades of some sort.

I kind of like the maths nerdery in here.

None of these should cost much in terms of years and annual salary and draft compensation. Kim is probably looking at a shorter term deal given his injury recovery. I would think 2 seasons would work. He may not be ready for opening day, and that’s fine. Something likely occurs by the time he’s ready to return. Injury, demotion, trade, something will happen. Yates fits because he’s an end of game option and won’t command many years either. Maybe a couple of seasons here as well? Walks are a smidge high for me, but maybe the pitching brain trust has the salve for that. Sasaki still seems like a pipe dream. But, anyone please correct me if I’m wrong, the Tigers are in position to offer him towards the higher end right off of the bat? Maybe that means he’d take that as a shorter term deal at highest possible in order to build his MLB resume for a higher payoff later? I don’t know. I suppose of the trio, Kim and Yates seem most valuable. While I think signing Sasaki would be great, I think the Tigers have proven they can create some SP value out of a reclaimed arm.

Yeah, now that I think of it, maybe they were Fleer rather than Topps. But that was the time frame.

Could you imagine if they used that for the in season pool games? Neat-o!

To @Betrayer’s point, they’re still a young team that has to learn this process.

We’re witnessing Cunningham warp into his next dimension. So fun to see it. It’s too bad he had a few injuries to plow through in previous seasons. Hey, better late than never. The turnovers are still an issue. And I didn’t like his final shot, I’d have preferred he drove to the basket. But, he wasn’t exactly getting the calls last night either, so maybe the result is still a missed basket that is rebounded by the Lakers with enough time to get a shot off.