casimir

Seems a reasonable outcome.

He had a few games where he started at SS and then moved to the OF in August and then he played SS exclusively for the last week or so of the season. I don’t know about the August experiment, but the last week was certainly intentional.

Mickey Stanley’s 1968 World Series is a great story, He had all of 68 innings at SS that season before taking the slot in the championship. Maybe he didn’t hit all that well in the series, but he was easily the better batting option over Oyler.

Maybe they find a waiver wire CF early in the season that is worth a chance on the reward side and easy to jettison on the risk side?

I like it. I’ve always liked players that could play adequately around at several positions. Tony Phillips should be the patron saint of everyday players at different defensive positions. Amen.

Great googly moogly…. Congratulations to the 2025 American League Central Division champion Minnesota Twins.

I bet the kid likes fava beans and a nice Chianti.

Best Piston of all time.

What podcast is this?

It kind of was position player chaos a little bit last year, but pitching chaos was much more obvious and up front. Plus, the pitching metrics were astonishing considering the strategy that was employed. Dig too deeply into the bullpen in any game and a team is likely to find a pitcher with a bad game. But to the credit of the Tiger coaches and players, it rarely occurred.

Wow, thank you very much.

Alex Avila at 3B funny?

Yes. I think this, and the other position player versatility moves, and the pitching chaos that we saw last season, I think this all gets back to Hinch not only managing a season by breaking things down to a game by game level, he’s also breaking the season down to a bit more of a granular level within the game. I wouldn’t expect to see Torkelson logging whole games in the OF. I’m not so sure we’d see that with Malloy, save for blowout games or injury / bench strength dictates it. But this experiment with Torkelson is probably more for in game moves, using him as a pinch hitter, or maybe there’s another move made where he goes from 1B to OF as a result of the other move, or maybe he starts in OF vs LHP and is replaced later in the game.

Heck, try him in CF.

Who’s to say he’s in position at 1B?

You gotta use the colored font or speak it in a more joking voice next time.

Sounds like Torkleson is getting some reps in RF.

I thought he stated he wanted to only play 2B? If he’s needed elsewhere, he’s needed elsewhere.

I can’t remember where or who mentioned it, but it sounds like Manfred wants one expansion team in the east and one expansion team in the west. If Tampa were to relocate to Nashville, that would eliminate a hurdle for Montreal. Does Charlotte still have a chance at an MLB team? It doesn’t seem like there’s as much push for them as there had been in the past, but maybe that’s more of Nashville leapfrogging them than falling out of consideration altogether? As much as I’d like to see an Expos rebirth, I just don’t think it’s likely. And it’s possible certain circumstances elsewhere in the “real” world are going to kill any opportunity that there might have been. Portland and Buffalo used to have the on deck feeling, but it seems like that fervor has dissipated.

I like the idea of floating Baez around defensively right now. It’s good to see what he can offer. Spring training is a harmless time to do so. He’s not going to be cut. He’s going to be on the roster. As bad as he’s been, I want to see if better health to start this season does anything for him. Getting your highest paid player to buy into the philosophy of being used wherever needed whenever needed is good for the team psyche. Gleyber Torres, please take note of this.

I’d also suggest the Tuesday thumping played into Thursday. A young team plays around with its opponent like a cat with a dead mouse. Sure Washington stinks, but they get paid, too. Gotta wonder if the Pistons had a false sense of security factor into Thursday.

Canada should threaten to annex Alaska and the Northwest Angle just to piss in King Donny’s Wheaties.

I think his OF versatility keeps him on the roster until Meadows/Vierling return. McKinstry might not play CF or he might only play it in a pinch, but we know every position player on this roster not named Greene or Torres is a platoon player. With Torres playing only 2B, with Keith not really being that versatile, and with possible non gloves like Malloy/Torkelson making the roster, McKInstry' versatility is an asset for the time being.

Good pull. I was going to guess it was a guy named Pierre or Garth. I never thought about someone from Italy.

So, an acquaintance was going on and on about the election a couple of months ago. Somehow or another he thought he could partially substantiate his voting for Trump around the fact that "we already know he's a crook, so who cares?" My response was probably an eye roll and an unflattering "uh.... OK." A week or two ago, he mentions to me that he bought some bottle of bourbon that was specially made (probably just specially labeled) "45-47" in honor of Trump. I told him that I politely declined. He said, no, he hadn't received it yet. He had gotten the run around about it. The bottle is paid for, but gosh darn it, the bottle was lost in transit at one point and then suddenly it showed in the system as delivered. But it hadn't been delivered. I just nodded and went about my business.