1984Echoes

No one is saying for free. But the bottom line to me is production. Nice player... but he ain't all that either.

Why does every guy that we might have an interest in going to cost Greene + Tork +6 other prospects because all our Tigers are total crap and every other player from another team is pure gold. And then I'll here "just being realistic". No, that's not realistic at all. So... I have an idea... how about whatever trade is proposed, a comp trade or two is offered as evidence that the trade proposal is realistic. I think there's a new baseball trade proposal tool out there too, that has valuations for minor leaguers as well... might help us out a bit. So if I propose two top 10 1st rounders with less than 1 year experience plus 4 complimentary prospects for a young Miggy Cabrera... I can go find a comp trade... Or use this trade simulator to check: https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trade-simulator/ On Kreidler/ Candelario for Peraza/ Donaldson (suggested trade): per the trade simulator, we'd get 3.8 in value (Donaldson is a minus 19 so there's not only the deuche, but also at the end of career/ contract performing badly component). Versus the Yankees getting 6.2 in trade value. Candy doesn't have much value. But this trade is probably realistic enough to get done. Volpe BTW has a trade value of 52.6 versus Peraza's 22.8. I'm not certain how these are calc'd but I'm assuming they are related to prospect rankings etc... So I would just guess... if the Yankees are feeling the same way, we could get Peraza, not Volpe in this trade. On Melendez for Tork or Greene or similar: Melendez has a 26.2 value (??? Wow! What?!)... and Greene has a value of 70.3, ok, got it now, Tork a value of 33.3 (selling low, I would refuse to trade him until he fixes himself first...). Obviously the Tigers would never make a trade like that for him. Similar matchups per the simulator: Turnbull (I would certainly trade him) and Manning (nope) have similar trading grades, if the Royals were desperate for pitching and would consider trading Melendez for a starter. Or... a couple lower level prospects in Dingler and Graham add up to his value. This really says that there is value in waiting for a prospect to get a couple years in MLB to establish real value or they have to do some hot hitting in the minors to create that value (which Dingler & Graham have not done yet...).

Melendez was a 2nd round pick who hit .237 in the minors with an .800 OPS. He's a LH'ed platoon catcher hitting .224 in the majors with a .721 OPS. Can you explain to me how that gets an ask of Greene or Tork or similar ilk?

Yeah... That's exactly the out-of-the-box thinking I'd like to see from Harris...

I didn't see anyone that was Miggy-like to go after (close to FA, big star, small-market team has made the decision that he will be too expensive for them...); where we might be able to put together a package that could get us that player. The closest guys I could find I guess, would be: Corbin Burnes, Brewers (would love to put him at the top of our rotation...!) Willy Adames, Brewers (funny name, there...) Randy Arozarena, Rays (not exactly that close to FA... but a nice RH'ed OF bat that would go well with all our LH'ed OF bats...) MJ Melendez, catcher, Royals (not close to FA and only an ok bat, nothing special... but he's LH'ed and might be a good match in a Tigers catching tandem) Marlins have a bunch of pitchers if we wanted to look there: Sandy Alcantara, Eddie Cabrera, Pablo Lopez, Jesus Luzardo... The other thing out-of-the-box I'm hoping Harris can uncover is a guy in AA or AAA blocked from getting playing time in MLB, or a guy stuck to the bench & not getting enough of a chance. Sort of like how the Royals nabbed Drew Waters (not that he's done well enough in MLB but it's only his rook year...). And how we traded away Suarez (and now Paredes).

Oh... yeah, right.

Minor league deal seems more amenable. He'd play at AA or AAA though, not low-A.

Is he obtainable? I wouldn't know that or not... But also... I'm thinking that's highly not likely as the Angels will do everything possible to keep him long term. Just guessing. I don't think they are hurting for money... and I could see them offering to buy out arbitration years in a huge contract. Just thinking out loud...

I thought I had answered this already but I don't see my post... I guess it either "disappeared" or I was just imagining things... But, anyways... Yeah... I get that... trolling the waiver wire and churning through guys trying to see what sticks is perfectly fine by me... And I saw the references to the Giants doing exactly that... I'm still thinking, or hoping... he finds an unconventional method to also bring in some very high level talent as I had pointed out. But yeah, not mutually exclusive.

He's also buying himself some time as... The mobilization, and training/ equipping/ etc... will take several months... I don't think they can whip together battalions all that quickly at this point...

That should be a fun dog and pony show to watch. With... ultimately, an empty bag of tricks that will be presented to the special master...

Andujar is worse than what we already have so I would say hard pass...

Pretty amazing "conversation" between Jewel and the lead guitarist... I always liked her - quite a lot - but I've never seen this before and... it is amazing...!

I'm thinking a Matt Joyce or Steve Kemp comp... That would absolutely be good enough... But... we'll see...

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-docs-probe-court-lifts-233757340.html "In a stark repudiation of Donald Trump's legal arguments, a federal appeals court on Wednesday permitted the Justice Department to resume its use of classified records seized from the former president's Florida estate as part of its ongoing criminal investigation."

Early 2023 Prediction: Kerry Carpenter just might make it in MLB... Baddoo just might flop out... (Watch the exact reverse happen...).

He... Gave an incorrect answer on how to build more Russian jets without using western sanctioned technology and therefore he was required to... take "the plunge".

The new Russian Roulette: Take the PLUNGE and see what happens!!!

Actually... I'm thinking the opposite... When Harris says "calculated risks", I'm not thinking back-end or edges of the roster... I'm thinking more along the lines of grabbing a young superstar that a payroll-conscious team believes they can no longer afford, or that they'll lose in FA for basically nothing. I mean... not to rehash or throw out hopes for another Miggy trade but... I'm just going to guess that Harris is shooting for higher end "calculated risks" than back-enders... Guys who are maybe 1 year from FA, with no guarantees that we can re-sign them (until we get them inside the Org...); and the team believes that they just cannot squeeze him into their future salary structure or that the guy wants FA no matter what. I don't think we want the no matter what guys.. we want the squeezed by small-market team wages limitations... Just thinking out loud... Anyone that looks like that...?

Nope. Caffeine. About 3 or 4 Dr. Peppers at this point. I am... fully... caffeinated.

This was the team-killer, right here. If Miggy's contract did indeed cause this ripple effect... then, yeah, an argument could be made...

NOPE. Not interested. Between Manning, Eduardo, Skubal, Wentz, Turnbull, Faedo, Brieske, Hill, Alexander, Olson, maybe even Mize, and others that will be throwing their hats in the ring (Madden/ eventually Jobe) I've got 10 starters. Not just for 2023, but also 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027... Why would I want to pollute the rotation with 2 garbage FA starting pitchers. No freaking way. NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Bull SHIT and you know it! Do I need to list every freaking starting pitcher injury we've had this year? That LED to Hutch getting 20 starts? Because you know the freaking answer to that, don't you?

What a stream of horseshit. Asinine. Pure insanity. A little bit better. Excuse me? No, it's NOT a fucking pipe dream. I'm not going to agree, or disagree with this. This may, or may not, be correct. But this isn't answered until all the broke pieces that are still around in 2024, and the new pieces coming up, show us what they can or cannot do in 2023. which again, and to your point, shouldn't exclude this team from signing or trading for a key player (Correa or otherwise). If the opportunity is there, do it. But I have zero interest in finding another Grossman or Schoop to add to the team. It's Correa (or similar level of talent or better) or Bust for me. It's time to let the kids show what they can do, which might take another year or two, before making moves that add icing to the cake. But the cake needs to be baked with these kids, not with more crappy FA's that don't do squat long-term for this team.

I think it's idiocy to spend any money on starting pitching this winter. All of those question marks MUST be answered first. A huge NO on a FA starting pitcher. Unless he's a AAAA guy just for depth that's stashed at Toledo or comes up if/ when needed. Now... if there's a major trade opportunity (doubtful but ya' never know...) or major position player FA opportunity (IE: Correa)... sure. Or even a shut-down reliever that we can advantageously add... sure. But on SP's... just say NO.