RandyMarsh

I remember saying this at the time of the Ray/Greene trade and that's Greene was somebody I coveted after watching us play him in Yankee Stadium the year before. I remember he completely dominated us with 97mph FBs that moved like sliders, I remember thinking "Jesus, where did the Yankees find this guy at, I wish he was on the Tigers?" so when news came that the Tigers traded for him some 3 months after that I was pumped, even if it meant getting rid of Ray I thought it was going to be worth it. Greene proved me right that first month when he posted like a 1 something ERA(peripherals were questionable though) but he struggled after as a starter. It wasn't until he turned into a reliever and became "Shane Greene Ladies and Gentleman" where he started to have some value for us. Not as much as Ray would've had of course but he did have his moments in the bullpen.

I think you can say the same about Willi Castro who I think catches even more flack than Reyes but unlike Reyes he has atleast shown some ability to hit for power and play some infield if need be. In fact Willi has a 1.1 WAR in 90 games which if you are to believe that an average starter should produce 2 WAR in 162 games he isn't that far off that pace yet people on here treat him like he is the worst player ever.

Unlike the Parades trade where just about everybody was for IIRC there was some apprehension about the Simon trade, not only due to Suarez but also Simon's peripherals and second half collapse the previous season and not to mention giving up our first round pick Johnathan Crawford from the prior draft. I remember the first tweet that got the ball rolling said something to the effect of "Tigers are set to acquire a Reds starting pitcher", at the time we hoped it may have been Cueto who was still dominant at the time or at the very least Homer Bailey who was still a plus guy but then when it was announced it was Simon I do remember quite a bit of disappointment among guys on here and I know I was one of them. I of course didn't expect Suarez to end up as good as he was but I thought he had enough promise along with a 1st round pick in Crawford to fetch somebody better than Simon.

Dusty Baker said that after coming into the dugout at the end of the inning Verlander passed him and said 'he felt something' and went straight into the tunnel. I could imagine Baker's fear after hear his prized pitcher who is coming off TJ surgery say that without giving him any context, hearing it was "just" his calf had to be about as relieving of news for Baker and the Astros as you could get.

Patrick Corbin of the Nationals picked up a win today. Why is that newsworthy? Well it's the first Nationals Starting pitcher to earn a win in 43 games! I know starting pitching usage has changed but still it's hard to fathom going over a quarter of a season without a starting pitcher getting a single win.

I think if they could privately get a deal done like that and have it sound like Miggy is retiring on his own I think they'd strongly consider it. I don't think they would want to make it public though so it comes across like they are "forcing" a beloved player to retire. Especially with the team in the state it's in. I can just imagine the backlash from fans complaining about forcing him to retire when we run out a bunch of scrubs to play at a bunch of other positions. Also I think it would have to be an outright retirement and not a buyout per say where he could go and play for another team. I don't think they want to risk the thought as insanely low as it may be of him going to another team and having an Albert Pujols like resurrection, that would definitely be suicide for management in terms of P.R.

Back in the day I was a member of a forum called Lionstalk.com and I remember all of us celebrating when we got Boss Bailey and then doing the same thing the following year when we got Teddy Lehman. I can't fault Millen for those picks cause both were considered steals at the time but unfortunately they just didn't pan out.

I remember scouring box scores early in the year and I saw J Sborz in one of the games and I immediately had to click on his profile cause I was like "that can't be the same guy from our system back in the day?"

Jobe went 5 innings of 1 run ball with 3Ks and 1BB in his high A debut.

They weren't technically 2nd round picks but we traded up to get them late in the 1st to take with our 2nd pick so you kinda could also add Jahvid Best and Kevin Jones to that list as well.

After beating the Giants who eliminated us in 2012 we get to exact our revenge against the team that dumped us in 2011.

*as I knock on wood* thankfully even as Im hitting my 40s I still never experienced any real back or neck pain. Have had injuries just about everywhere else but thankfully not there so I can't relate to any back stuff but from everybody I know that has them I can tell they aren't fun and something I'm definitely thankful for.

Yeah it definitely seems like it's one of those cases where WAR doesn't tell the whole story of the impact they actually had on the field but regardless Javy's suckiness doesn't mean the Correa signing would've been good either. Also there is no guarantee that Correa puts up the same season here hitting with all the chumps in our lineup and the incompetent hitting coach we have as he has with a contending Minnesota team.

Javy's been worth 1.2 WAR while making 22 million meanwhile Correa has been worth 2.2 WAR but at 35 million. Not a major difference in dollar to WAR.

Scouring the box scores tonight and not a whole lot of positive things to pass on that I can gather. Kriedler had a nice day going 3-5 with a HR bringing his season OPS to .795 in Toledo. Also Gage Workman was 2-4 with a double and triple down in Erie. On the pitching front Reese Olson went 6 innings of 4 run baseball with 6Ks in Erie.

MCDC needs to bring this to practice this week, I'm sure it would be a hit on Hard Knocks!

Although he hasn't exactly panned out as well as we hoped I would say that Daniel Norris was a good prospect as well, I believe at the time we traded for him he was in most outlets top 20.

Yep, I think the only move that wasn't bad was the Porcello/Cespedes swap but I can't remember if that move led to us needing to trade for Simon or not.

I liked him so much pre draft that I said if the Lions traded down from 7 to the teens I wouldn't have been opposed to taking him there. As far as why the Lions passed, I don't know if the Lions specifically passed due to his medicals but that was the narrative that came out why he dropped as far as he did in general. Can't remember the condition but there was some red flag that showed up that scared teams away, considering our clear need there and his ability I figured that would have to have been the reason why. He ended up grading out as one of the top rookies in the league last year so it could end up being a major miss by not just the Lions but every team in the league.

Didn't we pass on JOK for Levi due to "injury concerns"? If so that would so be the Lions to take the cautious approach and still get burned!

Resigning Victor that offseason didn't do us a whole lot of favors either. In the grand scheme of things it may not have changed much other than loss of money but who knows, if we had a better dh in that spot namely Nelson Cruz who we couldve signed instead we may have made the playoffs in 2016.

You could take somebody that has never watched baseball before, handed them the Astros prospect list and say "pick 3 names from this list" and they probably would've ended up with a better result than Avila. Really the only hope I have left is Rogers and he's coming off of TJ, I think there is still a chance he turns into a decent hr hitting catcher with adequate defense. Maybe like how Haase was last year except with a little better defense. If that were to happen he'd have some value.

I'm sure the Thunder were thrilled when they saw how the injury happened, sure you can get injured anywhere and guys are going to continue to play summer ball but of all players/ plays you try to guard like its the postseason LeBron freaking James with a full head of steam in transition is not the guy or play to be doing it. Just get the hell out of the way and live to play another day.

In recent years Jackie Bradley Jr. is anther guy with a howitzer. Theres videos of him pregame throwing from home plate all the way over the CF wall in Fenway about 400ft away.