Useful Idiot

15 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Calling a guy the next Al Avila when he's halfway through his first offseason is a  bit of a reach.    We'll have to wait.   I love what he's done with the off-the-field part, mostly.      

And hey!!  We'll be getting some spiffy new lights, maybe they can start a new promotion, encourage the fans to wear sequined clothes to a game and engage them in a dynamic light show. They could even call it "Spark in the Park" .   Who cares about run differential when you have glitter?   "Wins" are really such an antiquated statistic.

20 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

 

If you are skeptical about Harris that's fine, but you could say that in one line and save the rest of the typing.

But I find the "vent" therapeutic.

Besides, one never knows. Being new to Detroit, Harris might have minions scanning local sports media for pointers.  If that turned out 2B the case, I want to give him all the help he might need.  I'm sure he'll find all the people willing to blow smoke,  on his payroll (that "new culture" schtick).   I on the other hand - offer true value

5 hours ago, Jim Cowan said:

Yes the title of this thread should have been "Soliloquy".

No one is stopping you from authoring any thread you see fit.  But trying to edit mine, even if just figuratively, is NOT very John Wick like

So, we're gonna master the strike zone, reshape our offensive identity, and build a new culture?  Amazing no one has uncovered this before.  Pretty cutting edge stuff.....where do you think he got this, the Esalen Institute perhaps?

Perhaps they are just pumping sunshine  at Jason Beck, but he identified the acquisition of Malloy as a component in the imperative to reshape our offense.  Which is desperately needed, I just don't see this acquisition of Malloy as in any way being marquee worthy.

Which, since you know everything, why do you suppose Harris' first winter meetings were not more productive? Clearly the eyes and aspirations were upon him,   do you think he just didn't believe that any of the talent available was worthwhile?  Alternatively perhaps he was on a short Leash?  Other?  Pretty dismal result.  I would have thought the pocketbooks would have cut him enough slack to make at least one trophy acquisition?  No one could deny that he had payroll flexibility on his side.  

All he's really accomplished   so far is to hack away at underperforming players remaining from a failed team  built on a budget,  and from all appearances is about to embark upon replacing them with (**Cough-cough**) "high potential upside" replacements of his own choosing.  How realistic is it to keep repeating the same mistakes but expecting different results? 5 years from now when we are going through this same process, remember where you heard it from,.... first

You  gotta admit, when they start setting their priorities based upon the emergence of a "new culture",  that usually is an indication for "don't expect to find your  enjoyment  in the box score". 

The "lucky ones" are the ones he cuts lose, IMO

Don't get me wrong...I'm delighted to see Jiminez gone, used to make me sick hearing the game announcers "talk up" his supposed recent progress.   But I just don't see the return we got as at all worthwhile, and billing it as reshaping our offensive identity is frankly...offensive...   aka double speak

5 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

What makes Justyn-Henry Malloy a Worthy Asset?

Ask your mom.  

That's what I love about this place, no matter however immature I might feel, there is always someone here willing to out do me. 

Seriously, his only deal was flubber. Is this "New Culture  gonna play out like "the king and his clothes" fairy tale? Where you are either on-board, or you are out? AJ has gotta be weighing his options.
 

So, the winter meetings have come and gone, and the one thing our wonderkind managed to pull off was to dump a floundering major league pitcher, claimed by some to at last be sorting himself out, for two nobodies. BUT UNDER THE COVER STORY that we were "reshaping our offensive identity".  What is that supposed to mean? Is that Harrisspeak for "one of the players was not a pitcher"?

What are Malloy's accomplishments that might make him worthy of the role of defining an offensive identity?  Career .285 average with 22 HR over 2 seasons, only one of which was above AA level  (shudder)  Is there some super secret advanced metric that only the propellerheads are capable of fully appreciating? 😇

Or is it more likely a priority of being young and dumb, with a full compliment of options? (winner winner)

Perhaps most depressing to have come out of the non-progress attained at the meetings, is the new mantra that "a new culture" is in the making (woo hoo).  I think we all can appreciate what that means.  Budget is king and anybody not fine with that is out.

Painful to contemplate that the Avila era might one day be looked back upon as "the good old days"...lmao!

12 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

  Most improved poster?  

I'm happy with the way Harris has pwned all the Boyd critics who celebrated his departure last year, so perhaps I'm just feeling charitable? 

Neifi, Neifi, Neifi Baez most amazin' man, there's ever been.
He's the general, the president, the king of the scene,
Neifi, Neifi, Neifi Baez

A modern leader gotta twist and shout,
Got tell the people let it all hang out.
If you don't want to vanish with a boot up the bum,
You gotta give the population something to hum.

Neifi, Neifi, Neifi Baez most amazin' man, there's ever been.

1 minute ago, Tiger337 said:

Baez WAR with Tigers 2.5

Perez career WAR 2.6

So, Baez contributed as much to the Tigers this year as Perez contributed his entire career.  

Yeah, lol, Baez lead ALL TIGERS in key offensive stats last year, as well. Perez never did. 😱

On 12/4/2022 at 12:09 PM, Longgone said:

Might want to give it a little time.

I'm confident that once Miggy is off the payroll, Harris'  Tigers will be a cinch to win the "Lowest Team Payroll by a Team winning at least 40% of their games" sweepstakes.

Season tickies already reserved.

1 hour ago, Tenacious D said:

.  Especially after Avila signed the absolute worst option at SS last year.

Neifi Baez!!

On 9/25/2021 at 4:23 PM, 1984Echoes said:

I have no interest in Boyd for 2 more years.

On 9/25/2021 at 4:24 PM, 1984Echoes said:

If he can squeeze into 2022 based on - circumstances - fine.

But after 2022 it's time for the Tigers and Boyd to part ways.

On 9/25/2021 at 4:33 PM, Useful Idiot said:

.Personally I think even Boyd will be "too expensive" for them.

Well, see there? I was wrong, and have no problem admitting it. Boyd comes back at a considerable bump over what we previously were paying him

3 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

But yeah, fire Avila, dump all his picks/trades and start a new rebuild.

According to a recent Harris interview, lots of other teams are showing interest in our current roster.

At least he looks like he's having fun

9 minutes ago, Longgone said:

i know what your thinking; I'll just go on there and grace those losers with my knowledge and insight. But then what comes out is just a petty, woeful word salad of illogical and ill-formed nonsense that doesn't further the discussion of baseball or the Detroit Tigers, but only befuddles or irritates people. This makes you defensive, so you double down on the foolishness. 

It's your inability to communicate without personal insults that forces me to see your posts as non-consequential.

I'll try to cut down on the multi syllable words so you can participate more easily

On 11/26/2022 at 9:31 PM, gehringer_2 said:

Like I said, I think the reality is that Harris is going to spend the budget he has been given. He cut the guys he cut because he thinks he can make more effcient use of the saved resource somewhere else. 

I think he cut the guys he did because they were accumulating service time that the organization just didn't want to deal with.. Sorta like we did with Nick.  aka  "I'm not ready to start paying guys"...etc.

Hey, if Harris fills the vacancies he's created with bona fide talent, then I'm wrong, and I'll openly and freely admit it.

But, if next season comes around and he's got these slugs he's been picking up on the waiver wire, in uniform as their replacements...I'm going to consider that a regression to the "Ronny Rodriguez" era

On 11/27/2022 at 3:13 PM, Edman85 said:

It means you can make it 40% of a players valuation instead of 10%. It is impractical to just not acquire anybody with strike zone issues.

Well, the thing of it is, if our new president's proclamations are to have meaning, he needs to follow through.  Javy Baez is a sucker for that ball low and away, and it's not just a one year anomaly. You can talk to Cubbie fans who think it's hilarious (now that they are not beneficiary)...He's always been that way.

And Soto,  how often comes in with a one run lead, and proceeds to load the bases with combinations of walks and hit batsmen?   As a Closer? Really? The fact that he sometimes manages to pitch his way through those situations...."using all available bases" as they try to excuse it...is a joke

Neither of these players belong on a team where mastery of the strike zone is a stated objective.

Of course the reality of it is, Harris' comments are just "fluff". Sound Bytes to make him sound engaged. You could tell by the almost comical tone in AJ's voice when he parroted Harris' comment, that he was just being obedient to his new master.

Ah yes, the new king is wearing beautiful clothes, doesn't everyone agree? That's what it's starting to sound like to me.

Two years from now when he starts non-tendering Tork, and Greene, and Skubal... at least no one can say it was without precedent. 

Tell me, these guys who are missing entire seasons due to TJ, do they still build service time while laid-off? This could be huge and go a long way towards explaining Jason Beck's claim that we have a vacuum  at catcher.  (gee, I hope I'm not tipping Harris' hand)

16 hours ago, Edman85 said:

"We need to add right-handed OF" is a lot more political than saying "Victor Reyes is sub-replacement level and we don't want to use a 40-man spot on him."

 

I see,...so then you are saying that Harris has a gift for double speak.

What do you think is his true meaning behind "we must master the strike zone"?  Is that his way of saying "Good bye Javy"?.....Soto too for that matter since he said "from both sides of the plate".  Perhaps I've been too harsh and there are things to like about this guy afterall?

2 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Like I said, I think the reality is that Harris is going to spend the budget he has been given. He cut the guys he cut because he thinks he can make more effcient use of the saved resource somewhere else. 

I'm confident we'll have the best team $125 million will buy. 

6 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

You can talk about business priorities but I'm not sure how you apply that concept to the way the Tigers actually operate.

Wouldn't you consider cutting the arb eligible players loose  to be economics driven?  To me it screams "cheap"

If they can bring in a 4A guys with "no whiskers" to replace Reyes, Candy, and the Castros ....cheaply, then I believe that is exactly their motive

Let's take a slightly skewed look at it for a second.

Many were expecting the roster Avila assembled for 2022 to reach .500

He  failed, But if Harris is the talent some here seem to believe him to be, it shouldn't be that hard for him to make a few tweaks and increase our winning percentage a few bumps to .500

BUT, he'll have to acquire some talent to get there. He's made a few holes in the roster that should allow him to do just that. IF HE GOES FOR TALENT.

But, if he fills the blanks with zeros...just like the old song goes "Here's the new boss, he's the same as the old boss"

And the one thing I can promise you, is that no amount of personal insults branding me  as  "ridiculous" is going to change my perspective  that business priorities are trumping any will to win in this organization