Tenacious D

Dylan Smith (Lakeland) and Joey Wentz (WM) with successful two inning rehab starts tonight. Brant Hurter came in to relieve Wentz and was again very good.

Andre Lipcius gets some love for the season he’s having (which has been good). However Andrew Navigato, also age 24 and in Erie, has matched him offensively. But hasn’t been mentioned much.

He might have the most trade value—controllable through next season, so more valuable than a 2 month rental. High K rate, too. And he’s vaxxed!

Joe might have sealed his fate as an ex-Tiger.

These tweets, next to each other in my feed, illustrate why we just can’t get along.

I'd be more interested in a change of scenery trade with the Yank-me's, sending either Fulmer or Chafin and Derek Hill for Florial and Andujar. Either pitcher upgrades the Yank's pen, and Hill could either be OF insurance, or a more useful Terence Gore-type in September and potentially during the postseason. Given the challenges every team will encounter with their 40-man roster management (compounded by no Rule 5 this past offseason), teams might be willing to move more players they know they'll won't be able to protect, which could provide some opportunities for sellers, like the Tigers, to audition players (i.e, Florial/Andujar) for the remainder of the season before having to make 40-man decisions, pre-Rule 5.

A change of scenery trade with the Yankees—Fulmer (or Chafin) and D. Hill for Florial and Andujar? Coolbaugh can get those guys on track, I’m sure.

Andujar is a high-risk, lottery ticket at this point. He hasn’t been good since 2018. At most, I’d move Fulmer and someone like Workman, Cabrera or Packard for him.

Or wants to avoid getting the TJ that seems to like our young pitchers .

He hasn’t had it for a while. He epitomizes clickbait, but he’s really just struggling to stay relevant at any cost. Best to just ignore him and avoid getting sucked in. Nothing good will come from it.

Here’s the other guy that was in the conversation

Mike Schmidt's early career (not suggesting Tork will be a HOF'er, but that even some of the greats struggled):

Agree—you only take him in a salary dump where the Yankees add a nice prospect to the deal.

Kreidler experienced the same last year after he was promoted to AAA.

He might see a game in Detroit before his bro does.

I could be wrong, but I believe Chafin has a player option for next year. I'd be shocked if he opted to come back to this shit-show.

I guess that excludes Harold Castro and Kody Clemens.

As has been pointed out, will be interesting to see which Tigers can't gain entry for the upcoming series. God forbid it's any of our starting pitchers.

agree. our blackhole of a lineup/player positions would force this move. really inexcusable this far into the rebuild.

admittedly, I have an irrational interest in the guy. So much upside, and I've always felt that injuries have stunted his development. Elite speed and defense--if he could just hit .250, he'd be able to play in the league for 10 years or so.

agree. obviously, today's start might be helpful as a potential suitor can see him in person, as well as any scouts who might be in attendance. Not saying a team will make a decision on one game, but if he dazzles, it can only help.

have to respect the organization--they always seem relevant.

I was kind of being tongue-in-cheek. More of a commentary on the state of young pitcher's health, or at least the Tigers.

this. if we're going to suck, I'd rather see guys struggling who could be part of our future.

Skubal's trade value should be higher because he's already had his TJ surgery, which now seems inevitable for all young pitchers these days. I'd be OK with trading him, if we can get an impact bat or two. However, as we know with Tork, and other can't-miss bats like Kellenic and Hiura (to name a few), nothing is guaranteed. Obviously having some ML success would be a huge plus. I know this sounds crazy to say given all of the health issues we have with pitching, but if you can assume that most will be able to recover, it's still the area of strength for the organization. Hopefully Turnbull and Manning are back next season, Eduardo returns and Mize comes back in 2024. Plenty of wild cards, like Faedo and Brieske, maybe even G. Hill. And others on the way--Madden, Flores, Smith and Hurter. Maybe Olsen, who I'm not as high on as others seem to be, but clearly has some potential. Some of these guys won't pan out or end up in the pen, but we do have both quality and quantity. I've already managed my expectations for 2023--it won't be a great year, but hopefully more positive with player development. .500 would be a realistic goal.