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1 hour ago, casimir said:

I was interested in Matt Chapman on a shorter deal despite his cascading offense last season.  He's at .211/.261/.340 so far, so perhaps the downfall is more career trajectory rather than blip on the radar?

At one point this past week Matt Chapman lead the major leagues in errors! His glove was suppose to be the rock solid piece of deal. He has been a total disappointment to date. 
All three high profile free agent signings (Chapman/Soler/Snell)  in SF have been total flops thus far. 

38 minutes ago, oblong said:

There's a quote attributed to Sparky and this story justifies it... "Being nice to people is the easiest thing in the world.  It don't cost nothing"

I’m guessing you have read the book, ‘ Sparky and Me,’ by Dan Ewald. It is a must read for anyone that hasn’t. Lots of good stuff in there that wouldn’t show up anywhere else.

2 hours ago, casimir said:

Other than that, these rags suck out loud and there's no helping them.

Tell it, tell it, and tell it some more. Nothing but a cheap money grab. 

Speaking of Sparky…

This is a piece submitted by Bill Dow on vintagedetroit.com several days ago. Fun read. 
———

Begin article:

At some point nearly every kid dreams of being a bat boy for the Detroit Tigers. And for Dave Cowart, 61, a retired Ford Motor Company electrical engineer, that dream came true.

After his mother saw an article about how to become a bat boy, Cowart, then 16 and a junior in high school, wrote a heartfelt handwritten letter to Tiger clubhouse manager Jim Schmakel who invited him down to Tiger Stadium for an interview. He was hired immediately.

From 1980 to 1985 Cowart served as a clubhouse kid and bat boy along with two others which ultimately helped him pay for his college education at the University of Detroit. (Cowart’s son Cody served as a Tiger bat boy from 2015 to 2017.)

Cowart revered Tiger manager Sparky Anderson, and recently he shared stories about the beloved skipper.

“Every game the three of us working in the clubhouse were always the last to leave and Sparky would always come by and say, “there’s three of the all-time greatest,” and that really energized us to keep working hard.”

One time when Cowart had started working in the clubhouse Tiger player Ricky Peters yelled at him leaving him upset and wondering if his job was in jeopardy. When Anderson heard about it, he let Peters have it.

If you want to get a sense of Sparky Anderson’s character, the following story by Cowart says it all.

In June of 1981 Cowart’s parents were throwing a high school graduation party for him at their home in Detroit. Schmakel gave Cowart permission to leave early after the day game to attend the party.

 Later that afternoon Sparky asked Schmakel where Cowart was. When the clubhouse manager told him that he left early to attend the graduation party Sparky asked for Dave’s address.

“There I am at the party and who shows up unannounced but Sparky, and coaches Roger Craig, Billy Consolo, and **** Tracewski.  Can you believe that?” says Cowart., “Before I knew it the whole neighborhood showed up when people heard Sparky was there. He didn’t just make an appearance but stayed and signed autographs for everyone. I can still picture him drinking Altes beer with my dad. He always remembered people’s names. A few years later he sees me and my dad at a CATCH event and greets my dad by name. When my mom was in the hospital with cancer, he sent flowers and when I went to college, he gave me three of his sports jackets.”

Years later Cowart wrote Anderson a letter telling him how much he appreciated what he had done for him and what a pleasure it had been working for the manager.

“I had included my phone number and one day my phone rings and it showed ‘unknown caller.’  This voice says, ‘this is the FBI we’re looking for Dave Cowart.’ I recognized his voice and I said, ‘how are you doing Sparky?’ He said, ‘I’m glad you included your phone number because I never wrote a letter in my life.’”

During the 1984 World Championship season Cowart alternated the bat boy assignment with Dominic Nieto and Bobby Mical and always did the games when Jack Morris pitched including game 4 of the World Series when Alan Trammell hit two, two run homers.   “That game was so special for me and being the bat boy I never felt so much excitement especially greeting Trammell after he hit those homers,” says Cowart whose photo of him running back to the dugout with Trammell graced the front page of the Detroit News the following day.

When the Tigers won the World Series in game five Cowart was working inside the clubhouse that day and just before the game ended, he went into the dugout to collect the batting helmets but then got back inside the locker room as quick as he could.

“Sparky was superstitious and even though we were ahead I was not allowed to start putting stuff away until the game was over,” says Cowart. When the game ended it was like a wall of people coming at you and I was petrified. The celebration was crazy. Those players were so nice to us and it was great to see them so happy celebrating.”

A few weeks later Cowart received a phone call from Jim Schmakel telling him to come to the stadium to pick up his bonus check.

“I went up to the Tiger offices and picked it up and then got into my car, ripped it open and I was flabbergasted. I received a check for $15,000 and was so grateful that the players had voted to split up one $50,000 share for the bat boys. I used it to pay help pay for my college education.”

Dave Cowart certainly knows the 1984 meaning of “Bless you boys.” And in the same breath he would say, “Bless you Sparky.”

10 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

My 16yo ordered one of the strap-back versions of the Connect hats, he loves the design. Oh, did I mention after shipping and tax it was $52!! Like you said they are not looking to impress our generation.

My son is 37 years of age and does branding/ designing so he always wants my “old man” take on the City Connects as they roll out. Generally speaking, he finds the good and bad in each one and says as much in a tactful way. We haven’t discussed Detroit’s yet but this weekend they’re coming for a visit so I’ll have an opportunity to share my opinions on the unis. Unless I discover something I haven’t seen yet, I’ll have nothing good to say about it. I’m sure he expects that out front. 
Yes, I’m a Boomer.

27 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I think less than two years is just way too early to have Harris on the hot seat.

Agreed. It took an awful lot for Avila to finally get canned. Harris is moving the team in the right direction.

32 minutes ago, alex said:

3) Every successful CEO/GM has to have some ability to negotiate some good trades. You do not always have to give up your best young talent to get talent in return for a position of need. We have 'some' P depth. Other teams have needs as well. It is the scouting departments job to identify potential targets - but then the GM has to be able to 'negotiate the deal' - this and the FA depart both need this ability to some extent.

This is where I am questioning can this front office can do it.

This is where I am as well. This is not to suggest that there are always opportunities to make trades to upgrade your team. I understand that. My concern is whether or not Harris is confident enough to make a move beyond trying to find a gem in the rough here and there. The “we can fix you” sell isn’t going to be a long term solution. That impresses me as his foremost game plan now in trying to improve the team. Free agency is another route and I think he’s done well with that personally. 
The old adage is that to get quality, you have to give up quality. Does Harris have the confidence in himself to make this kind of trade if the opportunity presents itself? Personally, I’m not convinced he does. If I’m understanding your comments, I think that’s where you are as well. 
Of the 1st and 2nd points you highlighted, I do believe that Harris & Company have done an excellent job of addressing. 

Tarik Skubal is on this week’s Have a Seat podcast with Dickerson. 

13 minutes ago, oblong said:

I started it Wed morning, then after yesterday's game I just wasn't in the mood to hear banter... but I did enjoy what I heard so far.  I think that podcast is going to be a lot of fun.  I suspect we'll get new episodes every few weeks? I can't see them being able to do it every week, and that's ok.  You don't want things to get stale.

Don’t hold me to it but I believe they’re shooting for one podcast every two weeks. 

15 hours ago, Tigermojo said:

New Have a Seat podcast tomorrow.

I finally listened to the AJ Hinch podcast with these guys. Excellent. 

7 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

I was just thinking how good the new City Connect uniforms would look in that fire. 

22 minutes ago, kdog said:

Jim Adducci played a lot of positions.

Deuce provided optionality on and off the field. 

We’re at a Durham Bulls ‘Education Day’ game this morning. Our old friend Eric Hasse will be catching for Nashville. (Milwaukee)

25 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

It's not as glamorous and he's already past it but it strikes me that Hinch is really cut out to be a pitching coach. You listen to him talk baseball and he lights up talking about pitching and pitchers, both his own and the other guy - but it's like hitting is terra incognita to him.

Retired catchers have made some good pitching coaches over the years. 

Cleveland, KC, and Minnesota won tonight. If Harris is counting on competing in a weak division this year I’m thinking he may be wrong. Cleveland hired a good manager. KC added some pieces late. Minnesota has been on a role recently. 

7 minutes ago, holygoat said:

Not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind seeing some prospects moved for legit MLB hitters about now. This pitching staff is good enough to contend for the AL crown, and it's being wasted on this moribund offense. 

I agree. I don’t know what prospects would bring back but I believe this pitching staff is good enough to keep the team in it with the addition of a bat or two. They don’t even have to be top tier bats. 
I’ll never know how much    $$$ Harris has to spend, provided he would even do so. 

Flaherty is looking forward to the trade deadline.

The Tigers have a serious problem. It isn’t going to fix itself. 

21 minutes ago, oblong said:

Would Nick have signed?  

As I recall, Nick asked for an extension when approached by Gardenhire about working out at first base. I can guess that didn’t land well with the Tigers front office. 
My suspicion has always been that the Tigers weren’t really committed to keeping Nick. Again, Gardenhire was a temporary manager and it wasn’t a secret at all. To what degree Gardy really gave a crap what Nick said, one way or another, who knows. Maybe the Tigers were committed to bringing the team salary into a certain window and extending Nick would have created problems there. 
so to answer your question, I don’t believe Detroit was interested in keeping Nick. They were getting top draft picks and opted to move on in that direction. 
What’s your take? 
Rereading this I’ll add, I believe if the Tigers had made a realistic and good faith offer early on Nick would likely have signed. I think things between the two parties had soured to the point that both sides weren’t interested in the end.

3 hours ago, oblong said:

Who else should they have taken?

My unsolicited take:

To this day I hate the way the Castellanos thing went down. I believe Nick could have been a decent enough first baseman. He’s a proven bat. Gardenhire was the placeholder manager which didn’t help the situation. Were I the GM, I would have extended Nick. Obviously they didn’t and as it stands the Tigers are stuck at first base. A Cabrera in decline is succeeded by what is appearing to be a blown draft pick. 
To be clear, I was saying the exact same thing back when this whole back and forth was going on prior to the trade.

26 minutes ago, oblong said:

People will think Lou Whitaker died 

Hope not. Whitaker turns 67 this Sunday. 
Willie Mays celebrating #93 today. 

1 hour ago, oblong said:

I do not get the hype over these... maybe because I'm old but I really don't give a ****.  

One day you will wake up and realize that 50 years of age is not old. Trust me on this one. I know of what I speak. 

I had not seen this quote from Hinch after Saturday night’s game regarding Tork and his offensive struggles.
 

“You see him steadily moving down in the order,” Hinch said, “and the next stop is next to me. We’re trying to keep supporting him because he’s a good player. But he’s not in a good spot.”

3 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Oakland is at .500.

I’d trade Hinch for Kotsay all day every day.

6 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

We need a 3rd baseman, a shortstop, a 2nd baseman, a 1st baseman and a power hitting outfielder. There's not enough available players to get all of them. Scott Harris hasn't been very impressive. We want Al Avila back!! 😅😅

I miss Jim Campbell.