Tiger337

He is 42nd in OPS+ (a stat which I consider to be a very important offensive stat) among players with at least 5,000 PA. Kaline made a substantial defensive contribution as well. Also, when I make a ranking like this, I only look at years they played with the Tigers, so that lowers Cabrera's counting stats. I would not even consider putting him ahead of Cobb, Kakine and Gehringer.. The highest I could go is 4th.

I would not have put him ahead of Gehringer and Kaline. Maybe 4th.

Now that Cabrera is done, where does he fit among Tigers all-time? It's a bit of a challenge because his peak years were so good, but he had so many down years at the end. Giving value to both peak and longevity, here is a quick list: 1. Cobb 2. Kaline 3. Gehringer 4. Greenberg 5. Verlander 6. Heilmann 7. Cabrera 8. Whitaker 9. Trammell 10. Crawford.

With Tatis' and Soto's contracts, you'll get the peak version and the last 7-years version.

With Cabrera retiring, there are no more hitters who batted against the Expos.

I would not be unhappy if they signed him, but I would never making signing a reliever a top priority.

I have seen no evidence of Gaetz being a smart guy.

No, WAR is not the only stat, but it's better than WHIP. The main problem with the Tigers pitchers is that they can't stay healthy and any stat that doesn't include innings pitched is not going to explain that. Personalties? What makes you think that Manning, Mize and Skubal have better personalties for success than Fulmer and Boyd? Neither one of us knows these guys personally. You know, I really hope this current group does better, but it's tough to predict which young players will succeed. i know you think every Tigers prospect is going to be the next great thing. I wish I could be that way, but I can't. 😀

The family wanted to keep the cancer diagnosis private, but dbag Schilling revealed it anyway. RIP Tim Wakefield.

Cabrera was the best acquisition the Tigers made in my lifetime. I couldn't believe they were able to get him in that trade.

This doesn't make sense. You said that Manning, Mize and Skubal were ALREADY better than Fulmer, Boyd and Norris. I showed that they aren't. They might do better going forward, but they are not ALREADY better.

Not true. Fulmer by himself did as much in first two seasons (9.4 WAR) as Skubal. Manning and Mize combined so far (also 9.4 WAR).

I don't really understand the argument that he has to see what he has for a year before making moves. He has all the stats, videos and scouting reports he wants on demand. He knew what he had in terms of players. I can see the argument that he was focused on making off-field organizational changes and wanted get that all in place before making big moves.

Even Manning has not impressed me much. Even when he is healthy, his performance is off and on. Skubal is very impressive. He just needs to stay healthy.

I was actually going to say Mize, Manning and Turnbull but I though it was too subtle. Anyway, I would be willing to bet that none of Mize, Manning and Skubal becomes Verlander or Scherzer. They are far more likely to become Fullmer, Boyd and Norris. However, I am hoping they fall somewhere in between.

Wentz, Faedo and Brieske

The youth on the left don't remember any of them and don't care. That's different from the elderly on the right who still talk about Reagan. The left wants progress. The right used to want everything to stay the same. Now it wants regression back to the 1950s? Or is it the 1860s?

Wheatland, Baugh and Cornejo.

Why did they not realize they could easily get free water during devastating droughts? I think Trump sometimes says stupid stuff like this just for attention, but the amazing part was they all cheered.

Jung Hoo Lee. His season ended with an ankle injury, but should be ready for Spring training. Should fit right in with the Tigers! Seriously though, great OBP guy who hits for average, walks more than he strikes out, speedy, great defender.

There aren't a lot of relievers who dominate every year, but there are a lot of guys who are good for a year or two. The Tigers finally seem to be good at identifying and developing those guys, so I am not too worried about the bullpen. They have a number of promising starters, but I keep coming back to the idea that they don't have one pitcher on their staff that has been dominant for a full year.

I prefer to look at what they did for the full season. If we take what they did this year and transfer it to next season with the same number of innings, they would still need a lot of help.

I don't have confidence that the current state of the staff will carryover to next year. It could be just a matter of timing of injuries and hot streaks. None of Skubal, Olsen and Long, the main reasons for their good second half, have succeeeded for a full season. There is also the problem of the first half stats which were bolstered by two pitchers that probably won't be with them next year.

I don't know if it's a strength. They are middle of the pack in most statistics. They have gotten good contributions from a lot of pitchers, but they have a hard time getting pitchers to succeed for a full season. Until they can do that, I wouldn't call their pitching a strength.