Tiger337

Can't trust Avila's tapes and stats!

I was kind of being flippant, but I'd like to see him make his mark. Don't make a trade just to make a trade, but do something creative. Show me you're the genius everyone says you are. I want to see that Steve Kemp for Chet Lemon moment!

All of that is very plausible. It's also possible that Harris didn't play it right and missed an opportunity. We'll never know.

It's time for Harris to make some real decisions, take some risks.

Wells now sounds like every other old dude that calls the younger generation too soft because he is jealous of their youth. He was a great pitcher, but I never really cared for his rags to riches millionaire rebel routine.

It was a relative strength this year with Rodriguez and Lorenzen. Mize is coming back, so he can replace one of them. A full year of Skubal would help a lot too. I just don't trust Skubal/Mize/Manning to stay healthy.. I think it will be a disaster if they don't add at least one more starter.

I am open to anything, but it's hard to believe there wasn't multiple contending teams interested in a left-handed starter of his caliber.

I am expecting trades and signings. They need at least one other proven position player too. Since the pitching free agent market is better than the hiting market this off-season, I am think they improve their pitching through free agency and hitting through trades.

He's a very capable left-handed starter. Somebody will offer something at least as good as the contract he is opting out off.

I don't know what's true and I don't take Rosenthal's story as gospel. I think it's more likely Rodriguez changed his mind and said no and then his agent said, "what if we can get them to extend it another year?". In the end though, I just want the Tigers to have a good pitcher on their team. Edit: Second edit made no sense, so I erased it!

I don't have any faith that they'll get five good healthy pitchers from that crew. I hope they sign a couple of starters. I'd like to see Olson and Long as part of the depth rather than two pitchers on which they rely.

When the trade didn't go through and the story about how it happened came out, you called him a weasel.

Maybe so, but he's still the best player on the team this year and his track record is good. I still don't see why rejecting the trade makes him a bad person. He has a right to do go or stay and even to change his mind at the last minute. If everybody did business like MLB and someone traded me from my job, I certainly wouldn't care about inconveniencing those who tried to trade me.

Yes! Most of my selections are pre-2000 for the reasons you mentioned. I probably spend as much time following the game now, but the details don't stick. I think when the information was more scarce, I absorbed every detail I could get my hands on. Today, there is information overload and I just look up players in whom I am interested at the moment rather than looking at everybody in the TSN team stats.

especially when it's because you highlighted the wrong box.

Yes, after he failed to trade him, if he let's him go and doesn't get a replacement, it will be viewed as a failure. Few fans don't care about the inner workings of the front office.

The Tigers really need to sign a couple of starters if Rodriguez is not coming back. I am not concerned whether he is a difficult person. I am only interested in his talent, like Jack Morris and Doyle Alexandr.

It will be interesting to see how many of those guys continue to move around next year now that they are more established. Anyway, they are all good players, so I don't think fans would complain if they were in Detroit. I think the complaint about the Tigers is that their multi-position guys are not good players. Maton and McKinstry playing all over the place is not being done because it's a smart new baseball move. They play all over the place, because they don't have anything better and they making the most of what they have. I am pretty sure Harris and Hinch would love to have allstars playing at 2B and 3B every day rather than positional flexibility.

Tony Phillips is another example, but how many players can play multiple positions well and also hit at a high level? Most utility players are utility players because they don't hit well enough to be regulars or because they are not elite at any one position. And if someone can hit and is above average at a specific position, is it a good trade off to start moving him around to positions where he doesn't field as well for the sake of versatility? I also think a lot of regulars are reluctant to move around to different positions. Many are even finnicky about where they bat in the order.

It's not worth much, because hardly any one in this forum knows enough about prospects to really understand their value. Maybe Avila, the former scout, actually knew something about him where he preferred him to some player ranked 17th out of 30 in some amateur list. Avila wasn't getting the job done overall, but I see a lot of people here raving about Tigers prospects every day and almost every one of those players was acquired by Avila.

I think I'm already there.

So, he's the the pitcher with an ERA over 5.00 every year, but he he always pitches like Cy Young versus the Tigers?

I think pitchers who are not highly regarded as prospects turn out out to be surprises more often than hitters. It maybe because pitchers are so fragile, that they are given every chance to succeed. I have no idea if Long will succeed. One game means nothing, but the fact that he was given the start shows that he is further along than a lot of other prospects.

MTU's got this nice reasonable poster with occasional troll thing going. That used to be my routine.

I don't really remember. There was a lot of anger towards Avila in general at that point. In reality, teams don't generally get top prospects at the deadline unless they are dealing a top starter or stud closer. I'll be happy when the Tigers are no longer in the position of deadline seller.