Tiger337

I don't expect a great team immediately. If they put together a team with 81 win talent, maybe they'll get lucky and hit 85 wins and compete for the division title. Given how terrible their offense was in 2022, I was hoping they would at least find some stop position players for a year or two. This year I am hoping, at minimum, for a starter and a hitter. They can do that and continue to devolop players at the same time. They have had losing teams for 7 seasons. It is natural that fans would be getting restless.

Harris needs time to see what he has.

Which Tiger prospect does not get reps at third base?

Wentz kind of did start today. It's just that they had an opener in front of him. I don't like openers. I understand the value of an opener, but it offends my sense of old-time baseball aesthetics.

Fielder was just a bad signing. It was a foolish impusive move ignited by the Martinez injury. Fielder was a very good hitter, but they only needed him for one year while they waited for Martinez to get healthy. What did they plan on doing when they had Cabrera, Fielder and Martinez on the same roster locked up long-term? Plus, a big man like that was not a good candidate to age well and he predictably followed the same career path of his father.

Or as Benke used to say, they can make TRADES! 🤡👹🥸 Carlos Guillen for Santiago and Gonzalez.

Yes, it was no fault Foucault. Staub was probably part of the reason why they traded Horton. They couldn't carry two DHs.

Percival was awful. I don't know if Johnson qualified as a big overpay at 2 yrs/ 7 million. That looked reasonable at the time of the signing. Rodriguez and Ordonez got substantial longterm deals which they would not have gotten elsewhere as they were risks due to health concerns. Later, Dombrowski almost got burned by Fielder and Upton. He bailed himself out on Fielder and Upton bailed him out.

I hated that trade.

If done creatively, it can pay off at the end. Which free agent acquistions leading up to 2006 did they end up regretting? Rodriguez? Ordonez? Rogers?

I still want him on my side if a fight breaks out.

That's a good point about it being his non-throwing arm. Batting might be more of a problem than fielding. As far as rehab, he'll need need to regain strength and mobilty in his arm.

Third base is not locked down either!

It's just a guess with him coming off TJ surgery. I don't know if he'll be DH only all year, but I expect him to spend a lot of time there, especially at the beginning of the season.

Maybe, he shouldn't throw 100 innings.

The Tigers know they are mathematically eliminated and just don't care anymore.

Gipson-Long with the 80s stache. How can you not like this young man?

Watching Gipson-long, I am wondering when the hyphenated name thing got so popular? I started seeing in frequently a few years ago as a teacher. Married woman have been doing it for a long time, but childen usually had just one name. Now, it seems people are getting hyphenated names at birth.

Not mathematically eliminated.

He would have gotten one this year. Everybody gets a shot at third.

I have long suspected that Fidrych's injury was caused more by overuse than trying to compensate for his knee injury. Probably Rozema too.

Thanks for pumping up my adopted Tiger all year.

That's a six-game swing, so it might help slightl, but the number one thing will be willingness to spend. I don't expect them to pursue top free agents who are 30 years old. I doubt they'll get him as a bunch of teams will want him, but I'd love to see them aggressively pursue Yamamoto. Short of that, I'd like them to show they are willing to spend now that Cabrera and Rodriguez will be off the payroll. I hear that Jung Hoo Lee can control the strike zone!

I agree it needs to be worked out, but with starters going 5 or 6 innings in every start, you can count on the 7th 8th and 9th innings being open everyday and sometimes more than that. Knowing that, you can kind of schedule your long men ahead of time.

That's how it should be every year now. I want them to try to be reasonably competitive next year. I don't want to hear any more "Harris has to see what he has so they can't do anything" talk. They can try to be competitive and build for the future at the same time.