Tiger337

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.

There is still a chance to win the division.

I would say given who they have right now, he'd make the roster. That could change depending what acquistions they make in the off-season and which prospects are ready to make the jump to the Majors.

I don't think players will be hoodwinked by a second place finish when they know that they are the the 10th best team in the league. That is just something teams use to market to casual fans. Losing teams, including the Tigers, have signed top free agents before. Whether or not that would be a good idea for the Tigers is another question.

I doubt that finishing second or losing 89 instead of 90 is going to sway players at all. They will care whether the organization has improved and whether they are seriously building to win in the future. I suspect they get their impressions from talking to other players rather than looking at records.

Yeah, I don't see any reason why Ibanez would not be back next year. Hopefully not as a a regular though.

I don't worry as much about age with pitchers. I know there is an aging curve, but I suspect the confidence interval around the curve is a lot wider for pitchers than hitters.

How about a long reliever who pitches 2 or 3 innings per appearance? I have often wondered why there are so many regular starters who throw 150+ innings and so many relievers who throw 60-70 innings, but not so many in between (not be design anyway). I would think there are more pitchers who could thrive in roles where they pitch 40-50 games and throw around 100 innings.