Tiger337

17 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Maybe it's because the A students who majored in political science or public policy at top schools have been replaced in Congress by the C students who majored in communications or hospitality management at Division III state schools.

I know that my smart hard working public policy students are having a tough time getting jobs.   

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

Just like twenty-six teams CHOSE not to do so in 1987, too.

If 26 teams decide to do it now, then it's fine.  

55 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

the Tiger debate is becoming like the Candelario debate. Are they a bad team that had a good stretch, or a good team that's having a bad stretch? 

Despite the pitching injuries they've had, the staff is managing to throw winnable games. I just don't have much confidence that adding one solid but not spectacular bat in Torres and one mediocre at best bat in Baez is any kind of slam dunk remedy for this offense.

McGonigle, Keith and Torkelson have all had bad months.  They could come back too.  They were scoring enough in April to win games and they could get back to that.  Odds are against the team right now, but I am not ready to give up in May.  

20 minutes ago, casimir said:

This.  As rotten as things have been, they're not far out of the playoffs and its only Memorial Day weekend.

Given the crazy **** that happened the last two years, I am not giving up in May.  

58 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

Mize needs to continue to pitch well.    Along with Skubal we can get a haul of prospects at the deadline.

That is depressing to think about.  I am looking for the Tigers to get healthy and get hot.  It seems like teams usually don't get great prospects for rentals at the deadline.  Teams like the Dodgers just give up their flawed prospects.  Looking forward to another Thayron Liranzo and Trey Sweeney haul.  

2 hours ago, tiger2022 said:

Crazy stat.  

Will Clark homered in his first at bat in A ball, AA, AAA, and the Majors.

I always disliked Will Clark for some reason.  At the time, I thought he was overrated, maybe because he peaked at age 25.  Looking back at his numbers today though, he was really good and really consistent his whole career.  

On 5/20/2026 at 10:52 AM, Deleterious said:

 

I use to be blissfully ignorant of politics (and my life was better then!), but what I most remember about Barney Frank was him coming out as gay and everybody talking about it like it was a horrible crime that would destroy him.  

6 minutes ago, oblong said:

too many people think athletics and performance is all about you and what you've done or not done. "I just didn't work hard enough man..."  

"You are weak!  You didn't prepare!"

I think fans can't relate to the level of physical talent than professional players have, so they try to relate to them on a mental level.  If they don't succeed, it's because they are mentally weak or don't care. 

I think players sometimes go in the other direction when they explain their success.  It's not because they are more physically gifted than the rest of the population.  It is because they work hard or are resilient or something else that doesn't relate to their natural physical ability   

14 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

But if you can't tell the difference at all, it really makes no difference whether you swing or not does it? If all you can do is guess, then you have a finite chance of running into it, as compared to the chance the pitcher is going to miss. So sure, it comes down to understanding who the pitcher is and what his command is like and seeing whether he is stuggling to throw strikes or so sharp he is just toying with hitters. But the trend of some things is still knowable. If a batter is constantly down in the count without having swung the bat over hundreds of AB,  he is giving himself no chance.

A batter could guess that the first pitch is going to be the one he wants and then swing at it and it's not.  The same goes for any pitch in the sequence.  Are Tigers down in the count more often than hitters on other teams?

32 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

The advice to be ready when you get a pitch you like and swing at it seems like solid advice for anyone that has ever tried hitting a baseball 

That works for gifted hitters, but for average hitters the pitch that looks like a great pitch might actually be the worst pitch to hit.  The pitcher knows batter strengths and weaknesses and he tries to fool batters all the time.  With only a split second to react, it is easy for a batter to be deceived.  

1 hour ago, pfife said:

Anyone get their DOGE check or their tarrif refunds yet?

Apparently 2 more weeks

They are being delayed due to the Iran War and you should be thankful for that.  

10 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

but that's why baseball is so screwed up. The Dodgers or Mets don't care if they spend the money - it's not stupid for them, they can make it back, but Pittsburgh has to try to play on the same playing field. Is there any other sport with that kind of imbalance in the options available between the franchises?

And the Pirates have won more games than the Mets this year.  😀

And Tampa Bay has won more than the Dodgers!

3 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

It's different this time.   Baseball is not on very stable ground when it comes to media rights.   Baseball has turned into an Old Guy sport.   Younger people just aren't all that into it anymore.   The complete disconnect with Black kids is a major problem, as you see fewer Black players.  The fact that little league has lost it's innocence and just turned into a cash cow now doesn't help.     I think the people in charge of baseball still think it's America's Past Time.    Now, it's just passed it's time and it's on the downslope now.      This thing hitting the concert industry right now (Blue Dot Fever), is gonna hit baseball too.   Family of four - MLB game.  $400 night, probably.    You don't win fans over with that.    Plus you take the fact that realistically 25 out of the 30 teams have no legitimate shot at a title and the game is in trouble.     

I got news for  ya,  once the new car smell wears off in Las Vegas, that's going to be a complete disaster. 

But some of these baseball guys still think it's bigger than football.     Some of them are dillusional.    That won't help.   The players union chief getting in a stupid scandal just ahead of this probably won't help.    

This is going to be a mess.   Like the NHL season we lost.     Took of year of everyone being idle to realize they need to compromise.   Same thing'll happen here. 

Baseball is all about gambling now and it's going to get worse.  Maybe that's even worse than a lockout? That is where they make their money and they'll figure out how to get more of it into the sport and split up the money.  I think there won't be a long work stoppage

1 minute ago, Sports_Freak said:

Salary cap talk. Players dont want it and billionaire owners wanna protect their billions. Otherwise, they may run outta money. Lol

There is always some big issue at stake, they make compomises and both sides always come out just fine!  I am not convinced this time is any different.  Multi-millionaires fighting with billionaires.  Yawn.

Why are people talking about a lockout next year like it's a foregone conclusion?  Every time the labor contract ends, there is lots of negativity and acrimony, but there hasn't been a season destroying work stoppage in 32 years.  

11 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

If we dont walk it off, i agree. Cleveland can play small ball, Detroit can't. Whether you agree with bunting or not, sometimes it matters.

I thought home runs were what mattered.  

6 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

If your talking about LA, the fire and brimstone didn't work just because they were playing badly, it worked because it was a sloppy, undisciplined, and unserious clubhouse. If that were a problem here it would actually be easier. If anything, this team may to too serious and prone to pressing.

I don't even know if it did work, but I get why it might work for Gibson.  I agree with you about it probably not working for this team.  

8 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

Workman stinks

He is better than Jung though.  

29 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

Remind me how many titles Dirks won?

Yet he gives advice that fire and brimstone won't work.   Worked for Gibby.

It works in football and Gibson was a football player, so maybe it carried over.  I don't think it works so well in baseball for most players.  Baseball is game of skill and precision and it is played 6 time per week.  It seems like fire and brimstone would be unsustainable.  One example of a player it doesn't work for is Valdez.    

10 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

Quote

 

Sure—but when does the plan match the actions?  

 

I was mostly being sarcastic.  I think it's one of these lines that management teams like to repeat over and over.  I mean it's a line that sounds really good, but it's also pretty vague and probably not possible to have every player in the organization follow.  

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, monkeytargets39 said:

I think deep down that’s my problem with the organization.  We can never define what type of team we are supposed to be.  Are we going to win with pitching and defense, or are we going to win with offensive fire power?  
 

If we are going to win with pitching, are we going to do that by amassing guys with overpowering stuff/velocity, or by using control pitchers to hit spots and exploit weaknesses and let them hit into our advanced defensive positioning and abilities.

 

Regardless— why is our rotation loaded up on guys who overpower with one or two amazing pitches and high velocity who attack hitters and then our bullpen is always full of low velocity, matchup dependent guys who are more pitch to contact (Holton, Hanifee, Hurter, Finnegan, Kahnle, Foley, etc.)

 

Likewise, we’ve been saying for several years that we want to be a team that’s versatile and strong defensively, yet we have had all these guys like Keith, Jones, Carpenter, Jung, Workman, Perez, JHM, etc.) who are practically positionless because of their defensive deficiencies—on top of solidly below average regulars like Tork, Riley and Torres?  So then we overcorrect that by playing guys like McKinstry, Short, Ibanez, etc. who should be end of the bench guys getting 150-200 PAs a year?

 

If we are going to be a team that dominates the strike zone and waits for their pitches and drives it, then why do we continue to give ABs to guys that do the opposite?  Baez, Perez, Carpenter, Vierling, Rogers, Keith and Jones are all free swingers with poor walk rates.  Then there’s Torkelson who has already struck out 63 times this year and we aren’t even 1/3 the way through the season yet.

 

Define what parts of the game we both want to and have the ability to excel at and then start working to build a roster based off of that philosophy.  I don’t blame Hinch for all of the analytics and matchup moves because that’s the only real way to make the group as it is have any success.  Too many guys are proving to be only useful in one aspect of the game and he is constantly having to try and figure out which deficiencies need to have a bedsheet thrown over them to hide them from being exposed.

 

Obviously it’s not as simple as get rid of guys and replace them with better guys tomorrow, but it’s concerning that this is a problem top to bottom in the organization.  There’s way too many guys who are liabilities on defense whose offense doesn’t appropriately make up for it.   Likewise there’s guys that hit a ton but don’t walk, K a lot and play poor defense.

Harris has do done well identifying and drafting players for what his vision is, but if he cant make trades or get international talent in, then we will never have more than a few guys on the roster at any given time that fit the profile.  Especially if he’s just going to dumpster dive for pitching help.

Their plan is to "control the strike zone"

3 hours ago, RatkoVarda said:

it is going to take a while to die, but this country is done.

the abject, blatant corruption is breathtaking.

MAGA is the ultimate combination of grifters, racists, nihilist, useful idiots, and just plain weird and nasty trash.

a basket of deplorables.

So, what's it going to be - Dictatorship or Chinese colony? 

5 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

OK...we have TBD as our SP. Jake? 😆

They are going to borrow a pitcher from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays

2 minutes ago, kdog said:

Or they needed certain pillar guys to stay healthy and it didn't happen.

They had the pitching.  The defense is lacking, healthy or not.  I do think their long-term plan is to get more complete ball players that can make contact and get on base and also play defense rather than one dimensional players.  

59 minutes ago, kdog said:

Cleveland plays their game(contact, defense, pitching) and they do not deviate from it. They will trade guys who get too expensive and stick to their budget.

That might cause them not to have top end potential to win 95 games, but they will always have a floor because everyone in the org knows and implements the same plan.

The Tigers roster is not in sync like that. They haven't moved on from guys who don't work and have some excess on the payroll(Flaherty,Torres) that are not produding.

OBP - defense - pitching.   I do think that is the long term Tigers plan, but they are obviously not there yet.