They could have traded him earlier or extended him. I know that depended on Chris Ilitch spending money, but letting the second best Tigers hitter in the last 40 years get away for nothing was a mistake by the organization.
I think it's an important part of it. I think inflation is high largely because demand is high and supply has some problems. So many people think that presidents control the economy. They don't.
The early 90s was actually a fun team with Tettleton, Phillips and Fielder leading a strong offense. Starting in '94, their pitching was so bad, that they were just hopeless. They also had no minor league system and drafted horribly. As bad as it is now, I think they are in better shape now than they were thern.
Barnhart's career year was 3.6 in 2017. It really was a career year as he has never come close to that again. However, I feel like catcher WAR is not very meaningful as catchers typically don't hit much and catcher defensive statistics are not very useful. Anyway, if he had a .685 OPS this year, we wouldn't be having this discussion. We'd be blaming other players.
If he played to his career averages, he would have been fine. People were saying even he hit the way he usually does, he'd still suck which I didn't agree with. This year, he has been far below his expectation.
Thompson is 31 and had an opt out if he found a major league opportunity elsewhere.
It is still funny that the Tigers had a hitter that the Dodgers actually wanted.
The big unknown with catchers is pitcher management which is really difficult to quantify. How well does he work with pitchers especially youing pitchers? The young Tigers pitchers have performed above expectations this year. Fetter has gotten credit for that, Does Barnhart deserve any credit? I don't know.
I think the red hats view this the same way we view NewsMax or Washington Examiner. There is no way to get them to take it seriously. We can only hope the "Rinos" and the Bernie Bros are watching.
Right, It was the "at best" part I didn't agree with. He might not find himself again, but I think he has good upside with a reasonable chance of reaching it.
I think Baddoo's best is starting outfielder. He was already very close last year and that was after skipping two levels of the minors. I consider him the third young hitter most likely to succeed after Greene and Torkelson.
Trump is a perfect example of someone who should be red flagged from having a gun. Furthermore, people who put of up props like this should be red flagged.
Ultimately, it depends if it's their guy or not. if their guy was in the military, then it's a big deal. If it's the other team, then they'll find a way to knock down his service.