Tiger337

Harris has gotten much better at the press conference thing. He sounded more open and relaxed in this one that he had been in past press conferences. He answered questions really well for the most part. I have to admit though that I never heard the expression "covering shapes" before.

lol, yeah, they do strikeout too much. I was thinking they were doing better during their stretch run, but that's not true either.

Probably true and that has made the game worse. One of my biggest complaints about the modern game is there is not enough variety in players. Everyone is a power hitter who strikes out too much. It's been refreshing to see the Tigers get away from that somewhat this year.

He was first player that came to mind when I read the article decades ago.

That brings Cabrera to mind - someone who maintained enough batting skills to succeed but couldn't stay healthy. I don't think it was too difficult to predict that kind of outcome for him, although it was more severe than expected.

Players like Baez, perhaps. Bill James used to talk about young player and old player skills. Young player skills were speed, making contact, defensive range. Old player skills were drawing walks and power. A player needed to be able to transition somewhat from young player to old player skills in order to age well. I don't know if any of the modern sabers have looked into that more thoroughly.

Has there been any recent research on what kinds of players are most likely to age well? I am pretty sure players who have a broad range of skills and keep themselves in shape tend to do better than one dimensional players and heavy players, but what else? It seems that many teams have not really figured out a way to select the right players for long-term deals and it seems like there should be a system.

But they had their best extended run from 2006-2013 when they added more salary than ever.

They definitely seemed to have the right attitude this year, but chemistry can be fleeting. What happens when the young players get older and they no longer want to be so flexible? What happens when they get a couple of years under their belts and start thinking about arbitration and free agency? What happens when they they go into a slump next April or May and start to get on each other's nerves? This is why they send young experienced kids into war. It's easier to mold them. I am not saying that chemistry doesn't matter, but I don't think it lasts indefinitely. It's an evolving thing. Talent wins out long term and winning contributes to chemistry. I will agree that they don't need to bring any known attitude problems onto the team, but if they can get the right player/personality at a reasonable price, they should not hesitate to do so.

I have a feeling some team will get burned by Adames. I don't know which types of players age well (other than heavy players usually don't) but I have a feeling a guy that strikes out as much as he does won't have the skills to compensate for his decreasing bat speed as he ages. Bregman, on the other hand, seems to be a disciplined and skilled batsman who may be able to make some adjustments.

I'm thinking it will take 6 years.

The way Hinch likes to platoon and pinch hit frequently, Malloy could actually have a role batting mostly against left-handers and not playing in the field much. He would have to hit LHP like Carpenter hits RHP though.

It seems like most of their best players such as Skubal, Carpenter, Geene, Keith, Meadows were developing just fine when Avila's team was here. Others like Torkelson, Manning and Mize were not and they have continued to not develop under the Harris regime. Two other very important pieces - Hinch and Fetter were also acquired by Avila. I know you have some kind of theory where he was ordered to hire then, but the fact is he did hire them. I believe Harris will do better than Avila in the long run, but I am not seeing where this current team was put together entirely by Harris with no help from Avila.

A roster almost entirely made up of Avila's acquisitions made it to post-season! I agree Avila was bad. It's just amusing that you can't seem to make a post about future plans with bashing Avila.

I think it was kind of a fluke that everything came together at the same time. That doesn't take away from how fun and memorable it was, but I don't think they can come close to repeating it without some substantial moves this off-season.

Probably true, but the strike that year turned me off. As a nine-year old who thought baseball was the most important thing in life, I couldn't understand why players would go on strike. On the other hand, baseball's first strike does make the season memorable.

It was easy to figure out that Fielder would not age well. Another one was Cabrera.

But keep Avila allstars like Skubal, Greene, Carpenter, Keith and Meadows.

I once did a ranking of the top 20 most memorable Tigers seasons. I wasn't around for all of them, but I tried to imagine what it would have been like to be there. I think this season falls in the top 10. I can't find the list I made, but the top four were obvious: 1968 1984 1935 1945 More recently, 2006 has to be in there. 2011-2013 were great seasons, but there wasn't really one season in that span that stood out as memorable. There weren't any big surpises or drama. It was just stars doing what stars do. I think this season is up there with 06 and 87. It's kind of a mix between the surprise of 2006 and the end of season drama of 1987.

This is not a popuar opinion in sports circles, but if they won it all this year and then never came close again, I'd be very dissapointed in this organization.

That's exactly what I hear every time hear his name. Also Cade Smith is Kate Smith.

Thanks for your analysis Brent Musberger!

Who? Skubal? He's the best pitcher in baseball.

Lichtman used them in UZR and he insisted that it was important to do so. His reasoning was that most errors are indicators of plays that definitely should have been made and that this information was valuable. I am not sure that has ever been changed.