HeyAbbott

This team has some youngsters that need to learn how to win at this level. I think this can happen as well as sorting out the wheat from the chaff.

Very True. One still has to be able to identify talent, and to ascertain its quality.

I have moved to the camp of always drafting the most talented position player, so long as the farm system has enough "just a guy" pitchers to field a team. Hand as much of the development risk off to other teams when it comes to pitchers. Trade the excess position players for pitching if need be, or look for reasonable pitching reclamation projects. Other than that, save your FA pennies to pony up for pitching.

The park factor is close to a neutral balance. Maybe some tweaking in the outfield, and if there was some way to add some shade, these would be improvements. I grow weary of all of the whining when some MLB park doesn't play like a beer league softball field though. The biggest long term problem is our gambler's pal of a commissioner.

Riley Greene has got this team on its feet.

BTW, Phil Rizzouto used to do national broadcasts back then, not the Tigers.

The Bally broadcasts you are describing remind me of broadcasts in days past when Phil Rizzouto used to do broadcasts in the late 70's. He'd talk about the weather, the meal he had at some chop house the night before, some nightclub's floorshow, etc. My guess is that someone at Bally doesn't like the demos from the broadcasts and are consciously trying to change them be interjecting general human interest. BTW, I listen to the games only and view highlights later. Bally broadcasts are horrible and I will not support such mindless tripe.

When performance is this bad, someone needs to pay the penalty publicly. I would certainly bring up Lloyd at this point. Make changes. This is not going to get better just doing nothing.

Would they hit water if they fell out of a boat?

The problem with this organization's prospects of improving on field performance does not lie with lack of available resources, rather with its inability to assess and develop talent. Until there is evidence that it can do those 2 things well, performance will not improve. There needs to be personnel moves to drive home to the organization as a whole that there are penalties for failure. The situation reminds me of when Washington experienced mutiny. He couldn't shoot them all, he shot a small group in front of the whole army to quash the mutiny , While this team is not experiencing a mutiny, it does need a major shot across the bow.

This above quote sums up where I am at. It has been a very long time since they have shown the ability to develop players. Since the evidence is overwhelming they cannot develop a position player, and they cannot identify good trade or free agent fits, I anticipate that we are are 7 years away from anything resembling a playoff team.

Ownership has tried to sell the fan base on the concept that the current performance problem is injury related. What this appears to be is a problem with many adverse factors contributing. Start tackling the ones that can be addressed. To fix this, first make changes on the margins. Send Tork down. Are Schoop and Grossman part of next year's attempt to be better? If not get them out of here. There probably is a need for more talent through trades, maybe some of the pitching needs to go for position talent. In the organization, whether responsible or not, make Al president of some face-saving vision thing and move on. Make AJ your acting GM and make lombard your interim manager. I am not opposed to letting a hitting coach go. Maybe there is a role for additional roving instructor, either Coolbaugh or Hessmann could fill that role. Something new has to be done right now to emphasize to the Front Office, on field management, and the players that there is a cost to be paid for failure. And yes, it may not be fair, but as all should benefit and enjoy the fruits of success, all also should endure the penalties for failure.

A corpse doesn't move.

BTW, I am well aware that we drafted both Tork and Greene

After watching this year's parade of sub-mediocrity, injury-induced or not, I have come to the conclusion that a good part of the problem has been the philosophy of drafting pitchers that "can't miss" and "just a guy" position players. Drafting pitchers might be the biggest crap shoot in baseball. Maybe the long term answer is to concentrate on drafting premier position players and concentrate on obtaining pitching through free agency, thereby handing the rehab efforts for the first TJ surgery a pitcher is bound to have. In the short term, by July 4, this will be a much better team with the return of the walking dead on the IL. In the long term, I'd be far more concerned about, Funkhauser, Mize, and Manning though. My guess is that we are looking at 3 TJ's right around August 20.

I think that at some point, this crime of a season will require a body to be thrown to the mob. AA probably would be the easiest sacrifice to make. I don't see this getting any better soon. You know it is bad when even Dan Petry was cracking and starting to criticize this team. The only thing to try is Clemens in a utility role and that would be a waste.

I am an allergy sufferer and with three different prescription drugs taken on a daily basis, if the pollen count is high enough does nothing for me and will leave me debilitated.

Every time I hear his name, I think of beef brisket, and he kind of looks like a grillin' guy. He needs a nickname. How about "Beef" Briske ?

Hmm... 8-16. If they play .500 the rest of the way, they are a 77 win team. I thought they were an 85 win team with Greene, Mize, and Manning healthy for most of the year. To steal a thought form W. H. Auden, they are mere mortals that need to be infused and inspired with immortal fire.

The runs scored is horrendous. OBP is not bad, SLG is . Those who have argued for more offense are right. When an MLB team is scoring less than 4 runs per game, as this team is through 18 games, wins will be hard to come by. Even more telling, is that their is no phase of the game this team is excelling in currently.

The team needs a shakeup of some sorts. I think Haase and Candelario will come around. What I don't want to see is any Castro at third base. That includes Willi, Harold, Raul, or Fidel.

Well, this team isn't hitting and the defense is at best horrible. Nothing like watching a team that is road kill before April 30

Good post. If the runs against stays better than average, the wins will come. The other hopeful sign is both Peralta and Pineda looked good the first time around. They should be able to hold down the fort for a while.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game.First, I thought the Yankee pitching was very good for the most part today, as I saw a lot of late movement on their pitches. The Tiger's defense looked to be at a professional level today, but not perfect. There were some hopeful signs that the offense might be coming alive. Pineda had a fine first outing. The bullpen looked good. In short, I saw a number of hopeful signs of good things to come. Maybe it is time for me to get off the ledge and enjoy the rest of the season.

This season is looking more and more like '21. 2 starting pitchers have been injured and are out. Javy Baez gets injured early. We end up playing the AA law firm, Castro and Castro. Badoo looks like a confused turkey in a thunderstorm while trying to field his position. Barnhart looks like the catcher in the movie "Major League". Most of the team can't hit anything, unless they hit water when they fall off a pier on the Detroit river. The fielding and defense since Baez's injury doesn't approach 7 year old little league level. No one on this team can play in April, except Miggy. Bravo to Miggy for trying to ignite this team. Will this team win another game in April ? Why am I wasting my time following this baseball cesspool ?