HeyAbbott

Saw my first game in 1962 at Tiger Stadium as a Cub Scout. Saw Warren Spahn Pitch live in Milwaukee in 1963.

Well, Pineda ,Peralta, and Chafin are yet to be ready to pitch. It's cold.Pitchers are struggling to have the proper feel of the ball. It's early. Am I disappointed over the first series? Yes. What are the fans going to go if Tork goes 3 for 40? Hang themselves? Tork, for example, has struggled initially after advancing to the next level. He will struggle here as well. I am not worried.

Detroit 85 -77 World Series Toronto vs LA Dodgers. Toronto in 6

Everyone is in the best shape of their life.

But still, you got to play them one game at t\a time.

I hope you are right.

This does not bode well.

Here is hoping Greene's situation is not serious. Another thought, should we be watching for any late transactions involving relief pitching?

I'm back from vacation in Oregon and I am just getting caught up on the forum. I thought I have been pessimistic, but I think many here that are gloomier than I. I do think the Tigers have been horrible at training talent, however I think there are reasons to be optimistic. First of all, it looks like an NL team needs 84 wins this year to be in playoff contention. An AL team needs 94. The only way the Tigers make it is to win the division. I suspect they are an 85 win team this year, so I agree they will not make the playoffs. Most of the closure this year toward 94 wins will happen due to better defense. We played a pathetic parade of shortstops last year, and much of the time, they played at a high A level. Defensive runs saved this year will be vastly improved by innings being shortened by fielders actually fielding those ground balls that relief pitchers have produced in the past. I think that the improvements defensively are worth 70 runs saved over the season. We are a solid relief pitcher short, and I'd like to find one more solid outfield bat.Our AL Central won-loss record must be at least 3 wins above .500 to be a contender. I'll believe it when I see it. Tork and Greene are the real deal. I am looking for about 710 runs scored this year, and roughly 670 runs allowed. This will be a good team,but they are a little short to be considered a contender.

I say, Amen brother!!

If one looks over the last 90 years of sports management, I would rate the Cards at the top of the heap. They are a substantially smaller market than the Tigers. They have had a knack to identify, attract, train, and retain talent, with some innovation thrown in for good measure. When taken market size into consideration, one would not be awed by the Tiger's way. Hopefully, this era changes that.

That was operating income. There are other things such as interest expense that would need to be pulled from it to get to a true profit. The Tigers most likely have interest expense as Mike I put up a good chunk of money to build Comerica Park. On the other hand, Parking is probably not in that number.

These comments are spot on. Good management is doing more with less. In my book, when I look at the sweep of the last 90 years of the St. Louis Cards management, I would rate them as the best managed baseball franchise in MLB. Yes, I am aware that there was some shady hocus pocus at least once during the last 20, but that was an aberration. Despite what Detroit fans think, Detroit's biggest problem has been poor identification of talent and abysmal training and instruction of acquired talent. There are some signs that they may be getting better on these 2 points.

Cameron , perhaps as I am beginning to think, will prove to be the Great White Whale of Tigers Baseball. Like Melville's creation in "Moby Dick", the appearance of his vaunted production may prove to be elusive. I hope he puts it all together, as his past flashes of brilliance are exciting.

Boyd is unsigned. So is Norris.

This is solid advice. We need to find 2 arms, a SP and a LH reliever. Maybe both guys are already in camp. I kind of doubt that. As for the OF'er , come the trade dealine there might be better options.

Well, It's about to get wild. I am very happy that I was wrong about how long this would take,

Let's see what happens. As the old adage goes ," There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip"'

Because they do.

One can be worth billions, but one still has to convert it to liquid holdings. If you have new billions of net worth in say, real estate holdings due to market increases, that doesn't mean its convertible to cash, altough they can and will be-- at some point in time.

The only folks I think Manfred really cares about are the gamblers. As for the TV guys, they want the Dodgers, Yankees, BoSox, Giants and maybe the Cubs to always be in the playoffs and win. If collectively they are the Harlem Globetrotters in this morality play, how many Washington Generals do you need? Maybe five at tops.

It is time to clean up the fishing gear. There will be no baseball in April, May, and quite possibly, June.

It will never happen but: 16 games between the 4 teams in the division = 64 games 8 games between the remaining 10 teams in the league = 80 games Total 144 games, no inter league play. This would give time for the expanded playoffs to be played in better weather, and the MLB could cut some of the cold weather dates. If you want inter-league play, play 2 games each against 5 teams of the other three league's divisions would yield 154 games.

Analytics has helped to pin down player value. Here in Detroit, we were spoiled by the Mike Ilitch years. He payed like a fan, not an owner.

As respect to the why, I think a number of teams have adopted some form of analytics and therefore question whether or not paying more for players make a difference. In terms of marginal revenue, a team's revenue except for local attendance isn't going to vary as much as fans think whether they win or lose. For most MLB franchises, I think, that probably 70 to 75 percent of their revenue is from broadcast rights of some type. While more people will come out to see a good team, even if that's 1 million additional fans at $50 a head, that's only 50 million dollars. If I add 2 so so free agents I will spend more then that. With so much money completely divorced from attendance, I would think constant flirtation with .500 (77 to 81 games) would probably maximize revenue for a club. Fans just need to remember that when they attend an MLB Game, they are merely paying to be an extra with his butt firmly planted in an outdoor television studio.