Mike was a VERY bad Tigers owner for a long time. Until there was a competent person in place (DD) it really did not matter much what Mike did.
Perhaps the same will be true of Chris. He obviously waited way too long to replace Avila, who he inherited from his dad. Hard to see how Avila could have kept snowing him under, unless Chris was hearing what he wanted to hear. When asked to spend, he did last winter. (Maybe he told Avila "no" in earlier years.)
Really what I want from an owner is to stay out of the way until he is needed; patience but not too much; and a $180MM payroll.
i can usually follow the bread crumbs on any conspiracy theory, but what Durham was supposed to be doing per MAGAs to take down the cabal, was beyond me
Red Sox have been doing lots of talking about how important Bogaerts is; this after offering him a laughable one year extension for $30M in Spring Training; Boras obviously wants to take him into the free agent open market; they have Story as a built in replacement; so maybe this:
more GOP election fraud. this is literally what Bush v Gore was about - the unequal treatment of different FL residents depending on the county they lived in
is he even competent to sign the contracts? I'm sure the current owners will be happy to take pennies on the dollar to get out, but hard to see how someone so clearly mentally ill can enter into a binding agreement.
many assume the Giants are about to abandon their more cautious approach to FAs this winter when they offer Judge $300M
if they want to keep up with LA and SD, finding LaMonte Wades and Mike Yazes, though nice, is not enough
the 2023-24 FA options are not as good or numerous
Correa still makes sense on a lot of levels
its not my money
if Baez and Rodriguez opt out (they won’t) the Tigers have zero dollars committed for 2024
I wanted to just say that Dombrowski has his 4th team in the playoffs; not sure the Phillies can club their way to WS, but possible; dude knows what he is doing better than most
Salt River, the AFL team the Tigers feed, is 0-8, scoring the fewest runs and giving up the most.
Wentz, Mattison, Anderson are doing OK, and Walker only pitched 2 innings (SSS alert for all)
Keith and Dingler are fine; Meadows has done little since homering to open play; Workman is 0/14 with 8 Ks
a one-year bridge to Keith can be anyone, including Candy (yuck). Longoria is a fine choice too, but I think the Giants want him back in a part time role, so that would be $4M or so. Not sure what the draw would be for him to come to Det for 1 year. Not a lot of good options. Joey Wendle is my choice. Maybe Harris could pry Gorman from the Cardinals?
I would much prefer they take the $40M hit immediately, even if it is used as a BS excuse to limit spending in 2023
My fear is that spreading it out over multiple years will be used as a BS excuse to limit spending over a longer period
But, sounds like there is no movement to getting rid of Miggy this winter
I thought Haase was a drag on pitchers, but that is a truly shocking split (at least for 1 pitcher)
we will see what Harris wants from catchers
Astros have gotten by with elite defensive catchers who are almost incompetent with the bat.
but Arizona wants more offense from C than Carson Kelly, but he has strong splits vs their other catchers.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/10/hazen-d-backs-to-pursue-bullpen-help-open-to-adding-at-catcher.html
if would really odd for AJ to deny repeatedly that he wants a FO at this time, and then have him accept one, just to keep Lombard around
but if they think Lombard is some genius in waiting, then maybe
Except for Lange, whole post might be correct.
Lange is to me penciled in as 2023 closer. Unless they trade him, he will be one of the most important BP pieces, if not the most important
from MLBTR chat:
Houzer
2:33
Who says no ... Tigers trade Gregory Soto to the Rangers for prospect Justin Foscue
Steve Adams
2:33
Foscue alone isn't getting Soto
2:34
Foscue as one of several prospects? Sure -- though probably not with him as the headliner.
Minor league system is still not good
Yes, they have really figured something out with pitching development; lots of success stories from Jobe to Chance Kirby; need to work on health.
But system is embarrassingly bad at OF; really weak at C and 1B. IF looks solid though.
Toledo – Dingler, Meadows only relevant position players; interesting guys in WPerez, Lipcius
Erie – Keith, Jung only position players who matter; Couch interesting
Right now, who besides Keith can reasonably project as a solid ML starter? yikes!