RatkoVarda

they could have kept him in Complex league, but FSL is age appropriate; absolutely brutal April May and June. has really turned it around though; season stats may not look that bad if he can keep it going

Rosenthal specifically criticizes Harris multiple times for not getting anything for the best pitcher on the market who, if healthy, is walking away for nothing

I will give Harris huge props for 1) getting someone to meet his high asking price and 2) not throwing ERod under the bus, which he so clearly deserves. Tigers treated him well last year. Would be nice to have some reciprocity.

LOL, just read article. Total Cluster. Harris communicated with ERod in person, by text and by phone this last week about discussions and ERod never objected Deal was all done Monday, and thats when Mato asked for LA to add 1/20M for 2027 So ERod does not want to spend 3.5 years in LA, and then asked to spend 4.5 years in LA Obviously if healthy he is opting out, because Mato/ERod clearly think he deserves at least 20M more Harris clearly got effed over; and then was unable to recover any value, despite trying

totally not cool, but I'd love to have someone leak the details. I'm guessing ERod + Jake would have gotten a really interesting package from LAD.

ERod and Jake would obviously have been a pretty big trade.

Vierling really likes Pennsylvania

Erod's veto keeps Haase around a little bit longer

no; a player can only be given a QO once; Boston already offered him one; which is why Tigers lost their 3rd round pick in 2022 draft; otherwise, yes they could have given him a QO. If he leaves, they get nothing.

that's a great guess

I think yes. Sands for anyone else (Ibanez?) does not track. Or they were DFAing Haase.

I do stand firmly with Trump on one thing: why did they wait 2.5 years to arrest this piece of s***? DOJ should have charged him in the Summer of 2021. He would be in jail right now. I am probably more pissed off about that than even Trump is.

when Harris and his team actually make a move, they usually get it right. Trading Soto, Jimenez, Guzman and now Lorenzen all look like solid moves. Signing Lorenzen and even Boyd made sense. His 40 man roster churn is bearing fruit. I guess Englert could be a decent BP guy. They were gaming the draft pretty well before 2023, but this year's draft looks to be very well managed. his non-moves are really irksome. Not signing Chafin (and downgrading to Shreve) to save some cash was just dumb. Not signing any position players (full disclosure: I was looking at Wil Myers, Jean Segura, Brian Anderson, Brandon Belt) in the hope that someone would have some surprising production to help a historically and comically bad offense. Not cutting Schoop for over 2 months when we all knew it was over. Not optioning Maton when he desperately needed a break. And just in general, not doing any interesting trades (with comp picks; or bad contracts; or buy and sell simultaneously; or prospect for prospect). And of course, now the ERod non-move.

Yes, but clearly we are not dealing with a normal situation here. If he does not opt out, then yeah, this could all work out well. 3/49 for a veteran pitcher would be great. But it seems unlikely that he does not opt out.

just looked at Law's Top 20 Phillies prospect list; Lee was 4th, ahead of Crawford; not sure how the 4th best prospect is a sleeper, but he added this: Sleeper - Lee is already a top 125-ish prospect, and a full year of similar production from him in Jersey Shore would put him squarely on the top 100. FG and Pipeline had him at #6 on Philly's list. At present, looks like a great trade. Harris let it slip they have been after Lee for a while, so his name clearly came up in Soto talks.

What should Harris have done? Manage the situation to ensure the Tigers got a successful result. He is paid a lot of money to do that. Harris was on notice that ERod and/or his wife and/or their marriage was difficult/strained/different. It is not a common occurrence that a player just up and leaves and team in the middle of a season, without warning or explanation, and then ghosts them when they try to make contact. So, trust but verify. Double check. And then triple check. And have multiple fallback options in case they flake out on you once again.

Harris had an opportunity to convert Rodriguez into assets that could have helped this team long term. He failed to do so. Yes, he was dealt a difficult hand, but he was unable to do anything with it. I don't have the the details and I don't need to have them. I see the results: failure. Harris either trusted Rodriquez, communication broke down, had no back up plan, waited too long, burned other bridges, asked for too much from others, or something else happened in some order or some combination. Rodriguez will walk and Ilitch will save money and the Tigers will get nothing, as Harris keeps building towards that great 2027 team.

prediction: he opts out and signs with San Diego

well, no; I've liked every trade (all 4) he has made

what STL got for Flaherty (who is having a much worse season than ERod) was the 16th and 18th prospects from a really deep Balt system, and both already at AAA. I assume that is basically the equivalent of what Harris did not get for ERod. I won't mention a former third baseman for the Tigers by name, because I am sick of having that conversation, but these missed opportunities (ignoring the good in a futile search for the great) seem very Avila-like to me. AND THAT IS NOT A COMPLIMENT!

you assume people are rational actors; not agreeing to go to play for one of the best sporting franchises on planet earth, and play in the playoffs is not a rational choice. I think the Tigers treated him well last Summer when he split on the team; maybe he sees it differently

I say this as a life-long Tiger fan: why would any player reject a trade to the LAD, a great organization that is currently in first place yet again, and going to the playoff for the 11th straight year? why?

CWS just traded Jake Burger for the Marlins #4 prospect Jake Eder. CWS are having a great firesale.

Lee (20 all this year) will be the 2nd youngest player for WMI after Campos. I assume he will share 2b with Gold, 3b with Pacheco, and SS with Workman.

Harris certainly has a type. Lee's OBP last year at A: 384; this year at A+: 372; overall: 380. And plays 3 positions (at least now he does).