Hart

Even with the Mize situation (and to a lesser extent Manning), I do feel overall fortunate with the progress of young pitching in the organization. Skubal is turning into a bonafide ace. Brieske looks like a good bet to be a mid rotation starter. We are finally getting something out of Faedo and even if he doesn't make it as a starter, I would guess it is better than 50-50 he ends up a good bullpen arm. And it seems like outside of Jobe, who it is really way too early to even make a judgement on, our top pitching prospects in the minors are performing as expected or better than expected and have raised expectations of their ceiling from what was previously thought.

Mize may end up a bust but at least the pick was justifiable. If Jobe busts, that is going to look really bad since most teams would not have taken him three. And Mayer looked like the obvious pick.

Clemens will be up by the end of the month at the latest. He is 3-4 tonight with a walk.

Hill is 2-2. Better get Willi Castro back in centerfield tomorrow.

If this is the reason, I would lose my mind. I sure hope it has more to do with just getting spreading the wealth of at bats. I still hate it but can at least stomach it. If they are trying to rest Hill, they are dumber than I thought.

It really does feel like this. I wonder if they read this message board and think to themselves "I can up the level of annoyance to the fans who think they know more than me."

I would love to trade Mize for a bat but I think his value is pretty low right now. We need a legit bat and the Tigers would have to part with Skubal to make that happen. Would Pittsburgh do something like Mize, Baddoo, and a B grade prospect for Brian Reynolds? I doubt it.

This is nuts. I am so frustrated with Hinch and the front office right now I am close to wanting this season to go into a nose dive so somebody gets fired for this huge disappointment.

Didn't watch one pitch. Jeimer and Schoop are killing us. Not much you can do about that at this point. They are still our best options. Hill has to play every day in centerfield.

Lions seem to do well with PFF grades. Maybe that is something they use?

I think this QB thing is just a cycle. If some of the early round qb's the last few years had performed better, then you wouldn't see guys dropping this far. If this year's qb class impresses, than you will see more qb's drafted early again next year. Teams can convince themselves either way on quarterbacks based on what they want to find.

I agree. That is the obvious pick and you have to take him if he is there. If he isn't there though, I think I am going QB.

Makes the trade up for Williams look even better. The second round really is more about franchise preference than who is the best player available now. Each team has their favorite and the rankings for each team varies widely I bet.

There are 3 or 4 guys who would be decent value. It doesn't necessarily have to be Willis. Unless there is a QB run right before we pick.

I am warming to the idea of drafting a QB. For those saying wait till next year, we could be in the same position next year having to reach for somebody. At this point, there is some guys who provide decent value for the pick. It's pretty much a crapshoot anyways. I don't think I would pass up Nakobe Dean if he does make it to us. After him though, I'd be thinking QB.

That felt like a bit of a smoke screen. I was 50-50. I thought the Lions might be putting out some misinformation to keep Jacksonville from thinking they were all over Hutch.

It sounds to me like Hutch is being hurt by the fact he was so productive. People act like he is tapped out or something and doesn't have the upside. Jacksonville should take him #1 and if they don't, the Lions should take him #2. At the end of the day, I think you are splitting hairs any way because it's impossible to predict which end will have the best career. But when 90% of the people who follow this stuff have you as the best prospect, then it becomes pretty obvious what the "right" pick is.

Do the majority of lottery picks end up as good as Jerami Grant is right now? I kind of doubt it, especially when you get outside of the top 5. But I am probably biased because of the Pistons futility. Obviously, money and years of control on a rookie deal are factors to consider as well but Portland seems enamored with Grant to the point they may overlook these things.

I thought we might get a breakout year out of Candy. His ab's have been horrible though. He is swinging at balls and taking strikes and is always behind in the count. I still think there is a good chance he ends up one of our better hitters but this is a very disappointing start.

I guess when you got Castro and Baddoo backing you up, you tend to nibble.

Hard to tell when you can't hear anything but I also would put that on Barnhart. But then Alexander also needs to get the F out of the area so Barnhart does not get thrown off by it. Ideally, the first or third baseman calls both of them off.

This is an interesting article. I do agree that Bridges is not a great fit with Grant and possibly even without Grant if we are in position to take a guy Holmgren, Murray, Smith, or Banchero. I also definitely agree with Casey that Bey is a better fit at either forward position than shooting guard. I am not a huge fan of signing Brunson. He is a quality player but fit is everything to the Pistons right now. The goal is not to just pickup quality players to be a playoff team. It's to build around a Cade, and to a lesser extent Bey and Stewart, to be a championship team. Brunson is best with the ball in his hands and does not have great size or athleticism for defense. I kind of want somebody next to Cade who can be elite on defense while also play well off the ball. So while I am not really a huge fan of Ivey as a prospect, he does kind of fit the bill for what I want next to Cade.

I wouldn't mind the Tigers moving Baddoo back to leadoff to see it can get him going. Get him as many at bats as possible.

Yeah. I just think it is "convenient" for certain media to talk about our improvement up the middle but then totally ignore who is playing centerfield. At the moment, it is a problem for us.

If Skubal ends up looking like an ace this year and Mize ends up disappointing (either thru injury, performance, or both), is that a win for the Tigers? What is the expected hit rate on top pitching prospects? If we get 1 front end guy, 1 average starter, and 1 fringe starter/long reliever out of the trio of Mize, Skubal, and Manning, is that okay?