gehringer_2

I was bummed Corcoran didn't pan out. For about 10 minutes I thought we had something there.

Irony is officially dead: Microsoft CEO Nardella complaining about Google monopoly power....... https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/technology/microsoft-ceo-testifies-google-search.html

Over the last few seasons, Miguel's ISO has pretty much tracked directly with how often his right knee allowed him to pick up his front foot and drive off the back leg. He's been able to do it progressively less often each year to where this year he pretty much only tries to hit flat footed. It's a measure of his strength and ability to square up the ball that he can still get balls to the OF at all doing that. Not many guys could.

no half measures, sign Snell.

TD to LaPorta against the Falcons was a nice toss. Would be nice to see more of that.

Erod faded in the 2nd half, I'm not clear why, but if the Tigers think it was for reasons beyond bad luck maybe that's another explanation (beside his other history) of why they are not pursuing him harder.

Beside recency bias and the extra drama of being a HR hitter, I would put part of the difference in perception being that during Cabrera's peak years, he was putting up almost 45% OBP's - you almost couldn't get him out, he was hitting every ball hard somewhere. Kaline was never quite that dominant. He had few 400 OBP seasons, none quite as good as Miguel's best, and they were more scattered across his career. And part of that was the ball, the bats, the mound, the 'era' for sure. Mostly the HRs make the difference though I think. When Kaline was playing, he was often the 2nd or 3rd HR threat on the team (Maxwell, Colavito, Cash, Horton, Northrup etc). He only led the team in HR a few times in his career. What can you say, Chicks love the long ball..... Kaline and Beltre were sort of similar in being very good on both sides of the ball for a long time without having many 'led the league in something' seasons.

There are enough exceptions to the general trend though - so what can you do as a GM? If you passed on a chance at Dave Winfield or Frank Thomas you'd have looked pretty dumb!

Tigers are in a weird place for position players because you have some guys you need to play even though you are not sure about them, primarily Parker Meadows and (eventually) Cole Keith. It sort of narrows down what you are willing to spend for. As you said - a RH OF with a better bat than Vierling - absolutely go for it. Catcher - go for it, but the chances there are poor - they aren't any out there. Infield, again, you're sort of stuck with Baez. I suppose you can bench him but you know that will be some kind of last resort, they aren't going to sign a SS to play in front of him - at least not this season. If you are holding one spot for Keith, that leaves you only one spot to pursue another player. so one OF, one IF. That doesn't project to be a lot of new faces. The can spend some money on the pitching front though.

Yeah, hard to believe Cabrera didn't have a glove just for playing catch and warming up. I'd guess more likely Miguel appreciated the symmetry of using Torkelson's glove at his 'end' after giving Tork his at his 'beginning'

She's right.

so basically a repeat of last years strategy. Signing pitchers is OK - as they are not really core - they come and go. And sign mostly 'fill a need' utility level position players waiting for your home growns to take over. Great strategy *if* your home growns turn into plus players. Damn big "IF"

its all speculation but you can't separate carrying the extra weight and better flexibility conditioning from the risk of injury in all activities, especially the extra weight. Most forces your knees/ankes experience are proportional to your body weight.

Parker will still be a rookie but has 1800 professional AB, he may not have the hitting talent in the end but his depth of experience should help him. The other two likeliest callups are Keith and Malloy and each is right about 1000 MiLB AB. Ups and downs certainly more expected there. The other guy who we might we see that also has a lot of time in already is Wenceel - over 2000 pro AB.

Few teams are as well positioned to improve as the Tigers. There only have one starting player who is a free agent, they have effectively no payroll tax constraints, and the team is young enough that the natural career arc has more players improving than getting worse. If they can't improve their record by 10+ games it will be a substantial front office fail.

I've also thought that if early on the Tigers had told Cabrera he was staying at 3b he might have stayed in better physical condition and in turn had more productive years, but who knows?

could be he ran out of gas a little, could also be he saw more left hand pitching in those extra Sept ABs. Month PA April 75 May INJ June 67 July 88 Aug 111 Sept 118

The Tigers scored 661 runs, Tork scored or drove in 151 of them (and that's with the double count for HRs removed), 23% of the total.

I've no desire to re-litigate an old question, but you can't do a meaningful direct comparison between the career offensive out-put of guys that played in the pitchers era and guys that played in the rabbit ball era.

So the bears replace Fields, he signs on/gets traded to a new org and resuscitates his career? Maybe in a big win against....the Bears?

I don't like spending top money on top hitters either. The think the marginal cost for the best hitters goes up faster than their winning contribution does. Give me 2 hitters in a lineup over one great one and a scrub any day. I'm the opposite on pitching though, a shut down starting pitcher is money in the bank, so all things being equal, I would pay the big contract for a pitcher. The problem is all things are not equal, the wastage rate on pitchers due to injury makes them high risk investments as well, not because they can't make enough difference to be worth the money, but because the uncertainty of their availability is high.

Gaetz would have moved to vacate the Speakership immediately after the CR vote but they were ready for him and adjourned before he could be recognized to speak. My question would be whether even if they find a way to expel Gaetz, someone else from the wacko-right doesn't move to vacate anyway.

If it had been the end of an even numbered quarter, I could see being upset, but if they don't snap the ball, the quarter ends, there's no reason to believe they don't go to the other end, run the same play with the same result. The end of the 1st and 3rd aren't possession enders like the end of the half and the game so I don't really see one play being on either side of the quarter break as material to the outcome of the game.

any bet that a young guy doesn't get to the HOF is going to be a good one! But sure, 3 guys who even crack above average starter status is probably enough to get you some division championships and they at least all have a shot at that. Manning just (!) has to stay on the field. I'm really curious to see what Mize has on his return. If the repaired back leads to a better fastball, maybe he will start to justify his 1/1 selection. I was not that impressed with his stuff before the injury.

we can only hope the dynamic is reversed. In '16 you had a lot of Dems that didn't want to vote for Clinton. Hopefully in ;24 we have a lot of Repub that don't want to vote for Trump.