mtutiger

Apparently... On one hand, I get that they can't necessarily take you at your word. On the other hand, there's no harm in just taking the L and moving on, which the other lender who lost out did. It's unlikely, but if we were to run into issues going forward, I know which fallback I'm going to and which one I will not.

That should cure some of the Tork Derangement Syndrome on Tigers Twitter lol

I do agree with that. This conversation never seems too nuanced regardless... certainly the tendency to push kids toward college (which was widespread around when I was going through K-12) was misguided, there are good careers in the trades, sometimes better even than ones you can obtain via college. But at the same time, success in this arena shouldn't simply be about pushing kids toward career paths that don't require capital expenditure to further education, it should be about helping kids find a career that align with their strengths as human beings. And I do worry that the increased cost of college education, even at the state level, will further box out kids whose skills do align with, say, engineering or the sciences but who do not necessarily have the means to pay for it all on their own. I just think that gets lost in all of this discussion... ideally you need a mix of kids interested in both trades or higher ed. Not one or the other, which seems to be how a lot of politicians who demagogue against higher ed (who ironically all have Ivy League degrees; think Josh Hawley or JD Vance) seem to argue these days

Exactly. Certainly not oblivious to the arguments about the regressive aspects to the Biden policy announcement. But at the same time, the deeper structural problems with the cost of higher ed seem hard to tackle when the animating issues of our time in Congress, particularly on the GOP side, is culture war crap.

Cubs seem like the best fit to me as well, but I'd be surprised if there was any sort of bidding war for his services... even among some of the teams listed, it's not clear that Jeimer is that significant of an upgrade

I mean, there may have been others... but clearly Washington must have been the best offer.

Are there a lot of contenders who aren't totally solid at third base at the moment?

This is probably a factor as well. Again, happy that Jeimer is having success elsewhere, but he wasn't merely incidental to the failures of 2022 but was a huge part of it. Both through a mix of underperformance and injury. I seem to recall a stretch of games in June or July 2022 where AJ was holding him out of the lineup for a mental break and that he wasn't necessarily an asset to the club off the field as well. We keep looking at this through the lens of the talent on this roster and how, for one year anyway, Candy may have been supplemental. But he holds some responsibility for his level of play in 2022 as well, and I can understand the team not wanting to pay him more than what the market was likely to judge his value at. And with a new brass that values versatility and strike zone discipline, not clear he was even a fit anyway

The market sets the value. And clearly, given how it played out, $7 million would have been an overpay

I think Ed is actually right here, and it comes down to versatility - Lorenzen had a bad night, but he's profiles as both a fifth starter and as a possible bullpen piece. Candelario has hit well this year, but he's not versatile - either he plays third or DH. WAR can be a useful stat, but with Candy, I just think the fact that he can't move around the diamond probably limits the competition for his services some.

I get it, it's mine too But that's just it... it's our escape from reality, but for people like Scott Harris, it's their job, it's their responsibility. It just changes the perspective.

That doesn't change the fact that humans, by nature, are not inclined to pay more for a product than it is ultimately worth. Nor does it change the fact that humans are always going to try to bargain for the best possible deal. As a fan, I wish they could just pay for every free agent and give them whatever they want. But that isn't necessarily rooted in the real world.

I dont know that it actually is budget... it comes down to the value of the player. And they didn't want to pay Candelario more than they thought he was worth. If they thought he was actually worth $7 million, they probably would have paid him that. The market kinda validated that, given the deal he ended up signing. As fans, who have all probably been through the process of buying a car and/or house, we should all be able to relate.

I would be right there with you. Moving on from Jeimer Candelario because he didn't play well enough in 2022 to justify that rich of a contract is a little different from your hypothetical though

Believe it or not, I actually agree. But running a baseball team and being a fan come with much different responsibilities.

On one level, I get the sentiment that, as fans, we should want them to go out and retain, or even overpay, players. Or even that there's some "hindsight is better than 20/20" involved here. Certainly, theoretically, I would love for the Tigers to spend infinity billion dollars on every big name free agent in every free agent cycle. But realistically, there is a business side to this.... the game exists for the fans, but acting as a fiduciary to an organization comes with responsibilities to understand the whole scope of an organization, beyond what we know looking at it from the outside as fans. And part of that responsibility is, to the best extent possible, not paying more for players than what they are worth on the open market. Sure, we can look at it as just Candy getting a slight overpay, but if you make a habit of it, it adds up. What I keep coming back to is that, realistically, the only chance the Tigers had to retain him was to overpay him. I understand why they shouldn't have felt obliged to do that... I'm happy that he's an "old friend" having success elsewhere, good for him. But he wasn't worth $7 million, so it's hard for me to feel much sympathy or regret for the decision that the Tigers made. And I'm guessing most other GMs and Presidents in that same situation would have done the same thing.

I haven't been around here as much lately as I've been in the process of setting up a cross country move (from TX to IL).... but one real pet peeve of mine became apparent recently. After ending up under contract and through inspection on the house we plan on buying, we ended up having to choose among a couple of different lenders to provide financing. Among the couple that we turned down, I sent courtesy emails letting them know "thanks but no thanks".... one of the lenders, after sending said email, responded back frantically saying they could get the interest rate lower, then called about a minute later and proceeded to harangue me over how I needed to send additional info from the other lenders so she could have the chance to provide a lower rate. And in the process was equal parts rude and inconsiderate. I certainly understand how the real estate business, whether it's RE agents, mortgage lenders, attorneys have to be sort of salespeople for their services, but boy, desperation is not a good look.... don't they realize that it's easy for me to turn around and not recommend their services to friends going forward?

Yes, they could have signed him after declining arbitration.

I'll grant that he's maybe worth 1-2 wins.... but as far as the attitude and confidence of this team, I don't buy that at all. Candy wasn't the linchpin of this operation, and that was certainly evident during the 2022 season. Of which he played a significant part in their lackluster results.

In order to have kept Candelario, the Tigers would have had to offer a dollar amount that 29 other teams in baseball would not have offered on the open market. I dont think it hubris, they simply looked at his value, saw that the only way to guarantee to keep him was to overpay, and said that they would take their chances elsewhere. It was a fine decision at the time, I'm guessing one that most front offices in the sport would have made. Glad to see Candy is making a go of it as a Nat, but unlike Isaac Paredes, its not a franchise killer either

Even setting that aside, because of how the division has played out (ie. Tigers still only 4 games back at the beginning of July), it's not even clear that the Tigers would be seeing any benefit from Candy as a trade piece anyway. So, again, we're ruminating on a one-and-done player when the future (ie. Colt Keith), who projects to be a much better hitter, is sitting in AAA right now.

I guess I'm the only one who doesn't care what Jeimer Candelario is doing in someone else's uniform?

Nice to see someone (other than Jace Jung or Danny Serretti) flash a little promise from the last draft class...

Exactly... nevermind the fact that, for a lot of us, we are fine staying here and dry ground and not going way down underwater to check out the Titanic. And don't need that for any sort of "bucket list" item. Like, space or sub, I'll freely admit to not being interested no matter how much personal wealth I generate Overall I think it ties into his political commentary where he acts like he has a better finger on the pulse of the public than the people who read his website, when in reality he himself is a coastal elite and probably out of touch with people in the middle of the country. He can be right a decent amount of times and the aggregating work he has done is still better than the competition. But he's hard to take seriously when he breaks out his opinions on things.

Incredibly out of touch