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After in a post-elections world, the people still matter, since oligarchs and plutocrats can’t run a country without tools.

Fun fact: Rocky is the only player in Tigers history to play 163 games in a season.

Maybe it’s because he’s more of a Cleveland Indian? He is in their Hall of fame.

I don't think anyone is suggesting we spend just to spend. If you're disappointed in free agent classes that are not great, then you must be disappointed just about every offseason. The strawman of Christian Walker at 200 Ms is just laughably unserious on its face. Otherwise, good post. 😉😂

Or Reno. 😏

This is the exact thing I'm talking about. All those teams are either contenders now, or historically are at times, except one: the Angels. So why would Nolan Arenado go to the Angels if they're not in any danger of winning anytime soon, instead of the Tigers, a team on the rise with a glaring need he can neatly fill? Simple: he was born and raised in Orange County, California. He and his family are from there, and they still live there. Lifestyle.

That's the other thing: summer sunrises. One of the few things I like about winter is I sleep better, but also, when I wake up and see it's getting light out, I know it's at least pushing 7:00AM. But in the summer, I wake up to go the bathroom or something, see it's getting light out, look at the clock, and it's 5:00AM. And that's on DST! I can't imagine how ****ty it would be in the same scenario to see that it's only 4:00AM.

Funny you say this now because just this past weekend, I was talking with the produce manager at our local Mariano's, a Kroger brand, with whom I have a weekly chatting relationship. They have historically carried the Driscoll-brand raspberries in small and large sizes, which are usually pretty good, but for the last month they've been going with a different off-brand for the large size, and they are always super sour, which I guess means they are picked before they are ripe and therefore sell for less at wholesale. They cost $4.99 in the store. Mariano's is still carrying the small size in Driscoll, which are half the volume and cost $3.99. We got burned on the sour brand once and now I always taste-test before I buy, but nowadays I am spending $7.98 for two smalls instead of $4.99 for one large. That's how different they are in quality. Anyway, I asked the produce manager whether they're throwing away a lot of these off-brand raspberries and he basically answered, aw, hell yeah, we do. And I asked whether they threw away as much of the Driscolls when they were in the large size, and he said basically, nah, not nearly as much. I asked why and he said people just stopped buying the off-brand. I asked why Mariano's doesn't go back to stocking the Driscoll in the large size, and he smiled and did the "holding up his hand and rubbing his thumb back and forth against his first two fingers" thing. This was another data point supporting my hypothesis that Mariano's makes more money putting out ****ty product for cheaper and just throwing away the unsold product than they do putting out the good brand at a higher price and selling it through more. It's their actual strategy to put out what they know is a substandard product based on their profit target today, which by definition disregards the costs of damaging their reputation in the eyes of their customers for continually putting out what they know is a substandard product. They also put out mushrooms that are slimy from the minute you open the package, despite the sell-by date. Thank god the USDA doesn't regulate sell-by dates so that Kroger won't cause my S&P 500 mutual fund to drop in value.

I would prefer year-round DST to year-round standard time. I don't want the sun to set as early as 7:30PM on the first day of summer, and I definitely don't like it setting at 4:23Pm on December 21.

"Most" and "some" are not mutually exclusive. That's just my read on what I am reading here.

I'm not sure I completely agree. There are players remaining in this free agent class I think would be great fits for the Tigers, specifically, Christian Walker and Andrew Heaney. But I also think we might be into a good trade of prospect(s) for a major-league-ready cost-controlled player. Otherwise, I'm not sure what specifically you'd want to see that would be a perfect fit for the Tigers as they currently stand in their development and competitive cycles. FWIW, I also think we have a non-zero chance to sign Sasaki, for reasons, although I certainly wouldn't count on that.

As far as Tiger fans are concerned, I think the wild card question for our future is what kind of spender this Ilitch will be. Seems like most posters here believe Baby Doc will turn the team into the Pirates or Rockies, if we’re unlucky, or into the Rays, if we’re lucky. Meaning, whether we win or lose on the field, we still lose our Skubals at free agent time and, who knows, maybe our Greenes, too. Personally, I do not accept at face value that’s what he’s is going to do. He may not throw money around practically indiscriminately the way Papa Doc did—which I don’t think would be a good thing, anyway—but he has has already shown that, if he’s been convinced we’re in a position to win, he will spend the money. Exhibit A: Javy Baez. The Pirates or Rockies or White Sox owners would never have done that, were they in our position at the time. I agree with people who say they don’t think Harris would have come here if he knew we’d become the Rays and lose all our homegrown players at crunch time, so if we win at all, we’ll have to do so on a shoestring. Others might think he would take one of only 30 available job no matter where it is, but I think Harris was smart enough and career-focused enough to vet the situation well before accepting the job here. Bottom line, I will choose to believe the Tigers will spend when it’s time, until they prove to me they won’t. It’s simply not time to push in all those chips just yet. Too many other holes he inherited that we still have to address. But I do think it will happen.

Good answer, thanks. The luxury tax was intended to act soft salary cap and that’s exactly what it is: a cap on cheap teams that allow it to be, or small market teams that are forced into it; and nothing to a team that doesn’t give a **** about what they spend on players. So, to your point, if you want to significantly level the playing field, they’d have to come up with something harder. The … ahem … $64 question is what would the cap have to be in order to be effective. If they make it too high, obviously, the big market teams would still outspend the majority of teams that would voluntarily keep themselves well under it anyway. It’s true that a few teams on the margins today might join that elite group under a high-cap scenario. But it would still be an elite group, and it would still be a clear minority of teams. If they make the cap too low, then to free agents, it becomes less about who pays you more, because teams essentially are on even footing, and more about lifestyle choice, such as where your family lives, or where your family want to move to America to live, or where the media you want to highlight your personal brand are, or basically, who happens to be winning right now. Either way, I think most fans would probably believe the Tigers would lose under either scenario, because in a too-high-cap scenario the Tigers would presumably still not keep up with major market teams—because Ilitch, I guess—and in a too-low-cap scenario, free agents would not choose to come to Detroit as a lifestyle choice, basically same as today. So, short of bringing back the reserve clause, I’m not sure how they can essentially “force” players to stay in or choose Detroit as a place to play ball and live six or so months a year, even in a salary cap situation.

This is why people moving to Canada to avoid Trump is a fool's tactic.

Yes, he has more than a clue about what will rile up his army.

I think there's a really good chance Jobe comes north, unless he's making no progress this winter and he continues to make none this spring, which would be inconsistent with everything we've learned about the Harris regime.

What would be the positive effect of a salary cap, in your estimation?

You know, because he was worth way, way, WAY more than $760 million.

I’ve seen a rat or two down near the tracks in the Chicago subway, but never on the platform or on a train.

Are we talking about Richie Cunningham here?

Sounds like you think both the Tigers are done getting starting pitcher and Jackson Jobe won’t make it.

Good post. Agree on many points. Now find someone you think is a good bet to throw big money and long years at who will actually come here.

Fair point.