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“Disband” as in the Tigers go out of business and get replaced in the league by, I don’t know, the Savannah Bananas or something? Is that what you mean by disband?

I don’t know whether we can get anything for Carson Kelly, but if we end up keeping him and Dingler comes up and shows us something, I think it’s just as likely we keep Kelly as keep Rogers, Dingler plays caddy for a year and takes over in 2026. That’s a fingers-crossed plan if I ever heard one.

I saw Daniel Norris get that home run live at Wrigley Field! I don’t remember whether I contemplated that might be the only time I would ever see a Tigers pitcher hit a home run live.

“Cynical” is the right word to use here. The 1980s Tigers had the feeling of being a homegrown unit who hung around for a few years, and they felt like they were part of the community (and Kirk Gibson as the face of the team actually being from here). The 2010s Tigers just felt like hired guns, even Miggy, who was locked up for life here. I mean, just look around: Gibson and Dan Petry are still working for the team as a primary gig 40 years later, but only Andy Dirks is still hanging around the organization, and even that is on strictly a part-time basis. I bet you Miggy will never step foot in this town again unless he’s coming in for a sweet paycheck.

It’s been a well-reported story the last few years that teams are hanging onto the very top of their systems and trying to deal from the middle instead. Back in Dombrowski’s heyday nobody cared about prospects, which were considered little more than just unproven players. That’s why we cheerfully dealt guys like Eugenio Suarez for basically nothing and Willy Adames for what turned out to be a true rental (flipped for “prospects” the following season during a Cy-level season).

I see them more as a team with a combination of inexperienced guys with good hitting potential plus major league veterans who can hit a little bit, both types of which are more uneven than just flat out poor. They’re not simply a terrible offense up and down the lineup like the White Sox or Marlins.

It is a really good-looking building. Rancic did a good job on it. I miss having the Sun-Times in that spot, though. It was, like, seven stories and looked like it had been transplanted there lock stock and barrel from a nearby suburb. It looked so out of place against the backdrop of super skyscrapers and iconic buildings. I loved it.

Maybe he already has. Not every impact move hits as fast as lightning. Sometimes it hits as fast as thunder.

Trump has a Tower in Chicago.

They were 107-55 in 2021. Scott Harris was the GM.

I don't understand the proactive concern that Harris is merely just another 1st level smart guy, which I guess means he's a below average intellect, except in the context of your being afraid of giving in to hope and so you maintain the high wall of skepticism because you don't want be thought of as a fool if he flops. If that's not the case, then I don't see the value in that thinking. Flip side, I'm sure some may wish to characterize me as an dimwitted slappy for Harris (and Hinch) so they can ridicule me for it, and I'm sure there's a lot of satisfaction to be gained in that. But all I'm saying for the umpteenth time is that I am assuming that Harris is capable of delivering on his vision to build a sustainable winner in Detroit until such time that it is proven he can't, won't, or is not allowed to. I'm just not in the camp that assumes Harris will fail until he proves otherwise, which I admit I thought of Avila from day one. This feels a lot different to me, and if I risk losing the respect of other fans for being reasonably optimistic about Harris and then he flops like Avila, that's a risk I'm willing to take. I don't have so much time left, so I might as well be optimistic instead of fatalistic—especially given that there's reason to be.

Tell me you didn't read my posts without actually saying you didn't read my posts.

It's totally defensible to be skeptical going in just on principle and take a wait-and-see approach. We Tigers fans have definitely been scarred and no one wants to just give their heart away after that. That's not so far afield from my own approach of expecting that Harris will do the right things regarding drafts, development, trades, free agents, etc., until he shows us that he can't or won't. I think that's defensible as well, and so far, he has not yet disappointed me. OMMV. What I'm borderline offended by is fans assuming Harris has put together this failing team as his final product and that he's just going to end up blowing it all up and send the organization into another several years of tanking on Baby Doc's orders. There's simply no reason to believe that outside of it's what Al Avila did and this is the Tigers after all and so this is our fate. If the Lions can break a six-decade-plus cycle of losing by being innovative and doing things differently, the Tigers certainly can break their own decade-long cycle as well.

Man, that call on Keith in the sixth—looks even worse on a graphic.

I think we are about where we should be expected to given our having to restart the cycle in the first place. Speaking only for myself, I am definitely not assuming that who we have in the organization today is everyone we plan to go to war with in a couple of years. I think our system is going to look dramatically different, probably at least as different in 2026 from today as today is from 2022. So I'm willing to give Scott Harris the chance to find help outside the organization. I haven't given up on him, and I will assume he will be able to do so until he shows me he can't or won't. I for one won't be projecting Al Avila's failures onto Scott Harris as though it were some sort of sad sack organizational inevitability. We are already substantially in better shape than when Harris took over.

I see the Tigers as a team that is young and growing and learning, not as a team that is mature and stuck and on a treadmill to oblivion. You may not agree, and that's fine. The way I see it, the Tigers are moving very deliberately—obviously too deliberately in the Win-Now! view of practically everyone here—toward a sustainable organization that can compete every year. They've established a plan, and there is no reason to deviate from that plan right now just because the players aren't mature right now, or because we have stopgaps to help us be at least somewhat competitive while we retool, which is what literally everyone here has been clamoring for. Although a few guys on our roster today will be here when we are truly ready to compete, most of them will not be. So I don't complain about having guys like Urshela or Canha just because they're not Chapman or Ohtani, and I won't hammer the coaching because they can't make Rogers and Kreidler good major league hitters. I'm looking more at the Greenes and the Vierlings and the Torks and the Keiths of the group. Those are the guys that I'm focusing on, because those are the guys we're hanging our future on, not Zach ****ing McKinstry. I mean, outside of his family, who even cares about that guy? He's just passing through only because we need someone on the field today. So I don't whine about him—he might well be gone well before the season is done. This state of affairs makes a lot of fans unhappy, and I get that. I'm not happy that Al Avila literally wasted seven years of our lives and then we had to start all over, either. I've been here since 2015, too. But I'm willing to stick it out to see whether this new approach can bear fruit, and I'm not willing to declare it as failing just because we're not favorites to win a ring less than a year and a half in. If that's too much for some people, that's OK. There are plenty of other teams to root for in the meantime—Lions, Red Wings, U-M, even other MLB teams, whoever they want—and there will be plenty of room on the bandwagon when they want to come back once we start competing regularly.

FWIW ... Tigers relievers on the surface: W L Sv ERA Mar/Apr 12 6 10 2.88 May 3 6 4 5.81 June 3 3 1 3.72 Tigers relievers under the hood: FIP xFIP BABIP Mar/Apr 4.04 4.13 .232 May 3.89 3.93 .325 June 3.69 4.23 .267

I do for the most part as well, but I also believe that the team we have this year is better to the point that they can score 10+ runs more often. The team we have is also very young and inexperienced, which is also why they get shut down often.

Malloy has exactly 42 plate appearances in the majors. Keith has exactly 222. We already knew Kreidler can’t hit but hey at least Javy is out amirite

Invision sucks for iOS.

The Tigers have scored one or fewer runs in 18 games so far, third most in baseball behind only the Marlins and White Sox. The Tigers have scored ten or more runs in six games so far, tied for eighth most in baseball. The Tigers have in fact scored ten or more runs in more games in 2024 than they did in all of 2023. Many, maybe most, will see this as an indictment of coaching and perhaps even of the front office. Some won’t. YMMV.

Do we really believe that Trump will show up to debate Biden on June 27? I sure don't. The question is just how is Trump going to bail? I think the way he might do it is to demand at least one additional debate under his rules, in front of a hand-picked audience with 100% hot mics, and the "talent" coming from his choice of TV network (Newsmax, OAN), and once Biden refuses, Trump claims unfair and bails. And when people bring up that Trump agreed to the original debate rules without even requesting changes, the campaign will simply ignore it until the news cycle flips over.

Remember how conservatives would always blast Democrats for buying votes from black people by promising free welfare and other stuff? Ah yes, good times ...

The red hat constituency knows nothing about basic economics. But they do know they hate Chinese products flooding the USA and putting them out of jobs.

I don't usually agree with much that a bunch of beat writers sitting around are talking about, but 27th out of 28 doesn't seem too harsh. Score of 23.75 is the average of the rankings by the four of them. None of them rank the Tigers as low as 27, but none of them rank us as high as 18, either. On the other hand, they rank San Diego's at #5, so, yikes. An homage to the Motor City’s ingenuity, these unis feature several car-inspired details, including tire treads, VIN tags and road signs. On-field debut: May 10, 2024 Rosecrans: (25): At least in other hype videos, they pretend to like the new uniforms, but in this one half the people are wearing regular Tigers gear and they rap about the Old English D, which only has a cameo on the uniform’s sleeve patch. The tire tracks look like the people wearing this have been run over, which may be an appropriate metaphor for the last decade or so of Tigers baseball, but it’s hardly inspiring. Kepner (26): This predictable “Motor City” theme is begging for the Jaws of Life. It’s yet another dark jersey over dark pants combo, with a cap that looks like a mid-level prize option at a carnival. Nesbitt (26): In case the “Motor City” nickname didn’t get the theme across, you’ve got tire tracks down the placket (?), a VIN tag on the cap and helmet (??), and a sleeve patch designed like the M-1 road sign (???). We get it! Cars! It could have been worse, I guess. Shocked that the designers didn’t just slap “SOUTH DETROIT” across the chest while they were at it. Jones (18): I’m fine with “Motor City” but it goes overboard with the car references. Who wants a jersey with tire marks?! Might as well have used a license plate for names on the back.