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On the face of it, it looks to me as though the front office is doing everything to be diplomatic and even encouraging of Eduardo. Seems to me all one has to do is add up all the pieces from the various sources over the past few days to come to the conclusion about Eduardo's conduct.

Yeah, what about **** Allen! 😅 If I were confident that Eduardo would provide four more solid years of above average pitching through age 34 and a lock to never again flake out like before, then sure. Now ask me if I'm confident of that. 😉

Fascinating insight in this: Some of the more interesting tidbits, some of which I wasn't so aware of: The average physician over 40 makes over 400 bills a year, and that's including general practitioners, not just specialists. Graduates from the top medical schools, who can presumably write their own ticket to any field they want, tend to choose those that pay the most, responding to earnings potential when choosing specialties to go into. Homo economicus, indeed. As if to highlight something we all already knew, corrective and interventionist doctors make beaucoup bucks, and preventive medicine doctors make the least. Physicians were up in arms about this study when it came out because it questions the myth that doctors care only about patients, and not at all for the money. They probably care about both, and on a sliding scale depending on the individual doctor. The US has fewer physicians per capita than most first world countries, and than many second world countries as well. Most shocking to me, we have an artificial physician shortage due to a federal advisory committee who issued a report, which claimed we were "barreling toward a massive physician surplus", to a Reagan administration only too eager to cut back on federal spending on doctor-training systems. Therefore, from 1980 to around 2004, the number of medical graduates flatlined, even as the American population rose 29 percent. Least shocking to me, that current state of affairs was strongly support by the AAMC and the AMA, who only now is sounding the alarm about a doctor shortage. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

A flakeout is 180 different from an injury, for me. A guy who's 100% physically ready to pitch and who willingly removes himself from the team and remains incommunicado for months at a stretch for self-labeled "personal matters" is worse than a malingerer, in my opinion. And as though nobody else playing in the majors has their own personal issues to deal with. The more I think about this, the more I come to the conclusion that there is no way on god's green earth Scott Harris will extend Eduardo—also, the more I believe Eduardo will be motivated to decline his opt-out and maintain his income stream, if he gets wind that nobody in the marketplace wants his services. Of course, if his agent is the only source he trusts for that kind of insight, he may never hear that and opt out anyway. If the Tigers wanted to give Eduardo a taste of his own medicine this winter, maybe they should encourage him to opt out and explore the marketplace for his own good, while guaranteeing him that they will exceed the best offer he gets. Then, when the market craters on him and he comes back for his original deal, the Tigers tell them they've changed their minds and are going in a different direction because we want "stability for our family". 😁

I have my doubts, plus the flakeout potential is not a non-factor—for me, anyway.

Given all the volume of drama around Eduardo, I doubt the market for three or four years of him would be all that strong.

If I were confident that Eduardo would provide four more solid years of above average pitching all the way through his age 34 season and also was a lock to never again flake out in such a way that would affect the team and its performance on the field, then sure, I could be talked into it.

As you imply here, just because Eduardo is within his rights to lead the teams along, appear to be approving of a deal, add an 11th-hour demand for an extra year, then nix the deal at the last second and turn around and blame his family for not letting him go to LA, doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to be raked over the coals for it all. McCosky's lift job here may be the indicator that the local media has permission to turn on Eduardo. The team may want him gone after all this, and if so, yes, we'll miss the production—if he can keep it up—but it's also understandable why they would.

Good detective work by McCosky to find someone with a The Athletic account he can borrow login credentials from, read the Rosenthal article, and heavily paraphrase it here. I especially enjoy his lifting of the phrase “poison pill”.

The Franklin Perez era has concluded. I don't know whether Beck is playing down Perez's part in the trade intentionally to shield his employer or what, but Perez was THE headliner of the return on that trade when it happened, not just a "part".

Moxila Upadhyaya. The Russified red hat media are gonna have a field day with that.

Whenever Eduardo Rodriguez says he "likes Detroit", or anything along those lines, I will take that with a mine of salt.

Always true. Check out the one-run records of the 2003 Tigers versus the 2003 Braves.

They are on record stating this is the thing they want to accomplish, and if they fail at it, that would mean they're failing at putting a consistent winner on the field, and I would feel comfortable calling for their heads. Let's circle back in three years and see where we are then.

I don't think it's because Javy doesn't want to, as much as Javy can't. Would he like to be able to? I think he would. But he has never learned how to hit situationally on a regular basis, and at the tender young age of almost 31, he ain't gonna learn now. Javy is a major league regular with a fat contract because he's an elite defender, a great baserunner, and, when he's right, can blast mistakes all over the park with astonishing regularity for weeks or even months at a time. If he could hit situationally effectively and control his zone regularly as well, he'd be on a Hall of Fame track. But he has a huge flaw that can be fatal to his performance, and that's definitely what we're seeing this year especially. He's going to be here for another four years, so I might as well keep rooting for him while he's out there.

Seven likes in 528 posts may be the lowest batting average for any qualified poster in the history of here.

Turning into a pumpkin after ten o'clock at night might be a problem for a president when the calls come in from the other side of the world all through the wee hours every single day.

He keeps this up for long and he may be totally off the Fox train.

A completely different thing but I'm with you on that. They also need to get the right players in house, because no one could win with the current bunch, and that's gonna take time.

I would guess that another big part of this is that they have to have all their ducks in a complete row to ensure a conviction, because you can't come at the king and miss.

As a fan, I could hardly care less about the culture in the clubhouse. I care about winning. Lots of teams have won with players that fought among themselves, The 70s A's hated each other and Charlie Finley and won three straight pennants. Then the Yankees won in the late 70s with their toxic team. So a harmonious clubhouse is not a prerequisite for championships. Also, as you note with Cobb and McLain, individuals both crotchety and flaky have had tremendous years and even helped their teams win pennants or rings. The guys around them may or may not have hated them, but they dealt with it and still played as a team and, in many cases, won. So if Eduardo Rodriguez waives his opt-in, pitches three full years to a 75 or 80 FIP-, and is a cog on the 2026 pennant winner, I would be all for that result. I bring up clubhouse culture not because I require that for the team, but because that is one of the main components that Scott Harris and A.J. Hinch has said is a focus for the Tigers organization. They have said they want to foster a "culture of development, where everything and everyone can improve", and create a system that will "acquire, develop and retain young players". Implicit in that is a culture of teamwork, in which players will be expected put the team above their own interests. Not to set aside personal goals entirely, I'm sure, but at least to not act publicly in a way that calls into question the grip that management has on the system and its players. There's one guy above all of it who I assume is watching all this very closely, and is likely more engaged in what's going on than he might have been before. His impressions of all this, whatever those might be, will be very important. If Eduardo Rodriguez flakes out again and creates the kind of chaos he has already done on at least two separate occasions in his short tenure here, it stands to reason that would create a danger of undermining that cultural strategy Harris and Hinch have put themselves in charge of implementing and overseeing. How they handle Eduardo now is crucial in how it affects not only their relationship with him, but also their relationships with the other players. In that way, I don't envy Harris right now, because he has to walk the very fine line between appearing to come down too hard on Eduardo and alienating veterans and potential free agents, versus appearing to let him totally get away with this all and possibly inviting other players to publicly act out in their own way. This is where he will really earn his salary.

😉

After what’s coming out about this year, I’m not so sure the market will be so robust for him next year either, even with cost certainty. I’m not so sure I want him to opt in, either. If Scott Harris is truly trying to remake the entire culture of the organization, having a weaselly malcontent among us for the next three years isn’t going to help that along much.

My main takeaway from all this is that Eduardo Rodriguez is completely full of sht. He and his agent at the very least tried to get an extra 1/20 so he could stay in LA for 4-1/2 years, and when the deal didn't land the exact way he wanted to, he threw his family under the bus to dodge criticism for the real reason he blocked the trade. Calling him a mere flake strikes me as generous. I think he's a weasel. Now I am questioning the reasons behind his whole ghosting incident, which he also claimed to be about his family. Not for nothing, the team had fallen to 13-25 in his final start before he bailed and was well in last place, which nobody expected to happen after the prior season and the free agent signings, so who knows what was going on in that clubhouse.

Old friend alert here in Chicago