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Careful what you wish for—players who leave because they hate it here tell other players how much they hate it here, which will make it that much harder to attract free agency talent when it comes time to really compete.

I don’t think Harris could be brutally honest, of course, but I have no doubt that he had to be completely upfront and honest about the Tigers near- and mid-term prospects. Because if he weren’t honest about that, then when it comes out that he basically fluffed Baby Doc just to get the job and he falls short of his ill-advised promise to WIN NOW—and in a small, incestuous industry, that would definitely come out—then that would be curtains for his high-level front office career.

That, and they share the same siege/victim mentality. That’s why Trump can get away with that nonsense about if they’re doing this to me, they’re planning on doing it to you. So all you MAGAs had better get all your confidential, secret, and top secret documents out of your own showers and flood them with water from the pool, because Hillary and the Deep State are coming to getcha.

I think this is only as much as half true. I think it’s possible a candidate can succeed without empathy, but I don’t think it’s possible a candidate can succeed by looking like they have no empathy.

I would bet you dollars to dimes that Harris was upfront and candid with Chris Ilitch about our not being able to contend this year with the players we both have and could reasonably obtain, and my clue is that Chris Ilitch spent in 2022 when Al Avila told him and everybody else that we would contend, and Ilitch didn’t spend in 2023 after Harris took over with essentially the same players on board. To your implied point, this does not mean Ilitch could never, ever possibly end up firing both Harris and Hinch after setting them up to fail by starving them of resources. This could happen, because anything could happen. But for as much as I’ve railed on Baby Doc through the years, I am going to believe that he and Harris have settled on a long-term plan they intend to see through to either its success or its resulting failure, and that Ilitch will not be pulling the plug early because I believe Harris has completely prepared him for the investment in resources and time it is going to take. I am setting aside the deep cynicism about the Tigers organization that the Avila regime has inculcated in me and am choosing to believe Ilitch/Harris are going to make an actual, honest, concerted effort to build a winner over the long haul. And if that makes me the Tigers’ huckleberry, well, then, oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine.

This is a hot take and you’re certainly welcome to it, but I couldn’t disagree more with this wishful thinking. My impression from the reading I’ve done is that A.J. Hinch is THE North Star for the coaches and players throughout this organization, including—maybe even especially—the minor leaguers. That’s not new—that started under Avila. He’s the face of the franchise for the guys, and he’s working in lockstep with Scott Harris, who almost certainly does not have regular face time with players, to remake the franchise from top to bottom. They are not working at cross-purposes, and A.J. Is not simply a bystander letting things roll over him—he is active and in on much of the decision-making. No one is guaranteeing this will all result in rings. They could completely fail and be fired for their efforts, but that’s going to take years, not months. Maybe they won’t work together for the rest of their respective careers, but the implication I’ve read from others here that Harris is looking for the first opportunity to dump Hinch because he wasn’t Harris’s hire is a fantasy.

Yes, I agree with this, which is consistent with how I feel about it. It’s the appearance of throwing in the towel on this regime literally one-third of the way through the first season that I have so much trouble fathoming. Was there a serious expectation of a major transformation into contender status by now? I guess I don’t understand that serious a level of impatience, again, 2-1/2 months into a regime, particularly considering how devastated the prior regime left the entire organization top to bottom. It’s getting razed and rebuilt, and that’s going to take years, with an “s”. So I’m just going to settle in for the ride and not take the losses too hard, because almost no one on the roster today will be on the next Tigers playoff team, and very few players on the next Tigers playoff team are even in the system today, mainly because this is still Al’s system.

Can’t be as annoying as the same spots every single break on streaming radio. Birddog, Stoli, Netsuite, rinse and repeat.

If by that you mean start your fantasy team starters against the Tigers, I agree. 😁

Zach McKinstry is becoming more flippable.

Ok maybe Wentz is a decent chess piece after all. 😁

Not for nothing, I’ve noted to myself the same thing about Brian Kenny on the Network. The last couple of years he’s been all in on “cut of jib” index and all that stuff. He may have gotten the same notes. Who knows, maybe it’s all coming from the same source.

I also believe Dirks is a solid second banana. He is at least as honest an assessor of what he sees on the field as Jim Price is, and I value that in analyst.

Maybe Hinch should’ve kept Vest on the chess board. 😝

Dan Dickerson called that a two-run double before walking it back as a one-run ground rule double. It seems to me like he’s botching more calls like that, although maybe you guys think he’s botching it just as much or even less. It’s just my impression is all.

I don’t think Wentz is better than Vest so I’m OK with Vest opening.

I don’t know, Hinch and Harris seem too much on the same page for Hinch to be let go for no other reason than losing 90 games with arguably the least-talented team in baseball. I think they’d have to have a major falling out philosophically for that to happen.

You’re not wrong about Harris being unable to find a better replacement for Candelario, but he really doesn’t have much leverage to do so.

I think it was a bad decision to get rid of Candelario, and I thought a case could be made for keeping Willi Castro. I don’t know what to think of Kody Clemens yet.

If the Tigers have settled into being the Royals, what do you see as our best hope for the future? What would have to happen, organizationally, for things to turn around? Or is the organization solid and it’s a matter of tweaking current philosophies, strategies, and the like? Is it possible for us to do a 180 from where we are now and still win a pennant or a ring in 2023?

By this do you mean Candelario?

Why would Eduardo Rodriguez leave?

By this do you mean you believe it’s a 50/50 roll of the dice that Harris might be the equivalent of Avila in level of acuity as a general manager? Or are you simply saying there’s no absolute guarantee that Harris would be any better than Avila was?

Tell me I was wrong about him.

Spencer Turnbull has roughly the same odds of making an impact for the Tigers of the future as Austin Meadows does.