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Players are streaky sometimes? Whoda thunk it?

I said in my earlier post that the point when we can say, OK, we're definitely in the division race would be the second half of the season, and probably closer to August than July, and that would be the point when Miggy's playing time would really start drying up, so I will stick with that.

I'm glad we didn't throw four years and $60 million at Mitch Haniger just so he could post a 39 OPS+ for us!

Here's one more curious thing that strikes me about Miggy: I sense he has done so much damage to his legacy with his terrible performance for seven years running now, having dropped from being at the level of Mike Schmidt and Rickey Henderson, to being at the level of Jim Thome and Harry Heilmann—still Hall of Famers, but certainly not early in the conversation of greatest hitters in history as the first two are. And many of us here have discussed that very thing. And yet, I have never heard this idea expressed outside of this forum by anyone else. Everyone talks about Miggy not only as though he is on the ten-finger list of greatest hitters ever, but also as though he is still a threat today. I have heard opposing team broadcasters, this season, talk about Miggy coming up in close-and-late situations as someone you have to work around very carefully because if you slip up even a little, he will end the game on one swing. This absolutely floors me, because I know, and you know, and certainly the opposing pitcher knows that all you have to do is pound him in the zone with your regular stuff, no tricks or gimmicks necessary, and he'll either strike out or ground out. I wonder how much of that is being respectful of his overall career accomplishments, and how much of it is ignorance of his decline among people inside the game, the latter of which would just knock me out if that were true.

You got me right. And I would further stipulate that until the Tigers demonstrate that we are actually in serious contention, It's kind of futile to rant about it, since (a) he is already barely playing these days, and (b) he's not forcing clearly better hitters to sit and make room for him.

And the flip side of this is, if we do not move into serious contention, which is the more likely outcome, then I believe we will see as much of Miggy in the last couple of months as we do now, provided he's not actually injured.

Because we are not in serious playoff contention yet, they are motivated to recover as much of Miggy's remaining $40 million as possible in merchandise, extra tickets, concessions, parking revenue, and the like as they can. It's all they have left with the guy.

Nobody else has. Not even close. Here all the Hall of Famers at hitting positions (outfield, first base, DH) and how they did in their last seven seasons, sorted by oWAR cumulative for their last seven seasons (min 2,500 PA): And here's Miggy as of yesterday: Miggy is setting a new standard for Hall-of-Famer career collapse that will be talked about for generations.

It's a tricky situation. We're not going to DFA Miggy, and we're not going to simply bench him for long stretches of time. I had thought, even predicted, that the 60-day IL would be likely, but that was based more on his gimpiness than on situational expediency. If he's not injured, and he's not going to leave, and he wants to play, and perhaps most importantly, fans want to see him play—well, he's gonna play. Simple as that. I also believe that if the Tigers were a serious contender for a playoff spot, Miggy would be playing a lot less, and I think fans would be OK with that (especially fans on the road, which, who gives a **** what they think anyway). The tricky part of that would be mollifying Miggy, and that's where the manager comes in. An unhappy Miggy could/would be a very disruptive force in the clubhouse, so Hinch would have had to set expectations with him upfront, beginning in spring training. And I've read accounts that he has done that, or at least has claimed to have done it. So if I had to guess, and this is just a guess, I don't think we are at the point where we can say, OK, we're definitely in the division race, Miggy, so nail yourself to that bench and root us on. If that were to happen at all, it would be the second half of the season, and probably closer to August than July. I think it would be at that point when Miggy's starting assignments would mostly dry up, and his pinch-hitting assignments would come mostly in blowouts (although probably not all of them). The good news is that we are at the very beginning of the process of remaking this team into an annual contender. It's not as though, if we lose out on the playoffs this season, that's it, the organization is done. Chances are we get better next year and/or the year after than this year, and Miggy will be looooong gone by then. So even if we miss out on the playoffs this season by just a few games at the end, I wouldn't see it as an existentially lost opportunity, and regardless of what you or I or anyone else here would like, A.J. ain't getting fired for it.

There may not be a study on this anywhere, but we have all read many anecdotes of players choosing a team even for a bit of discount because it was close to their home. Good quality of life in a place you like living, particularly if you're surrounded by family, is usually more important than making one more dollar.

I think it depends on how clear the rule on starting and stopping the pitch timer are. Between pitches the timer starts when the pitcher receives the ball from the catcher or umpire. That's easy enough. Timer stops when the pitcher starts his delivery. I'm not sure exactly triggers a stop. Is it when the pitcher disengages with his non-pitcher plate foot? That would make the most sense. I also don't know exactly when the 30-second between-batters clock starts, and when the between-innings clock starts. Seems to make the most sense to have it start when the umpire signal out number three. I'm with you, it's a pretty important component of play now, so I can't imagine they would entrust an intern with it. It must be a paid employee. Or perhaps someone along the lines of official scorer, e.g., someone from the local press or broadcast outlet?

They must feel they can't effectively market him if they DFA him. The IL is our only hope.

Miguel Cabrera is never going to take a (serious) front office position. The most I would expect from him is special assistant to the general manager of the Miami Marlins. But mostly, I expect he will retire and that's the last we will see of him until August, 2029.

Sue, do you watch Abbott Elementary? There's a teacher on there you might like ...

It's ... OK. It's not as bad as Adam McKay, but there is definitely some influence there. I hate that they feel they have to invent characters and situations to make it easier on them to write the story, but hey, that's a thing now, I guess.

Reads to me as though the jobs were coming from California, and now they're going to stay in California: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/18/business/disney-ron-desantis-florida.html In March, Disney called Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida “anti-business” for his scorched-earth attempt to tighten oversight of the company’s theme park resort near Orlando. Last month, when Disney sued the governor and his allies for what it called “a targeted campaign of government retaliation,” the company made clear that $17 billion in planned investment in Walt Disney World was on the line. “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said on an earnings-related conference call with analysts last week. On Thursday, Mr. Iger and Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s theme park and consumer products chairman, showed that they were not bluffing, pulling the plug on an office complex that was scheduled for construction in Orlando at a cost of roughly $1 billion. It would have brought more than 2,000 Disney jobs to the region, with $120,000 as the average salary, according to an estimate from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The project, near Lake Nona Town Center, was supposed to cost $864 million, but recent price estimates have been closer to $1.3 billion. Disney had planned to relocate as many as 2,000 employees from Southern California, including most of a department known as Imagineering, which works with Disney’s movie studios to develop theme park attractions. Most of the affected employees complained bitterly about having to move — some quit — but Disney held firm, partly because of a Florida tax credit that would have allowed the company to recoup as much as $570 million over 20 years for building and occupying the complex. When he announced the project in 2021, Mr. D’Amaro cited “Florida’s business-friendly climate” as justification. Mr. D’Amaro’s tone in an email to employees on Thursday was notably chillier. He cited “changing business conditions” as a reason for canceling the Lake Nona project. “I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business,” Mr. D’Amaro said in the memo. He noted that $17 billion was still earmarked for construction at Disney World over the next decade — growth that would create an estimated 13,000 jobs. “I hope we’re able to,” he said.

I agree.

You mean like Jeimer Candelario?

These are guys who are on the roster, sub-par or not, so they're going to play and even start at some point. That's baseball in 2023. I don't think we are in a position to run the same nine guys out there 162 times a year while the other four guys play only when it's garbage time and no time else. I don't even know who those nine guys would be. I don't like it any more than you do, but there we are.

Tapia is a nobody. Kiermaier and Myers are not impact bats. Haniger was 32 and Conforto was an injured 30 year and they both signed with a team in a super cool west coast city that has a puncher's chance of making the playoffs. Are these guys you'd want to overpay in years and money to get them to come here to agree to come to a losing situation in Detroit instead? Nimmo is the only guy listed I believe could be reasonably hoped to lead a team into the playoffs. Would you really wanted to have signed him for nine or more years?

Grooming

Not a few posters here thought TORK! was already done and could never improve.

Who should they have signed and what amount could we have signed them for, in your opinion?

Baseball!

We couldn’t have signed an impact bat this offseason if they wanted to, at least without dramatically overpaying.