chasfh

I ran down Chris Ilitch as hard as anyone else here. I accused him of being a dilettante at best and as uncaring at worse. I feared he was going subsume the Tigers under all his other businesses because of the cash cow nature of owning a baseball team. I basically accused him of being a hockey guy only. I believed all this based on the relentless losing under the apparently protected Avila regime, exacerbated by the hiring of Ron Gardenhire even after touting this computer program called Caesar that he claimed would basically bring the Tigers into this century. Like you, the moves Ilitch made to first hire A.J., and then to dump Avila and hire an exec from a forward-thinking organization, has turned my thinking some. I now have confidence that he does care about this team after all and is willing to put the team in a position to win, versus just letting whatever happen and cashing the checks. I’m not going to project onto Ilitch what I would like him to in terms of signing this or that free agent this winter, or spending X hundred million on payroll. I don’t know what Ilitch is going to do when we get certain pieces into place and we are just a move or two away from being favorites to play into November, in a few years I presume. But I do feel better about the idea that he’s not going to just go cheap as possible on the team and just accept whatever result happens and simply bank the loot. I guess that’s still somewhere in the range of outcomes, but I feel better that it occupies a small sliver and not a healthy chunk of that pie. I want the organization to do what it takes to win, whatever that may be, and I don’t care how much Ilitch ultimately spends on payroll, just so long as it doesn’t make the difference between winning pennants and losing out on wild cards.

Fair and proven out by fairly recent experience.

The amount the Tigers offered was well below Correa's publicly-stated floor. He was never going to accept it, and I believe the Tigers knew he wouldn't accept it.

Because people here want to argue this point now. That's what we do in this discussion forum.

I didn't "suggest" he may want to be like the Rays, as in that's what I believe. I said it's a distinct possibility, as in that's within the range of outcomes. Can you see the difference?

Me, where I'm hoping it makes a difference is in the state houses, despite the gerrymandering.

Seriously, red hat skepticism about early voting and mail voting might be one of the underrated ways in which Democrats have a real chance to both hold onto and gain majorities where they need to.

When my wife and I took our civil rights trail/blues trail driving trip through the south a few years ago, I tried to find the Viola Liuzzo memorial marker along Alabama highway 8. Unsurprisingly, it's poorly marked and very difficult to find.

You will call me crazy, but I took a small chunk of savings and dipped it into a five-year CD paying 4.01%, which is that number I long felt would be the tipping point I'd need to go into them again. Also, the way I figure it, with with deflationary forces looming on the horizon, it's not a super risky move, and if by some chance CD rates shoot up to 6% or 8% or 10% or something like that, I can put another chunk of savings into that. I mean, where else am I gonna keep it? The bank paying 2-and-change?

Glad I got my nine-sixes when I did.

I with you on this. I wouldn't say it's impossible that he would ever spend big like leading teams do, but I also don't understand the position stipulating that since there's no evidence that he won't or wouldn't spend, that must mean he will spend, or probably will spend. Until he shows and proves, I'm not assuming that at all.

I would bet the payroll will be right around what it was last year, maybe a touch more to cover Jeimer's seven Ms. I don't see them doing much more than one-year placeholder deals, perhaps even a two-year for a starter like Andrew Heaney, someone who can control the strike zone even though we'd be taking a chance on his health.

I think you will get your wish in that Miggy will either be talked into stepping away with the money, which I think is a real long shot, or be spending the majority of the year on one of the ILs, I'm thinking probably the 60. I suppose another option is that he clocks in with another 400 or 450 plate appearances, but I think that's also a long shot.

I suppose it's a distinct possibility that Baby Doc is looking for a Tampa Bay situation: get to the playoffs, even World Series, on a regular basis without having to spend to acquire or keep players, for the personal purpose of establishing respectability as a baseball tycoon, which you can't achieve if you're averaging literally 98 losses a year. My time is starting to run out, and I have only so many reboots left to live through. Since there are no signs Baby Doc is gonna sell, I'm left to root for the idea that's wrong and he is gonna spend when the time comes.

Here's my prediction from the beginning of the thread, which I still stand by: I believe Drew Hutchison and Ali Sanchez are the only guys in this list already decided upon, and so far, I'm 1-for-2. Otherwise, do you agree with any of this?

This does not worry me in the least.

Some folks insist that the problem had to have been with the players (Jeimer, Schoop, et al.) because they hit decently in 2021 and collapsed in 2022, and we had Scott Coolbaugh here for both. To your point, a player doesn't need the hitting coach to step in and fix things when he's hitting well. The player needs the hitting coach to step in and help him when he's struggling. Apparently, Scott Coolbaugh was a fine hitting coach when he didn't have to actually coach.

Care to take another crack at this one? 😉

Granting your characterization of the up and down nature of his performance, even given that, Jeimer would have placed fourth among regular third baseman in wRC+ in 2020, and did place ninth among regular third basemen in 2021. I’m not yet willing to look at his ups and downs and say, his ups are only mirages and he’s only real when he’s down. Seems like wishful thinking to me. That a hitter is not worth keeping because he sometimes has down periods strikes me as setting the bar too high.

I guess I’m just not so willing to conclude that all these players we have on the roster are simply done done at young ages one year after they have good seasons. Jeimer done done at 28? Schoop done done at 30? Perhaps even Javy done done at 29? All of them, each one, unfixable? I’m just not there on these guys yet. A whole year is a long time to see them suck and it’s easy to conclude the worst. I guess I just need to see at least one more year from them to get on that bandwagon. Especially since they all had seasons as good as or better than Austin Meadows did in 2021 and no one here is writing him off. I think any or all of them could recover and have as good a year in 2023 that they had in 2021. Maybe Scott Harris doesn’t agree and he’s gonna let some or all of them all go, but for any of them he’s gives another chance to, I’m in for the ride.

I’m not so sure we need to fix shortstop. I think if things break better than average, Baez is within shouting distance of four wins, and if we can fix Schoop’s bat to where he’s within 90% wins of where he just was, he could maybe hit three wins. Not a prediction or guarantee but I do think it’s well within the scope of probability.

Nope. I’m out of that game for good. 😁

I subscribe to Pod Save America and the first one to three minutes are chocked with ads, so I set up my Overcast app to start already one minute into it. Then I may have to hit the 30--> button anywhere from one to four times to get to the midi tune intro.

And in some cases, if the service you use is paid for by you, you are both the customer and the product.