HugoD

Yeah, but even not winning it all can't be tied to the level of action or inaction at the trade deadline. It's unprovable that picking up this player or that, regardless the cost, would have improved - or hurt - the final results. This stuff is fun to speculate about, and it's what this forum is all about, but we really never know the answers to the what ifs.

Maybe, but "improvement" can be in the eye of the beholder. Granted, if they could acquire someone who would objectively upgrade a position of need in exchange for a future consideration (draft pick), the calculus becomes: To what extent will the reasonably expected improvement change the end results for this year, and what's that worth? I don't mean to state the obvious, but every FO has (or should have) their own way to measure this. Obviously, their job security depends on it. I for one enjoy seeing action at trade deadline and in offseason, but that's because it has entertainment value. I don't have anything important riding on it (except for my mental health during season).

Remember Matt Anderson 😀

A lot of interesting thoughts on 2026, and fair points made on all sides. Some thoughts on the topics discussed so far: 1. I'm kind of in the camp of "why trade Mize?". He's an above average ML SP and, as mentioned, still cost-controlled. Maybe there's a trade scenario in which the Tigers improve their roster, but I think unlikely. Also, I'm totally in favor of having analytics based decision making (hell, it's part of my job), but the body language Casey showed Thursday night was more comforting to me than I've seen from him. I think that means something wrt long term performance. On that note, Melton looks very poised! 2. I agree that Tork has become a "glue" guy, for lack of a better term. I also agree that ABS will benefit him. Glove work has improved, though not sure what the numbers say about that. 3. JHM is a 4A guy. 4. Jones has been super effective in his role. Not sure if sustainable, but he has really come though numerous times. 5. Season ending nose dive notwithstanding, you could do a lotworse than having Wenceel as your 4th OF.

Definitely, but he could pitch well and we still lose. For example, I could easily see Skubes allowing 1 run over 7IP and leaving tied or behind. This is as much about how Tigers perform against Castillo. This game is by no means a gimme imo.

Oh man that’s brutal. I’m totally down with folks having that passion. If you grew up there, you’d most likely be a Mariners fan .

this. Tork could have just as easily had a walk.

KC is the worst, though the huge parking lot works better for baseball than for football. Saw Tigers play there on on Friday night this year and it was actually not a bad stadium experience, other than the fact that you might as well be on a desert island when outside the park. Sure, they have bars/restaurants inside, but of course the prices are exorbitant.

Just took a peek between meetings. Happy to see 1 - 0 , but not as happy after glancing at P x P and seeing golden chance to score more wasted (again). Just get a 3 run cushion guys. Well, at least they've scored 4 runs in the series so far. If we could just push that to a cumulative Bert for the 3 games, we might have a chance. Edit: oh gosh, now it's 2 on with 1 out. I can't bear to look.

Came close! 380 mil? 🙂

Spoke with my son yesterday. He's lived in Portland for almost 10 years and he says that protest energy has been pretty low over the past year or so. The ICE protesters are just a handful of folks. He said the felling there is it will most likely be National Guard folks picking up trash. Having said that insofar as he's been historically pretty engaged with social and political things, I was concerned and told him that he needs stay away. Really HATED telling him that, because I support peaceful protest. But, I guess I'm really cautious when it comes to my own kids, even though he's a grown ass adult. It concerns me though that he's a Black man and could also be targeted as a suspected immigrant.

That's fair.

Very well said. Really sums up how I feel as well.

Oh, there's no doubt that I still have some PTSOL, which has been well earned over the 55 years or so I've been a fan. We all have to some degree or another. FWIW, not referring to your comments at all when talking about irrational negativity (I should have been more specific, but it's really only one or maybe a few posters) Not that I'm the arbiter of such things, but I think it's just normal of fans who are emotionally invested to get PO'd about certain plays and point things out. I just get tired of the grade school level stuff from a very small few.

Funny you say that; I was thinking about this and came to the conclusion that much of us Lion's fans, especially the long timers amongst us, suffer from a sort of PTSD. I admit to those thoughts, but in general I try to look at the good. I mean, you have to acknowledge the truth about what's not good, but you also need perspective. Plus, optimism supposedly leads to better health! Having said that, realism is always OK, the the constant irrational negative statements from "some" folks is tiresome.

It's gotten to the point amongst the national talking heads that if they were to start talking up Goff, I'd get nervous and uncomfortable. Heading home yesterday, I was listening to Steven A. go on and on about how the Ravens defense was terrible. I'm just smiling and thinking "you just can't give credit to Lions offense and Goff can you?". Hell, Mayfield gets more credit! Whatever, would rather have underrated guys than overrated guys.

Yeah, this is where I'm at. To be fair, I kind of thought the lack of splash at the deadline wouldn't impact their chances at making postseason. Whether or not it lessened their potential postseason success was harder to guess, as it's a bit of a crapshoot anyways. I never ruled out the Tigers having an extended streak of bad play, but didn't think it would coincide with either Cleveland or KC playing out of their minds. I mean the odds of both occurring were infinitesimal, literally. Having said that, some of the takes on here are over the top as well. For example, the "they don't care / are not trying" thing is tired. Often times it can be due to trying too hard, which doesn't work so well in baseball. I think anyone who's actually been "in the arena" with any type of team( whether in sports or business) knows it's not that simple. With regard to the decision makers and leaders, sometimes they're just wrong. Good ones admit it, reflect and adjust. If they don't, they will indeed lose their position (which will at least satisfy the bloodlust of the mob 😁). Going forward, a few more proven bats are a must, as well as more SP depth. It's foolhardy to think that you don't need 8 quality SP in this day and age.

When everything came down at the deadline, I'll admit that I was one who thought may be this would be OK. I was especially hopeful that Morton would continue on the path he'd been leading up to the deadline. It's pretty apparent to me that I totally misjudged the situation. Granted, would be hard to predict that total team performance would take such a complete 180. As others have said, I think the biggest failure was with SP; I too have been thinking that we would have been way better off with Keider and Melton - certainly couldn't have been worse. Obviously, they've been beset by other woes beyond the rotation, but it started there. And, as @gehringer_2 and @Sports_Freak pointed out, the system is bereft of promising pitching talent at the high minor level. That's a recipe for disaster.

As have I, and yes, it was a good time to be a bit away from it. Easier to be philosophical, at least for me, when you're not hanging on every at bat.

Yeah, I hear you, but I've come to conclusion that the "being hot going into playoffs" thought that's prevalent among folks who talk about it has become kind of a cliche. I "feel" (not based on any research :)), that this isn't always the case. It's no different than how, during the season, teams are on a prolonged skid and then it suddenly turns around. We've seen that a lot this year. Now, on the other hand, it is hard to feel much positivity when the recent results have been so bleak. AI summary: you never know.

This is really good information; thanks for compiling it. With so many numbers available these days, including in the "real" world, it's always a fun challenge to try to distinguish predictive signals from noise.

Yep, that's always been my thought as well. It's not complicated; if it were, it wouldn't have occurred to me. Like you said, those numbers are now much more available, and I think they should permanently replace references to BABIP.

Genuinely curious - are you inferring that BABIP has limited use as a metric? I do think it's really limited and overused - but I can't tell if you're for it or against it.

Yeah, it's both. My initial thoughts yesterday were that play calls always look better with strong OL play. This is for sure true, but I've come around to the idea that the play caller needs to adjust as well to the situation as it is. I'm no expert, but it's not as thought the OL was/is a complete disaster that can't be accommodated.

Yeah, you defined the decision point and the other variables very well. In hindsight it may seem AJ was greedy sending him out for the 6th at all, but in the moment, I agreed. It’s just, when do you pull him, and that comes with a lot of other variables.