IdahoBert

Now that the dust has settled overnight, the take away is that the people running this club really believe in the process they have set in motion, that the successes they’ve gained are not incidental, and that they’re not sacrificing the future for short term gains to please either low information fans or the many existing versions of the sports commentariat whether it be corporate or more casual. Other teams didn’t want to do the Detroit Tigers any favors, they were prepared for this, and the Tigers didn’t blink.

I like what Harris is doing in general, and we misunderstand him if we think he is undertaking this mission in Detroit as anything less than a vocation and a challenge to do something great where it’s not expected. If he were interested only in fame and money, he probably wouldn’t have come to Detroit and to an organization so long struggling. People who think he’s some kind of pris who will flee to the highest bidder for wine and cheese parties elsewhere really underestimate his seriousness. He’s not done yet and he proved that today whether any of us like the way he did it or not. It’s a privilege to have a front row seat in this unexpected spectacle that began to reap dividends after the deadline last year.

I’m disinterested in the opinions of the industrial sports media complex (to borrow and redefine a concept from President Eisenhower). It thrives on splash, attitude, big money, big stars, big talk… etc., etc.. It’s impatient and doing anything based on process that requires time to evolve is inimical to their model. That doesn’t mean I’m happy with what happened regarding the Tigers today. I’m not but I get it. They’re doing things differently. On purpose. I guess now we’ll see how it pans out.

I don’t know if I care all that much about what the players were saying, that they wanted Suarez, etc.. I look upon the players as athletes, not as masterminds of strategy and organization building. But ignoring their humbly conceived wishes seems like a double-edged sword too. It’s AJ‘s job to sell it.

I was wondering about the six man rotation thing. Maybe the organization’s x-ray specs have “seen something” in Morton they can fix.

Seems like it.

I’m glad that Johnny and Daniella aren’t expected to talk about this off the top of their heads right now. It’s a good thing it’s an off day.

Are they gonna use him in long relief?

Is this like a prank? Is Ashton Kutcher going to jump out of a Cadillac Escalade to laugh at us?

Oh, you beat me to it by seconds.

I guess they’re going for that “veteran presence” thing.

So was Ohtani acquired for the entire Seawolves roster?

In an hour and 21 minutes this will all be over and we’ll wake up and we’ll be back in black-and-white in Kansas and we’ll realize it had all been just a dream.

This is good news. Right now I’m just hoping we don’t get swept in Philadelphia.

It’s too bad there isn’t a game today because if there were a game at 6 PM Eastern when the trade deadline has passed, Tigers Live on FanDuel would be on the air and it’d be entertaining to witness the coverage of the - thus far - underwhelming though probably predictable results.

There’s times where I feel like I’m a street urchin in a Dickens novel, shivering in the cold and peering through the windows of the rich people’s homes, watching them dine and celebrate a Christmas dinner of roast pheasant and razzberry dressing.

Thx. I guess I could’ve just looked it up. Which I eventually did.

I’m assuming this is adding him to the 40 man roster maybe, if even that?

I don’t know why I should be upset or even critical because what’s happening — thus far — is exactly what I thought would happen, even though I know less about this stuff than most people on this board. When the broadcasting crew talks about this stuff, of course they have to hype up the possibilities because they can’t really say that the Tigers will be conservative and cheap. And it’s pleasing to jump on board that train. But I don’t think they’re going to fold and abandon the strategy that has brought them this far at the major league level, as well as dragging the minor league system out of the back waters and doldrums and made it the envy of MLB. There’s still another 4 1/2 hours to go so I guess we’ll just see.

We are building an impenetrable Maginot Line around our bullpen today.

It should, but this team is capable of surprises, which is one reason why they have enchanted so often except for that 13 games stretch where they won only one ball game.

But you get a medal of honor for it.

The Mariners are desperate to win it all. This deal makes sense for them. Think of all the great players who went through Seattle then moved on elsewhere, but they never won a World Series with them. I can’t say I “wish them well“ because they are merely an obstacle of my own team’s success, just noise in comparison to music. but I understand why they did it.

Just in general, for the upcoming series with the Phillies, their starting pitchers are total studs by ordinary standards. None of them has missed a start. All of them have pitched a lot of innings by today’s standards, all of them have sub 3.00 ERA’s and all have won 9 games, sticking around long enough - which is a good thing - to actually win and have a lead provided by their hitting. Compared to them —aside from our Cy Young guy — our starters are on again off again guys and recent arrivals with one good game under their belts instead of 23 each in comparison to the Phillies. And Philadelphia is astoundingly good at Home 33–19.