Will Tigers Pony up for Skubal

[Stormin]

3 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

The idea that this team would implode without Skubal is ridiculous.  He’ll pitch in 20% of our games, if lucky and log 2/3 innings in of each of those.

He is amazing, but we have won without him and will again.

Winning is one step.  The World Series is a much bigger step.  If I didn't consider the Tigers  a World Series contender with Skubal, I might align with your view.   But I like to dream.   Removing Skubal from the Tigers roster and adding Skubal to the Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners, Dodgers, Phillies ...   makes the postseason  path  much more difficult.  

Skubal has pitched at least 6 innings in each of his 6 post season games over the past 2 years and has a 2.04 ERA and 1.91 FIP in the post season.  Skubal has pitched 28% of the Tigers postseason innings over the past 2 seasons.  No other pitcher on the Tigers staff comes close to those numbers.  

Edited yesterday at 04:29 AM by Stormin

[IdahoBert]

6 hours ago, buddha said:

If skubal leaves i'll still root for him unless he goes to Boston or the White Sox, twins or indians.  Then he can rot in hell.

Ha. I don’t really blame you. 

[IdahoBert]

Everyone is of course free to do whatever they want. But I have never cared about or followed players that have left this team ever. I just lose interest and when they leave this team, their exploits are meaningless to me. Even JV.  When Skubal leaves this team, I will cease to care about him.

I don’t even identify myself as a “baseball fan.“ I’m a Tigers fan. Baseball doesn’t exist for me unless it’s the Tigers.

I’m not necessarily proud of this, but it is what it is. I’m glad that other people can find joy in baseball in general or sports in general. I just don’t happen to be one of those persons. 

[Tigermojo]

7 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

Everyone is of course free to do whatever they want. But I have never cared about or followed players that have left this team ever. I just lose interest and when they leave this team, their exploits are meaningless to me. Even JV.  When Skubal leaves this team, I will cease to care about him.

I don’t even identify myself as a “baseball fan.“ I’m a Tigers fan. Baseball doesn’t exist for me unless it’s the Tigers.

I’m not necessarily proud of this, but it is what it is. I’m glad that other people can find joy in baseball in general or sports in general. I just don’t happen to be one of those persons. 

 

[IdahoBert]

5 minutes ago, Tigermojo said:

 

Thank you! 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

1 hour ago, IdahoBert said:

Everyone is of course free to do whatever they want. But I have never cared about or followed players that have left this team ever. I just lose interest and when they leave this team, their exploits are meaningless to me. Even JV.  When Skubal leaves this team, I will cease to care about him.

I don’t even identify myself as a “baseball fan.“ I’m a Tigers fan. Baseball doesn’t exist for me unless it’s the Tigers.

I’m not necessarily proud of this, but it is what it is. I’m glad that other people can find joy in baseball in general or sports in general. I just don’t happen to be one of those persons. 

Amen. i completely agree with this.

[Stormin]

 

[chasfh]

12 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

Everyone is of course free to do whatever they want. But I have never cared about or followed players that have left this team ever. I just lose interest and when they leave this team, their exploits are meaningless to me. Even JV.  When Skubal leaves this team, I will cease to care about him.

I don’t even identify myself as a “baseball fan.“ I’m a Tigers fan. Baseball doesn’t exist for me unless it’s the Tigers.

I’m not necessarily proud of this, but it is what it is. I’m glad that other people can find joy in baseball in general or sports in general. I just don’t happen to be one of those persons. 

THANK you. I've been saying for years that I don't understand rooting for ex-Tigers playing for other teams. I promise you they feel nothing for us once they leave. Plus, now they're trying to make us lose!

[papalawrence]

20 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

Everyone is of course free to do whatever they want. But I have never cared about or followed players that have left this team ever. I just lose interest and when they leave this team, their exploits are meaningless to me. Even JV.  When Skubal leaves this team, I will cease to care about him.

I don’t even identify myself as a “baseball fan.“ I’m a Tigers fan. Baseball doesn’t exist for me unless it’s the Tigers.

I’m not necessarily proud of this, but it is what it is. I’m glad that other people can find joy in baseball in general or sports in general. I just don’t happen to be one of those persons. 

We all root in different ways - how boring would life be if everyone thought the same way!

I tune out anyone who leaves via free agency - Grant Hill, Alan Houston, Morris, Parish, Gibby. But if a player gets traded, sometimes I still follow. I was happy for Stafford when he won a SB. That's since faded, and ultimately he is part of the enemy now. And I watched every game that JV pitched in Houston in 2017, and I was glad to see him get that ring. It's faded since 'bang a gong' was revealed. I followed LeFlore after he was dealt for Shatzeder. I played high school basketball with Loy Vaught, and followed him closely during his non Pistons years. I even often choose a New York slice over a Detroit style slice. Exceptions - I will loathe anyone that playes for the Yankees, Dodgers or Red Sox, regardless of Detroit bloodlines.

[chasfh]

12 hours ago, papalawrence said:

And I watched every game that JV pitched in Houston in 2017, and I was glad to see him get that ring. It's faded since 'bang a gong' was revealed.

And that's another reason I don't root for ex-Tigers on other teams.

Big league baseball players are not my friends or family members. They are merely employees of an organization for whom I root to win games on the field. I know zero about most players personally. As such, I don't know what true colors they are going to reveal once they go to another team, but even if they do, that's not going to change what I feel about them personally, because I feel nothing about them personally, if that makes any sense.

When I root for a player on my team, I am rooting only for his effect on the team, not for the player personally. So if he does something objectionable as a Tiger, for example, keeping a second family, it doesn't affect how I root for him, because I'd been rooting only for his output, anyway. Would I rather have a good guy playing for my team than a bad guy? To the degree that it matters, which is minute, sure, why not. But that's only a nice-to-have, not a must-have. Beyond that, I have no personal stake in what kind of people these guys are off the field.

This is why I don't root for ex-Tigers on other teams. Because he's not a friend or family member, when he engages in something on another team like "bang a gong", I feel no betrayal or disappointment. He's someone else's problem now. Flip side, if he wins a Cy Young and a ring, I feel no joy, because he had to beat my team in order to get there.

[oblong]

Verlander was a unique situation. In 2017 he was about a month removed from being traded. We watched him grow up and at least for me I had a feeling we were seeing a guy close out his career. I typically don’t give two ****s who wins a WS so in a situation like that I will root for him. I saw it kind of like a Ray Bourque to Colorado thing where Boston took as much pride in that.  Nobody will ever think of him as anything but a Bruin.  Looking back on JV obviously he elevated his game and sustained his greatness.  I didn’t see that happening at his age but he might be just as much an Astro as a Tiger  

 

Scherzer I don’t feel the same way. We didn’t draft him. He signed elsewhere and even then I knew his greatest years still in front of him so I saw his time here as a stepping stone. 

[Edman85]

I don't want to link it here, but somebody sent me a link to a "TotallyTigers" blog post about Skubal. It totally read like an AI Slop blog regurgitating Rosenthal. Am I off base there?

[Tiger337]

6 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

I don't want to link it here, but somebody sent me a link to a "TotallyTigers" blog post about Skubal. It totally read like an AI Slop blog regurgitating Rosenthal. Am I off base there?

No, That blog is horrible.