2025 All-Star thread but not a game thread

[Tiger337]

2 hours ago, oblong said:

I hope Avila takes some pride in that.  He deserves it.  Two things can be true at the same time.  He did help build a foundation in terms of systems and people but someone else had to take it to the next level.  No shame in that.   Half of the experts on Tigers Twitter wanted Harris fired 11 months ago so F them too.

 

Right, I don't get why people are triggered by it.  Harris is way better, but that doesn't mean Avila didn't contribute something to this team.  

[Sports_Freak]

3 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Right, I don't get why people are triggered by it.  Harris is way better, but that doesn't mean Avila didn't contribute something to this team.  

Without Avila trading away all of our expensive quality players with little return, we never would have had several years of high draft choices. And Harris would never have been hired. So I guess we should thank him?  

[Tenacious D]

Avila deserves a ton of credit.  Took him too long with the rebuild, but the current core came on his watch.

[Arlington]

5 hours ago, lordstanley said:

Don Wert! 

Wonder if he was a sympathy pick.  Don was beemed about 2 weeks before the All-Star game and reportedly was never the same again.  I started following in 1968 too so he never seemed good to me, but he was averaging a little better than 2 WAR from 1964 - 1967, a solid starter.  In his 3 years after '68 he had a -1.5 WAR.   Imagine getting a very serious life changing concussion with 2 days in the hospital and being back in 9 days.

[Motor City Sonics]

4 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Right, I don't get why people are triggered by it.  Harris is way better, but that doesn't mean Avila didn't contribute something to this team.  

The team was going nowhere with Avila and the question seemed to be  - could he not judge talent or could he not develop it or both?   I think we have the answer.  He was a good talent evaluator that did not have a good handle on development.   Harris came in and fixed that immediately and now we see that Avila was better than we thought.   I think the current Tiger system is modeled after the Tampa system, and Tampa always develops good enough talent to basically contend every 3 out of 4 years.    The difference here is - where Tampa trades away any player about to get into serious contracts, the Tigers probably can't get away with that as much.   The Tampa fanbase doesn't have that ache for baseball that the Detroit fanbase does - and trading away your stars as they become starts would infuriate the fanbase here.    If this was the Rays, Riley Greene would be gone, probably this year, even if the team was contending.      The Tigers and Lions seem to be on a run of picking and developing good players - the kind of thing that if you stay this good, or even close to it, you should always have a shot at the playoffs.   The way Brad Holmes is going with the Lions, a 9-8 season is going to seem like a failure.  Imagine saying that just 4 years ago.   The way things are clicking into place for the Tigers, and with the talent they have in the minors, losing a Tarik Skubal might not be as bad as some believe.    I don't think the Tigers will be able to keep him.   I think Steve Cohen's gonna offer him 60 million a year, especially if the Mets haven't won a series by then.   Even if Skubal loves it here, he's not turning that down. 

Edited Friday at 11:36 PM by Motor City Sonics

[Sports_Freak]

Skubal and Skenes named All Star starters.

[chasfh]

On 7/11/2025 at 2:21 PM, Tiger337 said:

Right, I don't get why people are triggered by it.  Harris is way better, but that doesn't mean Avila didn't contribute something to this team.  

Avila bought some of the materials. He simply had no idea how to build the house.

[casimir]

On 7/11/2025 at 3:14 PM, monkeytargets39 said:

I’m glad none of our guys are going to ruin their swings by doing the hr derby too

 

 

Thus began the downfall of Brandon Inge....

[casimir]

Avila seems to have done pretty well at drafting during pandemics and in rounds ending with the number 9.

[IdahoBert]

Skenes and Skubal to open, and there’s a 51% chance of rain an hour before the game begins. 
 

[papalawrence]

Riley seems to be the national face of the team

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Bf21TYazo/?mibextid=D5vuiz

[IdahoBert]

Right now, I’m re-watching Roger Corman’s Death Race 2000. It’s good preparation for Home Run Derby. 

[lordstanley]

Love or hate Chris Berman, the Home Run Derby is not the same without “back back back”. 

[lordstanley]

 

[papalawrence]

Raleigh wins the derby, no surprise. That's the first one I have watched since Josh Hamilton had a crazy second round

[holygoat]