RedRamage

I'm probably one of the bigger Bates slappies here (just look at the UFL thread), but a 64-yarder in practice doesn't mean much. Don't get me wrong... I definitely LIKE that he has a big leg, but kicking in practice vs. in game where the opposing team is barreling in on you and there's pressure to make it... that's what counts a lot more. Bates mostly seemed to be able to handle this in the UFL well, but there's always the question of whether the added mental pressure of doing in in the NFL will be too much. I mean he's on a (nearly) $2M contract over two years. This is life altering money and if he's successful he can expect even more.

I want him to go to which ever team will do better with him. I don't really fear the Browns or the Pats right now, so I'd prefer that the 49ers get a lower pick (as a result of the team he goes to finishing with a better record) in whatever draft picks they're getting back. I will say that I'm surprised that there are two trade deals worked out (from the 49ers end). This actually gives Aiyuk some leverage with the teams. I don't know if this is common and I've just never heard of it before or if the 49ers are trying to be nice to Aiyuk or what.

Two things: 1. This is why we moved on from Jackson. He was beginning to be an injury problem. Missed 4 games two years ago, missed 5 games last year. He's good when healthy, but being healthy all year was becoming hard for him to do and it's not smart to give a LOT of money to a guy who isn't able to play regularly... not when he's "just" good. 2. Even if they are all healthy for week 1, OL is about working together and getting comfortable with how your neighbors play. If they only have limited time to work together this will work in favor of the Lions. Having said that, if there are "day-to-day" things than the group may still be able to drill together, just not do an actually contact stuff.

I'm certainly not being a rules expert, but doesn't he take up a spot on the 53 man roster then?

Grapes? Is that you??

Even if we assume a resurgence of Levi (which is a HUGE if right now), it's still to early to cement it, but I totally agree that its looking like a monster return on the draft. Sewell: Bona fide star, pro-bowl caliber starter Onwuzurike: Quality rotation/possible starter McNeill: High Quality Starter/border line Star Player Melifonwu: Quality rotation/possible starter (depends on how he progresses at safety) St. Brown: Bona fide star, pro-bowl caliber starter Barnes: Decent Rotation guy Jefferson: Depth piece We got 3 starters... and that's 3 guys who would be starters on nearly any team in the league. We got 3 players who are borderline starters. 3 guys who would probably be starters on many teams in the league, but aren't quite good enough to be considered starters with the Lions. We got 2 bona fide stars with at least 1 knocking on that door, and maybe more? Yeah, this is the sort of draft that could rank up there with the best, that's for sure.

See, the thing is just about any other coach I can think of... I hear that from them and I just assume it's coach-speak... trying to talk up a guy. "Best shape of his life..." sorta stuff. But with Campbell? I think he actually means it. Now, obviously it has to translate from training camp to actual games AND there's the little matter of staying healthy. But make IF he put together and IF he can stay healthy... that's a HUGE bonus for the defense.

With Cominsky out and Judon unhappy with his contract in Boston, do the Lions call up the Pats about what it would take to get Judon? Being a Grand Valley alum I'd love to be able to root for him.

I think that's definitely true, but... I think that would have been true before the trades, if maybe not quite as much. 3 of our 6 players penciled is an Major league starters are injured with now in Mize, Olson, and Manning. Another 1 has just totally bombed out and been demoted. That means we had 2 good starting pitchers. Starting pitching on 7/30 was in bad shape. For 2025, are we really in any worse shape that we were two days ago? Sure, triple A pitching isn't as deep as it was because we've had to call up Montero and will have to call up more now. But these are guys we hoped would be pushing for starting jobs next year and/or will be pushed back to triple-A if the three guys listed above come back healthy. The ground we've lost for the year isn't because of the trades, it's because of the injuries and underperformance of key players.

Maybe, but remember this is just a rental on a guy with some back issues so I'm not expecting the sun moon and stars... just the moon, and maybe one or two smaller stars.

Even after giving every indication that he would NOT use his cellphone signal blocker, at the last minute Flaherty did use it to block Harris from being able to make and receive phone calls. It's Flaherty's fault.

Quoted for the truth... and also because I just love that name. Whenever I hear it I think that it was a character in the Hobbit.

Busy pressing 'F5' on various websites.

Yeah, it would be more accurate to say "ERod's camp" instead of ERod... and likewise the Tiger's front office instead of Harris. It's just easier to type just the names I guess.

I'm saying that yes. I'm also saying if he was a partial idiot who didn't do the mildly advanced parts of his job that a 12th grader would understand, then yes, he deserves some of our scorn. Again we'll never know for sure what happened. My guess is that Harris did at least some work with ERod. What I don't know is if he got a 100% solid, firm "Yes, I will accept being traded to the Dodgers" or if it was more like "I'd have to think about it, but maybe... probably yeah." I don't know ERod personally, but based on his history here I'd guess that he may not be 100% trustworthy to follow through on vague promises so unless there was an iron clad promise there should have been alternate plans in place.

Harris, in my opinion, should have had numerous conversations with ERod. He should have pushed for a firm commitment on which teams were okay or not okay. He should have had the back of the house stuff done days before the deadline. Now as you said, we'll never know for sure what was or wasn't said or promised or agreed upon. If Harris did all that and then ERod pulled the carpet out at the 11th hour... then Harris gets little blame imho. But if Harris had anything less than a 100% guarantee from ERod that he would accept the trade to the Dodgers, plan B, C, and probably D should have been ready to go just in case.

Who's the poster here who always chimes in that the Salary Cap is a myth??

Regardless of your opinion on Avila/Verlander trade, NOT trading ERod was a fail. EVERYONE knew he was walking and he could have brought a potential good return. If your house is on fire the smart move is to get out of your house. If you stay in your house and turns out an asteroid happens to land in your yard and would have hit and killed you. But instead the wind from the decent and impact ends up blowing out the fire in your house and you survive by staying in your house... well that makes you extremely lucky, not extremely smart.

The ERod non-trade was a massive fail, no question on that. I don't think Flaherty has a no-trade clause so there's not the issue there. But even if he does trade him it could still be a fail. If he waits *too* long so many teams go for secondary targets then the price for Flaherty may fall a bit. I'll admit I haven't been closely following MLB at large but it seems like it's a sellers market so I don't think there's too much danger of this, but still... it's one area where waiting to very last might bite the team.

I go back and forth on it a bit... During June I was very pro-Trade, now I'm less so given we're starting to see production from some of the younger guys. So, explaining how I was feeling in June: It very much looked like it was going to be 3-5 years until the Tigers were close to competing again. Our pitching was reasonably successful and we've been shown that we can develop pitching reasonably well. So while I don't think we could replace Skubal with someone else perfectly, I also didn't feel like we'd be trading like Cabrera in his prime with only Don Kelly to take his place. I also figured it was long shot to sign Skubal long term. He's flirting with best pitcher in baseball and was going to get massive offers from the highest bidders. You think he'd take a home town discount to play with a team that was still trying to build up to a point of maybe sorta being competitive? So, keep Skubal and see him pitch for us 2.5 more years while our offense looks like ****, then see him get a huge pay somewhere else just as we're maybe getting competitive again. Or trade him for a MASSIVE return to bolster our minors and make sure that in 2.5 years we're getting competitive again with some more ammo in the minors.

Sometimes the best move is to make the deal like a month early. That way you're not confused by a bunch of offers at the last minute and only have to deal with one team.

I get the feeling that Flaherty isn't going anywhere until tomorrow. There seems to be a bit of a bidding war so I suspect Harris is holding out for the best offer as teams get more and more desparate.

Any thoughts of if Carson Kelly is moved? We may not get much for him, but with Dingler playing so well in the minors it might be worth it try see what teams might offer.

It's amazing to think that... I mean the starting rotation was supposed to be out major strength with lots of depth! We sent a guy to triple-A who could easily have been a starter in lot of teams rotations. Now we're struggling to field 3 guys.

I know, I know... small sample size and all that... but I didn't read this comment until relatively recently and thought "What do you mean below average? He's been hitting like crazy!" But obviously we need to see if is an anomaly or the new normal for Keith.