casimir

Jim Harbaugh to Baltimore Ravens, John Harbaugh to the UofM, Ryan Day to San Diego Chargers?

They get a bit too silly together at times. Dirks doesn’t seem to be off the rails with Dickerson. Likewise, Petry isn’t completely stoic with Benetti, but keeps himself more inbounds than Dirks.

At the very least, he isn’t helping his trade value.

Where does Hoerner fit with the Tigers? Savant is unkind to his arm, so SS/3B doesn't seem a fit. 2B is spoken for. He doesn’t SO much, I like that.

I think it was understandable for Ivey to start out his season slowly or rusty or whatever. But I’ve got to think he should be past that by now. Last night was an opportunity to shoulder a significant part of the load and it didn’t happen. At the very least he should be looked to as a significant piece of the offense when Cunningham is on the bench in a game he plays, but that just hasn’t materialized yet this season. Someone else said he doesn’t seem to have the same speed or quickness as he had before. I think he does, but it certainly seems like it isn’t used as often as in the past or maybe as often as it could be used. Maybe he’s lost that physically or maybe he he’s not back physically/mentally? I don’t know.

Remember way back when face coverings were considered weak?

I kind of wonder if Olson might have a healthier career as a RP? It’s probably lazy thinking, but maybe he’s just not going to be able to have a SP career.

Maybe 2024 was his weird season?

Let’s do this. What does the pitching staff look like right now? SP: Skubal, Flaherty, Mize, Olson (when available) are going to be in Detroit. Melton probably? Anderson possibly? RP: Vest, Finnegan, Jansen, Holton are going to be in Detroit. Where do Melton and Anderson fall in? Hanifee, Montero? Brieske, Hunter, Horn? Where do Gipson-Long, Jobe, or Madden fit in? Likely on call in Toledo? It’d be great to add in a Valdez or Suarez type, I have no problem with that. But there’s room at the other end of the rotation, too. And there’s room for another RP or two. So, I have no problem with Bassitt or Giolito on shorter term deals. Ideally they add a top of and bottom of rotation arm.

Skubal, Flaherty, Mize, Olson, Bassitt, Melton. Am I missing any SP on the roster of major consequence? Do we want to assume all 6 will be healthy on Opening Day? I agree that Harris needs to fill up Toledo with quality SP as much as possible. But that’s probably easier said than done via free agency. They’re going to need to get lucky or make trades if they want to add SP to Toledo this season that might be valuable rotation options for Detroit in 2027.

I don’t know. Personally I like the chances of Bassitt going a full season over Mize or Olson. I’ll be proven otherwise when I get proven otherwise. Additionally, I think I probably like the odds of Bassitt pitching deeper into a game than 5 innings Flaherty. Those innings off of the bullpen can add up over the course of a season. Acquiring Bassitt or Giolito solidifies the rotation in 2026 and takes pressure off of expecting a guy like Melton to go the full length of the season as a SP. He’s probably ready to push to 150 IP himself. They’ll use up as many IP from Flaherty and Mize as they can before the next offseason. But what about Olson or Anderson? What is reasonably expected out of Gipson-Long or Montero?

This place needs a baseball game. Are there any Australian Baseball League games today?

Except that the bullpen wasn't all that good, so.....

Wait, was it papa Doc or baby Doc with the bandaid?

Great. So what’s the tie that binds to the Ilitches? Father and son?

Right there with you. There are less lobs now than there were earlier this season, teams have picked up on that. There seems to be a little bit more post game than just out backs this season, but it’s purely in the paint. As you say, he needs to extend out a bit. If he can show a nominal jumper, that gives him more room to dribble drive by slower bigs, which I think he still has a quickness advantage there more days than not.

I have no idea what it means or why it’s lasted this long.

Maybe. And just for the record, I’m counting Venezuelan casualties should we find out that innocent happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time types. Not that we’d necessarily get that information from the current clown crew.

My point still stands. I wouldn’t consider might be major leaguers as untouchable. Might be hall of fame players are untouchable, and even then they could be acquired under certain circumstances.

You trust what's coming out of Washington?

Hinch?

"<May> turn into solid major leaguers" doesn't sound untouchable to me. Sweeney, Malloy, and Jung were in that category at one point, were they not?

I have my doubts here.

I’m not sure the better story, Indiana or Ole Miss. I guess as long as they both win next week, I have a little more time to decide.

To your final sentence, at this point I hope that’s what they have Keith focused on this offseason. I’m fine with him at 3B for a season, let’s see how it looks. Can’t be as bad as Castellanos, right? But that’s a spot to claim right now, and Keith’s bat bears playing. Along those lines of defensive versatility, some guys can do it, some can’t. As much as I appreciate that as a skill set and consider it valuable to an individual player and in the roster making of a team, there are some guys that just can’t do it. Maybe they can flip from LF to RF or 3B to 1B, and maybe that’s stretching it a bit. It’s ok. Not everyone on the roster has to be able to play multiple positions. Baez, McKinstry, and (to a lesser extent) Vierling can offer that safety net. I thought Kim would have been a great addition to the team as a SS and freeing up that trio to be a really good bench. A guy like Jones is going to have a tougher time because he can’t really do anything defensively and he’s on the short end of a platoon. I suspect he won’t make it through this season, I kind of think his offensive output last season might be better than it gets from here on out. On the flip side, I don’t necessarily think McKinstry repeats his offense either, but he has value to a team defensively. It’d be great to see IFs line Lee, Jung, and Anderson show they can hit and handle a few positions, but I guess I have my doubts.