1984Echoes

PS: Baez's career splits are .344 OBP against lefties and .288 OBP against righties... That's also why I put him in the #2 spot in an opening day lineup against a projected lefty...

I think they'll start out slow with Malloy, wanting to get him some AAA at-bats. He might wow in spring training and just make the team... I'm just playing cautious with him as I think the team will also. But he could surprise. If not, I have Nevin place-holding the spot until he gets pushed out (and back to AAA for him, or does he hold onto a bench spot...?) The entire team sucks with OBP, so I put Vierling and Baez in the top two spots as challenges to them to get on base. I think Hinch will challenge them exactly as such. Vierling actually has a minor league obp of .333, a .364 obp his 1st season in a small sample size of 77 pa's and a .297 obp last year in a larger sample of 357 pa's... so I don't know how that will work out. But, again, I think Hinch/ new batting coaches will challenge him. And he does have enough speed to not clog the basepaths, and maybe even take extra bases... If it's a platoon, the same challenge can go out to Baddoo, if he makes this team. Just get on base. I think the same challenge goes out to Baez, who has been spotty, at best. And probably still swings wildly at any and all sliders but... I want this challenge on him. If it's a righty on the mound (I have this as a Lefty facing opening day lineup), he can swap lineup positions with Austin Meadows and drop to 6th. If it's consistent: 2nd against lefties and 6th against righties... he'll just have to live with that. And Meadows the reverse. Greene will be fine in the #3 spot, usually reserved for our best hitter. That's Greene. Tork! in the #4 spot, for now, to challenge him, and to show belief/ confidence in him. We'll see if he can live up to that. Miggy will get the #5 spot... because. But we can put Carpenter at the DH spot against righties and still slot him here to see how that works out. Bottom of the order is Schoop, Nevin, and Rogers (for now). Rogers for his defense. Which, if it's not there, he'll get pushed out by Sands (defense first)/ Haase. Haase can play RF? Or LF only? Either way, he can replace Meadows against occasional lefties if we're looking for more at-bats for him. Or Miggy at DH.

Seems like a good spot for this (probably works in the draft thread too as it might affect draft philosophy): Aidan Hutchinson was double-teamed more than any other NFL pass rusher in 2022 https://sports.yahoo.com/aidan-hutchinson-double-teamed-more-115003446.html PS: This is why I have Myles Murphy high on my list as a bookend to Hutch. All (most) the other guys at DE/ Edge/ pass-rusher on the team seem like situational guys to me, not 3-down defensive ends... And Murphy could slide inside on passing downs so you could have a 4-man rush of Houston-Murphy-McNeil-Hutch...

Seems like a good spot for this (probably works in the draft thread too as it might affect draft philosophy): Aidan Hutchinson was double-teamed more than any other NFL pass rusher in 2022 https://sports.yahoo.com/aidan-hutchinson-double-teamed-more-115003446.html

HAH!!! So I'm not alone with my piles of papers then...

1 - Matt Vierling, LF 2 - Javier Baez, SS 3 - Riley Greene, CF 4 - Spencer Torkelson, 1B 5 - Miguel Cabrera, DH 6 - Austin Meadows, RF 7 - Jonathan Schoop, 2B 8 - Tyler Nevin, 3B 9 - Jake Rogers, C

We already had him signed for 2023 (2nd year of a 2-year) that he opted out of... I think he wants more than just a 1 year contract (and more money...!). Doesn't mean he'll get it... But I don't think he ends up with just 1 year on his next contract... IMO.

And does Husso need to play less games so he doesn't get burnt out...? Or is the D (and backchecking on the forwards...) just failing him...?

Chiarot looks like he put the team in a hole, almost single-handedly... I wish Lalonde would protect him more and have him just play special teams and 3rd pair, limiting his minutes... but that's just me...

That's not my assumption and I am placing no negativity on Harris whatsoever. I'm just sayin'... my personal preference would be Chafin over Cisnero... But you're right, I have no idea if the Tigers are actually making a play, or not, for Chafin because he runs a tight ship with no leaks...

Obviously we don't know exactly what is on his mind... But, I'm just guessing here... the Tigers aren't in any of those contract discussions with his agent as they are not going to go there (age/ years/ cost)... again, I'm just guessing... but I don't think it's an issue of whether he is open to coming back to Detroit or not...

Based primarily on this, I don't get why we didn't made a push to get Chafin back here instead of Cisnero. Oh... Cisnero cost $2 mill and Chafin is going to cost what? $18-27 mill on a 2/3 year year contract? So there's that... But... Chafin is actually good, limits walks, is LH'ed, fits Harris's specifically stated player profile, and would still be a trade candidate/ OR a BP leader for the team, one way or the other. Just a personal preference and I don't care about the money or the years... But... I don't really care based on where the team is this year (trying to fix all its broken players) so whatever. But, my personal preference still would have been Chafin... just sayin'.

Sweet game!

Hah!!! Absolutely! (I was always a crappy skater so it took a long time before I fell in love with my Dad's favorite game... but Yzerman/ Probert and company got me there...).

I don't know why he shot backwards between his legs on that last shot when he should have gone top post over the goalies left shoulder... but ya' gotta assume that's he's quite a bit hockey-rusty...

You call it tanking, I call it rebuilding. Again... in MLB and the NHL, there is zero sense to "tanking" because MOST prospects take years to develop so it's a crapshoot and "tanking" is a meaningless word. Being a "Seller" does NOT automatically make a team a "tanker". I mean seriously, are you kidding me? Are teams NOT ALLOWED to rebuild in your mind? Is Stevie Y NOT ALLOWED to trade pending Free Agents this year because he is then performing the "sin" of tanking? I think the angst over "tanking" is overblown and ridiculous. Teams in the NHL do not go crazy and send their best goalie to Grand Rapids in order to get more losses or sit a healthy Larkin-Seider-Raymond in order to get more losses so they have a chance at Bedard. If a team is crappy then they are crappy. If they trade players away because they're a crappy team, it's called a... Rebuild. Plain & simple.

Yeah, I'm assuming that the request itself... Asking for a projected 2029 lineup... Was facetious. I might be wrong on that... but a facetious question deserves a facetious response... IMO.

It's a huge jump from designing and running plays to running an entire team (reducing the amount of time doing what he knows best at this point...). I don't think he's ready yet but who knows?

Nope. Your record says what you are. I could try everything in the book trying to win and still end up with the worst record. Who are you to say I should be penalized because, what, you tried harder? You mean you got luckier. And didn't have the injuries that my team had and therefore... you're going to penalize me? Pure trash.

I HATE this idea. Garbage.

I DO agree with that in regards to the NBA. We've seen it. I do NOT agree with that in the NHL. Show me an example where multiple teams at the bottom sold off everyone at the deadline, and sat their best players/ goalie in order to lose more games. I need an example with multiple teams, the year, the shitshow moves they made (like benching healthy players/ or loading up on IR, just for example...) and the player they were falling all over themselves in this perceived shitshow.

1973: Chuck Knox.

Yeah, I don't like lotteries either. But I understand why the NBA would resort to something like that, for reasons as you've pointed out:

Because there are some specific characteristics that I believe would make Chauncey a successful head coach: 1) I though he was a brilliant court tactician. Some might argue that was all Larry Brown; but I don't think so. I believe Chauncey could "think" the game with his high basketball IQ. He's an Assistant Coach with the Clippers right now... I believe he will soon become someone's head coach and would love it getting him back here in Detroit. Not as a homer, but for his basketball IQ. 2) I believe he relates well with players, helped Paul George become a better passer with the Clippers, communicates well, has always been poised, and a leader. As a player he was tough-minded, and a cold-blooded assassin/ killer. I think he would bring these attributes to the Pistons as a head coach. And instill them into the team. I think he'd be a perfect fit for Cade-Ivey-Killian, and guys like Bey-Stewart-Duren as well... 3) Being a part of the 2004-05 Pistons, I believe, influenced him as to the value of ferocious, hard-nosed defense. I don't know if he still carries that, as a defensive philosophy... but I would like to believe that he still has that in his DNA, and would like to see if he can instill that into the current version of the Pistons. I mean, modern rules and modern game and all... so not the same defense as that era... but I mean the attitude to play that tough defense. Stew & Noel have it on the current Pistons... I'm not certain anyone else does. Here's and old article from the Clipper 2021... https://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/story/2021-06-13/clippers-assistant-chauncey-billups-destined-to-be-head-coach

I concur with this man's thinking!!!