1984Echoes

I love how people straight up MISREPRESENT the facts (I consider that a form of LYING) to bolster their position. Wanna try being honest in your next post?

I think they're going to be forced to play Stew and Bagley at PF and Hami at SF...

I'm feeling very mixed on the job Al is doing lately... And it's not based on this season's record... I get that the team is not guaranteed to take a step forward every single year... and with a boatload of very, very young pitchers, maybe we should have expected the same amount of injuries we've had this year when we went from a 10% pandemic year to a 100% full-blown schedule... with all these young arms. Or maybe we are demanding too much spin rates (arm/ UCL torque) from these arms. I also support the changes that Al has made to our system in the draft and development side. And actually think our system has a lot more in the pipeline than what their "rankings" say... But on the flip side... it just seems like we should have "more": more International development/ investment/ productive players. More/ higher level of trade returns/ pro-active trading. Higher standards for players on the field. I'm generally optimistic (just in case that wasn't known), and I still see lots of positives in our future... So I don't want to implode over this season. It's a step back. Which sucks. But we were NOT guaranteed only steps forward. And given multiple "meh" players that we were fielding, the overabundance of young pitchers and young pitcher arm troubles... maybe we could have foreseen this step backwards. But I do want more. And if that means kicking Al upstairs (the most likely scenario) and bringing in a young hot shot GM from Tampa or wherever, who can seriously move this team forward and back into contention, I am all for that. I believe I was fine/ for that earlier this year... but may not have been vocal about it. Summary: I still think this team is headed in the right direction, despite this year's backwards step, it might take a couple of years, I see lots of talent in the minors, even if no one else does... but is there anyway of moving this team faster into the modern age? And if that means kicking Al up and bringing in a hot shot... I am all for it.

One step backwards and the Sky is Falling. I guess NO backward steps can EVER be allowed for the Detroit Tigers. Only linear steps forwards and upwards to World Series Championships because... that's how the world works, right? Every. Single. Time. Yeah...

PS: I've been down on Parker Meadows for a couple years now... But since June 3rd, in 41 games in Erie, 180 PA's: .311 BA, .911 OPS, with 7 HR's and 3-1 SB's to CS's. I guess that's what I mean that he's making a power move to get to the next level. If he regains his prospect status to what it was thought he could do at the time of the draft... he could turn out to be big time player in our OF in the near future... I had basically written him off.

Parker Meadows and Flores making power moves to advance to the next level...

Does that mean at all? Or just with the Tigers? If he does rehab innings this year even just at Lakeland Complex... I consider that as more of a positive than him pitching his first innings next year in Spring Training.

I think that is primarily because the system/ team/ organization has a crapload of... very, very, very young pitchers. Who are going from nothing-innings last year to a full workload this year. And their arms are crapping out. I might be wrong... but I'm not going to dwell on it and am just going to wait it out until the arms all sort themselves out. I hope Turnbull pitches some innings this year as I want to write him into the rotation next year. And I'd like to give Olson and Wentz and Brieske shots to fill in at the back end of the rotation next year.

My best positive spin on the Fulmer trade: A) First thing... what is all the whinging about the Rule 5? Either Avila got a steal and therefore we WANT this guy protected in the Rule 5... OR... he's hot garbage and therefore no one should be worried about the Rule 5 on him. Can't have both. Either Avila found a steal, or the guy's hot garbage. The Rule 5 has ZERO bearing. B) I'm going to guess the Tigers dug into his peripherals/ spin rates/ etc... and think they can do something with him. So... I see everyone is unimpressed by his AA 7.17 ERA... but Fetters and Avila and other Tigers wanted this lottery ticket, for some reason. I think that may be, in and of itself a positive; but that's only an assumption on my part... so there's pretty much zero value in that. But still... it has me wondering what they see/ think they can do with this guy. I don't want to write him off as hot garbage... just yet. Simply because the Org was interested in him. C) So... Peripherals? Spin Rates? I'm trying to find info as best I can... not so easy. But before I get to that... the 1st thing that pops out to me on baseball reference is that every year, he's running K-BB ratios between 4 and 6. His 7.17 ERA in AA? Comes with a 5.83 K-BB ratio. His K-Rates in pre-AA are 9.4, 12.4, 11.4. He's making hitters miss. In AA it's 8.4. But all of these with walk rates of around 2 per 9, hence the high K-BB ratios. His WHIP in High A is 0.93 this year and 1.25 last year. 1.32 in Low A last year and 1.38 in AA this year. His FIP's were all low 3's until AA this year (and this year in AA he's got a really low 50% LOB rate, which should regress back to a higher mean)... I don't see anything bad yet, even with that 7+ ERA in AA so far... Which leads me to... D) 9.1 Hits/ 9 over his entire minors, and 11 hits / 9 in AA. So he can be hit. I think he's got a low-90's FB without much movement and eminently hittable. Can Fetters etal fix this? I believe Fangraphs has him with an above average slider. He's low 90's FB with a low 80's slider and I believe also a low 80's Curve or Changeup? Maybe they turn him into a reliever and he hits mid-90's instead of low-90's. Maybe they get him to play at the top of the zone with a new 4-seamer. Not certain what the team intends to do with him. Maybe he'll stick as a starter. We'll see. But... the thing I keep coming back to is that the Org wanted this guy. They're looking at peripherals/ spin rates/ etc. and... see... something. E) PS: Fangraphs really likes him. Even says that he may not quite make it to MLB but might be a AAAA guy. Still... if he ended up a 7th starter in AAA and made some important spot starts or pitched some middle innings... they are saying that he's not nothing. That's something to me. So.. now I'm interested. I'm interested to see if the Org can turn horseshit, or what everyone looks at and thinks is horseshit... not into gold (I think that's too much to ask...), but... maybe into something useful like: aluminum?

So he starts for us on Friday?

"Hello darkness my old friend..." Same.

Awesome! We just improved our team!!!

This.

Kazakhstan is going to become an important player on the world stage... for different, or similar, reasons than Ukraine: https://www.yahoo.com/news/kazakhstan-defies-putin-234700423.html

There was no doubt whatsoever we were never going to change that. Too much corruption. Too much Taliban. And too many poppy fields...

Gas ranges from $3.56 to $4.09 in Tennessee. (there was one really cheap place just outside Sieverville/ Pigeon Forge... usually it was in the 3.89-4.09-ish range...). And $3.89 to $4.19 in West Virginia. And about the same I think in Virginia and Maryland... But I was starting to lose track around that time... And about $4.45-ish in PA, and $4.35-ish in NJ. I learned all that yesterday.

He chooses whoever licks his boots the most.

Either this one: Or this one: Which do you prefer?

This is NOT a true statement. YOU are ignoring the fact that bi-partisan legislation (that would be both Republicans AND Democrats... case 'ya didn't know) was sent to Trump for $25 BILLION in wall-funding. And some kind of amnesty for Dreamers. Which Steven Miller hated and therefore told Trump to shoot it down... which he did. Like MB said: Coulter whined and Trump folded... on a BI-PARTISAN $25 BILLION bill... like a cheap house of cards. EDIT: Stephen, not Steven. Steven would tell me to go Fly Like an Eagle...

I've watched a little Python... But just a little... And apparently it didn't stick...

I don't understand having any enthusiasm for Barnhardt. Why? He was, and was always going to be... Nothing more than a 1-year stop gap. Maybe you're mistaking "Good, we got a guy who can cover us for a year and he's got a good glove and a little pop in his bat" for enthusiasm?

I wouldn't know... I'm an atheist. 😁

It's not great. It's not terrible. It just doesn't matter. Certainly not his very first game after all his recoveries. Like Edman said... he could be toast (he was more unequivocal about that...). But if he ever does recover and turn into something instead of nothing... that 3 2/3 innings means: absolutely nothing.

... don't matter one iota.

Yeah... I think you're only going to get one premium, close-to-the-majors guy in dealing Skubal... I have my eye on a couple guys because that's who I want/ am targeting. But the other team has to agree. If not... move on to another team, or if there's no deal good enough to be had then, no trade. But outside of one premium guy who might be a double-A/close-to-the-majors guy.... the rest of any prospect package will be lower level guys... If I want to send Skubal and Soto to the Cardinals or Rangers for Walker or Jung (first they have to agree to that... but on that end... I believe both those teams have a serious interest in Skubal if the rumors are to be believed...?); we'll get more prospects than just the one... but those extra prospects will be the A/Low-A/Rookie league guys. With potential.