1984Echoes

In other words... You want me to construct a trade for you just so you can shoot it down. No thanks.

It does not have to be an unknown gem. It can be straight up talent for talent. Ore one Org has needs in one area while we have needs in a different area that matches up. There's no need to "Win" the trade or show up another Org. Ideally both teams win (getting what they need) but that doesn't always work hence the media fixation with "winning a trade". I'll give a different example: John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander. We got what we wanted, what we needed... and Atlanta got what they wanted. Whether there was some winner in there (Atlanta wins on WAR... but Smoltz may have not developed in Detroit to that level...); or Detroit is simply satisfied with what Alexander provided that (and subsequent) seasons in 1987 and nothing else matters... We do not have to "WIN" a trade... we just need to get a player that we need or like and give up something else that the other team needs. That's it.

I'm getting really tired of everyone saying "You CAN'T do this and you CAN'T do that..." Seriously? Alex is 100% right. Harris needs to make trades where he sees it as appropriate for the Org. Otherwise, you're telling us we're NOT ALLOWED to trade for Malloy and NOT ALLOWED to trade for Lee. Seriously? Bull****. You guys are being contrarian just for the ****-sake of being contrarian. It's beyond annoying. Where we have holes... Harris has to have the ability to make a trade or sign a FA. That's it. That's the bottom line. To put together a contending team... Harris has to be able to put together a contending team. Being contrarian to that is simply being asinine. IMO.

So what you're telling us is Detroit is not allowed to make trades?

You trade Austin Meadows for Isaac Paredes.

Stealing this from another thread... I think this is the most important thing for Tork: And I think that goes for his fielding too... not just the bat.

Beware of something called Pyrite. Fool's Gold. Tork...?

Beautiful! Well said and I'm in 100% agreement.

WTF is WRONG with these ****ing deuchebags? Are you ****ing kidding me?!?!

Lots & lots of tears to me eyes...

Which is why I absolutely would prefer Sennecke or MBN ahead of him. Even if he falls to us and those two are gone... I think I'd look at Chernyshov as the next best option... and he's in Russia. If it's the top two gone and Eiserman staring at us... Actually, I hope Stevie can engineer a trade-down...

I don't trust Tork. If he has taken so little interest in his career as to regress this badly, in the field, at the plate... and REFUSES to even look at his swing mechanics... I don't trust him. Even if he makes some miraculous improvements in Toledo... Would I want to make a long term commitment to him? No. So as long as he's cheap... fine. But to me, before he becomes a FA or an expensive arbitration player... I'm fine with moving on... whenever that time comes. And maybe, hopefully, there's already an internal option at least like Briceno moving up the ladder and showing skill at 1B to be an option, or moving Jung or Keith or whomever to there. Tork is a huge disappointment to me... and that specifically includes his professionalism/ attitude towards being an MLB player.

He never had the power profile that Carpenter had so I never really thought of him as a true prospect. More like a backup OF'er if his bat played all the up to MLB but there's lots of guys ahead of him so it's not an easy path. And since his bat isn't playing well currently at AAA... that's one more hurdle.

And Holton would be the only lefty in the bullpen so both Harris & Hinch would want some other lefty (possibly two) as a replacement... Narrowing the possibilities.

I'm really encouraged by Campos and Dingler seemingly finding their way this year...

Yes... this. Also... Harris wants to populate the minors with "his type" of player. Even if a guy never makes it to MLB... having rosters filled with players that "control the strike zone" per Harris's description... influences every player coming up through the Org, IMO.

Lee is providing a little bit more than I thought he would... But I don't know what that means for his MLB chances... At this point I'm still looking at Erie players Workman, Lee, and Trei Cruz as backup or utility guys at best, unless told otherwise. Maybe there's some starting potential somewhere in there amongst the 3... But I wouldn't call it that... just yet.

PS: I almost started a 2024 NHL Draft and then found this thread down in the dungeon...

Eiserman is within range but I don't think he makes it all the way to 15. Does Stevie want to trade up in this draft...? On a WAG I'll say no. I like the 2-way forwards/ power forwards being mocked in our range. Beckett Sennecke seems just slightly out of our reach... But I really like the looks of Michael Brandsegg-Nygard who is often mocked to us. Other options that might be in our range: Sennecke or Eiserman (if one of them falls to us), Igor Chernyshov, maybe Liam Greentree or Cole Beaudoin as fallback options.

I don't think Baddoo can qualify as the new anything. More like Resurfaced Baddoo...

Jake Rogers - 2 HR's Rangers - 1 HR. Tigers win 2-1 behind Jake Rogers and excellent pitching from Skubal & Brieske...!

But we're going to trust Republicans to get to the truth? My biggest fall-off-the-chair laughter of the night. Brought by Donald "Drink Bleach" Trump and the rest of the lying **** Republicans currently making up the party. No thank you. I've had enough of their stream of bull****.

Not completely: A. ... If they do things right, they can have a good farm system without tanking. Thus, Tanking is not necessary. B. If a team doesn't draft well or develop well, then they'll end end up with a bad farm system whether they tank or not... If they have some way of propping up a competitive team other than relying on farm system (trades, FA's) then: Thus, Tanking is not necessary. C. If a team doesn't draft well or develop well, then they'll end end up with a bad farm system whether they tank or not... If a team has allowed its good players to age out (no longer productive/ they retire or are injured/ cannot trade them for anything), get little in trade for the few assets that are tradeable, have a barren farm system... then NO amount of FA additions will save that team. They will be at the bottom of the heap. You can't BUY a competitive team through FA without having some foundation to rebuild the team. Hence: a rebuild (NOT tanking). Draft and development have to be fixed. A foundation built. And then smart trades/ FA signings can bring back a competitive team. The Tigers were NOT A or B, they were C. Hence the multiple losing years whilst they tried to fix everything.

This makes it a little clearer: “We had a lot of reports on this guy,” Orr said. “We had reports from the area scouts, multiple crosscheckers. Tim Hallgren (national crosschecker who specializes in pitcher evaluations) had the best velo on him. He had him up to 95. “It was like, ‘Wow, here we are getting ready to go into the ninth round and we’ve got a left-handed pitcher who throws 95, that we have a lot of good information on from people that we trust.’ There’s some good numbers there. And yes, there are some concerning numbers, too.” Would the Tigers have taken Skubal without the nudge from the Boras Corporation? “Information is paramount,” Pleis said. “And relationships are extremely important. We scout them, we evaluate them. We evaluate their makeup, their ability, their tools — we evaluate everything there is to evaluate, the medicals, everything. “But when you get more information like we did, the best way to say it is, when David got the phone call from Scott Chiamparino — we’ve talked with these people over the years, not just with this player, we know where these guys are coming from — I think that did take us over the top. No question about it.”

PS: these comments were not directed at you Rob but at the BS narrative that Boras basically made the selection for the Tigers. Because no, that's not what happened.