1984Echoes

Yes. Definitely on board.

Outfield practice (coach is sitting in a chair that "pops up" flyballs)... You can see Parker Meadows and Maxx Clark in there, and possibly Riley Greene (unless it was one of the "blurry" ones that I had to toss out...):

Infield Practice:

My "Expert Zoom" capabilities:

A few pics from a machine firing grounders at the catchers, at the plate... Working on scooping up a throw and "tagging the runner"... I don't think they had this machine calibrated very well (or anchored in the ground) though because the balls kept going further and further towards the guys that were standing in line... I had more photos of this but they were all blurry and only a few came out well enough to post: This first pic shows the "grounder machine" all the way at the right... A couple of pics with the catchers trying to chase some errant "throws":

Blurry picture of Jake Rogers but I was late on the snap so I only got him as he was walking by...

That 1st pic, far down the length of the building (about 2/3's) you can see another walkway (sort of) going to a separate field for the non-catcher Detroit Tigers.

Here's a bunch of walkway pics where mostly minor leaguers but also pitchers and catchers were walking towards their practice field...

OK... so go easy on me here... I'm a rookie fan in spring training, never done this before. And my digital camera is a little crappy so, did the best that I could. Plus, we're behind a chain link fence when they're practicing in the distance so... no closeups here. I did crop some photos to sort of "zoom" in, although that might affect the quality a bit (makes it blurry?) Well... since I fibbed already... when the guys were walking to the field they pass right by so all the autograph-seekers are lined up (I don't really pursue autographs so I was just happy to take some photos.... I was on the minor league/ catchers & pitchers side today, tomorrow or Wednesday I'll go back and take some photos from the Major Leaguers side... One last thing, I don't know many of the minor leaguers by facial recognition, and not all of the Detroit Tigers... But just wanted to share some spring training photos... Best I could do... I'll try to describe what little I can. Also... met a "veteran" spring training dude, Norm, who was as nice as anybody I've ever met... he talked me through some of the "do this, not that" of spring training. Talked me into a Thursday BBQ with the team as well (run by the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce). Free food & beer for the minor leaguers so they'll mostly show up, a few of the MLB guys too. I'm not a big autograph guy so I'll be happy to just sit and shoot the breeze with whoever is there.

Works for me. Hoping Riley hits on ALL cylinders this year...

Orban?!?!?! Viktor MF'ing ORBAN??? WTF Rubio?

That one gets a 5-star ranking...

PS: I'm not really interested in Mara... I don't think he matches what the Pistons are trying to do. I don't mind a big who can protect the rim. But he has no foot speed at all. At least compared to everyone else in the NBA. I would love to have a stretch-4 or stretch-5... but that also is not Mara. He's probably unstoppable (or nearly so) within 5 feet of the rim. But I - still - don't think that's what the Pistons are looking for.

I think that's absolutely HORRENDOUS for the worst teams in the league. The team (insert name: ) is terrible, gets rid of all its unproductive vets in order to enact a rebuild, gets the worst record in 2026-27... and gets pick #14? That's TERRIBLE! I would never vote for that (if I had a vote). That's just truly ****ting on the teams who are genuinely trying to rebuild. No thank you. Zero interest in that scenario.

I think Yaxel will need to be traded up for: our pick is going to end up at 29 or 30... And IF Minnesota's is not top (18 or 19?), we swap and get up to 20-21-ish or so. I think Yaxel is looked at as a top 15 prospect, maybe higher. But... we'll see. Things can change... certainly in the draft process. But if you want him, we'll have to trade up, my guess. Same with Chris Cenac Jr. ... That's the guy I want. His comps? Jaren Jackson Jr. and Kel'el Ware. If he can get there... He's ranked lower than Yaxel, I don't know why... Maybe because he needs more work/ development than Yaxel? Yaxel has a higher floor? His comps are Kuzma and Obi Toppin? I believe Cenac has the much higher upside. But a lot more development is required... And he'd be easier to trade up for if he's hitting the 18-21 range... Just my 2 cents.

"Buium has 5 points in his last 4 games..." Just a WAG: I would guess that Buium needed to shake off some rust his first half-dozen to a dozen games... If he's breaking out right now... I hope that continues...

I admit nothing. Bad word choice on my part. IMO... the 6 worst teams in the league are NOT tanking. As far as I'm concerned, if a team decides to go through a rebuild because they have a bad product on the court, it's a "rebuild", not a tank. That always annoyed me when the Red Wings started going through a rebuild, and the Pistons, and the Tigers... and any discussion of an upcoming draft was "Oh they are tanking". I'm not slamming anyone here. It just annoys me when I look at a team trying to rebuild, who jettisons unproductive veterans in the offseason (and maybe also at the deadline or pending FA's at the deadline) in order to rebuild... and everyone starts yelling "Tank!". I do not agree with this "tanking" definition, as a catch all for ANY team that loses more games than they win. IMO, I think that is unfair to the organization, and to the General manager, who has to make these decisions. They're not fun decisions, I would guess. To go through a rebuild. But sometimes necessary. The only teams that would be pulling a "tank" under these circumstances (or at least under my own definition) would be teams 7-9 (ish) who start the season trying to win but fall out of the playoff picture and then start pulling shenanigans to get into the top 6. If they trade pending free agents to go through a mini-rebuild or recharge (or whatever the correct terminology may be); IMO, that's not tanking or shenanigans. If they are finding creative injuries or reduced playing time for their remaining stars... Then I would call that tanking. PS: The bottom 6 teams have a high winning % of .321 (Jazz). They're just bad teams and deserve whatever draft pick their record says they would qualify for (under a no-lottery system), IMO. The next 4 range from .352 to .436 winning %. This is where tanking shenanigans occur, IMO. But put them in a tournament in which they can only lose draft pick number by losing in the tourney... And it forces them to make a decision. Do shenanigans and get fined by the league and MAYBE get up to #6... Or be a bad #7 team that will lose in a tourney first round and drop to #11. Also, any shenanigans and they lose home court (just on the theory that teams' #7-10 get home court UNLESS they play tanking shenanigans... FURTHER DIS-incentivizing tanking maneuvers...) That REALLY puts the onus on the #'s 7-10 teams to make a decision on how they want to play this. Again... I think no lottery for teams 1-6 and a tourney for teams 7-14, home court for teams 7-10 UNLESS they are caught/ (convicted by the league? however one should say that...) for tanking shenanigans... Is a SPECTACULAR remedy for the current state of tanking. Maybe the Jazz ARE tanking. But IMO, I'm just guessing here... they'd be the ONLY team pulling tanking shenanigans because teams 7-10 are too easily penalized with losing draft position or home court (under that scenario), etc. if they use those shenanigans. And teams 1-5 are just BAD. And correctly rebuilding.

At least that would only be 6 teams and not 14. Did I mention how much I hate the lottery?

Yes. THIS. Absolutely! Nothing else needs to be said. The Pistons are fun again. I'm actually watching their games again.

I hate lotteries so much that: 1) I either want to kill the lottery altogether. I hate them so much (wait, did I already mention that?) OR: 2) Do the tournament. I find that an interesting/ compelling idea... OR: 3) Wow, especially based on what Betrayer posted here: Why not seed the top-6 straight up based on record, and the remaining 8 teams do a seeding tournament? I think that kills two problem-birds with one stone. Fixes the "just miss" tankers from doing stupid tank things, and puts the worst 6 teams back on a "your record says what you are" basis that does NOT penalize a team for being truly ****ty and needing a non-bastardized (read: lottery) draft pick that reflects their record. Just my 2 cents, but I think that's the optimum outcome.

I'm certain teams will still "find a way"... To tank. But I do really like the idea of a tournament to set the order rather than a lottery. I HATE lotteries. It also incentivizes teams to not have a total garbage roster (through trades, free agents or lack thereof). Because having the worst roster/ record in the league but getting the 8th pick (is that the worst spot the worst-record-team can get in a 14-team tournament? That would be my guess...) doesn't seem very appetizing.

As the ETERNAL OPTIMIST on here... I give my stamp of approval on this version of the Tigers.

I like THIS idea... But it's not going to stop tanking that much because: borderline team sits better players in order to lose... or has them do a minor surgery that gets them back in 4-6 weeks... Back in enough time to play in the "lottery tournament" and wipe out all the teams that actually have worse players than them... Methinks.

Also... The trade deadline can be used to add a bat if a problem with injuries or underperformance starts to cost games. There are several months to evaluate how the bats are doing... IMO, our offense is a non-issue. It will be good enough to win lots and lots of games. IMO.