RandyMarsh

It might not be their first win but I think the Steelers game looks primed for a Lions W. The Lions like every team usually win 1 or 2 games against teams that they shouldnt beat and I think the Steelers are that team this year. For one I just dont think they're all that good, for another the Lions are coming off a bye week and finally I think Big Ben is toast.

The optimist in me expects us to sign one of the marquee guys but the realist in me thinks that the more likely scenario is the Dejong or somebody like that scenario that you guys are talking about. Id be fine with that so long as we reallocate the money that would've been spent on the SS to other areas of the team. I still think we need an impact bat or two, unless Tork comes out of the gate hitting at an All Star level they won't have a single bat on the entire team that is a truly impact one. Its hard to score runs consistently when your best bat in the entire lineup is Candy who is merely an .800 OPS guy with moderate HR power. Hell most playoff teams have atleast 5 or 6 guys in their lineup better than that and as is he would be our best. Not good.

Ex Tiger reliever starts for the Dodgers and ex Tiger Starter closes it out for them.

If all it took was a blitz and you were guaranteed to take down the qb then teams would do it every play but that's not the case, particularly with a guy like Lamar Jackson. Lamar could've just as easily shook off the blitz and went out of the pocket and found a wide open receiver and then people would bitch about not dropping back guys.

I do agree it was dumb to call that timeout but nobody was asking the dbs to cover that long all they were asked to do is keep everybody in front of you. The one db decided to instead of staying at the sticks and forcing them to throw in front of you where you can just tackle them short, he was gonna wander up 10 yards allowing a receiver to get behind him, that's a blown assignment and a mental mistake you as a coach can't plan for your players to make. If the DB did his job the Lions win plain and simple.

Nice detailed analysis Sabre and I agree with most of your points, I especially am a little concerned about our pitchers regressing due to them outpitching their peripherals. The optimist in me is hoping that it doesnt happen. I do have to disagree about Grossman, while he might regress I don't think its fair to pencil it in. Looking at his career numbers his offense isn't far off from where it was in his career its just that he got more chances this year.

I don't think they are the upper 80s win team that they played like the final 5 months but I also don't think they are a mid 70s win team that their final record indicated. I think its fair to say they are an 80 to 82 win team as it stands now give or take a game. The fact that they actually had a positive run differential during those 5 months and didn't have some unsustainable record in close games or something leads me to think that there is some legitimacy in that record.

I know people will say that you can't just throw out that start and I agree to an extent but I also feel there are some tangible reasons why you shouldnt put too much stock in that start and put more stock in the team they fielded the last 5 months of the year. First and foremost Fetter was away from the team for a couple weeks in April, I think him not being there hurt the young starting pitchers by evidence of their terrible numbers. Then there is just AJ getting accustomed to the whole team and how to use everybody properly to maximize their skills or hide their deficiencies. He is known as one of the best at that so after the short learning curve I think he started to get it down and the team responded accordingly.

God that sound is like Beethoven.

Aaron Glenn deserves a statue for what he has done given the talent, either that or the talent wasn't as bad as we originally thought.

I picked the Eagles even though it wouldn't surprise me if they won this week against the Bengals either.

If they get a top flight SS, solid starter and near full season of Tork(May call up) I think they need to shoot for being better than just .500. Last year their SS and 1B combined for just .4 wins. A top flight SS should give you 5 wins by himself and Tork should add 3 to 4 so you're talking potentially 9 wins just in those 2 guys. Factor in progressions from Manning, Skubal and Mize(numbers may be the same but he'll contribute 30-50 more innings) and that could be another 2 to 3 wins there. Sure there's probably going to be some regressions elsewhere to offset some of these gains but I'm thinking if they do make those additions the team's expectation will be closer to mid to upper 80s win total than .500.

I can't comment on the Minny game but as far as the Baltimore game that shouldnt be on Glenn. While I disagreed with not only bringing 3 the fact is we would've stopped them on that 4th and 19 if the one DB didnt blow his assignment. We can fault the coaches and playcalls all we want but some times you just have to blame the NFL player for not doing their job correctly which is what happened there. If we ran a different play and a different player blew an assignment it probably would've resulted in a 1st down as well.

Do the Phillies need a short term starter, that would be right up DD's alley coveting a pitcher with a short track record, bad peripherals but has been pitching recently to a solid era.

Not sure if Tork or Kriedler will get another at bat, if not Tork finishes 1-4(double) and a walk. Kriedler 1 for 3 with a walk. Not eye popping by any means but what was encouraging is that they combined for only 1 K(Kriedler). Considering the MLB quality stuff the competition had I think that is a positive thing.

Aside from getting rid of Shep what I wouldn't give to get rid of that stupid pick to stick game they play. If they want to do that privately or even just in the pre and post show fine go ahead since I rarely watch them anyway but I don't need to see and hear them talk about it throughout the game.

I'm not saying it's gonna happen but I think a Goldschmidt comp is something we could reasonably hope for or perhaps what Matt Olsen is currently doing. They are both pretty elite hitters that still provide a ton of value to their teams despite being a 1b. I think it would be unreasonable to expect a prime Cabrera or Pujols and put the chances of that happening extremely low especially Pujols who in his prime may be the greatest rh hitter of all time.

BTW Tork and Kriedler get to take on former top pitching prospect MacKenzie Gore today so it should be a good matchup.

You can't expect to fill every hole in one off season, hell its kinda unreasonable to expect to have a team without any holes period. Even playoff teams generally have some flaws somewhere. The goal should just be to get better every year, I know that sounds obvious but if you add a player or two this year to make you better and the same next year sooner or later youre going to have yourself a really good roster.

That sucks, was looking forward to seeing him crush AFL pitching too. Oh well after his first full professional season the rest is probably good for him.

People like to bring up him being down the positional spectrum but look around the league there aren't a whole lot of guys out there that can play plus defense at 1st like Tork reportedly does and put up great offensive numbers. I think as long as he can put up something around .900 OPS with solid defense he'll be a 5 win player with a likely high wpa due to his offense and that would more than justify that pick.

You would think Lawrence will get better as the year goes on so in turn so will the jags.

They had Campbell on the radio yesterday with Dan Miller and he said they would like Goff to take more shots down the field and just get bigger plays in general, he said the more plays you run on a drive the likelier you are to run one where you dont execute properly and something bad happens like a crucial sack, penalty or fumble. He blames that on for their issues turning long drives into TDs or even points in many cases. I know the receivers suck and they likely aren't going to come down with any 50/50 balls but you have to atleast try. There's a point where you can be too cautious with your throws and that's where Goff appears to be. Throwing interceptions 40 yards down the field arent the end of the world.

BTW ESPNs projected draft order based off of their FPI metric has us picking 2nd and the Rams picking 28th.

I think the Bills model is the best, yes Allen struggled the first couple years despite having a solid team around him but I think that was more due to him being a raw talent coming from a small college than anything. If we use that same blueprint but instead the qb we draft isnt as raw we may see immediate success much like LA has gotten with Herbert.