Tenacious D

that's a good lineup. (3) high OBP guys at the top of the lineup (vs. Schoop).

breaking some news here, I think. Dusty Baker was spotted buying Zach Short a cone at 31 Flavors last night.

Kind of like a 5 round draft in a year where you hold the top pick in each round?

Seager likely won't stay at SS, so that will be a consideration for any team signing him long term. As for Correa's injury history, I really don't care. I don't see how any of those were tied to a lack of conditioning or something else that was within his control.

I really didn’t want to assume the risk this next season with JV—let the Astros take that on. Glad he only signed for one year—still allows for a reunion and we’ll have a better idea of how good he is.

Both Fielder and Cabrera were older and about 1,000 lbs. combined fatter than Correa. I think it's apples and oranges here.

you're gonna die on that Hill.

The annual $ difference between the top guy (Correa) and maybe a Baez or Story, would seems to be ~$8-10M per year. Not a huge impact on the team's annual budget. The length isn't as relevant, unless it's just stupid, which wouldn't be the case with Correa--he'd be 36 or 37 at the end of a 10 year deal, which shouldn't be too much of an issue for a pretty athletic guy.

if the Tigers don't protect Hill, he'll be eligible for the Rule 5. I would think a team would take a flyer on him, especially based on his AFL performance.

Personality is not an issue for me. It’s his swing and miss. I don’t think his bat will age well—he’s a distant #5 option for me.

On roller skates?

How is Manning an untouchable over Skubal? I'll bet that Skubal has the better major league career.

"don't !#$% with my bear claws!"

Where do we put posts around stupid transactions by other teams? The Angels just spent $21M for one season of Thor Syndegaard. You have guys like Ohtani, Trout and Rendon, and you blow your money on a questionable (physically) starting pitcher? Trout may never see the postseason again with dumbass moves like this.

We were above .500 for the majority of last season, without Barnhart, Rodriguez, stud FA SS and Greene. Those are all additions, without losing anyone of significance. Add in another year of experience under the belt of Mize, Skubal, Manning, Funk, Baddoo, Hill, Cameron and Haase. Just because we might not put Tork in the majors right away doesn't mean they won't be trying (or can't) win.

If you're looking to make the playoffs next season, you probably don't insert both Greene and Tork into the lineup at the start of the season. However, I don't think we're a playoff contender, so I'm not concerned with that. If the Tigers staff thinks he is ready, so be it. If not, we will have a contingency at 1B (Schoop) until he is. The idea of both of these guys coming in and putting up monster rookie seasons, a la Fred Lynn and Jim Rice, is pretty enticing. And feasible.

I don't think the team has to manipulate anything--just don't think Tork is ready based on his Toledo performance (which wasn't bad). Why not stagger him and Greene into the lineup? Greene has shown he is ready, and I don't think Tork is far behind.

I don’t agree that there is a tax. In most cases, the player and his agent are going to take the best deal. I don’t think we were penalized when we signing/extending players during our 2006-2015 heyday. We gave out some excessive, borderline stupid contracts, but I attribute that to Boras’ Svengali hold that he had on Mike I.

Ha. Please don’t help legitimize that dork.

If the tradeoff is rushing Tork before they think he's ready, I can live with Schoop at 1B. I don't think we're a playoff team next year, so it doesn't matter to me. And if playing Schoop at 1B allows us to see what Paredes can do with some extended playing time, there is a benefit to that, as well. As a reminder, Isaac is only 22 years old, so we should not be giving up on him prematurely.

Kreidler is interesting. As others have pointed out, his play this past season should have zero effect on what we do this offseason to improve our SS. However, if he shows continued success this season in Toledo, we have an interesting trade piece or potential 2B/3B. Would be a nice problem to have.

my early predictions are that Greene makes the team out of Spring Training (he is already the best OF in the system) and Tork starts out in Toledo, with his play dictating how quickly he moves up--I'll go with Memorial Day weekend as my best guess.

The O.G. (RIP)

your first point is what differentiates LC pizza--it's the only pizza that you can walk in without having to order. They could likely charge $1-2 more, and it would not harm their business. Americans like convenience.

No argument from me. I don’t see how they avoid signing another reliable veteran for the rotation.