sabretooth

I would be happy enough with Kikuchi, Smyly, Duffy, or Archer...Grienke seems gassed.

And he had just finished announcing something about the ice

Perfect, that leaves **plenty** of money in 2022 and 2023 to add another decent SP.

It would be nice if the Tigers could develop a SS from within during this interim. Maybe Kreidler will be the answer after all?

The cozying up to gambling, the idiotic extra inning runner, two different baseballs deployed in the same season.....it's a lot of stupid stuff to absorb. These particular changes are not good signs at minimum, and in the case of gambling, I think the effects will be felt in ways that we cannot predict at this point. For example, I fear that gambling scandals won't taint the game so much as they will expose the public's evolving acceptance of cheating in sports as a way of life, and undermine the idea of sporting integrity as a principle.

Teams always hand off a dozen or two dozen starts to guys like Funk, Wentz, etc....I think we have less of a luxury to rely on spot starters especially given how tight the playoff chase will be, and when you factor in a couple of DL stints for main rotation guys.

The Baez signing isnt what I was hoping for, in that his hitting approach (low LD, high GB, low FB, low BB, high Ks) leaves him prone to a big die-off hitting wise if his bat speed slows a bit. On the bright side, there will be less strain on the budget. I think there's a good chance that each of the 8 fielded positions will have a main guy who will deliver between 2-3 WAR, likely delivering 22 positional WAR including a total of 0 - 2 for Cabrera and the bench. I also think that there's a good chance that the rotation delivers 10+ WAR, or even 12+ if they acquire a decent SP. Add 3 WAR from the pen (similar to 2021) and thats looking like about 83-85 wins. Probably a little short of the playoffs unless they are expanded, but good enough to build on.

My guess on starts: Skubal 30 ERod 28 Mize 28 Manning 25 Alexander 23 134 from these guys, 140 if they blow the doors off, or 125 if there are several minor injuries/DL trips. That leaves around 25 starts for ??? give or take a couple. With the signing of Baez, there should be enough $ in the budget to acquire one decent SP.

Yes, I agree completely. I also don't agree with others who have preached trust for the organization's brass through 5 years of planned failure, then are verklempt about whether they might decide to waste 2/15 on a guy vs. a prospect who might provide a stop-gap 700 OPS for $500k. Whoop de doo.

I already said he had a bad year hitting in 2021. We agree that 2020 is difficult to gauge. Not sure why that is such a point of contention. The entire story with DeJong's slide from decent hitter and good fielder = 3 WAR a season to poor hitter and good fielder = 1 WAR (or so) is simply that teams have increased the use of the Shift against him and it has dropped his pull-hitting average. All of his other peripherals have stayed almost the same. Either he figures out how to hit against the shift, or he's not going to be a decent hitter again. Anyway, 'nuff said about DeJong, I don't even like DeJong, nor do I want him. I think if a good team were willing to give him a starting job that means that they are confident that they know how to get him back into decent hitting shape...that would be good enough with his defense to produce 2 or 3 WAR per year, and that's worth 2/15. In any case, I don't want to Leave it to Kreidler.

I don't like DeJong but to dismiss him as a "bad player" seems like a stretch. He provided 11 WAR in three seasons age 23-25, that is really, really good. After a COVID season at age 26, he had a down year in 2021. I don't want to see them settle for DeJong over one of the top SS, I'd be pissed if it was DeJong at SS and no other significant acquisitions, but I'd take DeJong over Ryan Kreidler at this point, easily.

I don't get being opposed to getting a guy because you think the fan who is talking about it might be guilty of a "knee jerk reaction". First of all, you are guessing as to that person's motive, and secondly, such an acquisition would be made by AA and Chris, and I'm guessing that you wouldn't impugn their motives if they did acquire DeJong. Also, 2/15 is not in any way, shape or form a "large contract" for SS where the production is desperately needed. I am not a DeJong fan....I'm not saying get DeJong. But I am saying that if they whiff on the big SS they need to be willing to spend at least 2/15 for someone who has proven he can hit and field the SS position. I am not begging the question about Kreidler's future, either. He just should not be the answer at this point for 2022 IMHO.

They have got to either get one of the top SS or two pretty good players or I am fearing that 2022 will be a "hey wouldn't 80 wins be GREAT!" kind of season, a real wasted opportunity if you ask me.

The Barnhardt pickup is a decent move but it's not anything to celebrate. If we don't get Haase's 2021 production again from him and/or someone else and something to replace Rogers' 2021 production we're worse off. E-Rod is nice, and the quickness of the pickup contributed to some hope that management would get the other players we needed....but E-Rod only really replaces the starts that Boyd and Turnbull already gave us in 2021 that we needed to backfill in 2022. We have not yet improved our team through acquisitions. Tork and Greene can add 2-3 wins apiece, but we could easily see a loss of a couple of wins from Grossman, and another couple from Peralta to cancel most of that out. If we don't add at least a top-level SS, I don't see how we can reasonably project a winning team. And no, Simmons and/or Kriedler ain't gonna cut it. Simmons is 32 years old and hasn't provided elite defense for several years, and is brutally awful as a hitter. He's Andrew Romine at this point, likely a 1-WAR player or worse.

I think what Henning meant to say is "losing is awesome, let's keep going"...and "besides, losing and profits are not mutually exclusive"

Yeah I already said Semien and Seager were too long/high IMHO. Matz is a fine deal. As a LHP he should be reasonably productive into his 33yrd year, and he doesn't have much mileage on his arm.

Most of the contracts are good deals though, and will provide good production for other teams that we need. I would see the wisdom in getting other good players, but its not like these are stupid contracts, though Semien and Seager seem too pricey to me, and Texas is still likely to be a losing team IMO, unless they splurge for another bat and some pitching.

If we don't get a good SS and sete, and we kept ourselves out of the hunt for a fair-value SP like Matz or Gray or OF like Marte, then this offseason would look like a real dud. Even if we wind up with E-Rod and Baez, if there isn't more pitching depth added or another bat, that seems like it gives us a 50/50 shot at a winning record in 2022, even if Tork and Greene are starters for most of the season and do reasonably well.

Yes, this is how I see it. I hope they can land Correa, but if not, Story would be awesome too. Baez not so much, though clearly a huge improvement over what we otherwise would have, unless you really believe in Kriedler.

Mize could be the next Rick Porcello (high GB%, pretty effective, always more upside) or the next Verlander, if he can use his Splitter to bolster his K rate from 7 ish to 9 ish. The mystery should enhance his tradd value, but for many reasons (including the fact that he wad a 1st overall pick, and they dont want to be seen as selling out on him), I dont think they consider him tradeable at this point.

If we are talking about projected future performance, the difference between the 5 are very substantial.

Value and future performance are two different things.

This is the third out of the last four Sundays without a Lions loss!

Michigans NIL stance will be a game breaker for sure. I respect it, but it will come at a price in terms of players and wins.

Yes.....not only is whether of part of football, but Michigan is chronically disadvantaged in recruiting versus Ohio dtate because of the general weather differential between Ann Arbor and Columbus. So it's only fair that we should get a weather advantage with some snow when they play up here. Let it snow baby!