Tiger337

I agree on the importance of rest. On you first point, do they have enough situational fielding data to determine how much is lost defensively by having players moving around so much? I doubt it. Another contributing factor is every team having 13 pitchers limits the number of bench players. So, they want to do more mixing and matching and resting, but they haven't expanded the rosters enough. 28 players including 15 position players would allow for more platoons within sacrificing defense so much.

The MLB draft was introduced in the 60s when the owners completely controlled the players under the reserve clause, so they did have a nefarious plot going at the time. The players had to take whatever amount of money the owners gave them and if it was up to the owners, they would still operate that way today. The only time there was any free market for players was when they first signed with a team. The draft took that away. The players, of course, have a lot more leverage today with free agency and arbitration. None of what the players have gained since the 60s was granted because the owners (or players for that matter) wanted to make the league more competitive or better in any way. It all happened as a result of bitter battles between the owners and the players union. Those battles still exist today even with the obscene amount of money in the game for both owners and players. There was no problem with competitive balance in the game in 2011 when slot values and bonus pools were introduced into the CBA. That was done strictly to limit the amount of money young players could get which has always been the primary purpose of the draft. The difference between today and the 60s is that the player's union also benefits to an extent from limiting the amount of money young players can get. It means more money for the veterans.

I am cynical and you are idealistic. 😀

Javy Baez's statcast batting percentiles are about as depressing as you can get. Every category is below average and most categories are 20th percentile or worse. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/javier-baez-595879?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb Also, the new design for the percentile stats is really good.

That is what they tell us! The only reason they would want competitive balance is if it helps them economically which is probably the case for some owners. Containing costs helps all owners. It looks to me like the whole draft is about limiting bonuses now more than ever.

I would say containing costs is #1 (which is always the case with everything owners do) and getting a little more parity is secondary. Of course, parity is also indirectly worth money to the majority of owners, although I think that becomes less important, the more they expand playoffs.

Why does a President need to be married? Are they worried that he is gay?

The main purpose of the draft is to keep signing bonuses down which it does effectively for better or for worse. As for the lottery versus the draft, I agree it doesn't affect team behavior much if at all. It does affect how they are rewarded though. I like how the new process limits how many high picks a team can get in multiple years. I don't see how lotteries dilute anything since the poor teams still tend to get better picks than good teams. I'd rather see a close to the bottom team that's trying to get better get a pick over some garbage franchise like Oakland that doesn't even care.

The first draft lottery worked well. I like the lottery. I don't like to see teams being rewarded for being terrible.

I will say that the probably of him opting out is higher tham the .05% someone suggested. Human decisions always have higher probabilities than that! But it is still low.

I think it will take more years than that.

It might take three years after his 2023 season. If they were able to sign Rodriguez and Lorenzen or the equivalent, add a hitter on a one-year deal, get some improvement from young players and promote more young players, it will be a very entertaining team and possibly competitive in their division.

He'll be more miserable if he has to settle for a one-year contract with incentives. Why would any team offer him more than that?

It's not so much a new thing though. The idea that all teams used to have 8 starters starting evey game is also a myth. There were more regulars 40-50 years ago, but injuries and platooning were common back then as well. I still think teams should TRY to have as many regulars as possible, but be prepared for injuries and be effective with platoons. I don't think it's necessary or beneficial to have a different line-up every day with players playing different positions all the time.

I expect Rodriguez to leave and then I think they'll shoot for an equivalent replacement. I hope they add another starter on top of that (maybe another Lorenzen/Boyd type signing). I want them to try to be competitive in the AL Central next year.

One of Harris' strengths prior to coming to Detroit was getting the most out of pitching acquistions. He did that with Lorenzen, not so much with Boyd but you can't win all the time with broken pitchers. Maybe go a little higher stakes this time.

Next year is going to be a disaster if Rodriguez leaves and they don't acquire any pitchers. I am expecting that they at least add some major league pitchers.

I feel better about the team this year than I did in 2021 when they had a similar pattern and record. In 2021, they had a lot of luck and a strong bullpen, but it never seemed like a real improvement in talent. This year, I feel like they have some pieces in place which they can build on next year.

Every team has peaks and valleys. The timing of these highs and lows could tell you something but it also could just be random variation throughout the season. For three straight seasons, the Tigers have started out slow. What appears to be improvement over the course of the season could be lack of readiness at the beginning of the season. Or it could just be random.

But they are .500 team if we subtract out their worst stretch when someone was injured and the team couldn't focus.

Didn't they kill waiver deals past the deadline in the last CBA?

Vasquez on the IL. Joey Wince and Garrett Hill are back. This shows that the Tigers are still trying to win.

Right, It would probably mean that he'd have his best years with another team.

Pharmaceutical companies know that people will overpay for medication that works or even appears to work. This is a problem.

His first two years have been a lot like Tony Clark, but Clark was a year older. Clark followed up with 5 seasons with an OPS+ of 120 or better. I'd be reasonably happy with that except I would hope it was 7-8 years rather than just 5. Paul Konerko, to which Torkelson is often compared, also started slow and had his best years in his late 20s and 30s.