Tiger337

I have always maintained that there is nothing Smoltz could have done for the Tigers that would have matched the memories he provided in the 1987 title run. Over the next couple of decades they would have lost even if they had him. I'm also not at all certain he would have developed with the Tigers like he did with the Braves.

I am assuming that Soto has more value since he has three years left before free agency and is a "proven closer". That might require trade partners to have more faith in "proven closer" than I do though.

When I first heard about it, I assumed he was selling them because that is who he has always been.

I was surely biased, but I didn't like Rizzs and Rathbun. I could not tell them apart, didn't like their voices and the good bye baseball call sounded forced to me. I don't think it was just a "they're not Ernie Harwell" thing though, because I liked Beckman as a broadcaster.

I didn't really cared for "looooong gone" either. He never even used that call until his later years. He also played up his signature lines more in his later years which I suspect he was being told to do. He was better when he was younger.

I think this is the kind of thing that almost nobody knows anything about. It's like baseball fans complaining that their GM didn't try to get their favorite trade target. How do you know they didn't try? It's just another excuse for MAGAs to hate Joe Biden, to whine about Blacks and gays getting special treatment and to pretend that they are the only ones who care about military personnel. It covers all their favorite topics.

That was a terriblre home run call.

Are you sure it wasn't Rick Rizzs? I never could tell them apart.

My memory of him is of a woman, upon learning I was a Tigers fan, complaining about him being misogynist. My response at the time was that I didn't know about that stuff. I just knew he was a bad baseball owner!

Mud-Hyn

That is a very real problem. I still like the numbers, but I'd like him better if his name was Justin Malloy.

Given the mess the organization is in and all the injuries to their best young pitchers, I figured this year was a lost season anyway. Unfortunately, I think 2024 is the first season where we can expect to see the MLB team molding into shape.

Englert looks like another "control the strike zone" acquisition. I don't have any great expectations, but he's a Rule 5 guy, so that's par for the course.

You can never ever ever have too much pitching!

I like the Malloy acquisition. One of my hopes going into the off-season was that they would start putting more emphasis on OBP skills, something they have been lacking for years. Dumping Reyes and the Castros was a good start. The next step is the acquisition part. Malloy is likely not ready yet, but I love his profile. I am not too sorry to see Jimenez leave. He still has promise, but has never shown any consistency for any length of time. I'll take the chances on Malloy's greater upside.

Englert has good control the strike zone numbers. It definitely seems like he'll need more seasoning though. The 13-pitcher limit makes it difficult to carry a pitcher like him.

Mason Englert sounds like a high school math whiz who gets stuffed into a locker by football jock Jason Foley.

Senor Smoke Jr?

That is true. If he is an elite fielder as in 2022, then he would have value just getting back to maybe an 80-85 OPS+. However, if he's just going to be average defensively, he'll need to get up to a 100 OPS+.

Interesting on how much Schoop took advantage of the shift defensively last year: https://www.motowntigers.com/2022/12/07/ban-on-shifts-could-force-tigers-to-move-jonathan-schoop-off-second/

That was what I was thinking. I would have to think that less time between pitches would force them to get away from max effort on every pitch. Either that or throw even fewer innings.

Another thing which I think is going to be an even bigger deal than banning the shift is the pitch clock. Having less time to rest between pitches will likely hurt pitchers significantly.

Ben Verlander was good when he started, but he has become full of himself, so yeah it wouldn't surprise me. However, some of the comments (one by Verlander) suggested that it was a joke.

I love his answer about building a team for the ballpark. A smart team should be able to take advantage of an asymmetric park. I don't get the stuff about the park not being "fair" to hitters. It's not a terrible park for hitters, It's below average home run park, but it's pretty close to neutral for run scoring. The obsession with the long ball is hurting the game.