Tiger337

Analytics is exactly what you want to use long term. You lost that argument a long time ago. I guess short-term, you could try different things, but there aren't a hell of a lot of options right now. Or they could fire Hinch and Harris and bring in some old school guys that will shake things up and play the hunches?

What's the message in shaking things up when you've been doing everything according to logic and analytics for three years? Desperation?

You don't need to be a big home run team to win. Tampa Bay and Milwaukee have fewer home runs than the Tigers. They shouldn't be reliant on homeruns playing in Comerica. They need to do other things well though - like pitch, play defense and get on base.

Weak on crime.

Is that how the Tigers came back in 2024?

Maybe not totally, but mostly. I'd rather the Tigers get their injured players back and keep Hinch.

You definitely won't get that from this team. Maybe Valdez LOL

It will be a bad team unless substantial changes are made. That could happen, but it will take a lot.

His daughter can.

I don't think he has a desire to end the world. I think he would like to be celebrated forever after his death. You and I will never celebrate him, but many will. If he ends the world, nobody will be left to remember him.

If he knows he is going to die, I think his next move would be to arrange to have his head frozen ala Ted Williams. Eric and Jr will sell his head to the highest bidder.

And deny himself the one last rush that personally ending the world would give him? I don't think so.

He doesn't push anything. He needs to read some numbers off a card. I am not entirely sure he'd be able to do that.

That is probably true, but when I watch minor league games, there is a noticeable difference in fielding from the majors.

yes, I think the idea that the minors are filled with elite defenders who can't hit well enough is a myth. The difference between an average fielder in the minors and an average fielder in the majors is very large. It's likely not as big as the hitting gap, but still very big.

AI is useful. It helps me do my job, but it doesn't replace what I do. Somebody that knows what they are doing needs to talk to it and needs to correct it when it makes errors. Like the internet, AI will make life easier for people in the short-term. Then it will eventually get controlled by big business in a way that only they will benefit. It will become more expensive to get any utility out of it. It will also add more layers to security problems which will put us all at greater risk of losing, money, privacy, etc. And they will make damn sure they convince the masses that they can't live without it.

Who is Garcia? Pedro?

I think mid-market teams need to re-tool continuously like the Indians and Brewers seem to do every year. Please don't take that as a criticism of Harris. It's just something that I anticipate the Tigers will have to be doing in the future.

Things people need to survive going up more than luxuries.

They tried in the minors a few years ago. They used in the allstar game last year and fans loved it. It's stupid, but I wouldn't rule out them trying in the MLB regular season some time in the future.

According to AI, the majority of fans do not like the rule. I am not sure that's true, but I think that the majority of avid fans don't like it. The players like it, so maybe do it after 11 innings? I still wouldn't like it, but if they have to do it, after 11 innings is better than after 9 innings.

If they call a tie after 11 innings, there would not be that many of them. Before the rule change, 9.5% of games went extra innings, but only 2.5% went beyond 11 innings. 2.5% is an average of 4 games per year for every team. Are they really saving bullpens by what they are doing? There seems to be just as many injuries if not more than ever.

Tango doesn't like the home run derby idea beause he says a home run contest is something that never happens in a real game whereas trying to get a runner home from second happens all the time. Anyway, amost all his readers disliked the idea of the extra inning base runner. I think there are solutions to the bullpen protection issue which don't involve bastardizing the game. Expanding rosters like you said is one of them. I think changing the ball, so pitchers are not forced to throw with max effort on every pitch is another one.

That could work, but I don't think protecting the bullpen is the only reason for the rule change. I remember a discussion on Tom Tango's site, not long before the rule change was made. He posed a question to readers asking them how they felt about putting a runner on second in extra innings. He works in the game, so I got the feeling he had some inside information and that it was not just one of his thought exercises. He strongly supported the move and his main reason was that fans don't want to stay at games for hours and hours watching extra innings. I think protecting the bullpen is a benefit of the move, but not the primary one.

It's been going on since 2020