I hated Jim Wynn and his nickname. My best friend was a Dodgers fan and he used to tease me about how bad the Tigers were in 74,75. So, I hated Wynn, Lasorda, Garvey, Lopes, Cey and Yeager and all those bastards!
Allen was difficult for some people to get along with. Ted Williams, Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby were too. The question is whether they hurt their teams. I also question whether Allen was disliked because he was an outspoken black man and whether he would have received the same criticism if he were white.
I would go into the season with one more strong starter and another one that can compete with Alexander for a spot. I'd say the same about Manning, but they are heavily invested in him so they probably need to assume he's good enough.
Trump would have put on a show for his cult, then he would have "changed his mind" and accepted the vaccines. He would have blamed the Dems for the slowness of the roll out and given himself credit for saving the country and his cult would have believed all of it.
I mostly agree with you. I don't think presidents really have much to do with the economy and the market has been great for a dozen years under three presidents. We give way too much credit and blame to presidents for things that have little or nothing to do with them. I agree with you on the vaccine too. People are getting the vaccine because companies have made them available and they want to stay healthy. If Trump were still president, they would still would have gotten the vaccines and the same ignorant people would have avoided them.
Trump would of course have give himself 100% credit for everything over and over again and every day there would be a new scandal followed by more self promotion. And his cult would have believed every word. I am actually glad Biden is not loved so much and we can concentrate more on the issues.
It's hard to predict because it's rare to have so many good players available at one position. Due to supply and demand. it could be a little lower than people think.
So, they should never sign any top players and just hope that all their prospects come through? Every big signing is going to come with risks. That includes eventually signing their own players.
I remember growing up hearing only bad things about Allen. Later, I read Bill James trashing him. That was surprising since James is usually contrarian. The truth is Allen's teammates had no problem with him and it was management and media that didn't like him. He belongs in the HoF.
Dick Allen had a 156 OPS+. That is 20th on the all-time list for players with 4000 or more plate appearances. He is just ahead of Aaron, Mays and DiMaggio at 155. https://stathead.com/baseball/season_finder.cgi?request=1&match=career&order_by_asc=0&order_by=onbase_plus_slugging_plus&qualifiers=nomin&minpasVal=3000&mingamesVal=1000&year_min=1871&year_max=2021&exactness=anymarked&games_min_max=min&ccomp[1]=gt&cval[1]=4000&cstat[1]=PA&age_min=0&age_max=99&season_start=1&season_end=-1&location=pob&locationMatch=is&isHOF=either
I don't think it will stop there either, but I think SS and starter are the only places where they might spend big money. I think anything else will be the usual off-season bargain shopping.
This looks too good to be true, but it seems like it may be legit.
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-business-health-medication-eeea3c6a5f6428479e35bc1bcd7aec52?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter
It's always a good idea to acquire some cheap arms and see what your staff can do with them. It's rarely a good idea to spend a lot of money on relievers. Looking at the bullpens around the league and there are a lot of failed starters and other cheap acquisitions which became key bullpen pieces.
As Avila said last month, the Tigers will be acquiring a catcher (done), shortstop and starting pitcher. No outfielder or relief pitchers. Avila always does what he says he's going to do whether we like it or not.
https://www.mlive.com/tigers/2021/11/4-free-agents-the-tigers-should-call-right-now.html
If they get a great shortstop and Kreidler unexpectedly turns out to be good, that would be a nice problem to have. I haven't heard any of the scouting types I follow get excited about Kreidler. That doesn't mean he can't be good, but I really doubt the Tigers are counting on him. It's just people reacting to his stats and even his stats are not that impressive. Someone with a 29% k rate in AAA is likely to have trouble in the majors.