Longgone

Nope, they played a very good team and played well enough to win, it's disappointing that they didn't, but it's not all bad. They lost the turnover battle, and that was it.

Because a dt who is doing his job is stacking blockers, filling gaps, penetrating, etc., not necessarily making splash plays.

Trades-C Free agents, waivers, etc. -C Staffing-B Player development -B Draft-A International -Inc.

They had not used up all the other ways, that's ludicrous and you're assuming what they had wasn't working. They wanted a draft for obvious reasons. Sometimes the obvious answer is the correct one, you don't have to conjure up any conspiracies. Every major and most minor sports leagues successfully have drafts, and if you believe it's for bonus suppression and not competitive balance, then there's no point for any further discussion.

There were thousands of easier, simpler ways they could have suppressed bonuses, from caps on. They wanted a draft for what a draft logically provides. They didn't need subterfuge.

I agree they, probably unanimously, wanted to suppress bonuses, but you are completely ignoring the motivating factor for the majority of the owners and the actual function of a draft, it distributes talent in an equitable manner.

They went to the highest bidder, for the top talent that was almost always to the few biggest markets who hoarded them on a plethora of farm clubs. There was a definite class structure, much resented, that was greatly improved with the draft.

None of this very trite, tired, jaded rant about greedy owners changes the historical fact that deep unrest within owners of mid to smaller market franchises, who were not granted a level playing field and could not compete with the big market clubs for talent, led them to pursue a draft. This disparity and rift amongst owners has been addressed in various ways yet still remains today, and will remain until revenues are shared as per other major sports. Do owners want to control costs? Of course! Are they greedy? Some, probably. Does a draft inhibit amateur bonuses? Absolutely. Still, the prime purpose of a draft is to equitably distribute talent. Sometimes face value is face value.

You speak of controlling costs as if it were a nefarious plot. You own a business you have to control costs to survive. But the actual business of a sports league is competitive balance.

I kind of admire your cynicism. However, the essence, the essential quality of any sports league is the ability of each member to be able to compete. No one wants a league of perennial haves and have nots, and no teams should be granted inherent competitive advantages. The idea is to win, not balance spreadsheets. You have to cost control to remain viable, but you have to have competitive balance to maintain a healthy interest in the league itself. The motivating, historical issue for the draft was competitive balance. Sure, it also controls costs, but parity was the issue.

The motivating issue was competitive balance. Of course they want to contain costs, what business owner doesn’t? But do you think these rich, egotistical creatures bought a team to control costs? No! They all want to win and they want a fair playing field where they can compete, for their egos and for their communities. Cost control is just their nature.

That’s disingenuous. It was for competitive balance. Most of the teams in the league couldn’t compete with the big market clubs. It was a league of haves and have nots, and the majority of med to smaller market clubs pushed for a draft to alleviate that. Of course they also wanted to contain costs, the objectives are intertwined.

The main purpose is to distribute incoming talent in an equitable manner, which also happens to contain costs more efficiently than the alternative of big market clubs outbidding everyone for top talent. It serves no purpose to provide rewards, or punitive actions if it has absolutely no impact on corrective, constructive or positive behavior changes. Your last paragraph makes no sense, as a “garbage franchise“ is just as likely to get rewarded as any other since there is no correlation between the lottery and behavior.

Oh stop it. Drafts distribute incoming amateur talent in a most rational manner, and have been doing so successfully in most sports for many years. Lotteries, in any sport, have done absolutely nothing to affect or change team behavior even one iota, and only serve to dilute the true function of a draft. Lotteries address a perception, not a reality.

Prater has sucked since leaving the Lions.

Keith has eased the concerns regarding his defense, he probably will be able to stick at third. Most of the apprehension came from the fall league when he came back from injury rusty and overweight. Malloy on the other hand, has not shown any movement towards proficiency in the infield.

That was the resumption of a suspended game from August 7. That single has been hanging out there in suspension.

It's hard to say, often what looks like an awful throw was actually thrown exactly where the receiver was supposed to be, but the receiver ran the wrong route, made a different read, cut the route off or screwed up the play in some other way.

Every team does it.

FWIW, baseball execs and scouting and development staff were uniformly against this, it was the owners and MLB who pushed it through.

I think you are reading way too much into what was likely a casually phrased response to a reporters question. All I believe they meant to convey is that they hadn't received any updates and there was nothing new to report. I don't believe they were conveying any angst or expressing any concerns with the process.

I don't get all this Rodriguez is a flake talk. He took time off to salvage his marriage, successfully it seems. That's good, no? I don't know all the details, and I don't need to know. The Tigers seemed fine with it and welcomed him back. Why is that not satisfactory? I'm not too happy Detroit got ****ed at the trading deadline, but again, I dont have all the facts and motivations, so I'm not going to assign blame. **** happens.

I don't recall the exact quote, but at the time I took it to mean simply that they hadn't gotten any update, that there was nothing new to report, not that he had gone incommunicado. It felt like it was personal and they left him alone to take care of it. I don't see the negative in that.

Sure, that would still be a good value, and makes more sense than losing him for nothing. Probably better than you could replicate in free agency.

Well, those two both have big holes in their swings and poor plate discipline, that's not cultural. In general, the best hitting approach is to get a good pitch, hit it hard and hit it where it's pitched. You'll just look foolish trying to take many major pitches the other way or altering your finely honed swing. Hitting behind the runner is kind of an antiquated concept, like bunting the runner over.