gehringer_2

Yup, I seem to recall a Wings president's trophy team getting trounced one year in the opening series by a young Edmonton team that shouldn't have matched up with them (on paper). In a short series energy and goal tending can mean everything else goes out the window.

Not to mention the Mudhens need a 1B anyway. Looking at who played there last season, Nevin is gone, Ibanez will likely be in Detroit, Lipcius should be at 2B or 3B.

I suppose but of all the Tigers hitters Torkelson is the one I worry the least about. Injury always lurks, but otherwise, he's been able to adjust to how he's pitched, his mechanics are sound, and there isn't a lot of luck in his results that we're waiting to see regress. I'd like to see him get a *little* selective on strike one so he gets behind less often, but that's a small nit to pick. If the rest of team gets on base at all 100 rbi will be a walk. I do think they want to avoid running him down with 20-30 games stretches this season, so there will be a player who can cover 1B on the bench. If the OF gets crowded that would be Canha, but if some number of the young OFs regress and Canha is needed everyday in the OF, I think they will want at least one other possible backup for Tork - but that could be Ibanez.

The Wings offensive style is not going to lead to high shot totals very often. They don't bother taking many low % shots that other teams do - conversely they play for the perfect setup more than a lot of teams. They are scoring goals though, so I don't worry about shot numbers. When they struggle it's on the defensive end.

they like Kreidler's glove. If he could hit a little he'd probably challenge for Ibanez's spot

There is no-one in the Tiger org who could pressure Torkelson, but they do need some insurance if he gets hurt as they don't really have anyone else who has played much 1B since neither Nevin nor Schoop is still with the team. Ibanez played a couple games at 1st last season and is pretty much a lock to make the team but if they had to use him at 1st much it would crimp Hinch's 'optionality'. Beyond that, Malloy played a little 1B in college, Lipcius has played a little 1st in the minors. None of those have as much experience at 1b as Hiura.

And still the possibility Yzerman pulls the plug if he doesn't see enough before March 8.

LOL - right. Having Trump's incompetent, sycophant people in charge of the government I'm not too wild about, but in charge of the GOP? Go for it I say!

He's looking bigger.

For you: https://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/jeff-seidel/2024/02/16/detroit-tigers-spencer-torkelson-grown-mentally-thick-skin-home-runs-spring-training/72620080007/

Casualty rates were so high for flyers that not many guys served over long arcs of the war as in BOB.

Yeah - hard to know just from the fan end. But I do remember an occasion or maybe two, when Shep happened to work a game without an ex-player and I was struck that he was much better. I remember commenting about the difference here at the time.

You may have something with the timing. Putin loves to embarrass his client guests like Tucker - force them into compromising themselves even deeper in his defense. it's another show of dominance for him.

Also easier for Putin's private agents to operate freely in regions far flung from the regular bureaucracy. There are still people in Russia who try to play by the rules so just easier where all the local guards may be Asian conscripts who don't care or know about the political infighting between 'great' (i.e. European) Russians.

I always wondered if the he was really not knowledgeable or if he was too reticent about appearing to 'show up' his booth mate. We've heard Shepherd on local radio for years and he never struck me as not being up to speed. So I'm not sure he is/was as baseball dumb as he made out to be, but he adamantly refused to initiate any baseball knowledge of his own - the only thing he would do is ask the player about some aspect, and it then never went beyond where the player went. IOW to my reading, Shep was never willing to play equal in the booth and assert that he knew anything of his own. So I guess either way, it doomed him - and whether he didn't have the background or just wouldn't bring it doesn't matter in the end. Or another way to put it is that it's fine and proper for the broadcast pro to always yield to the player/analysts superior knowledge of the *play* of the game, but no reason he can't take ownwership of knowing the broader aspects of the overal *game* just as well as the player. Shep would not or could not ever do that. Maybe Bob Costas is the example I'd think of. Probably no player has near the encyclopediic knowdledge of the game's history he does, and when he works a ball game he is never apologetic about knowing more than his analyst about many things. And it works. You learn from Costas about the game and you learn from the player about the play.

Charlotte?

Shep is not a terrible PBP guy per se. He probably mangles his syntax a little too much to ever be top flight, but that wasn't his main problem in the Tiger booth. It was the terrible unnatural quality of interaction with his analysts that pulled the tiger broadcasts down more than anything else. If he never has to work with another ex-major leaguer he might get somewhere. Of course if he'd ever had a good analyst to work with it might have helped - he did do best with Gibson, even in Gibby's diminished state, and that sort of proves the point. He didn't have great analysts and he didn't elevate the analysts he had.

This reminds me of a time years ago - '75 maybe? - before Disney et al had gotten all that big. We'd gone to FLA for the semester break and the Orange bowl and started back from Ft. Lauderdale on the 2nd. Apparently it was us and most of the rest of the Midwestern population because the Turnpike/75 were reported to be stop and go all the way to the GA border. So after suffering the stop and go for about an hour (with a manual trans!) we got off and started up the back roads. Northwestern FLA in those days looked just like a scene from 'Deliverance'. Rickety unpainted front porches with rocking chairs on them. Spanish moss draping everything. The whole nine yards. Took forever but one of the most entertaining drives we ever made.

To the question on road maintenance and the U, I think it depends. On Central campus I believe the University owns building *on* public thoroughfares, so the City/State/Fed are responsible for road maintenance as per the regular funding systems. OTOH, I think big pieces of north campus, where I have hung out in recent years, are University compounds and the U has built and maintains their own roads there.

It would seem that by getting out before his case was actually decided/tried (or whatever term the NCAA would use for their process), he has effectively short circuited things. He's now beyond the NCAA's reach and doesn't need to cooperate with any resolution of his cases. The U in turn can argue that it's unfair to hammer them since they can't effectively defend themselves without Harbaugh's cooperation so they are his victim as well..... NCAA doesn't get Harbaugh's head on a pike, but they do get him out of their hair. A half-loaf for everyone but Jim.

Harbaugh doesn't need a statue and Bo's should be gone.

No, sorry Mike. There is no room for YOU with the Putin apologists running the Republican party. Be nice if you were smart enough to figure that out.

It's always, always, always, and only, projection with these people.

But considering how many (i.e. few) bats made it over the same period, you can't really argue the emphasis was any more effectively on hitters!

It's a disservice to truth for Western Media to report this as 'has died' instead of 'was killed.'