gehringer_2

and the inverse to this is that duty always ends up falling to Seider, which he is certainly good at, but it's also a waste of his other skills to have him playing a stationary game at the goal front so much.

I think this is a good take. Mo has the capacity to play a 200 foot game, but not if the guy he's next to doesn't have the speed to rotate back fast so Mo can take off on openings. I would make good speed next to Seider a bigger priority. It would open up a lot IMO. I don't think he needs a physically punishing mate as much as the wings seem to like - or at least not always. it's overkill for what it costs on the other aspects.

Dangerous to compare anyone to Verlander. In fact I think this recent stretch with Verlander, Scherzer and Kershaw all in the league at the same time has been a quite the outlier that has maybe skewed our perceptions of what is likely. There are a fair number of guys that have a few outstanding years, but even most of them never achieve the extended greatness those three have. In fact with the relentless drive for more spin, it seems likely even fewer guys are going to last. Though that might be a factor in Skubal's favor - he does not throw a lot of side spin - only about 12% sliders.

well you sure don't get many "Oh, where did that come from?" moments of unexpected creativity/success from a Moore coached team. IDK how much of that is completely necessary to be good, but a lot of the best teams have it.

right

LOL - mangling that is pretty bad. 🙄

That's the dirty little secret about capitalism - the more money you have, the easier it is to make more. You actually have to be aggressively foolish to lose a fortune under any conditions less than an general economic collapse like 1929. That's why long term successful capitalist societies must have a lot of progressive taxation and spending on public goods and social capital (health and education etc) - otherwise the trend into oligarchy/banana republicism is a built in inevitability.

I think there is a built in tension between long and short term trends such that no matter how data driven you try to be, there are inevitable contradictions that can't be resolved. Maybe Hinch doesn't like the match ups he get the next inning, but what if Melton is really on his game? That contradiction can't be resolved with any certainly. There is always going to be conflict between the longer term probabilities and what the game in front of you is telling you about why local conditions may be invalidating your history. As long as humans/weather/health are all variables in the equation, you are just stuck with that reality. I think the fan bias is pretty much always in the direction of "He's doing well, don't mess up a good thing", and if anything the analysts bias is just as strong toward "don't be fooled by what you see, this is what is most likely to happen." Either can be wrong. That tension will never be resolved. Kerry Carpenter is a poster child for this. Long term he has a lot of identifiable trends, but on some nights when he is hot he can and does hit everyone and everything (11 games with 3+ hits). That a nightmare for an opposing manager with analytics data. That fact is on some nights he is literally a different person. That's hard to account for an any model that assumes he's a constant entity.

I think "Biggest pitcher deal ever signed' has some ability to stand by itself even in the absence of other bidding, but your point is taken.

I think this is correct. At the core, they are interested in the benchmark, not how it's achieved. But that still means they want a whole lotta green. 🤑

So what's funny about Olsen/Olson is that it is the same name - it just two different arbitrary transliterations for the same pre-literate Scandinavian culture clan name. Two monks in two different places, one decided to register an 'Olsen' and the other an 'Olson' in a baptismal record some place, and the die was cast for centuries of confusion.

So you are one of those excessively moderate types. 😉

LOL - just parenthetically you do have a name that is often misspelled and/or mis-pronounced? I do, it's so common for people to get it wrong (like 99%) I'm long past being bothered by it. I happily respond to whatever comes close.

I'm not sure what your point is - do you mean that a year of Skubal isn't worth a top AAA player? That's certainly debatable but not really what I was arguing. If we posit that Skubal could/should bring good value back but that that value won't be in the form of current MLB players because the teams would sign Skubal are not in a mode they will give up current players but that they are willing to give up value - then my argument is that that value can still help the receiving team in the very next year. If you are arguing Skubal does not have that much value - OK, but that's a different angle on the argument than I was going for.

was the Cabrera deal done virtually when he arrived? I guess I'd wouldn't mind seeing MLB add 'Sign and Trade' as an allowed option. I think it would give teams losing players better return on their loses and thus would be a parity help and I don't see that the union should complain - I don't think it would make deals any smaller. Plus you know there has to be back door stuff going on under the table anyway - you can't break human nature.

which is no way the way I would manage an elimination game. You get a guaranteed 4 more games if you win to sort things out, you have to put everything on the table to get there. If Hinch was actually managing Saturdays game with Sunday in view he's an idiot and got what he derserved, which is a longer golf vacation.

Thee objek iss 2 komunikaete yr pohnt. Ef U suckcede aat thaat, sphellin iss kno moore thn phileghree. 🙃

Because people actually don't know if it's 'Olsen' or 'Olson' (both common) and aren't going to look him up just to mention him in a message board post when everyone will know who is indicated (i.e. - object of communication will be accomplished anyway)

We don't know the details of the Trust agreement, but typically the managing Trustee has a lot of control in terms of Chris being able to tell his siblings to shut-up and just cash their checks for a long as he lives. But I think the big unknown for both the Tiger and Lions is the remaining presence of the Matriarch. To me the wild card possibilities are around that impending passing forcing/triggering some major re-arrangement.

I don't think this is necessarily true. Austin Jackson was 5 WAR player for the Tigers in 2010, he probably wasn't going to play for the 96 win Yankee team that year. As always, it's a matter of choosing wisely! the same might be true for Aiden Miller since the Phillies have Trea Turner in place. While I agree that competitive playoff teams are least likely to want to part with current productive players, they are also the most likely to have blocked MLB ready players.

I don't want to argue the point about over using Cade which I think is pretty clearly true, but I'm not sure auxiliary scorers is the only possible measure. Scoring is a load on Cade because he is also the primary ball handler/assist generator and he's generating his own offense. A 10 point/game high assist ball handler could take as much energy load off Cade as another 20 pt scorer - though I suppose you can argue another playmaker will also drive higher point totals for other players - ergo more 20 point scorers, but the theory would be a little different.

Twins moved Santana with a year left (I thinK) when he was arguably the best pitcher in the majors. They got 4 players - all bust IIRC.

This. In a sane world someone at PSU or Harrisburg, or both ought to be broomed for that kind fiscal irresponsibility. ..yeah - I'll keep dreaming.

Very True. Porcello was just a weird outlier though. He never duplicated that season before or after, but I remain convinced that Ilitch and the Tiger org bungled the handling of Scherzer even before his contract was up. Just a bit more plantation mentality than Max would stand for.

I thought it had been reported the TV ratings were very good this year. No? Even if they are, they clearly do have a live attendance issue. The move back to more weekday day games can't help. Day games on sunny days are torture at COPA. Being retired they would be perfect for me but I'm not willing to be fried like an egg to watch a ballgame.