gehringer_2

what frosts me about it is that is a fundamental misuse of statistics and statistical theory. When a guy goes 7/8, he is not the guy your season stats say he is, he is a guy who is seeing the ball unusually well and you are perfectly justified in riding his hot hand. The idea that every player always represents the same sample population is a total fallacy. They are on average, but only on average. In any specific instance, a human being may be passing through any of various states of being/emotion/health/*performance*.

meh. The players are allowed to have independent opinions -- as long as that is what they were. If someone from the staff put them up to it then it would be quite a different matter, otherwise it tough cookies for the NCAA if the players don't like them.

Smartest guy in the stadium syndrome.

Well, if Rick Berry could lead the league in FT% shooting them underhand, why not? I think the physics of this could make some limited sense. Since the ball comes off the backboard with a fraction less than one of the energy it hits it with, you should get more leeway in the range of velocities that the ball hits the backboard with but still falls in the hoop, compared to having to get exactly the right x-direction velo to find the hoop on the direct shot. I think the real issue here though is that since there are so many other shots - baseline etc, where the backboard can't help or the angle is more complex to instantly solve, it's better for muscle memory, etc., just to always have one aim point - the hoop. Still, the 'everybody does it that way' arg always has to be suspect. It took the league 30 yrs to finally play the game the 3pt shot meant they should have been playing all along - all that held the game back was a wrong belief that guys could not shoot as well as they have proved they can.

I didn't have any problem with Avila's US drafts - I thought that was probably the strongest aspect of his tenure. It was in Latin America that the Tigers did poorly, which seemed odd since that had been part of Avia's beat coming up as a baseball exec. Maybe a case of familiarity breeding contempt. I wasn't thrilled with the Mize pick, but conventional wisdom on Mize was pretty universal and he may yet end up a good pitcher.

He did have a real excess weakness for switch hitters, to the point where he pretty much ignored the fact that too many of the SH he brought in couldn't actually switch hit, they just stood in the opposite batters box to take some of their outs.

Didn't Tucker do pretty much the same thing at MSU? Heck, there was big exodus from Michigan when Harbaugh took over. Happens with every coaching change - it's just a matter of degree depending on the local circumstance.

I'll give you one thing that does give me pause, and that is the approach to their major league hitters. Despite the excellent results lower in the system with Malloy, Perez, Keith, Lipcius, Bigbie, Meadows, the hitters at the MLB level, with the exception of Greene, all seem to hit below their potential. They may all be terrible hitters for sure, but I'd have like to see at least a couple guys on the MLB roster make more progress. Carpenter has, but Carpenter went out of the org for his hitting coaching. Torkelson has found his power but I think he has the tools to be a better OBP guy than he is and there has been little progress for him on that front. For me it comes down to the 'control the zone' mantra. I think it is fundamentally misguided as a primary objective because it is a symptom, not a cause. There are a few hitters that get too aggressive, but in the overwhelming number of cases, guys are not trying to swing OOZ. The cause is too little decision time - stressing to guys to 'look for pitches' misses the mark IMO. They are all doing that to the best of their ability. The emphasis needs to be on how to get into an approach that allows you more time to your decision point - which is exactly what the guy Carpenter has worked with stresses. Maybe that is going on in the background, but I find their public statements on the team's approach to hitting to be unlikely to yield much result.

Yup. Or he warned them he didn't want to move and they weren't listening or really didn't believe he was serious, or maybe he was OK with a trade right up to the point it tuned out to be the Dodgers because he doesn't like LA. Lots of possible points for a communication miss.

who knows, maybe he is a good football coach. We've seen enough examples to prove that doesn't preclude his humanity could also be seriously flawed.

he did get lot harder to root for after that AFLAC commercial....

LOL - the potential floor is definitely also an issue.

I can see the logic. I'd guess they think Wentz has more potential ceiling than Faedo but he hasn't been able to find consistency so you can look at starting as a potential investment. Faedo is a nice insurance piece though. He's a Tyler Alexander type - you can keep him around as a long reliever and easily stretch him out if you lose a starter and know you at least have a guy that might steal you a game here or there.

I don't think there was ever any serious intention to bring in another FO body on any schedule. Harris was hired to be POBO/GM. All the GM talk has been PR window dressing so I'm not going to rate that as any kind of fail.

Nope. Seems like a nice guy but neither rules nor meds are exactly Mr McCs forte.

'71 would have been between Tommy and Quadrophenia - definitely peak Who.

Yeah - even against a stacked line they should have been able to at least get a little more push if they expect to hold their own in games in November/Dec.

Anyone have or know where to get viewership numbers on the game?

And it was a bit raspier than usual today. But overall this is a good radio team. But that the Tigers had picked as well. (I mean for their TV team!)

Sure - Bono is/was an engaging singer. Also the tunes matter. U2 managed to come up with some interesting ones.

Question: If a guy is on optional assignment and he gets hurt, his IL time still counts on his ML clock?

RIght, because it's not lack of bat speed, it's purely lack of barrels. Everyone knows (including the Tigers) that Javy's problem is less swinging out of the zone than just getting quicker to the ball. The fan focus on plate discipline is misguided in Javy's case. He needs to find a more compact approach so he can wait longer to commit, and obviously that isn't happening. Is that coaching, is that Javy? Maybe both? Is there some coach out there somewhere who could straighten him out? Maybe. OTOH, no coach has ever found a way to get Daniel Norris to throw a pitch without recoiling off the mound, and he's had a lot of coaches try. So who knows?

You do have to wonder if he wouldn't benefit from a different coaching approach since what the Tigers are doing isn't working. The thing that bothers me about just accepting that Javy's bat is just gone forever is that the continuing quality of his defense argues the reflex ability is still in there. He's not a guy who has just lost a step overall at 30.

Yup. What has happened is that people who are not big TV fans are saving money because they aren't paying for anything, and the folks who used to be subsidized by the those people are now paying more to get all the services they want. From a macro economics standpoint that's a reasonable outcome, but you wonder whether this system reduces overall potential future audiences for the industry or not.

or alternately, you'll find you don't miss it.