FWIW, he showed some progression. From his MiLB game log, which isn't always completely consistent - by month his K rates were:
May: 36% ( 108PA -AA)
June: 36% - 110 PA
July: 31%- 100PA
Aug: 25% - 109PA - part AAA
Sept: 26% 99PA -AAA
His walk rate also improved. At minimum it is a good sign that in 150PA he did not regress against AAA pitching. Just have to see what he does as the sample size increases.
all I know is that you must be wearing you bigotry like a beacon on your forehead to tell a "joke" like that to a court officer.
The only circumstance I can think of under which the guy wasn't a total creep is that he realized he really wasn't up to this trial and needed to come up with the most foolproof way he could get booted with no pleading and no other questions asked.
the Tigers spent a lot of money on expensive players but I still never had the feeling there was ever any plan wrt producing a team where the pieces actually fit together. I think it's completely fair to critique Avila on how long it took him to get the decks cleared and actually begin rebuilding, but I at least do now have the feeling that Avila has a clear concept of what the team his is trying to build looks like and when he make moves they move in that direction and not at random angles to it. That's not enough by itself, but it's one piece that used to be lacking that I give him credit for today.
Bergeron with the PP hat trick before the 2nd period is even over. The team that started the season appears nowhere to be found, we're back to last season's Dead Things.
Apparently Posey has had physical issues maintaining his play in the second halves of seasons and one SF writer speculated that he believes he only got through the 2nd half of this one because of the short season last year and he didn't want to crash next year. He also has young twins at home. Plus if he has made a big pot of money.....
I don't think Al is looking for long term or top of the rotation pitching so I could see a guy like Miley as a likely target. $10million might be more than they would go for Miley though. With the dollars now spent for Barnhardt you imagine there must be a remaining number for the total they are going to spend on pitching and SS. Since Chris has taken over it seems their process it to set a number and spend right to it. If they miss on a top SS I could see them going bigger on a pitcher than they might initially be inclined to.
Reparations is such a great issue for the GOP. I've seen some black political writers debate whether the whole white guilt strategy is the best politics or not on relative grounds , but the real problem is that is misses the larger point of historical reality in America that the forebearers of *most* of the white population came here after 1865 and many from horrible oppressive places themselves. No-one can tell those white American's that somehow they should carry the burden for the long arc of US history. Whether it's a fair argument that all emigrated whites received some kind of generalized benefit from the legacy of white privilege or not, most of the US white population is not going to accept a direct individual (individual because it comes via direct taxation) demand like reparations. The moral calculus is too indirect - it's just not going to happen. Black political leadership errs if they generalize that most whites will accept themselves as heirs of the O'Haras.
Miley. '22 $10M club option with $1M buyout. If the Reds are dumb enough to not want to pay him next season they save the $1M moving him to a team willing to pickup up the main option. It's probably unlikely even the Reds would dump a 14 game winner over $10M but we can always hope!
Of course if Castellanos opts out they will save a chunk there.
https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/cincinnati-reds/wade-miley-8797/
American society has turned "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" on it's head. Today it's all the random drug, gun, pollution and public health disaster death that the pursuit of profit and power can buy.
Protected from same side pitching Haase and Barnhardt are potentially both slightly above average hitters at their position. This move is exactly the kind of unspectacular mid-level roster depth building move that the Tigers seldom made under the previous FO's feast (and famine) trading style.
Surprising that as thin as the catching market is, we didn't seem to be bidding against much to get him. Obviously most teams thought the Reds would just decline his option and they'd approach Barnhardt as a FA if they were interested, but it turned out it required very little to motivate the Reds to give the Tigers the right to exercise his option. I give Al some credit here for seeing an easily exploited angle that the competition apparently ignored. Considering what the Mets paid McCann a team waiting for Barnhardt to go to free agency to save a million or two was probably miscalculating anyway.
Hasse has a 250 pt platoon split (OPS) and hit HRs at twice the rate against LHP. His non-counting stats will benefit quite a bit by having his PAs against RHP limited.
That one could cut either way. It could be they always had Barnhardt catch their the bad starters so they'd have more support. One assumes the Tigers' new generation of back office nerds were all over those numbers though......🤓
at this point all I want from the catcher spot is a decent OBP. Just don't make an out every time up. Barnhardt is 324 OBP for his career. That's 40 pts better than Wilson Ramos or Greyson Greiner last yr. That's an improvement I can live with. Haase's OBP is poor also so he has to keep hitting the long ball to be useful.