Edman85

The Tigers' bats really weren't supposed to be good. Projection systems that project that tend to be mocked and dismissed by rose colored glasses wearing fanbases. That doesn't necessarily mean blame should fall at the front office. This is a "see what you've got" type year, and there's plenty of reinforcements in Toledo to sift through and figure this out. The weather in early April is always underappreciated as a factor, both on the Tigers' hitting but also on their pitching. Last night's goose egg was largely sequencing and batted ball luck.

I always used to get the words narcoleptic and narcissistic confused.

Came to camp with elbow issues. I don't remember any injuries last year.

I didn't realize how bad Brendan White has been this year. Transferred to the Development List today, which basically means he gets to go down to Lakeland and work on some things.

Lange has options, and it might be a good time to use them to bring up a fresh arm for the nightcap.

I'm not convinced he's a weak link yet.

Might need Wentz's length tomorrow.

Bombs away in the 8th, though.

Rain in the forecast in Detroit the next two days. Keeping him lined up to start a doubleheader game?

Leonard is too on the 40 man.

Had a good heart to heart with a super MAGA person I always try to avoid talking politics with last night, but he says he's not voting for Trump because of the narcissism.

I'm not writing him off. I'm suggesting that the spin that there wasn't room for him in Toledo isn't true and that he's in Erie for a reason. Mark added that reason could be related to a desire to move him to relief and not wanting to expose him as a starter in Toledo.

Anybody having mlbtv issues?

Bryan Sammons was signed in June and started 13 games for Toledo. Hardly most of last year. He's a placeholder. If they thought Madden was ready for Toledo, he would be there and the placeholder would be in Erie. If Madden was in Toledo you would maneuver around him. I really don't understand the argument here.

I want to reiterate despite some of the brash dismissals to this last week. If there wasn't room in Toledo for Ty Madden, Bryan Sammons wouldn't be in the rotation.

My hope is there are some down ballot effects that rebalance the scales some in the legislature, which is currently 85-35 in the house and 28-12 in the senate.

But yet Carroll and Rodriguez netted picks...

He's trying.

I had a hard time telling Lazaro Benitez, Iverson Leonardo, and Carlos Pelegrin apart. So of course all three get the axe the same day.

I was unaware the plan was to stretch Brieske out?

One of Hanifee, Englert, and Sammons will be the fifth starter. Maybe they start the year with six. Last year most of the Toledo starters were going 3-4 innings tops early in the year, so you have a lot of tandems and glue guys. You also have SGL likely heading down there on a rehab assignment pretty promptly. Long story short, if they wanted Madden in AAA, it wasn't anybody on the roster precluding him from being there.

For what it's worth, I had Flores in the Erie rotation all spring in my projections for the same reason Mark thinks Madden is there now. I don't have any reason to doubt it, but I would caution (in this world of player development advances at a moment's notice) against some post-hoc victory lap if Madden finds a pitch mix suitable for starting.

Liz Cheney's tweet referencing the Bible verse on adultery was pretty good.

I'll echo what @microline133 said, but also point out there's room for him in the rotation if they really wanted him there.

The talk on Madden is there was a roster crunch in Toledo. I don't see a team with Bryan Sammons having a roster crunch.