chasfh

Sure they would say in public that they want a monster ballplayer to help them win a pennant. Who wouldn’t say they want that? And I’m sure they’ll now say in public that they know they have the horses they need to win the pennant and a ring. Who wouldn’t say they know that?

Our rotation as it stands looks like it might be Skubal, Flaherty, Mize, Paddack, Morton, Melton. A temporary six-man rotation gives us a little breathing room if one of the guys goes down with an injury, plus it gives everyone an extra day to recharge as we go through the dog days of August and September and into the playoffs. If they go this route, I’d bet it would get pared down to a five man rotation by end of month.

Start him? That’s one less pitching chaos game every five days.

And herrrrre we goooo … 😉😂

Lemonade out of lemons? Scott Harris has just communicated to this group of guys that he believes they are good enough as is to take us deep into October and maybe even November, and don’t need help from high-priced trade targets that cost us anyone from the top of our system. That kind of thing means a lot to extreme competitors as major-league players are, especially on a team on which most of them all came up together and are growing as major leaguers together. Take that for what it’s worth.

Harold Reynolds seems to remember that Charlie Morton was pretty good in the 5-to-10-year-ago range, so of course he predicts that Charlie Morton will start playoff games for us this year.

OK, well, looks like we have who we’re going to war with for the next two to three months. The big takeaway looks like, the guys we already had in house have to keep stepping up and lead us, with some help on the fringes from some of the new guys.

Errrrr …

That's fair. I had hoped to get a solid back-of-the-pen guy as well as #3 or better rotation piece to go into the playoffs with, and I too am about fourteen minutes from being disappointed about not getting either of those.

I think we have seen enough evidence over the years that buying over-priced and usually over-the-hill FAs is sometimes not an avenue to winning seasons at all.

I agree with you that you or I dont know what happend

Scott Harris does not make trades like Brian Cashman because he has a different pool of talent to trade from, as well as a different set of objectives serving the goals of winning this year and competing for the next several years. But as someone who's not stupid and understands how trades work, you already know that.

Cashman hasn't won a World Series in sixteen years, and in fact won his first pennant in fifteen years only last year. So, looks to me like he's lost his touch somewhat. But I will grant you, he knows how to make news with trades. I also agree that you and I don't know what happened, so blaming Scott Harris alone for not making trades like Brian Cashman doesn't seem right to me.

do you think it's just our fault's side?

You understand it's not just our side's fault.

aka HP House Painters

Then you understand it's not just our side's fault when the trade you imagine doesn't happen.

Carlos Correa back to the Astros! As long as the Twins are tearing it all down, come on, Scott, Joe Ryan to the Tigers!

A few guys here said it was a good pickup for the price.

I'm not the first guy here who mentioned Kyle Finnegan in the context of Tigers' closer, but I am the first guy you decided you wanted to call on the carpet for it, even though I mentioned it only in reply to those who did mention it first.

You apparently stopped reading my post after the first paragraph. You don't have to go back and read the whole thing—just skip to the final paragraph.

Nope, you can be president of the I Hate Poopyhead Scott Harris Club for life if you want.

I’m a little surprised people here are more sanguine about Kyle Finnegan than I thought they might be, or than I am for that matter. His card is decidedly meh for a reliever, and downright underwater for a closer on a contender. He’s 33, so no wonder his fastball is down a tick from the last couple years, but even if you accept an understanding of that, the fact is it’s still down that tick. His K rate is well below average and down from previous years. His walk rate is slightly above league average. His HR rate is way down, but that’s because his HR/FB rate, considered to be mostly luck-based, is half his career average, which explains way his xFIP- is sharply up even as his FIP- dropped. Flip side, Fangraphs pitchingbot has his stuff and command as both slightly above average for both his main pitches, and his fWAR is 0.6 even though his RA9-WAR is a flat zero, mainly due to the bad luck of not stranding enough runners. And he is pretty tough on lefties for a starboard pitcher. I get that people are looking at this acquisition in terms of the cost of prospect capital, but that’s really not the true cost of picking him and anointing him closer, is it? Isn’t the true cost the absence of better pitchers we will not have acquired that would be a better fit for that spot? I’m not one of the guys here who wanted to liquidate the top of our system in exchange for the top fire-breather on the market, but I did think getting a no-doubt closer was going to be on the shopping list. Maybe the prices being quoted Scott were just too high for him to consider. As far as I can tell, Vest and Holton are still the two go-to guys at the back of the pen, with Finnegan probably now third on the chart.

Speaking of razzberries, looks like a whole bunch of guys here will be ready to give Scott Harris a whole bowlful of them after six o’clock rolls around.

Looks like the same sort after all.