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MLB Network's "Top 100"; and where they are.


Useful Idiot

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MLB network recently released a recap of which teams control the game's top 100 players. Unsurprisingly, the Mets and Astros top the list with 8 players each, while the Tigers are considerably further down the list.

Little do they suspect the secret weapon we will unleash  once our masters of the strike zone take the field!!

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7 hours ago, Useful Idiot said:

I really expected Javy Baez to be a gonner after Harris set "mastering the strike zone" as a team priority. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

Hey, if he has a good first half they might find someone willing to pick up the rest of his contract, opt-out and all.

There probably wasn't a trade to move Baez and they would likely be on the hook for the whole contract if he were released.  My guess is that the combination of his 2022 and his contract is such that the Tigers would have had to take on an equally frustrating issue or add assets to a package to move him.  So, I'm not sure why anyone expected that he'd be a goner.

If the Tigers want to move him, the best bet is that he has a very good 2023 and they can move him or he opts out after the season.

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On 2/25/2023 at 8:55 AM, mtutiger said:

Can Useful Idiot, in detail, name exactly who he would have signed that would have effected a different result on this list and name the contract terms as well.

Thanks, I'll take my call off-air.

The silence is deafening, don't you think?

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I don’t think the Tigers spent even one second thinking about trying to trade Baez this past offseason. He had a really good final month of the season, and they may think they have a chance to fix him in a way the prior regime or the Cubs could not. Plus, when things are going right, there are not many better guys to have in the clubhouse than Javy. He may be unfixable—after all, he is 30—but if he can be fixed to any decent degree, he’s a keeper.

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10 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I don’t think the Tigers spent even one second thinking about trying to trade Baez this past offseason. He had a really good final month of the season, and they may think they have a chance to fix him in a way the prior regime or the Cubs could not. Plus, when things are going right, there are not many better guys to have in the clubhouse than Javy. He may be unfixable—after all, he is 30—but if he can be fixed to any decent degree, he’s a keeper.

I wonder how much his year last year was influenced by his hand injury as well.

Overall, the 2022 team, built around a lot of undisciplined hitters (some of whom are now gone and replaced) accentuated some of his weaknesses, and because he was arguably the biggest name on the team outside of Miguel, he bore the brunt of the criticism.

He wasn't my first choice in last years free agency period, but they are a better team with him than without him, even with his flaws... and the Tiger fans who hope he opts out are off-base imo, good shortstops are hard to find in this league

Edited by mtutiger
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the funny thing with the Tigers is that the team K rate was 24% (BTW-Baez was 25%, so he hardly stood out). That's bad but not really that bad. The killer for the Tigers with respect to the K zone is that as a team they only walked 6%. As team they can certainly improve their K rate- but from 24 to 20% would be pretty decent and that is only a 20% change. What they *really* need to improve is their walk rate, which they could easily increase by 30-40% 

Of course it's the same thing - They are trying to put too many hard to hit pitches into play which means they are foregoing walks and making outs, but they did put more pitches into play as opposed to just swinging and missing than I thought they might have.

Edited by gehringer_2
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7 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

the funny thing with the Tigers is that the team K rate was 24% (BTW-Baez was 25%, so he hardly stood out). That's bad but not really that bad. The killer for the Tigers with respect to the K zone is that as a team they only walked 6%. As team they can certainly improve their K rate- but from 24 to 20% would be pretty decent and that is only a 20% change. What they need to improve is their walk rate, which they could easily increase by 30-40% 

Dan and Jim had a talk about this during the game yesterday, based on some comments the team made to some of the individual players leaving, in some cases, 30 to 40 walks on the table when getting into 3-ball counts. That kinda stuff adds up, both in terms of run scoring but also statistically for individual players.

Though some of the pickups this offseason weren't sexy, one would hope that a little better place discipline from those coming back from 2022 + replacing some guys with poor plate discipline (ie. the Castro Bros) with guys who exhibit better plate discipline (ie. Nick Maton, Cesar Hernandez) may lead to some better results.

Edited by mtutiger
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On 2/25/2023 at 8:55 AM, mtutiger said:

Can Useful Idiot, in detail, name exactly who he would have signed that would have effected a different result on this list and name the contract terms as well.

Thanks, I'll take my call off-air.

Isn't that Scott Harris' job to make the team better? He gets paid the big buxx, let him explain why he sat and did NOTHING  of any appreciable magnitude  over the entire off season?

I've seen the way you guys play the "suggest someone" game, too many times, fully realizing that whoever I might suggest would either be  (a) too expensive,  (b) never agree to come to detroit, or  (c)fall short on some obscure benchmark you'd pull out of you hat (did I miss any of the standard toolz?)  Not putting my head in that barrel, sorry I'm not the chump you were expecting

 

It's Harris'job to fix this team, ask him

Edited by Useful Idiot
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On 2/25/2023 at 8:29 AM, casimir said:

 

If the Tigers want to move him, the best bet is that he has a very good 2023 and they can move him or he opts out after the season.

Yeah, that's kinda what I was getting at with the reference to his opt-out. That other teams might trade for him despite the possibility that he would only be a "rental".

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3 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

the funny thing with the Tigers is that the team K rate was 24% (BTW-Baez was 25%, so he hardly stood out).

With a team committed to "mastering the strike zone", where is there room for any player who swings at pitches 3' outside the strike zone? (assuming the claimed  "mastering the strike zone" strategy  is not just doublespeak for "we got our thumb up out azz, and can't be bothered acquiring accomplished talent)

I have cubbie-fan friends, and Baez is NOTORIOUS for his "hail mary"  plate discipline. He didn't just "go through a spell" of misfortune, what we saw was pure unvarnished Javy.

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5 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

You're the one throwing stones. Man up...what would you suggest he should have done.

 

It's easy to critique.

He should have done something better than contemplate his navel all off season.   A number of top tier players changed teams this past year, none of them came here.    It's the total absence of any appreciable momentum that I'm despondent about.

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1 minute ago, CMRivdogs said:

So in other words you have nothing useful to offer

I've become too much accustomed to the playing surface here, knowing full well anyone that i would suggest would get shot down over obscure garbage. I'm just not willing to furnish that cheap form of entertainment, anymore.

I'd feel better about our team having no chance to win if we were at least carrying a significant payroll, as evidence the owner is at least "showing up". The way I feel now, we have no chance to win because our owner is unwilling to "man-up", 

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Just now, Useful Idiot said:

I'd feel better about our team having no chance to win if we were at least carrying a significant payroll,

that seems a pointless sentiment. My interest/enjoyment in the team doesn't follow the payroll. In fact I think it has to be more frustration to be a Ranger's fan and imagine the $$ going up in smoke as that team loses games.

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2 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

that seems a pointless sentiment. My interest/enjoyment in the team doesn't follow the payroll. In fact I think it has to be more frustration to be a Ranger's fan and imagine the $$ going up in smoke as that team loses games.

I don't know, gehringer_2...I felt A LOT better  back when we could look forward to Mr I bringing Miggys, and V-Marts,  and Prince Fielders to the roster each winter.   Even with the Fielder disappointment, he served  as evidence we were at least trying.

Saving money while looking for the next Ronny Rodriguez IS NOT WHY I WATCH THE GAME. 

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