2017 Detroit Tigers

[Lowell]

Last thing we need is a "thumper". We need guys with speed, athleticism, on-base percentage and good defense. I think they will try to trade either Upton [[in the tradition of way overpaying and then dumping the guy after a year - see Prince Fielder) or JD Martinez. You can't let JD hit free agency and not get a return. If they move a couple of big contracts they may try to sign JD long-term.

Agree with the no need for a thumper part. Tiger's ballpark, even with left field pulled in, is too big. Speed and defense need to be prioritized. In that sense I'm surprised with the talk of JD leaving. He has decent speed, a great arm and good defense, and he can thump to any field like Miggy. Except for the average defense, I'm surprise to see Maybin go. IMO he is a great 10th player.

[emu steve]

Agree with the no need for a thumper part. Tiger's ballpark, even with left field pulled in, is too big. Speed and defense need to be prioritized. In that sense I'm surprised with the talk of JD leaving. He has decent speed, a great arm and good defense, and he can thump to any field like Miggy. Except for the average defense, I'm surprise to see Maybin go. IMO he is a great 10th player.

Agree.

And esp. JD, he is a fan favorite. I'm kind of the mind that a team can't have too many JD's.

What's not to like about him?

I really think everyone, esp. GMs, etc., need to remember that in MLB the game is pretty 'intimate' between players and fans [[esp. when they are at bat). They sign autographs, give interviews, etc. etc. and become the face of the franchise.

This is much different than say football where players are a long ways from the stands, wear helmets, and one of 11 players on the field at one time [[for one team).

Bottom line: A JD is worth much more than his stats, saber metrics, etc. would indicate.

Same for a player like JV. He is a face of the Tigers.

[softailrider]

Last thing we need is a "thumper". We need guys with speed, athleticism, on-base percentage and good defense. I think they will try to trade either Upton [[in the tradition of way overpaying and then dumping the guy after a year - see Prince Fielder) or JD Martinez. You can't let JD hit free agency and not get a return. If they move a couple of big contracts they may try to sign JD long-term.

Seems like an extra thumper in the lineup wouldn't have hurt when they lost all those games to the Blue Jays last season. To me, it appeared that the lack of timely hitting was one of their major problems on and off for the entire season. I know they scored a lot of runs but they hit into a lot of double plays and left a lot of runners on. I would agree that the lack of speed had a lot to do with that.

[401don]

Agree with the no need for a thumper part. Tiger's ballpark, even with left field pulled in, is too big. Speed and defense need to be prioritized. In that sense I'm surprised with the talk of JD leaving. He has decent speed, a great arm and good defense, and he can thump to any field like Miggy. Except for the average defense, I'm surprise to see Maybin go. IMO he is a great 10th player.

JD is being discussed because he CAN be moved. If Avila really has been told to slice payroll then he is not going to add to it by handing JD a 130 million dollar contract. Kinsler is the other movable contract. Victor, Cabrera and Verlander will be much harder to move as their deals are huge and they you would be buying their declining years, so even if you moved them you would get nothing in return.

[emu steve]

JD is being discussed because he CAN be moved. If Avila really has been told to slice payroll then he is not going to add to it by handing JD a 130 million dollar contract. Kinsler is the other movable contract. Victor, Cabrera and Verlander will be much harder to move as their deals are huge and they you would be buying their declining years, so even if you moved them you would get nothing in return.

I hear you.

I just hope the Tigers are sensible and pare [[sp?) the payroll by say 15M and don't go crazy.

Assume that V-Mart will retire after 2017 [[and his salary will come off in 2018).

[Lowell]

DETROIT TIGERS NEWS
Detroit Tigers sign catcher Alex Avila to a 1-year, $2-million deal for 2017.

Looks like Grandpa didn't like being away from the grand kids.

http://www.blessyouboys.com/2016/12/...ntract-details

Not a ton of offense but on the plus side we get a catcher who knows the pitchers and the park and a lefty bat.

[emu steve]

DETROIT TIGERS NEWS
Detroit Tigers sign catcher Alex Avila to a 1-year, $2-million deal for 2017.

Looks like Grandpa didn't like being away from the grand kids.

http://www.blessyouboys.com/2016/12/...ntract-details

Not a ton of offense but on the plus side we get a catcher who knows the pitchers and the park and a lefty bat.

Lot of pluses:

1). Yes, knows the pitchers and park,

2). Lefty bat,

3). [[don't forget): an inexpensive contract.

[softailrider]

I was really hoping Avila would have gone far, far away and never returned. So they shed themselves of Maybin, who provided a spark last season and get Avila back? This is improving the team? I must be missing something.

[emu steve]

I was really hoping Avila would have gone far, far away and never returned. So they shed themselves of Maybin, who provided a spark last season and get Avila back? This is improving the team? I must be missing something.

Salary cap.

I didn't want to see Maybin leave but his salary was what? 9M?

Traded for prospects who have minimal salary. That is one way to make a team younger and also cheaper.

As far as improving the team: My guess is that good health will have to do it. I don't see a positive team talent infusion.

[401don]

Lot of pluses:

1). Yes, knows the pitchers and park,

2). Lefty bat,

3). [[don't forget): an inexpensive contract.

Knowing the pitchers and park is not that impt. Knowing the opposing hitters is far more impt.
Lefty bat? I also bat lefty and can't hit.
2 million for a backup catcher is not cheap. It's above the avg. rate of about 1.5 million last year.

[renf]

Didn't the Tigers also sign Omar Infante to a minor league contract? Back to the future?

[401don]

Anyone still following these guys?
I'm not sure what's worse, paying hundreds of millions for useless pitchers or playing same and not releasing them because you're paying them. Lowe and Pelfrey were released but KRod, Sanchez and Zimmerman are awful and it's going to cost the Tigers any chance of one last season of contending before the team is broken up. It's too bad because the starting pitching and hitting [[when healthy) is good but the bullpen and defense is terrible. When you get all of the games on tv nowadays you realize just how many games bad defense costs a team. Most of the errors don't show up in the box scores.

[softailrider]

Scary thought to me is what if this woeful bullpen was pitching in a park with normal dimensions?

After Miggy comes back, here's hoping they can find a place for Hicks to play. That guy has got some pop in his bat.

No doubt about it, with the exception of short and 2nd their defense is bad.

Not nearly ready to throw in the towel yet in spite of the above. Still hoping they can keep it exciting and stay in it until the end.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Anyone still following these guys?
I'm not sure what's worse, paying hundreds of millions for useless pitchers or playing same and not releasing them because you're paying them. Lowe and Pelfrey were released but KRod, Sanchez and Zimmerman are awful and it's going to cost the Tigers any chance of one last season of contending before the team is broken up. It's too bad because the starting pitching and hitting [[when healthy) is good but the bullpen and defense is terrible. When you get all of the games on tv nowadays you realize just how many games bad defense costs a team. Most of the errors don't show up in the box scores.

Agreed... Detroit is on the hook, for Sanchez, Zimmermann, and K-Rod, and all of them are shells of they're former selfs. Zimmermann looks nothing like he did with the Nats, Sanchez has lost his confidence in getting hitters out, and K-Rod is not a closer anymore. Sad thing is, they are probably going to have to roll with these guys the rest of the season.

[401don]

Agreed... Detroit is on the hook, for Sanchez, Zimmermann, and K-Rod, and all of them are shells of they're former selfs. Zimmermann looks nothing like he did with the Nats, Sanchez has lost his confidence in getting hitters out, and K-Rod is not a closer anymore. Sad thing is, they are probably going to have to roll with these guys the rest of the season.

Everybody is throwing 95+ these days so 90-91 looks like batting practice. Veteran guys can't get away with nibbling on the corners. Look how hard Verlander got hit even with his good secondary stuff when his fastball dropped a bit due to the core muscle problem a couple of years ago. You better be able to make the ball sink or cut if you can't throw hard. Zimmerman looks exactly like Sanchez and we're on the hook for 3 more yrs./60 million.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

One good takeaway so far, has been the pleasant surprise of Hicks and Adduci, and Avila getting off to a great start. They have come up with timely hits, and should stretch the bench depth, when Miggy and Martinez return. Now if the starters and bullpen can get consistent, the season may not be lost.

[401don]

Do you mean depth at Toledo? If not, who do they replace on the roster?

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Do you mean depth at Toledo? If not, who do they replace on the roster?

So you don't think when Miggy and Martinez come back, they can't provide bench help, like when someone needs a day off? Mahtook hasn't been special, maybe he could go down to Toledo. Hell, I don't know. But you would think if these guys are hitting, Ausmus would find a way to keep them.

[401don]

So you don't think when Miggy and Martinez come back, they can't provide bench help, like when someone needs a day off? Mahtook hasn't been special, maybe he could go down to Toledo. Hell, I don't know. But you would think if these guys are hitting, Ausmus would find a way to keep them.

I agree. I would like to keep the hot bats here. I was just curious who you would like them to replace. The benches are so short in today's game they probably can't keep Hicks even though I would love an extra bat.

[Dino]

Why hasn't the Brad Ausmus experiment ended yet? I'd love to have seen the presentation to management when this joker was hired.

Ok look. We have a bunch of veterans on this team, including a few first-ballot Hall Of Famers. Let's get an unexperienced young guy to run this team to replace Jim Leland who was just too old. And let's get a really handsome guy so that we won't only get BASEBALL fans to come to our games, but also women - young & old , who will just swoon over this guy. Oh, and let's get a guy who played almost all of his years in the National League so he can preach to our younger guys how much better NL small-ball is. And when he takes this team that has had a few decent years of post-season success, including 2 appearances in the World Series, and we'll just accept mediocre results. Let's watch Miggy's and Verlander's best years go bye, and we'll smile because we have more women coming to watch our handsome, feckless coach scratch his head and wonder why we stink. Yeah, that's the stuff!

[softailrider]

Why hasn't the Brad Ausmus experiment ended yet? I'd love to have seen the presentation to management when this joker was hired.

Ok look. We have a bunch of veterans on this team, including a few first-ballot Hall Of Famers. Let's get an unexperienced young guy to run this team to replace Jim Leland who was just too old. And let's get a really handsome guy so that we won't only get BASEBALL fans to come to our games, but also women - young & old , who will just swoon over this guy. Oh, and let's get a guy who played almost all of his years in the National League so he can preach to our younger guys how much better NL small-ball is. And when he takes this team that has had a few decent years of post-season success, including 2 appearances in the World Series, and we'll just accept mediocre results. Let's watch Miggy's and Verlander's best years go bye, and we'll smile because we have more women coming to watch our handsome, feckless coach scratch his head and wonder why we stink. Yeah, that's the stuff!

I see what you're saying, while I'm not a huge Ausmus fan I can't see where it's his fault if the teams closer gets bombed. Or, if vmart hits singles instead of home runs. Or, if the third base guy makes three errors. As you mentioned, there are some hall of fame veterans on this team. They have to preform on their own.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Looks like the Tigers are turning the tide on the Indians this year. They are 4-1 vs them so far and if they win tonight, will take the 4 game series. Hope it continues, but it's early in the season.

[emu steve]

Looks like the Tigers are turning the tide on the Indians this year. They are 4-1 vs them so far and if they win tonight, will take the 4 game series. Hope it continues, but it's early in the season.

Indeed.

Statisticians and researchers talk about 'outliers', statistical [[probablity) rarities, but most of us learned as kids, about lightning not striking the same place twice.

2016 was a weird, weird [[outlier) year for CLE / DET.

I just never expected history to repeat and thankfully it is NOT.

[401don]

Tough loss for Boyd last night. Worst part was listening to Rod Allen rave about Miggy's baserunning after he's tagged out on another boneheaded play. First of all, he's coming off a hamstring injury and earlier in the game Allen states Miggy knows not to run too hard right now. Second, the team is down 3 runs and an Upton homer would put them right back in it. Worst, Miggy was barely off the 2nd base bag. He had decided he was going to take off as soon as the shortstop threw it and the shortstop was deep in the hole so he could easily have been another few steps toward 3rd base before taking off.

[daddeeo]

Watching this team is like thinking about going to the dentist. You know there's going to be pain but you do it anyways. Of course, the difference is you usually have a problem fixed after seeing the dentist. Tigers are a 50-50 possibility.