Quote Originally Posted by 401don View Post
Who exactly are the star players the Tigers traded? Stars are guys like Altuve, Lindor, Judge, Harper, Stanton, Trout, Machado, etc. Every one of those guys was a prospect on their team before becoming a star. I guess the Tigers should have kept 35 yr. old Ian Kinsler and his .235 batting average or paid JD Martinez 25 million per year for his below avg. defense. Why hasn't he received a contract anywhere? Maybe they should have forced Verlander to stick around at 28 million a year even though he said he wanted no part of a rebuild? Had we kept those guys with our current pitching we would be lucky to play .500. This team should have been broken up two years earlier but, understandably, Mike Ilitch wanted one last shot before he passed even though I'm certain he knew it was a long shot. The Tigers tried to build a championship through free agency twice in the last 12 years and came close but without a core of young players from their farm system they came up short. I guess you want Chris Ilitch to spend 300 million on payroll. The team has a core of 4-5 starting pitching prospects to provide a foundation and now must develop some everyday players by trading for prospects. Candelario looks like a solid player at 3rd and Daz Cameron in center. Paredes may be a good middle infielder. They need a couple more everyday players, one or two of whom are stars. NO TEAM is giving up their top prospects in trades anymore. Then they can dip into free agency. This is and always has been the only way to build a team. So please, quit whining!
You have no idea what you're talking about. Just because a player is in the minors does not make him a top prospect. The stars you named, everyone knew would be good. The minor leaguers we got in trades, based on their records to date, might become average major leaguers at best. This is why I'm angry about it. Management traded several all star players and got average in return. The system as a whole still sucks, the drafting has not yielded much of value, and players in the system who were touted as "future stars" have not turned into anything more than average. Average does not win.

I've been a season ticket holder for 20 years and watch nearly every game I'm not attending on TV. I coached baseball. The Tigers system right now is terrible. Frankly I don't care if Verlander "didn't want to play for a rebuilding team." He was under contract, is a future hall of famer, and should have been a Tigers for life. The 2018 Tigers will probably lose 110 games and it will be years before they contend again.

/end rant