Ausmus probably won't survive this if we don't make the playoffs and the team is blown up, but he's improved a lot as a manager. His use of Greene right now as a middle innings shutdown guy when people get on base has been really good of late. He's the least of our issues right now, and I'm not sure who we would get who would be better if we fired him.
We will never be able to trade Miggy unless we eat half his salary. He is a declining vet who will probably never have a WAR of greater than 3 rest of his career. Our only hope is Upton tears it up 2nd half and opts out. And yes I quoted wrong post of yours.
Not sure how Avila survives this mess. Ilitch has got to can his ass after the draft. Zimmermann - Bust with backloaded contract. Owed close to $90 million over next 3 years Upton - Bust. Not opting out of contract. $88 million over next 4 years Pelfrey - Gave him two years when nobody else would. Paying him $8 million this year Lowe - Awful. Cut Aviles- Awful . DFAd last year His only good move was signing his son. And maybe the Justin Wilson trade.
Would be shocked if Avila doesn't get at least one more offseason. He signed a 5 year deal when he took over for DD, and I doubt the Ilitch family is looking to move on right now unless they are just so furious over the wasted money the last 2 years that they fire him out of anger. The good news is it's easier to tear it down than build it up the way he was asked to do 2 winters ago. Anyone can trade for prospects and hope for the best. He just has to have ownership's blessing/push to do it. Also have to take into account that Mike Ilitch is to blame for the Upton and VMart deals.
It's not easy to tear it down. They cannot move Upton, Zimmermann, Cabrera, or Sanchez without eating a significant portion of their contracts. They're going to be the Phillies for the next 5 years.
That part is impossible, but it doesn't matter who the GM is when it comes to that. Zimmermann, Upton and Cabrera aren't going anywhere, and Avila was supposedly the reason for 1 of those deals.
Which is why they are screwed for the foreseeable future. Add in Verlander and those four guys are going to be about 60% of their payroll.
I know. It's bad. This has been coming for a while, and Avila is only a small part of the reason for the team's situation moving forward. That's why I don't think he's getting fired, which is what I was discussing. Avila had an atrocious first year, but Pelfrey, Lowe, Aviles and deals like that aren't why we are in the current mess we're in. Would it be better if Avila had allowed Ilitch to do what he wanted and sign Chris Davis for 7 years instead of Upton? The same things that allowed us to compete for titles from 2011-14 is the same stuff that's going to crush us now. It's a payoff everyone knew was coming, and the only way out of it was if Ilitch slowed down after 2014. He didn't, and we are where we are. Changing the GM isn't going to change that, other than not having the knowledge that the new GM gave Mike Pelfrey that ridiculous deal.
Illitch was pretty sick when we signed Upton. I highly doubt he had any input on that signing. I'm putting the blame out on Avila for that one. Obviously he had to get clearance from somebody to sign him, but that was his guy.
Everyone involved in the Upton signing said it was Ilitch. He told Avila he was concerned we couldn't hit well enough, and Boras was in his ear about Davis. Avila veered him to Upton instead. In hindsight, he should have pushed him toward Cespedes, but his track record at the time wasn't any better than Upton's.
If I'm in charge I'm only drafting arms for 8-10 of our first 10 picks then worry about bats. It's a lot easier to plug and play with bottom of the order bats than it is building a bullpen. Start fielding a team built for the pitchers park we have. I get that homeruns are gonna put asses in the seats but these teams with big bats and terrible fielding are never going to win anything without the arms.
Isn't this what they've been already doing for the last decade +. Need to have balance, how many homegrown position players have been all stars or even above average in the last twenty years. Only one I can think of is Granderson
That's what they've been doing, but they have one of worst scouting player development staffs in the majors. Fire David Chadd, and that's actually a great strategy. If we actually developed pitchers, we wouldn't be forced to go out and spend $22 million a year on Zimmermann.
Lynn Henning piece in the News about an undrafted kid in West Michigan hitting triple digits with his fastball. Sounds like we have some good arms there. Also, Mike Rabelo seems like an excitable guy. http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sp...uts-might-found-gem-reliever-foley/102277388/
Lynn Henning is a hack. He thought the reason the Tigers didn't win the Workd Series in 2014 was because Bruce Rondon was injured. This article sums up season so far http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sp...ers-sinking-closer-point-no-return/102286558/
Thing to keep in mind about JD. If tigers pay luxury tax, and lose JD they only get a pick after the 4th round if they don't sign him.
I don't think we need to worry about them trading him at this point. Even if they trade no one else, he'll get moved as long as he's healthy.
So is the groin injury the Tigers excuse for JV pitching like ass today (and this year). Because that's all the Tigers are about this year. Excuses
For all the shit the Upton contract has gotten after his terrible start last year, he's on pace to be a 4-5 fWAR player this year. He's going to go ice cold at some point and it will be frustrating, but that contract isn't as bad as people have made it out to be.
I was just thinking about that today. Miggy and V-Mart have been the weak links in the line up so far. If they can turn it up a bit, it's a pretty strong power line up.
Miggy is walking a ton and his average is a little better. There's just no power right now. We really need him to have one of those power binges soon.
Burrows was called up to AA Erie today. He was lights out in Lakeland. Will be interesting to see how he does, because he's not a big guy and really faded down the stretch last year, but this would seem to jump start his time frame of making it to the show if he handles the promotion as a 20-year-old the rest of the season. If they're this aggressive with him, I wouldn't be shocked to see Funkhouser get to Erie by the end of the year, too, if he keeps striking guys out at this rate.
Even better. He's on pace for a 5 win season and has already gotten one of his shitty months out of the way.
I would say top 50 if he succeeds (good K, BB and HR rates, even if the ERA is a little higher). Not sure he has the stuff/projection to be higher.
Would seem like him, Manning and Stewart are all solidly trending that way. Add in JJ and considering the contributions we've gotten from the farm already, things may be on a bit of an upswing actually ... Just waiting on Derek Hill
Fangraphs has their mock draft up. Here is the relevant section for the Tigers: 18. Detroit – Sam Carlson, RHP, Burnsville HS (MN) A hard-throwing prep righty with a protoypical build, Carlson is very much Detroit’s style. I’ve heard they could start the run on the next tier of prep outfielders here, too, either with Puerto Rican CF Heliot Ramos or Georgia high schooler Drew Waters.
The Tigers are generally one of the most predictable teams in the draft every year. This year, I've never seen so many names attached them. Seems like we're in play with every HS OF, HS P and SEC P.
Here is Mark Anderson's list of guys he's hearing the Tigers have interest in: Everyone on that list but Beck and Baz have been pretty heavily tied to the Tigers by others, and those two aren't really mentioned because they both could go top 10 (Beck has gotten some Trout comps). Schmidt's brother is in the Tigers' org now and was considered a potential top 10 pick before having Tommy John in April. The other guy I would add (if he's available) is Florida RHP Alex Faedo, who could go anywhere from 8-25 depending on who is doing the mock draft.
I realize Norris was all over the place but watching Avila hack at a 3-0 pitch and then take strike three to end the game makes me want to punch a fucking wall.