Comments on: Game 52: Tigers at Angels

By: Sean C. in Illinois

Sean C. in Illinois — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:52:15 +0000

I’d rather have Joyce/Thames or just Thames in LF than Bonds, Neal. What you say about SS makes sense, though my preference would be for the Tigers to go out and get a real third baseman instead, move Cabrera to DH, and - assuming Larish turned out to be for real fairly quickly - trade Guillen. Just the fact that I’ve had these thoughts makes me pretty sure it will never happen, though.

By: Sean C. in Illinois

Sean C. in Illinois — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:34:50 +0000

Not to add a gratuitous post just to get us closer to 350 or anything, but:

This DTW adds a lot to my enjoyment of the Detroit Tigers. When the Tigers aren’t so enjoyable, it substitutes for that enjoyment, I think. I come for information, insights, laughs, and camaraderie, not necessarily in that order.

I read the game threads, in part, to get a view through others’ eyes what the game looked like (since I can’t watch), to get information I won’t find in the play-by-play transcript. But at least half the fun is the spontaneity of the group conversation, which is weird thing for a guy with a somewhat antisocial and strongly individualist bent to say, isn’t it?

If I took the time to write “That’s funny” or “That’s interesting” every time I thought it… well, there’s just not enough time. So if you - like I do - sometimes wonder why a pretty good joke or a reasonable question/comment went ‘ignored,” it’s because there’s just too much going on here sometimes! But personally, I read everything, and I have a pretty good memory.

I’m glad Mark in Chicago picked up and ran with my “we were good” thing. We were. If I hadn’t been following the game through the comments already, I’d be echoing what Ryan in Brooklyn was saying.

We could get into a total self-referential thing here, you know. Trying to get a “win” with the thread, evaluating “prospects,” pondering the removal of certain posters from the “starting rotation” - use your imagination; pretty funny possibilities. I’m hoping we don’t, because I can’t be as late for work as I was this morning (DTW’s fault. completely) and expect to keep a job.

By: Neal

Neal — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:24:09 +0000

I read something in Hardball Times or Baseball Prosceptus about SS age and fielding. It just noted the decline at age 26 or 28. I think getting Furcal is too expensive at his age and injury level. I’ve always felt you need a rangy SS, so I’m biased.
Here’s an Idea, get a real fielding SS with lots of range to his right, and strong enough arm that the range doesn’t go to waste, then you can play Caberra at 3rd and leave 1st open for Larish.
We could sign Bonds to play left and when Guillen is healed up they could both talk about what its like to play without Roids.

By: Ryan In Brooklyn

Ryan In Brooklyn — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:08:54 +0000

300 or so posts ago, someone asked if anyone reads the game threads after the fact (Slashpyne?). Well, I just made my way through all 347! What an epic. The ups in the early innings, the downs with the loss, the slow decay into misery post game, and the slow lift into some seriously hilarious insights and ideas as the initial sting wore off. I missed the game, but got a totally surreal experience reading it back a day later. Thanks to everyone!

By: Mark in Chicago

Mark in Chicago — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:42:04 +0000

hey, great job everyone. We totally crushed this thread, a whopping 347 posts (including this one). As Sean C. pointed out, we had great thread chemistry last night and today and really put together a fundamentally strong piece of work. If only the Tigers could, well, never mind….

Congrats to all!

By: Mark in Chicago

Mark in Chicago — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:38:33 +0000

Yeah, he is hurt quite a bit, which is a concern. So the question becomes: if the deal is headed around, say $15 million per, PLUS the $3 million buyout, is he worth $18 million per season, or esentially $5 million MORE than Renteria, who has a $13 million option. That becomes a diffiicult question to answer, although you rightly point out that Rogers and Pudge come off the books also. Presumably those positions need to be filled, however.

Very tough position to be in, and I don’t even know what the alternatives are. Santiago? Craig Wilson? The possibilities are endless…

By: Chris in Dallas

Chris in Dallas — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:37:09 +0000

Yeah that’s what they get these days, Mark. You figure that Rogers’ salary is coming off the books as well as your anti-Tiger. Sheffield’s albatross will be gone after ‘09, so they should have the money to make a pitch for him if they were so inclined. He would fill a lot of team needs: lefty (switch hitter, actually), speed, defense, and Granderson could be moved down in the order to where he really should be. My only concern would be that he’s hurt frequently…

By: Mark in Chicago

Mark in Chicago — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:26:10 +0000

Good call, Chris, I was not aware Furcal is going to be a free agent. I forget what Senor Conctretos’ buyout is, but I would guess something llike $3-4 million, so we have to add that to whatever we offer any free agent to fill his position.

Furcal is not spectacular offensively, but adds some speed (and thus balance) to the offense. Solid hitter, solid OBP, just not a lof of XBH and/or SLG. He’s above average defensively range-wise, generally catches what he gets to, and still has that good arm. Frankly, I don’t mind that guy hitting leadoff on my team. He makes almost $17 million this year, the last year of a 3 yr, $39 million deal. He’s also only 29. Given the premium position he plays, does he get $14-15 million per? Yikes.

By: Mark in Chicago

Mark in Chicago — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:16:03 +0000

“Mark: I’d gladly be stuck on an elevator with Pauly Shore, Carrot Top and Fran Drescher if it landed me the chance to chain Ivan Rodriguez to a radiator in the clubhouse.”

now that’s dedication, we may have a front-runner for the job.

Pudge is my anti-Tiger. I mean, I love what he did for the franchise, but for the love of God, take a walk. He could make up for it with a solid SLG and high average when he was younger, but now that he’s a corpse, he can’t catch up to a big-boy fastball, so he really has no discernable offensive value (except the intangible “leadership”, which is really paying dividends this year. Tell you what: you take leadership, I’ll 9 take A-Rods, and we’ll play 100 games and see who wins.)

anyway, anything that keeps pudge from batting above 8th in the order makes perfect sense to me, even if it involves chains and radiators.

By: Chris in Dallas

Chris in Dallas — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:12:20 +0000

Chicago Mark: I’ll go on record with my solution to the SS quandry in ‘09 (of course I’m not writing off ‘08 or anything). Decline the club option on Zapatos Concretos and go after Rafael Furcal who will be a free agent. That’s the lefty hitting leadoff guy who steals bases for you. Although that might make too much sense…