OT: Dombrowski to Red Sox, and a little Tigers talk
Absolutely hate the Sox, but big fan of Dombo so their future success will be palatable. Hopefully Ortiz retires / gets banned for steroid use soon though. Illitch's rare boneheaded move is Boston's gain. Seems inevitable that the Sox and Cubs class in a world series, which would be pretty cool.
'For the Tigers, the are strangely not dead. Lots of reason to be optimistic about Verlander, and suddenly the bullpen is gelling a little. They probably don't have the goods this year, but who knows. Also, I'd love to provide a gif of Cabrera's play tonight where he tried to catch a pass with a glove he wasnt wearing. Pretty funny, but saddly not on the interwebs yet.
August 18th, 2015 at 11:51 PM ^
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August 19th, 2015 at 12:12 AM ^
Eh, what he did was put one can of peas in a completely barren cupboard filled with cobwebs.
August 19th, 2015 at 12:45 AM ^
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August 19th, 2015 at 12:32 AM ^
You should thank Gary Bettman for getting a hard cap in the NHL. Before that, Ilitch was a deadbeat dad of a baseball owner. When he finally opened up the checkbook he did it in a big way. Some of the people whose arrival coincided with that (Dombrowski, Leyland) got more credit than they deserved.
August 19th, 2015 at 12:41 AM ^
Don't pretend Leyland gets more credit than he deserves, if anything he gets less credit than he deserves. People shit on Leyland all the time for a fuckery of reasons that make less sense than a donkey with 7 ears, honestly though the only thing I blame him for is starting Figaro on the 2nd to last game of the 2009 season with the division hanging in the balance.
August 19th, 2015 at 12:50 AM ^
People shit on Leyland because he didn't understand math and played the 25th man like Don Kelly at least twice as much as necessary. People got on his ass about three years too late. I could see in his celebrated first season here that he was a very poor in-game manager.
Alfredo Figaro -- fun memory. Kind of gets lost in the malaise of awful Leyland decisions. Seriously, how can an intelligent person possibly make that call? Dombrowski should have looked at the lineup sheet that day and enacted an override.
August 19th, 2015 at 12:57 AM ^
Sure he played Kelly far too much in the regular season, but when you have a team of front loaded talent and not much else you're gonna get certain players that are utilized more than they should be.
I do find it funny that you pick on Don Kelly though, he has more positive memories than plenty of other higher paid tigers.
August 19th, 2015 at 1:12 AM ^
The Tigers were "front loaded." You're making my argument for me that it was a lot more about Ilitch's money than Dave's brains.
August 19th, 2015 at 1:14 AM ^
I missed the part where I was talking about Dombrowski and not Leyland.
August 19th, 2015 at 9:32 AM ^
always remember Don Kelly's homer at Yankee Stadium in that elimiation game, runs were scarce that night and Donnie Baseball hammered one early and set the tone!
August 19th, 2015 at 1:05 PM ^
was a great clubhouse guy and a great manager to have over the grind of a 162 game season. He got a lot of out his players and was really good at knowing how to push guys buttons to keep them performing well over long stretches of time.
What he was TERRIBLE at as winning any one particular game. His game-day strategy was down right idiotic. He had no clue how to handle a bullpen. He routinely chose to play AGAINST the percentages and almost always lost. And the problem with that is that when you get into the playoffs, you can't afford to give away ANY games. And he gave away games.
That being said, the Tigers got totally destroyed in both World Series he lost, and I don't know that any manager could have stopped that. The players just didn't show up to play.
August 19th, 2015 at 11:53 AM ^
August 19th, 2015 at 12:04 AM ^
August 19th, 2015 at 12:27 AM ^
I like DD's overall work...but hiring Ausmus was a dumb-- move.
August 19th, 2015 at 12:31 AM ^
If you're going to get rid of him, get Billy Beane. Don't promote Al Avila
August 19th, 2015 at 12:34 AM ^
Yeah! Just get Billy Beane! What are you thinking, all 29 other teams in baseball he's never left Oakland for?!
August 19th, 2015 at 1:02 AM ^
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August 19th, 2015 at 3:15 AM ^
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August 19th, 2015 at 8:41 AM ^
August 19th, 2015 at 9:09 AM ^
I will always be a loyal DD supporter. Made far more good moves than poor moves. I tend to think the "firing" was more of a mutual decision.
August 19th, 2015 at 9:13 AM ^
I don't think it was since Avila signed a contract before DD was fired, and DD said he was not given an explanation to why he was let go.
August 19th, 2015 at 9:18 AM ^
Leyland and DD might be thought of in a little higher light if we multiple seasons like this one.
August 19th, 2015 at 9:52 AM ^
You guys are going to laugh, but us Sox fans are happy that this means Cherington and his penchant for signing big bad contracts are gone. The Sox bullpen has not been good this year, so you may make DD jokes, but he's inheriting the same problem he has failed to address in Detroit. I guess that means that the Sox' problems will persist? Regardless, I think that the Sox could have done a whole lot worse than getting Dombro. Satisfied, but not highly satisfied with the hire.
August 19th, 2015 at 10:02 AM ^
August 19th, 2015 at 11:46 AM ^
August 19th, 2015 at 10:07 AM ^
DD has some big bad contracts under his belt too... nevertheless, you guys should be very very happy!
August 19th, 2015 at 10:49 AM ^
Yeah, that was the part that was supposed to elicit laughter. Cherington, instead of spending money on Lester or other pitching, gave $100 million contracts to Hanley Ramirez, who can't field, and Pablo Sandoval, who has no power.
August 19th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^
He had fricken power against the Tigers!!! I know I was screaming at the TV telling Leyland to quit pitching to him and Nelson Cruz. If only Tigers had someone who stepped up and dominated in the playoffs like that. They might have a ring.
August 19th, 2015 at 9:56 AM ^
August 19th, 2015 at 10:51 AM ^