jcouz

August 18th, 2014 at 10:19 PM ^

I don't think Chris Young from Seattle topped 85 mph once yesterday and the Tigers didn't score a run against him. I am not sure that the art of pitching was taken in to account with Fister.

MGJS SuperKick Party

August 18th, 2014 at 10:44 PM ^

Nah he's groot. It's all he can say, unless you speak groot, then everything he says has a meaning.

Luckily, outside of being good looking, I can speak a little groot. I AM GROOT?

I think he said, that he is really torn on the Fister trade. 1. It hurt the tigers this year by not having that fantastic starter for the year, but it did allow them to go and get David Price. Groot knows a ton about baseball actually.

elhead

August 18th, 2014 at 10:43 PM ^

I think that the only thing that may make that trade a "bad" one is what Detroit received in return. It wasn't the issue of losing Fister. The Tigers' problema this year isn't starting pitching. It's bad relief pitching and this weird lack of offense that comes and goes at the drop of a hat.

Leaders And Best

August 18th, 2014 at 11:08 PM ^

but let's not overrate Fister here. Smyly has been pretty good this year, and the 5th starter is not the reason the Tigers have imploded. And you have to account for pitching in the NL. It's hard to say what kind of season Fister would have had in the AL, but it's quite possible it wouldn't have looked much different from Drew Smyly.

Leaders And Best

August 19th, 2014 at 11:15 AM ^

Pitchers age. Fister is 30 and scheduled to be a free agent after 2015. It was not a bad time to trade him while his value was high. The point I was making is that people are looking at this trade more negatively because of the big year Fister is having this year in the NL. Fister's yearly stats had been on a downward trend since the Tigers acquired him 3 years ago, and Drew Smyly's stat line this year is not much different from Fister's last year with the Tigers.

Should the Tigers have gotten more back in the trade? Definitely. But I don't think they miss Fister much at all on the field.

 

Cold War

August 19th, 2014 at 7:05 AM ^

It's incredible some people still try to debate the Fister trade. It's okay to be wrong once in a while. Really, it is. I'll even hold you while you say it.

maize-blue

August 19th, 2014 at 9:25 AM ^

The Tiger's batting lineup is not strong enough or consistent enough to hold up for a long period. They will either get it together to finish the season strong or they may in fact be worn down. Last year there was enough hitting/power in the lineup to cover for each other and the natural ups and downs hitters go through. This year when Miggy and Vmart are not clubbing the hell out of the ball, they can only muster 2 runs a game. The icing on the cake is that absolutely no one in the bullpen can be trusted.

ChalmersE

August 19th, 2014 at 9:37 AM ^

I posted the following this morning on a baseball site for which I write:

Whenever I see Fister (and to a lesser extent, Chris Young) pitch, I wonder if they actually outpitch the radar gun. By that, I mean they arguably let go of the ball six inches or more closer to the plate than other pitchers. One would think that would lessen the reaction time for hitters and effectively add to the speed of the pitch.

ca_prophet

August 19th, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^

... But why they dealt Fister to get it. Posnanski's point is that he was their least "trustworthy" asset (after Fielder), probably because he doesn't throw hard and hence must be doing it with smoke and mirrors.

It wasn't just the Tigers either - I have to believe that DD shopped him around and took the best return, which means pretty much no one else thought he was worth more than a fringe utility guy and a B-list pitching prospect. The fact that Fister would now be the second or third best starter in our rotation is just the olive on our shit sandwich.

As far as Verlander's struggles, I don't think they should have been foreseen, but the staff's struggles as a whole should have been. If there's a truth in baseball, it's that pitchers get hurt. Having six quality starters is only inefficient until one of them gets hurt.

MGoBender

August 19th, 2014 at 11:58 AM ^

The problem with the Fister trade is we don't know all the details. There were rumors he was involved in the off-field drama with Prince and Avisail. If they absolutely had to move him, who's to say they didn't get the best return they could have.