OT - God the Tigers Suck
It's almost the All Star break, are the Tigers seem like a team that is sliding toward mediocrity. In the past the Tigers could rely on superior starting pitching and inferior competition in the AL Central to eek their way into the playoffs. Now neither of those things exist and team just seems totally listless. Someone please tell me that there is some realistic hope for the second half of the season becasue this is getting depressing to follow. Harbaugh can't get here fast enough.
what do you want him to do? The only thing that will save them now is for the starters to give some quality starts...and Ausmus sure can't pitch....
THEY SURE DO! AHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Hopefully we trade Price for some top prospect and build for next year.
PS-Plz hire a competent manager!
Not to be too OMG shirtless, but your exercise regimen is definitely paying off. You should see a lot of action this summer!
Drop Bears are dangerous and manipulative beasts! They have their "cute" act down to a science, but don't let them fool you---turn your back and let your guard down for just a moment and they become vicious
Te tigers are approaching Phillies territory but at least the Phillies won a WS while they had all of their bloated contracts. Fans don't want to hear it but it's time. 8 years were pretty damn good but still no WS.
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What good is he if the team doesn't make the playoffs where you could trade him for multiple very high prospects or younger talent.
One more thing about Miggy: He's 10-and-5 now. He's got full no-trade protection.
It's time for Dombrowski to go. None of his moves over the past couple of years have worked out, except for signing JD Martinez.
Porcello trade...the Iglesias trade...The Fielder trade...The Price trade. All the years of going for the World series stripped the team of any and all solid prospects. Can't continue to win, ala Red Wings, without a farm system
correct neighbor
You're right on the Porcello trade. I missed that one. I didn't count the Iglesias trade, I was thinking since the 2013 season ended. The Fister trade was a disaster. The Fielder trade was at best a wash (Prince is killing it in Texas right now, while Kinsler's bat has been completely MIA). Shane Greene has been a disaster. Alfredo Simon is what he is, and isn't worth a pretty good IF prospect in Suarez. Price has been good for us, but Smyly has been stellar for Tampa and they got a highly rated SS prospect in Adames, plus we're not gonna be able to keep Price beyond this season (if he isn't traded, of course). Not to mention the ridiculous contract extension he gave to Verlander, and the ridiculous contract he gave to 36 year old VMart. His complete inability to build anything through the draft. He needs to go, most overrated GM in baseball.
I agree with alot of what you said. But the Fielder trade won't be a wash a few years from now. Everybody knows he isn't going to wear well. We still might trade Price, and if not, we still get the conditional first pick, so it isn't like we get nothing. The extension for Verlander is the only one I had a problem with. I don't think it is ever wise to sign a pitcher over 30 to a long term deal...However Baseball is so different from the NFL. The NFL signs you to contracts mostly in part of what you will do, not what you have done. The Tigers did the later with Verlander, and it will screw us big time from here out.
We'll see about Prince. He'll be a DH for the rest of his career, but he's in a pretty good hitter's park and if his dad could hit 40 homers late into his career, I bet Prince can continue to hit pretty well. I like Kinsler a lot, but this year he's really just been a defense guy, which is less than what we need.
The Fielder trade was obviously necessary, because Miguel could not continue to play 3rd and stay healthy. But I guess that just shows the stupidity in the Fielder signing in the first place, which is also on Dave.
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I don't think I'd be using Cecil as evidence that Prince can hit late into his 30's. Cecil had a nice year at age 32, but then went downhill in a hurry, and was out of the majors at 34.
I disagree that it was stupid, stupid money maybe. At the time VMart was down and out for the season and they need a big time bat if they had any hopes of playoffs.
This isn't brought up enough in my opinion. The Tiger's farm system has been mediocre at best for decades. How many true "star" (subjective, I know) players have come out of the Tiger's minor leagues in the last 30 years? The only two I can think of off the top of my head are Verlander and (dammit) Smoltz. Who else? Travis Fryman? Bobby Higginson? Granderson?
He pitched all of 16 2/3 innings for them this year before blowing out his shoulder. And he threw 47 2/3 innings for them last year.
So yeah, he had 10 really good starts for Tampa before getting hurt. And while I do wish we still had him, he wouldn't be helping the Tigers from the DL.
The Fister deal was terrible, but Fister has been struggling this year (4.34 ERA 1.36 WHIP in the NL) so he wouldn't really be helping either.
The Tiger's real problems are that Anibal Sanchez has imploded and Verlander isn't Verlander anymore. If those two guys were actually pitching like they had in the past, this team would be good. A rotation with Price and Sanchez/Verlander from a few years ago and the Tigers would be in first place. But Sanchez has been serving up gopher balls like he is pitching in the Home Run Derby and Verlander hasn't been right since 2012.
If Sanchez and Verlander can somehow right the ship, the Tigers could pick up one additional arm and still make a run. But that is the only way. I give them about 1 in 5 of that happening.
Dombrowski built up the Expos farm system to where it was the best in baseball. They probably play for the W.S. if there's no strike in 1994. Just look at the players they drafted and traded away in the 90s. He built that system. Then he built an expansion team (Marlins) into a two-time W.S. winner, despite the terrible ownership situation down there.
Then he comes here and turns a 120 loss team into a World Series contender. His track record over 30 years in the MLB gives him some forgiveness on a couple bad moves. It's easy to be the GM in NY, LA or Boston where players want to play. Detroit always has to pay more to get guys. How do you think we got Pudge or Magglio?
His only failing IMO is that bullpen. It's been a mess for a few years despite his efforts.
Smyly has been stellar in TB? He has pitched 16 innings this season. He may be stellar in the future but he has done all kinds of nothing so far this year. It is hard to be stellar from the DL.
Really? Have you seen how well Porcello is pitching right now for Boston? Take Cespedes out of the deal and just getting Alex Wilson makes the move a win.
but J.D. basically fell in his lap. Thanks, Houston! I wish Scherzer decided to stay, that hurt. I was a huge Doug Fister fan, wasn't happy to see him go basically for cap space. Absolutely love Jose Iglesias, and Rajai is on a tear.
DD has made some great trades. This is a good team, who probably won't catch the Royals, and is looking from the outside in as far as the Wild Card.
I am scratching my head on Kinsler's lack of production, and am genuinely concerned about Verlander's future. Outside of Price, the starters have been scary bad recently.
Dombrowski can't control those situations, but he really never addressed the lack of middle-relief. Now the Tigers are putting themselves into a position to be sellers at the trade deadline. Didn't see that coming...
Realistic hope? The Tigers are two games out of the wild card.
But if I can watch them lose 119 games I can watch them lose 90. I have been saying they're in for some trouble since late 2013. Too many "stars" and not enough decent, consistent players. That has been their downfall since 2011 or so. Should have a minimum of 2 rings since 2006.
Joaquin Benoit giving up that grand slam... it still hurts.
2013 was the year. It would have been tough for Boston to take that series down 2-0 (of course we still would've needed to get past the Cards). I'm also starting to think the window has closed. Hope I'm wrong.
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Cry me a river. I'm a Cubs fan. Mediocre is a good season for us. Enjoy the playoff runs you have had... or actually just enjoy the playoffs. Go Cubs Go :-(
Easy for you to say. Cubs have an extremely bright future and a front office that knows what it's doing. Tigers are headed for a long rebuild.