3Hasek9

soriano and bj ryan are the two most overrated players in mlb.

i strongly disagree about pitching being more of a problem than bats. our team was 17th in runs scored--hardly remarkable but certainly not terrible. our batting average and slugging percentage (as well as ba with risp) were top ten in baseball. this is all with an offense featuring first and second basemen who joined the tigers well into the season, and a rf and ss who played significantly less than would be expected for future seasons. our offense has two significant weaknesses, neither which i would qualify as a problem with the bat (though one would be justified in doing as such): lack of speed (22nd in steals with mediocre--13ish--completion rate) and inability to walk (dead last in the majors in walks, dragging our obp to 27th in the league). our speed is not improved at all, and i guess all we can is hope that people start walking. with a lineup that, though perhaps not healthy, will be healthier than that of last season, our offense should improve from it's respectably mediocre run scoring rank of last season. our relivers era was 11th, but we were 22nd in save percentage. meaning: middle relief and setup (to a degree) were solid, but our closers' position was bad--really bad. don't expect todd jones to be a huge improvement. he did amazing last season, but in 2004, he saved 2 games and blew 6 (4.15 era) and in 2003 he blew 5 saves and converted none (7.08 ERA!!). 2002: 4.7 era with 1 save and 2 blown. 2001: 12 saves, 8 blown, 4.24 era. he amassed a good lot of holds, but the blown saves-to-saves ratio and the ERA's are definitely cause for concern. i'm not sold on 9th-inning improvement. our starter ERA was 24th. yep--pitching was out problem. rogers is also coming off of a great year, but his two previous seasons involved ERA's of 4.76 and 4.57. bonderman and robertson have been steadily improving, thankfully. unfortunately, maroth did worse last year and our 5th spot will be occupied with an unproven pitcher. in a rapidly improving division, the tigers chances for success remarkably get worse.

no one not supporting the red wings (and probably very few that are) would consider that a fair trade. 2-time vezina winner, olympic gold medalist, hart finalist for a guy who has only 2 playoff wins and has never played more than 41 games in a regular season.

i'd take chara since the man is a beast--one of the most physically punishing d-men out there. he'd be a greater physical force on the blueline than anyone the wings have had in the last 5 years. i don't think we'll get any of the three. the cost would be justifiably too steep for chara and redden, and i think jovocop will command prohibitively more than he's worth.

how long is primeau gone for? i don't recall hearing any expected date of return. i'm curious to know when he'd be back. the point about trade v. ir-substitute is a good point. i didn't read the article, i just made the not-too-good assumption that it was a trade. another general point on this trade: the flyers offense is their strength right now; it's their defense that needs fixed. weight seems superfluous. hopefully pitkanen will return healthy and resume his incredible season, thereby significantly bolstering the flyers' d.

i don't understand the rationale behind the move. primeau is their leader and has become a really solid defensive forward. weight is meh to meh+ defensively; he is mainly a playmaking center. the flyers already have a nice glut of offensive centers: forsberg, carter, and richards. though weight is at this point better than the latter two, the loss of the captain and selke-caliber player is not worth the luxury of another scoring center. furthermore, i don't know why even the blues would take a guy currently out with concussions.

kenny rogers is not a start. he's 16 million dollars of wasted salary for the next two years. the tigers are awful gamblers. sign anyone willing to come here? what, percival, you have no durability and are declining at an alarming rate? signed. magglio, you are coming off of a major injury and no one else is interested in you, and you want an exorbitant contract? signed. pudge, no one's interested in you, and you are an old catcher looking for a long term contract? signed. look at the best players on the tigers roster (it's unfortunate that these are our best): guillen, polanco, shelton, bonderman (almost an all-star before tanking), robertson (best ERA on our team). how many were acquired through free agency? making trades like those for polanco and guillen are wise gambles.

great points. the teams that succeed, with the exception of those that have 100million+ payrolls, succeed due to smart, bold trades and prospects. chicago white sox did not sign all sorts of free agents to build their champion. they acquired key components (garland, buehrle, podsednik, konerko) through other means and filled in the gaps with bigger name free agent signings. same with the twins. and the indians. the phillies almost grabbed a wild card spot, and they relied heavily on guys like abreu, burrell, utley, howard, meyers, and rollins, all of whom have spent most if not all of their careers in philadelphia. look at how atlanta wins the division every year. oakland stays very competitive, and that's a team built largely through the draft and trades. attempting to sign every free agent out there is not the way to build a club.

maroth is not our number 2. robertson or rogers would be. i think you are right that jones will be anointed closer. if rodney proves himself, i think he will get a chance to take that role. german wasn't used as a closer (3 save opps all year). i think you give too much credit to the makeup of the pen. i don't think anyone but jones has a guaranteed job. spurling, german, walker, and rodney were major disappointments at one point or another. rodney might have a guaranteed spot, but i wouldn't be surprised to see him left off the roster if he has a truly awful spring. walker might be set simply because he's a lefty. i would not be surprised to see zumaya, grilli, or colon push out german and/or spurling in the pen. i doubt ledezma will be playing in the mlb: he was terrible in toledo.

the only examples you give are randy johnson, roger clemens, and jamie moyer. the randy johnson example, as per your implication, contributes nothing twoards the argument in support of rogers. you cannot compare roger clemens with anyone. he transcends the plane of comparison. the most dominant pitcher of the last 25 years. 300+ wins, 4500+ strikeouts. in a 22-year career, clemens has only had an ERA above 4.5 for one season. kenny rogers has had an ERA above 4.5 in two of the last three seasons. kenny rogers has never finished a season with an ERA below three. clemens has done that in half of his seasons. clemens career ERA is over a run better than rogers. clemens has SEVEN cy youngs. rogers has none. i do not believe you are trying to say rogers is anywhere near as good as clemens. my point is simply that clemens exists on a plane so far beyond rogers or anyone else, that comparison is impossible. your moyer example is good. unfortuneately, it too has significant problems. namely, moyer, in the last 5 seasons, has had an ERA below what rogers just had three times. in the last three seasons, rogers ERA has been below 4 twice, above 4.5 twice, and above SIX an additional time. the moyer example may actually hurt you. since turning 41, which is the youngest rogers will be in a tigers uniform, moyer's cumulative era has been 4.75. none of the tigers four main starters had an ERA that bad last season. the moyer example shows why signing a 40+ year old to a multiyear contract worth a good lot of cash is a bad idea. the same stats i cited before are reason to be weary of rogers: awful whip, terribel down the strectch, weak in two of the last 3 years. a multi-year contract for rogers is dumb. spending any more than 6 million per is dumb. dave dombrowski is dumb.

i hate dave dombrowski.

for 5.5 per, jones isn't bad. not great, but not atrocious. good signing. if the rogers deal is on, i'm upset ("As of Wednesday, the Tigers' interest in Rogers had cooled."--from freep today). he's one of my least favorite players. aside from attitude, here's why we should not have given/give rogers a TWO YEAR DEAL worth 8 million per: he's 41. unless you're randy johnson, you do not get a two year deal as a 41-year old starter. plain should not happen. in two of the last three seasons, his era has been 4.57 or above. how about how rogers was down the stretch: 5.25 era in august, 4.74 era with 50 hits and 12 walks in 38 innings in september. for the year, he has a 1.32 whip. bonderman, robertson, and maroth are all within .05 of that. 2 years, 16 million dollars. i hate dave dombrowski. there is absolutely zero excuse for him having a job. keeping johnson on a 1-year abritrated deal would have cost have as much per year, would not come back to kill us in 2007, and wouldn't have been terribly worse (rogers is better, than jj, no question) all things considered (2-years, cash, age).

jones: jury's out until i see the money involved. the tigers needed to get anohter bullpen arm with the ability to close: it's plain too risky to have rodney as the de facto closer. though jones was quite bad for all but one of the last 4 or so years, he is better than nothing. hopefully rodney will find the slider and develop the confidence needed to take that role.

what basis do you have for that? just about everything I have read has him platooning with Logan in CF, or being part of a 4-man outfield rotation in some other manner. from a det news article by lynn henning. inidcations are that granderson stays, so why do you say so confidently that he's traded? because every team wants to trade away their top positional prospect?

don't be mad at vazquez. if the details are accurate, vazquez just saved us a from a terrible deal. he's been terrible the last two years. in 2004, his era was near 5. this year, he had a 4.42. nate robertson wasn't that much worse, and nate robertson wasn't pitching in the worst division ever, pitching against pitchers at the plate, and earning ELEVEN MILLION DOLLARS!!! vazquez is a meh pitcher who ended his prime as a 27-year-old. he's currently overpaid, and to give away our best position prospect and a guy who can tease triple digits on the gun (with control to dominate the minors) would be ridiculously stupid. in 2007, i would prefer to have zumaya over vazquez on a pitching staff. i hate dave dombrowski. a big name becomes available, so we must make a ridiculous attempt that will ultimately cripple our team. dombrowski's good trades (for major leaguers): for polanco and guillen, two guys who weren't in huge demand and were overlooked. questionable moves: offering pavano and beltre a ton (saved from ourselves, again), signing magglio to a potentially $100 million deal when there was no competition for his services, signing an old reliver with absolutely zero durability to a two year deal, dumping the farns, letting jj walk, hiring a sub .500 career manager, etc. etc. etc.

don't rue the likely loss of pena. 27 years old, 4-5 years big league experience, never hit above .260. this is a guy whose batting average has actually declined each of the last 3 seasons. he slugs well, but the downside to a guy that makes an out or hits over the wall is not worth the benefit. his obp is also pitiful and saw a decline. also, pena did not turn it around this year: in september, his obp was .287. that's plain pathetic. if we can get something of any worth for pena, we ought to pull the trigger: he's may never hit the ball consistently, and he definitely won't in detroit. listromania-every indication has said white is gone. i have yet to read that the tigers have any interest. when he's injured close to half of the year, it's a good reason not to rely on him. also, johnny damon would be a very foolish decision. for a team like the tigers to get him, they will actually have to give him the seven years and insane amount he's asking. that will kill us in the long run, just like the magglio deal will. additionally, damon's spaghetti arm will work wonders with a 420 foot cf wall. pitching's gonna be a disaster. we needed a guy like jj or byrd to fill a 2-3 spot in the rotation for a reasonable price. it doesn't look like that's going to happen. neither pavano nor vazquez warrant the #2 spot on a rotation, and for that money, they should be in the top spot. our pen sucks. the most intriguing trade possibility i've heard is dunn for zumaya. big loss for us, but the gain's worth it. a lot of scouts pick zumaya as a bullpen guy, and we already have a closer for the future in kevin whelan. and dunn's would immediately become our best hitter, providing a much needed lefty bat. as is, we're again not a .500 team. second base is the only position that we can count on as polanco has been a consistently solid hitter that has a great glove. guillen's an injury case, shelton could very likely be a flash in the pan (.224 and .267 ba in august and september, respectively), inge cannot hit for his life (he regressed last season), pudge forgot how to walk last year, magglio couldn't hit for anything in september, monroe's a well below average hitter and fielder, granderson is very unproven, and logan has yet to hit. our lineup is trash. best case scenario: granderson's as good as we hope, shelton hits like it's always july, guillen stays healthy, pudge returns to form (he went through a divorce last season, so that could be a reason for poor play), and magglio returns to form. our pitcing is also very suspect: maroth is terribel and getting worse, robertson cannot pitch after the all star break, verlander is a prospect, ledezma sucked in both leagues he was in last year, bonderman couldn't pitch after the asg, colon and grilli are unproven. our pen sucks: walker is neither a setup man nor a long reliver-he's a specialty lefty with a 4+era. rodney converted 9 of 15 save opportunites for a horrible 60% conversion rate. german and spurling are anti-clutch. there was no excuse for this team to do nothing so far this offseason. we should have outbid the yankees for farnsworth: a closer's role is very, very important, an farnsworth was the most economical option. we could sign randa or mueller. we needed a reliable starter, and byrd was a much better option than anythign that's left.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor...hael&id=2194878

the umpiring in the league series has been atrocious. strikeout calls, calls at the bags, and otherwise: through and through awful umpiring. that being said, no instant replay. i hate watching football, and the replay plays a factor in that. if it were to be installed in baseball, it would completely destroy the rhythm that makes the game so great. the josh paul-a.j. play: paul should have tagged the batter. the umpire wasn't entirely clear, but when you catch the ball as it is almost in the dirt, you tag the batter. in the future, watch b.mo, matheny, pudge, ausmus, and any other catcher with a clue of how ti field the position. it's standard operating procedure: anywhere near close, you tag. even on plays that are obviously out of the dirt, catchers will frequently tag. the umpire certainly was not in the right, but paul made a foolish error that boils down to lack of focus and laziness, as compared to the umpire's gaff, which is a consequence of impaired vision and a difficult call.

i've been asking that for quite some time,

redsox should have pitched schill in game 3. the rotation should have been set up so he could be in place to stop a losing streak. even though he's been bad this year, him and wells are the most clutch pitchers on that staff, and schilling is one of the best gamers in baseball. if boston wins game 3, they have a little bit of momentum and still a ton of support at home in game 4. game 5 is the only concern, and boomer can pitch that, hopefully, for boston, to better results. could've, should've, would've. clemens getting outpitched by a michigan native and getting lit up was nice to see. i still think the astros have that series, and, hell, maybe even the world series. the pitching is just far too nasty. the rainout of the yanks game bothers me. it means moose can pitch tomorrow night on 4 days rest. not what i want to see. at least the angels pen gets a rest after getting worked hard yesterday.

i;m happy the red sox lost. i did pick them to win that series, but i'm glad to see them lose. white sox are my third least favorite team, boston's at second least favorite, and yankees are at least favorite. yankees down 11-7 with 2 outs in the bottom of the eigth. if the yankees start anything in the 9th, shields and k-rod should stop them.

that might happen. depodesta hasn't exactly been mr. good decision. put a nice guy manager on a team featuring the likes of milton bradley, derek lowe, and jeff kent. good idea.

i have been rather angry since i read the news 10 minutes ago. no manager could have won with this team. catcher, and sole all-star, cannot draw walks for his life. all the starters suck. i think our best ERA is upward of 4.4. our bullpen is atrocious. i think walker is the only player currently in our bullpen that was on a major league roster all last season. that tells you something. o, yea, and our current closer, our fourth of the season, can only convert 60% of his save chances. that being said, trammell was not the man for the job. he was too soft. he lost control of the clubhouse, and there was no guiding presence. this team needs someone who will light a fire under the asses of all the tigers. we should offer piniella all the money in the world. i know he won't want to come to another losing team, this time in a cold climate, but it is necessary that the team tries. I AM REALLY PISSED BECAUSE WE ARE LOOKING AT JIM LEYLAND FOR MANAGER!!!! this guy hasn't manged in 6 years, and he has wanted to manage again since. does it tell you something that he hasn't yet been hired????? why the hell will the tigers not make good decisions. dombrowski needs to be fired. he is awful. he has no idea how to build a winning team. this team needs to re-sign jj, try to acquire byrd, go all out after a manager, see if there is any way we can lure wagner here, and lock bondo up to a long term deal. with pena's, vina's, rondell's, and higgy's contracts coming off the books, we have a lot of room to spend. go after wagner. he is the best closer in baseball. he still is dominant. he will be for a couple more years. try to get him here. dombrowski needs to start making smart choices. if the tigers have another losing season, his head should be on the block. unfortuneately, aside from illitch, i do not know who can fire the president, CEO, and gm.

i disagree on so much of that. agree on: hou over atl. atlanta collapses in the playoffs. they have to face an astros team that will start clemens, pettite, and oswalt. o, yea, and they have one of the 3 best closers in the league to hold those 1-0 leads in the ninth. stl over san diego: the padres shouldn't even be there. congratulations san diego, you just pulled off a winning season. now you face the best team in the league. the cardsinals have nasty pitching staff that will give the other team no breaks, and with tavarez, king, and an elite closer in izzy coming ut of the pen, it will be hell to score. and let's not forget the monster bat of nlcs mvp albert pujols. bos over chws: i don't trust chicago to do much. red sox have the experience, and the white sox have been iffy as of late. i just plain do not see the white beating the red. albeit, the sox, with a nice staff, have the best potential tp upset, especially with questionable boston pitching. disagree: ana over nyy: the angels have been playing better recently than the yanks have been. the yanks do have some clutch bats in sheff, jeter, and a-rod, but the angels can throw out vlad and anderson, neither of which are to be taken lightly. what will decide this series, and essenitially every playoff series, is the pitching. anaheim has it as their worst playoff starter is coming off of a regular season with a 3.74 era. the yankees starting pitching relies heavily on guys like small and chacon. yikes. the unit and moose are no longer the aces the yanks need to win a series. they still have the sandman at the end, which is important, but it's not like anaheim has a slouch coming out in the 9th. anaheim over boston: who is boston's closer? mike timlin, with 13 saves and 7 blown? not good. the red sox lost in 2003 because of their pen, and it will cost them again. also, a suspect staff will be crippling in the postseason. anaheim's staff and a solid bullpen will win them the penant. stl over houston: both have great closers and great pitching. houston is better in both regards, but not by a ton. houston had the best regular season defense. st. louis was number 2. st. louis outscored the astors by 112 runs during the regular season, and with near-even d, that offense will be the difference maker. also, with clemens's health in question, things aren't looking great if he's needed for 2-3 playoff starts. ws: stl over anaheim. both have really solid pitching. st. louis's is slightly better, though that can be argued, especially since anaheim had some more punishing lineups to face in the regular season. st louis scored 54 more runs in the regular season, so i am inclined to side wih the cardinals. plus, the cardinals should be out with a vengeance after an embarrassing performance in the series last year. should be an amazing playoff year. a lot of potential for upsets. clemens, carpenter, rivera, unit, k-rod, oswalt, pettite, schilling, buehrle, garland, colon, washburn, lackey, smoltz, hudson, peavy, hoffman, izzy, and lidge all pitching. the games four best non-pitchers-pujols, a-rod, vlad, and ortiz-all in the postseason. the home run and rbi leaders of both leagues. i love october.

mazzili's not a good manager. that's why he got fired. the team's currently in free-fall mode, havign dropped 3.5 behidn toronto. the orioles should have finished third if the sox and yanks performed liek the sox and the yanks. but neither of the eastern powerhouses have. suddenly, mazzili can't handle a team that features, now healthy, lopez, miggy, mora, ryan, and roberts, who was an all-star. the freefall coincides with the fall of roberts and the decline of others, but if one wishes to put any worth into the managerial position, then the manager must take responsibility when his team drasticalyl underperforms at such a pace that it is well out of contention at the beginning of august in what has becoem the easiest division in the american league. and to reiterate the point, this team is 4th in the easiest division in the al. yanks and sox haven't been dominant this year. hell, neither even leads the wild card. additionally, a team liek the orioles has even less excuse to finish behind a halladay-less toronto team. even moreso, this team has no excuse to be 4 games under 500 and BEHIND DETROIT IN THE WILD CARD RACE. injuries affect everyone. mazzili failed. he didn't know what to do when a team slumped, and he was unable to harness incredibel talent.