Any Baseball fans here?

[GentlemanJim]

With spring training just around the corner, I'm getting really anxious.

Will the improvements made by the Padres be enough to unseat the Dodgers?

How about that Met's-Nationals rivalry for the East? Who will prevail?

And will this be the year that Tom Maddon finally makes the Cubs sorry for letting him get away?

Note: I am a Tigers fan, it'll likely be a few years before I'll have anything to boast about, so for the time being you are relatively safe.

[opus]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

Will the improvements made by the Padres be enough to unseat the Dodgers?

That's looking to be a tight race

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

How about that Met's-Nationals rivalry for the East? Who will prevail?

The Braves

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

And will this be the year that Tom Maddon finally makes the Cubs sorry for letting him get away?

You mean Joe Maddon? Not with this years Angels

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

Note: I am a Tigers fan, it'll likely be a few years before I'll have anything to boast about, so for the time being you are relatively safe.

Yes, to put it as kindly as I can, the Tigers are in a rebuild.


The biggest overall question is still how long the season will be and what the schedules will look like.

[1960'sTVfan]

The White Sox are loading up their roster and brought back Tony LaRussa to manage the team.

I still follow the A's but don't expect much from them this year, after a 3 year playoff run from 2018-20 I can see them going on the downslide again but will see how the season unfolds.

Speaking of the White Sox, they signed Liam Hendricks so he is no longer the A's closer. I don't know who the A's plan to use now to close out games, Lou Trivino could be a possible candidate but I have no idea what their plans are.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by opus

You mean Joe Maddon? Not with this years Angels



.

Yes, "Joe". That is embarrassing, I don't even know how I did that, must have been a brain fart.


As a fan, I hate it, but from strictly a business standpoint I am happy for the owners that they have finally found some resistance to the salary madness that made $30 million/yr contracts part of the landscape. I think the owners have gone to nonsensical levels trying to plea their case over manufactured losses.....but things had gotten too out-of-hand the other way...so perhaps a little time for things to normalize is a good thing.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

The White Sox are loading up their roster and brought back Tony LaRussa to manage the team.

I still follow the A's but don't expect much from them this year, after a 3 year playoff run from 2018-20 I can see them going on the downslide again but will see how the season unfolds.

Speaking of the White Sox, they signed Liam Hendricks so he is no longer the A's closer. I don't know who the A's plan to use now to close out games, Lou Trivino could be a possible candidate but I have no idea what their plans are.

I lived near Oakland 1989-1992, those were good years to watch baseball in Oakland (I was on a plane making it's final approach to SFO when the big quake hit, they ended up re-routing us to Sacramento)

And, yes, although the LaRussa signing is a bit of a puzzle, I think that the White Sox are the team to beat in the AL Central this year,

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by opus

Yes, to put it as kindly as I can, the Tigers are in a rebuild.
.

"Moonshot" Torkelson,.... there is a name you will be hearing..

[opus]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

"Moonshot" Torkelson,.... there is a name you will be hearing..

Right, the number one overall pick in the draft. He’s gotta be a minimum of two years away, no?

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by opus

Right, the number one overall pick in the draft. He’s gotta be a minimum of two years away, no?

Probably about right. But there is an oddball factor that might change that.

The Tiger's front office main mantra is "cheap and controllable" and they have been playing this deceitful game with the fans trading away any costly players we might have who have enough talent to have trade value....claiming it's a "sacrifice for our future".

Pushing a variety of "smoke" to hide their (obvious) true motive.

Just this past season the coverstory was "the future is now!", and they used that to bring a bunch of AA and high A players to the show...as low paid filler......to eat up innings.

So they COULD do similar with Torkleson....so long as he's cheap, they will try to use him.

I'm guessing he will get a late-season call up, no matter how ready he might be.

Any normal team with a genuine desire to compete would delay the call-up as much as possible, to delay the start of his service time. But since the Tigers are just cheap and nothing else, I' doubt they have any intention to try and sign him to a big payday to keep him after his 5 years are in. The way they will look at it, is that they will be able to trade him a year sooner perhaps having more value in trade that way.

[lalauver]

LA Dodger fan since 60's...
I am anxious for start of season as i listen to a lot of games on radio

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by lalauver

LA Dodger fan since 60's...

In your opinion, what is "up" with David Price? Do you believe that his motive for sitting out ever since his trade is health related? Or do you think he is working off some fringe protest angle?

He's got a reputation for being moody over the environment that he's in, he's not shy about pouting over perceived slights. So, I have to at least consider he might have personal motivations over-riding his sense of duty.

[opus]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

The Tiger's front office main mantra is "cheap and controllable" and they have been playing this deceitful game with the fans trading away any costly players we might have who have enough talent to have trade value....claiming it's a "sacrifice for our future".

Pushing a variety of "smoke" to hide their (obvious) true motive.

Just this past season the coverstory was "the future is now!", and they used that to bring a bunch of AA and high A players to the show...as low paid filler......to eat up innings.

So they COULD do similar with Torkleson....so long as he's cheap, they will try to use him.

I'm guessing he will get a late-season call up, no matter how ready he might be.

Any normal team with a genuine desire to compete would delay the call-up as much as possible, to delay the start of his service time. But since the Tigers are just cheap and nothing else, I' doubt they have any intention to try and sign him to a big payday to keep him after his 5 years are in. The way they will look at it, is that they will be able to trade him a year sooner perhaps having more value in trade that way.

Is Little Caesars not doing well anymore? You figure in the pandemic, with everyone stuck at home, they'd be raking in the cash.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by opus

Is Little Caesars not doing well anymore? You figure in the pandemic, with everyone stuck at home, they'd be raking in the cash.

The big shift is a result of old man Ilitch dying. Mike was more sentimental, and willing to use his considerable financial resources to try and bring a championship to Detroit. It was a golden era to be a Tigers fan.....year after year he would go after the best talent available...not a lot of owners will do that year after year.

When he died, the son Chis took over and had less interest in plundering the family fortune for the sake of a trophy. There is a big redevelopment push in the city's center...casinos....hotels.......boutiques. And the Ilitches are deeply involved (heavily invested) in that strategy.

Although those re-dev projects were started under the old man, it was the kid who decided to refocus resources, and redouble the effort on the revitalization effort.

The Ilitches also paid for the vast majority of the construction cost of the current stadium, in the form of a loan to the public entity that owns the stadium. Repayment of the loan comes from a local tax on rental cars and hotel rooms. There have been sluggish times when that tax was not making the payments in their entirety.

So, one might argue that the Ilitches efforts towards the downtown revitalization, is just an investment towards trying to assure that their loan gets repaid.

details here: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...c-debt-on-300m


But, here is what I REALLY think is going on. The Tiger's ballpark is very near the focus of this revitalization district. I believe that the Ilitches have figured out that the sale value of the Tigers would be higher if their games were played near a vital city core, instead of the beaten-down rustbelt city that Detroit has become.

So, they are "feathering their nest" you might say, building a mini utopia to surround the Tigers' place of business, geared to the eventual sale of the franchise.

So, spending money on players who actually play the game well, isn't part of their current set of priorities

[GentlemanJim]

I think there is a psychological aspect to it as well. When a team is owned and controlled by a wealthy patriarch, (Ricketts, Ilitch, Steinbrenner, etc) Those men might be willing to pour considerable resources into "buying" a championship. But they are also accustomed to getting what they expect.
When they find themselves paying $200 million/year in salaries for a team that falls short of the championship (the Tigers in 2006/2012, or the Cubs ever since 2016)...I think the owners get this mindset that they are being betrayed, that the players really don't care if they win or not. And I think that moves the wealthy patriarch to retaliate, by insisting on salary purges, and what not.

I really think that Ricketts had good intentions when he continued to go out and get the Darvishes, Heywards, and Kimbrels, hoping to keep the good times rolling. But when those hopes turned into futility, there is really only one way for the owner to retaliate

[GentlemanJim]

One other thing that I've noticed in just the recent several years, when the team that you have your heart invested in, has absolutely no chance of winning anything worthwhile.....it frees you up to become a "bandwagoner" of sorts. Years ago, such behavior really annoyed me,...I couldn't understand how any fan could be so disloyal as to follow any other team, merely because they are winning.

But, with absolutely no hope whatsoever for my Tigers at present, I have really enjoyed following the success of former Tigers stars as they have moved on to other clubs such as Houston and Boston, and Washington. 40 years ago, I'd have sooner slashed my own throat than do anything like that.

I might end up living longer as a result of my new outlook.
When following a team that I really care about, I find the emotional attachment can be quite thick. I tend to live and die on every pitch....and losing a game whenever a divisonal adversary wins, feels like the end of the world.

But, with teams that I just "kinda" follow....when they lose, I just figure "wth?" and look forward to the next day's game.

I believe that my obsession against losing might have initially taken root back in the 1969-1974 timeframe, when the Orioles had their dynasty in full swing. When you'd have those Palmer vs Lolich matchups it felt as though the fate of the entire world hung in the balance of every pitch.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

I lived near Oakland 1989-1992, those were good years to watch baseball in Oakland (I was on a plane making it's final approach to SFO when the big quake hit, they ended up re-routing us to Sacramento)

And, yes, although the LaRussa signing is a bit of a puzzle, I think that the White Sox are the team to beat in the AL Central this year,

The owner of the White Sox has always regretted the decision to let LaRussa go back in 1986 so now he wants to give him another chance since the White Sox appear to be contenders again. I think LaRussa basically came out of retirement to accept the White Sox manager job.

The 1978 A's were a very interesting group, early in the season they were the talk of baseball as they jumped out to a 19-5 start. They stayed within reach of the AL West lead until about August 10th with a 61-56 record, and then the collapse came as they went 8-37 the rest of the way and skidded to a 6th place finish and a 69-93 record. The A's schedule that year during the second half of August and all of September was very tough with games against the top teams in the East and West divisions. The strength of the 1978 A's was their pitching staff, the starters and relievers usually pitched well but the A's offense was nothing to rave about and their defense was suspect also. When the toughest part of the schedule came around in the middle of August, their weaknesses caught up to them but they were a fun team to watch up until that time.