Running 2017 MLB regular season thread

Apparently sealed literally in the final minute.

 

Maybe they worked out a limited engagement for Kate at Rick's.

 

Am I wrong in saying, why the hell would he?

 

I suppose people are wondering if Verlander waived the no-trade, if so, why?

As if getting out of a graveyard isn't reason enough?

 

Word now is the Tigers threw $10 million in on the deal.

 

Damn, I was hoping Verlander and KUpton would appear in Baltimore.

 

Based on that, Houston is on the hook for $20 million in both 2018 and 2019 and $14 million in 2020.

Assuming Verlander stays healthy, that's not a bad price.

 

Skimming over the various prospect rating sites, the Tigers appear to have quite a team coming together for about 2020-21. Until then, they're gonna suck absolute ass.

Poor Cabrera -- it's not gonna be fun losing 120 games a year for the rest of his career.

 

So, none of the blame for them sucking this season can be placed on his .744 ops.

 

My unsolicited opinion:

Dear Tigers:

Thank you for trading my favorite player on my favorite team in my favorite sport. By demonstrating your willingness to strip the ballclub of anything remotely watchable from now until roughly 2021, you have dramatically simplified my entertainment options, not to mention probably ensured I'll save a lot of money on MLB.tv subscriptions I won't be bothering to purchase.

Yes, I recognize that this was a faded roster with several overpriced contracts, but I am old-school enough to believe that a ballclub should at least provide a veneer of entertainment in the short term, something your personnel moves clearly demonstrate does not concern you. It is not my fault that you continued to employ the likes of Jordan Zimmermann and Victor Martinez, but we're going to be the ones suffering through the next several years for it unless you're fired by ownership, an eventuality I doubt will happen until I see any indication that Chris Ilitch views this team as more than a tax write-off.

Oh, but the prospects, you say! We had to get younger! Spare me. I put up with far too many Justin Thompson starts and years spent waiting for Juan Encarnacion's five tools to develop to believe that any of what you've acquired amounts to anything more than bags of magic beans. As an example, I noticed a tweet this week regarding the organization's lone bright spot this year, the Midwest League's West Michigan Whitecaps. A blogger noted that, of the roster of their last 90-win team, only a handful of those players reached the majors and none of them turned out to be any better than Robert Fick (Tigers career WAR: 4.9 in five seasons). Maybe by trading the best player this franchise has developed in my entire lifetime to Houston, you're trying to provide an object lesson in hoping for the future. Well for every Astros and Cubs success, you get crap like the Reds, Phillies and whatever the hell you call what A.J. Preller is doing in San Diego.

I concede that given the organization's position, such a stance is defensible, if not logical. It is also brutally cynical and disgusting. Baseball (OK, sports in the 21st century) appears to be one of a very limited number of enterprises in which one can justify deliberately producing an inferior product through an increase in the probability that a desirable product will be produced in the distant future. (Except for maybe my current gig, print journalism). And that's all it is. The 2023 Tigers will not get a 10-win bonus because the 2018 Tigers were terrible. In fact, many of the same teams that are good now will be good then, and several that aren't good now will be good then (see White Sox, Chicago) because it's not like you're employing a novel strategy here.

I'm sure you'll throw us a few bones for this mess. Maybe ticket prices will go down (Ha.) Maybe there'll be a third Bark in the Park night next season. But, as someone who is limited by geography to enjoying your product in its most basic form, I don't get to experience that. I experienced a "rebuild" of my favorite team for pretty much my entire childhood. It is not an experience I appreciate reliving.

PS - What do you suggest I do with my Justin Verlander memorabilia? Should I trade my T-shirt to someone in Texas. Lord knows they need it more than I do.

 

Oh, a lot of it can.

But about the two most important things the Tigers need to do in their teardown now is get rid of Cabrera and Martinez -- at whatever the cost. Write 'em checks.

 

Pablo Sandoval, OTOH ...