2011-12 Hot Stove Thread

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Interesting article ... of course, the down side for those of us in the NW is the Mariners are now relegated to the "Tampa Bay-Toronto" level of tilting at windmills each season.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

It's really pretty simple, Rick: He was comfortable with the roster with Miggy and Martinez hitting in the middle of the order and filling the 1B/DH roles. When Martinez went down for the season, he wasn't satisfied with the offensive firepower and decided to fill that hole with the best available hitter in the free agent market. That shouldn't be that difficult for an intelligent guy like you to grasp.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Nobody is saying this was the ideal way to handle it, but losing Martinez changed things. Signing Fielder probably was a panic move and I'm sure Boras was on the phone to the Tigers the moment he heard about it.

The Fielder signing was a combination of the owner having the resources to overpay AND the loss of a key offensive player. Why is that so hard for you to comprehend?

Also, see cranberry's post.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

I understand that thinking. I understand it well enough to know that it's wrong.

If he's basing it on what he's "comfortable" with, then he's making emotional decisions that don't maximize his chances of reaching his goals, presumably to win the World Series.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Who said it was the perfect handling of the offseason? We're just trying to explain to you why they signed Fielder instead of Pujols. You, of course, are ignoring the human element.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Pujols is also four years older than Fielder officially, and probably more like 6-8 years older in real life.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

So if we agree that it wasn't a perfect handling of the offseason, what are we disagreeing about?

As I said earlier: I think it was a mistake, but overpaying for good players is the least bad mistake a team can make.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Faced with an unexpected hole at DH/IB just 10 or so weeks before the season, going to the free agent market and acquiring the best available hitter is absolutely the optimal way to maximize his chances of winning the World Series.

Fans will forgive him if he isn't as efficient with his dollars as Rick Stain would like him to be in filling that roster spot.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

It never fails to amaze me how concerned people get over whether billionaires are spending their money wisely.

There is no salary cap in MLB. Ilitch has money and plenty of it. Let him spend it on getting better players for the baseball team.

It ain't coming out of my pocket; who gives a shit?

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

If I were a Tigers fan, I'd want to know where this money was when there were half-a-dozen better upgrades available in the last several months.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

There weren't. There was one, and he is significantly older. They definitely overpaid, but there were not six free agents who are better than Fielder.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

You mean when they still had a combination of Martinez and Miggy DH/1B? How many DH/1B guys with dubious fielding ability should a team have on its 25-man roster?