tomdalton22 said:

Since the Tigers haven't made any trades to trim payroll, I wonder if this might be their "plan B"

Keep the roster like it is right now. If they stay competitive prior to the trade deadline, they go all in again for the aging old man. If they feel they are out of it they trade JD, Kinsler, K-Rod, V-Mart and any other players in order to get below the luxury tax threshold.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure getting under the Tax threshold is a big concern to them. I mean they were barely over. I believe starting in 2018 the cap will go up and up and up, $210m eventually. Something I don't like.. From what I heard, when Avila said "fire-sale" other teams were thinking cheap deals.. At the end of the day I don't think the big, but fragile, man in charge wants a rebuild. I think Avila spoke to soon about trading away everyone.

And it can be said, our former GM was probably let go because of last years deadline deals. Pizza Pizza guy is still in charge.

High on himself Lynn Henning just came out with something on this, saying it might not matter now even if they go $10Million in surtax going over the cap.
Then too, next trade deadline, depending how they are doing, the players thought to be gone, might be traded off at the end of July.

I would tend to believe they will indeed go into this season without any further major changes and see how it goes, come end of July if they are not in contention IMO they will then be major sellers. either way I would not expect to see Kinsler and JD back in 2018 bare min.. quite possibility many others as well. it's too bad they couldn't find someone to take Sanchez and Pelfry off our hands this year. that would have been a big help :-(

Plan B? You mean you think they have a plan?

Let's be frank, Avila and the Tigers were asking too much for the pieces they advertised. At the end of this year, J.D. could potentially be a Free Agent if he is not resigned. Sure, there could be a qualifying offer like was with Scherzer. But, what exactly did DET get for letting Scherzer walk? Is Christin Stewart as a draft pick worth a solid CYA starter? Keep in mind it still might be 2 years before DET sees Stewart and Scherzer has already been gone for 2 years. That would be 4 years of no immediate help for a CYA-caliber player. And we still don't know if Stewart will live up to the hype.

Part of being competitive from year to year, is to know when to trade your stars and when to resign them. DET (aka DD) has/had a lousy record of resigning the wrong players (Bonderman, Sanchez, Robertson, etc) and letting others go for nothing or next to nothing (Scherzer, Polanco, Rodney, etc). Even Carlos Pena went on to have several noteworthy seasons after being released by the Tigers. Trading Gorkys Hernandez and Jair Jurrjens for 1 year rental of Edgar Renteria just compounds it. Worse had Jurrjens not gotten hurt.

These types of things got DD fired and will keep DET from making to the World Series again any time soon. There is no plan. And thinking that waiting to the break to see what we have is a plan....lord help us. There goes talent at the end of the year for nothing (or even in the middle), because we have no one running this team with insight.

There is no rational reason why you wouldn't trade J.D. Martinez when his market value is at its highest. 1/2 season degrades that value and exposes J.D. to the risk of injury. Then what?

This is an example of a trade that I would have personally liked to have seen.

http://www.blessyouboys.com/2017/1/...travis-jankowski-detroit-tigers-jose-iglesias

The article misses a few points. Rather than being the starting CFer in 2017, JaCoby Jones could have been given first crack at starting SS in 2017 had this happened, not Machado. And there is no way Iglesias' floor is better than Machado's. Iglesias was brought in to be an elite defender. Well, he isn't even in the top 5 (Simmons, Lindor, Crawford, Russell, and Ahmed) and he is barely ahead of Freddy Galvis for 10th place. Offensively, Iglesias is definitely in the bottom third, making his combined contribution to this team slightly below average for a MLB SS. Surely we could save the money and get younger with a speedy, high OBP, LH centerfielder.

How this offseason has unfolded after Avila said everyone was available, and after reading the bybtb on Jankowski, does it seem to any of you guys that Avila and the Tigers are afraid to pull the trigger? and maybe Avila is in a bit over his head as 'the' GM?

kalinecountry said:

How this offseason has unfolded after Avila said everyone was available, and after reading the bybtb on Jankowski, does it seem to any of you guys that Avila and the Tigers are afraid to pull the trigger? and maybe Avila is in a bit over his head as 'the' GM?

Click to expand...

Yes and Yes

Not sure I see a difference between Jankowski and Iggy. One steals more bases, 1 k's a lot less often. Other than that they were pretty identical last season. Similar defensive player in 2016. Maybe we have a better replacement at short than we do at center so maybe that makes a difference.. don't know. But I'm not sure what there is to love about Jankowski.

Want a CF, trade for this guy Kevin Kiermaier.

Mitchrapp said:

Not sure I see a difference between Jankowski and Iggy. One steals more bases, 1 k's a lot less often. Other than that they were pretty identical last season. Similar defensive player in 2016. Maybe we have a better replacement at short than we do at center so maybe that makes a difference.. don't know. But I'm not sure what there is to love about Jankowski.

Click to expand...

vs RHP in 2016

Janakowski = .368 OBP .359 SLG .727 OPS 8.3 PA/BB

Iglesias = .306 OBP .312 SLG .618 OPS 20.2 PA/BB

Janakowski was a Rookie last year playing in one of the worst hitter's park in MLB.

Rebbiv said:

vs RHP in 2016

Janakowski = .368 OBP .359 SLG .727 OPS 8.3 PA/BB

Iglesias = .306 OBP .312 SLG .618 OPS 20.2 PA/BB

Janakowski was a Rookie last year playing in one of the worst hitter's park in MLB.

Click to expand...

So we still need a platoon? If those are his numbers vs RHP, his vs LHP numbers must be horrible. I don't trust Ausmus to platoon properly.

Mitchrapp said:

So we still need a platoon? If those are his numbers vs RHP, his vs LHP numbers must be horrible. I don't trust Ausmus to platoon properly.

Click to expand...

The good thing about LH hitters is they get to hit vs RH pitchers about 75% of the time.

tomdalton22 said:

The good thing about LH hitters is they get to hit vs RH pitchers about 75% of the time.

Click to expand...

Not in an Ausmus lineup.

Mitchrapp said:

Not in an Ausmus lineup.

Click to expand...

we don't know because the Tigers never have every day players that are LH hitters.

tomdalton22 said:

we don't know because the Tigers never have every day players that are LH hitters.

Click to expand...

And we still don't. Vs LHP is like not letting Avila vs LHP. And guess what, Avila batted vs LHP his last year, and McCann batted against RHP that same year. Same with our 2 CF's we had 2-3 years ago, Davis and the other guy.

The point is that Janakowski is younger, cheaper and of more value than Iglesias. Iglesias is arbitration eligible and projected to make $3.2 Mil to play slightly below average SS. The fact of whether Ausmus is going to use anyone properly would be mute if he is fired after say an 0-6 start.

Rebbiv said:

The point is that Janakowski is younger, cheaper and of more value than Iglesias. Iglesias is arbitration eligible and projected to make $3.2 Mil to play slightly below average SS. The fact of whether Ausmus is going to use anyone properly would be mute if he is fired after say an 0-6 start.

Click to expand...

They won't fire him after 0-6. Your other point is noted, though my concern was more about his LH vs RH numbers when imo, they won't be used correctly. Just based on recent history.

Mitchrapp said:

They won't fire him after 0-6. Your other point is noted, though my concern was more about his LH vs RH numbers when imo, they won't be used correctly. Just based on recent history.

Click to expand...

Understood.

Another point here. Most Left Handed hitters have difficulties hitting LHP, yet they face RHP between 70-80% of their team's games, without a platoon. You are worrying about 20-30% with Janakowski and Avila, whereas with Iglesias and McCann, I am worrying about the 70-80%. Yes, Assmus won't platoon them right, but as a GM, I am have to get players of value and who would work well with the team. If the manager screws it up, my ass is on the line and I fire his ass.

Hey Brad !!!!!

Alex has a .357 obp verses rhp, and 65 of his 73 digers are verses righty's!!!

Hey Brad!!!

McCann hits lhp
.283/.335/.529/.864

Please platoon according you idiot !!!!