Twins @ Tigers

[ajaX82]

^ I like Santiago too, but he was garbage today. The pop out with the bases juiced and the base running error were two big plays. Not to mention the 0-4

Not that Everett was much better...

Looks like we are losing this one and headin to the weekend 2 up, 3 to play.

[TSE]

^ I like Santiago too, but he was garbage today. The pop out with the bases juiced and the base running error were two big plays. Not to mention the 0-4

Not that Everett was much better...

Looks like we are losing this one and headin to the weekend 2 up, 3 to play.

That's a ridiculously unfair statement. Are you actually trying to suggest that Santiago was out on that tag up play??? Were you watching the replay? It wasn't even remotely close! He left well after the ball was caught!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was really, really pissed off about that call, the umpire should be fined severely for exceptional incompetence.

And so what if he popped out with the bases loaded? Every player in MLB is more likely to produce an out on any given plate appearance than they are to get a hit or get on base. That's the game. The ENTIRE season Santiago has had very efficient numbers with a respectable batting average and slugging percentage. It's hard to keep up good numbers when you get spotty play time, he probably would do even better if he was allowed to play consistently.

I can't believe you would harp on a guy that is so far removed from deserving to be harped on.

[ajaX82]

^ I like Santiago too, but he was garbage today. The pop out with the bases juiced and the base running error were two big plays. Not to mention the 0-4

Not that Everett was much better...

Looks like we are losing this one and headin to the weekend 2 up, 3 to play.

That's a ridiculously unfair statement. Are you actually trying to suggest that Santiago was out on that tag up play??? Were you watching the replay? It wasn't even remotely close! He left well after the ball was caught!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was really, really pissed off about that call, the umpire should be fined severely for exceptional incompetence.

And so what if he popped out with the bases loaded? Every player in MLB is more likely to produce an out on any given plate appearance than they are to get a hit or get on base. That's the game. The ENTIRE season Santiago has had very efficient numbers with a respectable batting average and slugging percentage. It's hard to keep up good numbers when you get spotty play time, he probably would do even better if he was allowed to play consistently.

I can't believe you would harp on a guy that is so far removed from deserving to be harped on.

I was actually listening on the radio when the tag out play happened (the announcers never mentioned that it looked like a bad call, they just reported what happened)....when i saw the replay i changed my tune. He did not appear to start early, bad call

But he did have a bad game. He was 0-5. He left 5 on base, and killed the 8th rally too.

Im not saying he has had a bad season, far from it. And i like Ramon. I wish he started more. But he had a crap game. I dont know how you could argue otherwise...

[TSE]

I'm not arguing about the crap game, he did not produce today. It's a game of odds and sometimes you get a bunch of hit and sometimes you make a bunch of outs. On average he has been a pleasant player, and he just had a string of outs. It's the total value produced over the total chances that I'm most concerned about.

Bottom line is he has hit .400 SLG this year, Everett has .324, and Laird has .325, so while he did have a bad day, he at least has already made up for it with previous play. And because our manager chooses to bench him in place of an inferior player, I don't feel he deserves special mention or criticism cause it's tougher to do well when you are played randomly rather than consistently, so he deserves some slack. And then you got me all excited when you bashed him for not running the bases properly when he did his job the right way and milked the free base by having good awareness and timing, plus it looked like he even paused an extra fraction of a second just to be extra safe and secure knowing he could still make it to the bag in time. He also stood on 2B for a LONG time before heading back to the dugout in a form of quiet protest, cause he KNEW w/100% certainty he was way in the clear, he was so stunned when they called him out.

I just like to go to bat for respectable ballplayers on my team any chance that I can.

And that's actually one thing I can complement Leyland on. As much as I despise Leyland for being a bad baseball man and a terrible strategist, I do like his fire and intensity in going to bat for his players. He has been thrown out of countless games for giving lip to the umpires when they have screwed his players and made excessively bad calls. He does a real good job of defending his players and fighting for their honor and that's one area of Leyland's management game that I have the utmost respect for.

[Liqourish]

^ I find it amusing that you find a way to bash Everrett/Laird in every discussion, even when they aren't in the discussion. First it was Polanco and now Everrett/Laird. Get over it. We get it, you don't like white players.

[TSE]

^ I find it amusing that you find a way to bash Everrett/Laird in every discussion, even when they aren't in the discussion. First it was Polanco and now Everrett/Laird. Get over it. We get it, you don't like white players.

Well it's pretty hard to get over when our team is sitting here with barely a .500 win pct when we should be challenging .600. I take my baseball very seriously, it's very important to me, and the team spends countless millions on it, and I believe there should be a high-level of accountability for the team to be run properly beyond a minimum standard. And we are falling short of that standard presently and I'm going to speak up every chance I get until they do things the right way.

They can accomplish that by replacing Everett next year, and finding a way to replace Laird or reduce his atbats by a huge margin, and also making a concerted effort to try and replace Inge/Polanco. That's all I ask is for those 4 key spots to be upgraded. Is that too much to ask? If it is, then let's prioritize. Everett is #1, he's the worst hitter on the team with Laird, but his defense isn't as good as Lairds is relative to other players at those positions. Laird is #2 to replace, then Inge is #3, and Polanco is #4. That doesn't mean that there is no place for guys like Inge or Polanco or even for Laird on this team next year, everything depends upon how many of these spots we can upgrade and by how much. If it's just say 30 slugging points well then we need all 4 to be upgraded, but some of these guys could be improved by over a 100 slugging points. We just need to get as much improvement as we possibly can in those areas.

Let's take the best team in baseball, the Yankees, and let's see what they have at 2B. Hmmm. We have Polanco who is a .400 slugger, oh look, the Yankees have a guy named Cano, who hits .524. Granted there aren't lots of Canos walking around with availability, but the point is that the Yankees figured out a way to get efficient production into their lineup, a margin of one player at .400 up to .524 is a HUGE deal. We can get massive chunk increases in those 4 spots in our infield without spending giant amounts of money or player material.

(other key spots, they have Arod at .519, we have Inge at .412, they have Posada at .529, we have Laird at .327!!, they have Jeter at .467, we have Everett at .322!!) That's how you win 100+ games, with power and efficiency in the batter's box. And yes those players are pretty big named guys and pretty expensive, but there's a slew of guys in MLB that have whopping offensive increases for reasonable rates that aren't that difficult to obtain. We're overpaying for some of these guys on our team to hit poorly, so you can't tell me the money is not there, it's just clearly misspent.

We just need a better philosophy than going for defensive players that can't hit. Remember, "Defense wins championships, but only if it isn't at the expense of efficient hitting".

[RustInPeace]

As much as I think you're an elitist douche, I do agree wholeheartedly that Laird and Everett need to be replaced. The only problem is... who would we target? You're asking for upgrades at the weakest positions in baseball.

[TSE]

As much as I think you're an elitist douche, I do agree wholeheartedly that Laird and Everett need to be replaced. The only problem is... who would we target? You're asking for upgrades at the weakest positions in baseball.

Umm, thanks I guess? It is true that you don't have to like me to agree with me, and there's nothing unreal about the power of my baseball insight. If I was running the team there is no way we would ever come close to failing at making the playoffs short of a freak injury to a key player. I have sports strategy down to a science and no matter how much a person disagrees with my confidence in myself, I DO know what I am talking about, and that is the bottom line that matters.

Well there's several solutions. Trades for one can be a way to solve our infield problems, it just depends. Unfortunately not being a Tigers mngmt insider, I have no idea what's going on, but there probably are solutions that exist. There could be 10 names out there that are feasibly to acquire through re-organization of our player resources.

Not counting trades there are a few guys I have already looked at that have jumped on my radar list. How available they are and what their specific free-agent situation is I don't know, but on a potential FA chart I looked at a while back, there are 4 interesting names that jumped out at me:

SS
Miguel Tejada - He is old but he can still hit. His fielding % career and this year is comparable to Everett (.972 for Tejada and .969 for Everett this year). And his hitting prowess is several levels higher. He would be a HUGE impact add to the team. He could be 5 years older than he presently is and still contribute more than Everett can because of his massive hitting upgrade. He offers a full .100 points extra in slugging percentage.

C (of course all of them are weaker throwers than Laird though but oh well)

Miguel Olivo - lots of power, doesnt' throw well, but he makes up for it with hitting that he's much more valuable than Laird. (.423 slugging career to .368 for Laird, also Laird was about .325 this year)

Bengie Molina - weaker thrower again, but still more valuable than Laird. (.418 career slugging, but hit .442 this year)

Victor Martinez - this is the guy I want, he has a potent bat. (.466 slugging for career but a whopping .510 this year)

Also congratulations on saying that you recognize that Everett/Laird need replaced. It has been hard for most people to say that, especially Laird because of his great arm. People get sidetracked and distracted with that advantage. For some reason they can't do the math and computer the number of outs and runners he saves us on defense and then compare the same number w/respect to his inefficiency at the plate to see that he costs us more overall on offense than he can make up for relative to other players at his position. But saying that you recognize that he needs to be replaced is a big step, and a step in the right direction to proper baseball strategy. Congratulations. Now we just need to get Leyland to figure that one out.

[ajaX82]

Well its a playoff kids. The team couldnt find a way to win 2 against a team playing for nothing. The twins are inspirred. whoa boy