New season. New hope. Detroit Tigers vs. Toronto Blue Jays (4 game series)

[Black Watch]

Lol, I continue to boycott this car crash until shapiro goes. Thank god for basketball.

This level of trolling is exemplary and I hope it's not lost on the rest of the board how talented and wonderful you are...

[vaff87]

People should look at the teams we were competing with just a few years ago — the Royals, Orioles, and Rangers — before criticizing Shatkins. Shatkins have us much further along than those teams are in their rebuilds.

[Lateral Quicks]

Lol, I continue to boycott this car crash until shapiro goes. Thank god for basketball.

The only thing worse than paying $58M this year to players no longer on the team while losing a lot of games? Paying $175M-$200M to washed up vets to be just as bad while blocking deserving young players.

The youth movement is here - arguably late - but here.

[Ado05]

Shapiro and Atkins have done fine. Only thing they **** up on was waiting one year too long to really blow it up, but I suspect Rogers had something to do with that.

[Schad]

Yeah, I'd rather watch a team lose 100 games with kids than 85 with old dudes. Some of the kids will flop, but some won't. This year is about figuring which ones are going to be a part of our next competitive team.

[vaff87]

Yeah, I'd rather watch a team lose 100 games with kids than 85 with old dudes. Some of the kids will flop, but some won't. This year is about figuring which ones are going to be a part of our next competitive team.

Obviously, there are some other factors to consider, tho. Like service time, and if the young players are actually ready to be in the majors. Also, every team with young players needs some veterans. Guys to help the young players develop. Preferably guys like Morales and Galvis who want to help young players, though; and not bullies like Bud Norris.

[Schad]

Absolutely, but it's more the fringe guys I'm thinking about. Vlad and Bichette will be there, certainly, but this time is more about figuring out who might grow into core pieces among the Tellezes and Boruckis and Thorntons in our system.

[ratul]

Too bad Shapiro is a proven loser who doesn’t value defense. This rebuild will fail. Miserably.

Fire Shapiro. Day two can be better than day one.

[Black Watch]

Guys to help the young players develop. Preferably guys like Morales and Galvis who want to help young players, though; and not bullies like Bud Norris.

You are obsessed with Bud Norris.

[ratul]

Lol, I continue to boycott this car crash until shapiro goes. Thank god for basketball.

The only thing worse than paying $58M this year to players no longer on the team while losing a lot of games? Paying $175M-$200M to washed up vets to be just as bad while blocking deserving young players.

The youth movement is here - arguably late - but here.

Um, who of our youth are any good? We were last in defense last year. Shapiro has a losing record in 70% of the seasons he has been a gm. I am sorry, but this rebuild is a slow moving car crash which only gets worse with Shapiro at the helm

[Fairview4Life]

If you keep repeating yourself, you'll make some friends. That's just science.

[HangTime]

OT:

Have you ever seen teams get a Friday off?

And, what's the point of a day of on the 2nd day of the season?

[Schad]

For the hell of it, the regular season defensive rankings (per Fangraphs, with the usual caveat that rankings are all over the place depending on one's chosen metric) of the World Series champion, in reverse chronological order:

10th, 27th, 1st, 12th, 4th, 16th, 3rd, 15th, 2nd, 23rd, 1st, 14th, 8th, 16th.

What the numbers show, quite clearly, is that being good defensively is important, but only if you want to win a title in an even-numbered year. If you're planning to win in an odd-numbered year, you should aim to have a defense that is somewhere between mediocre and outright bad. Have you ever considered that we're building an odd-year-winning squad here?

Or, it's possible that defense has the least correlation to success of the three primary divisions of labour in baseball, beyond the general "being good at something makes you more good at baseball".

[Fairview4Life]

For the hell of it, the regular season defensive rankings (per Fangraphs, with the usual caveat that rankings are all over the place depending on one's chosen metric) of the World Series champion, in reverse chronological order:

10th, 27th, 1st, 12th, 4th, 16th, 3rd, 15th, 2nd, 23rd, 1st, 14th, 8th, 16th.

What the numbers show, quite clearly, is that being good defensively is important, but only if you want to win a title in an even-numbered year. If you're planning to win in an odd-numbered year, you should aim to have a defense that is somewhere between mediocre and outright bad. Have you ever considered that we're building an odd-year-winning squad here?

Or, it's possible that defense has the least correlation to success of the three primary divisions of labour in baseball, beyond the general "being good at something makes you more good at baseball".

Sorry, but defense wins championships. Everyone knows that.

[vaff87]

That "we were last in defense last year" comment was completely random and out of nowhere

[Lateral Quicks]

Um, who of our youth are any good?

As others have already said, that's what we need to find out. You only find that out by giving them playing time in the bigs.

[BigLeagueChew]

OT:

Have you ever seen teams get a Friday off?

And, what's the point of a day of on the 2nd day of the season?

Weather related, seasons are starting in March now instead of April those couple days means more rain or snow, teams would rather not have to play double headers their first series of the year. Opportunity for a makeup game.

[So_Fresh]

Read on Twitter

[So_Fresh]

stadium looks empty. no surprise here. can't be more than 15K tonight.

Good first inning by Shoemaker.

[So_Fresh]

wasted opportunity. frustrating AB by Grichuk, Smoak and Teoscar.