Red Sox > Tigers

[Sanlmar]

Navajo rugs
"A rug weaver always weaves one line into her rug which stands out from the rest of the pattern. It appears to be a flaw, but is actually very intentional. This is known as the spirit line. This line is woven into the rug so the pattern isn’t perfect.The spirit line is there to let the good spirits into the art and let the evil ones out."

Dumbrowski didn't perfect the bullpen intentionally.

Every damn seat will be filled from now til last day of season. Television ratings through da roof.

Best show in baseball right now.

I don't think this holds water. Losing Bruce Rondon in the spring and Nathan being ineffective could not be foreseen. He traded for Soria, and he was probably the second best reliever available (after Uehara). Plus, Hanrahan and Jim Johnson are signed to minor league contracts as long shots. I really think it's been a couple of bad breaks.

I think not aggressively chasing Uehara is a legit criticism, but that depends on what the Sox were asking for. And I think not resigning Benoit was idiotic.


edit- Also, Comerica has been packed since 2006, even through the recession, so they don't need gimmicks to sell tickets right now.

I was exaggerating about the fans. Just a Dumbowski joke (redundant). But it IS must see TV. A great race.

Nathan was no surprise. C'mon

Everyone overvalues prospects. Boston has 5 or 6 of what were the top prospects playing right now. Most are meh.

Boston didn't want Cabrera, ha.

Benoit was out there again at deadline too.

Go for the win this year. Next year is going to be a less powerful lineup.

Get Price to sign a contract and flip for Uehara.

Work with me.

[ToasterOven]

Nathan's last two years in Texas, a bandbox park, were great. This much of a regression is pretty surprising to me. I thought he'd be pretty good this year.

Interesting thought about the prospects. We definitely saw the cutting edge GMs in TB and Bos trade for major league players at the deadline, instead of prospects. I still expect teams in the abyss like the Twins, Padres, Phillies to acquire prospects going forward, but in years to come, I think teams will more often be looking for young major league players in exchange for rentals. As a fan, that's what I would want, too.

[Sanlmar]

Nathan's last two years in Texas, a bandbox park, were great. This much of a regression is pretty surprising to me. I thought he'd be pretty good this year.

Interesting thought about the prospects. We definitely saw the cutting edge GMs in TB and Bos trade for major league players at the deadline, instead of prospects. I still expect teams in the abyss like the Twins, Padres, Phillies to acquire prospects going forward, but in years to come, I think teams will more often be looking for young major league players in exchange for rentals. As a fan, that's what I would want, too.

We aren't talking about rebuilding. You wait years and take a lot of gambles that don't payoff to get where Tigers were.

We are talking about the last piece to complete the perfect team, with Uehara or Benoit. I would take anyone on with that lineup and feel confident. Show me a hole that existed before deadline other than closer.

now you can sell advertising time at Superbowl rates at the end of the 8th inning.

[Detroit]

Nathan's last two years in Texas, a bandbox park, were great. This much of a regression is pretty surprising to me. I thought he'd be pretty good this year.

Interesting thought about the prospects. We definitely saw the cutting edge GMs in TB and Bos trade for major league players at the deadline, instead of prospects. I still expect teams in the abyss like the Twins, Padres, Phillies to acquire prospects going forward, but in years to come, I think teams will more often be looking for young major league players in exchange for rentals. As a fan, that's what I would want, too.

We aren't talking about rebuilding. You wait years and take a lot of gambles that don't payoff to get where Tigers were.

We are talking about the last piece to complete the perfect team, with Uehara or Benoit. I would take anyone on with that lineup and feel confident. Show me a hole that existed before deadline other than closer.

now you can sell advertising time at Superbowl rates at the end of the 8th inning.

[Sanlmar]

Avila is a pretty good defensive catcher and managed his staff well.

Catchers with power or good average even are like unicorns.

Now Avila's squash is scrambled too. Post trade deadline.

McCann?

I have exceeded my post count and will let BNP or Lew come in to close.

[ToasterOven]

Nathan's last two years in Texas, a bandbox park, were great. This much of a regression is pretty surprising to me. I thought he'd be pretty good this year.

Interesting thought about the prospects. We definitely saw the cutting edge GMs in TB and Bos trade for major league players at the deadline, instead of prospects. I still expect teams in the abyss like the Twins, Padres, Phillies to acquire prospects going forward, but in years to come, I think teams will more often be looking for young major league players in exchange for rentals. As a fan, that's what I would want, too.

We aren't talking about rebuilding. You wait years and take a lot of gambles that don't payoff to get where Tigers were.

We are talking about the last piece to complete the perfect team, with Uehara or Benoit. I would take anyone on with that lineup and feel confident. Show me a hole that existed before deadline other than closer.

now you can sell advertising time at Superbowl rates at the end of the 8th inning.

I think you might be underrating Joakim Soria.

[Sanlmar]

We aren't talking about rebuilding. You wait years and take a lot of gambles that don't payoff to get where Tigers were.

We are talking about the last piece to complete the perfect team, with Uehara or Benoit. I would take anyone on with that lineup and feel confident. Show me a hole that existed before deadline other than closer.

now you can sell advertising time at Superbowl rates at the end of the 8th inning.

I think you might be underrating Joakim Soria.

The guy on the DL?

Uehara throws elbow unfriendly splitters and has never been on DL.

Guys a freak.

[ToasterOven]

I think you might be underrating Joakim Soria.

The guy on the DL?

Uehara throws elbow unfriendly splitters and has never been on DL.

I'm sure they didn't think he would be on the DL. Point is, he's been good and has a track record. Let's not hind sight decisions based on the results or we'll get banned from a poker site.

I still sense you think there's some conspiracy behind the failure of the Tigers to get Uehara, and I don't see it. They could have missed on him for any number of perfectly rational reasons. I do know the Tigers were close on Andrew Miller before that deal fell through. Maybe the Sox were dead set on a particular player and the Tigers were dead set on keeping that player.

[Sanlmar]

There is almost no player the that would be off the table for that trade if I were Dumbowski.

THIS is the season. Not next year. You built something to get to this point.

Get the deal done. His job is to negotiate. Just like Cabrera's is to hit.

Get it done or return to the bench.

[BeerAndPoker]

You can go out and stack a team in baseball but it don't matter sometimes. The blame will get placed all over from the coach, to certain players hitting numbers down, to the bull pen, to the GM. With the exception of Verlander you can't blame the Tigers starting pitching for anything.

Tigers made enough moves over the past couple seasons all across the board. Not many teams have a good hitting catcher in this league so you look for someone who is good defensively and can bring a little contribution as far as hitting goes.

Lets look at one thing many of us were saying back in March. "The Tigers should be going after Stephen Drew". LMAO! Now based on what he has done this year that is money well saved along with one less cancer to complain about.

Even if you have what might appear to be as close as you can get to "The Perfect Team" it don't mean you will even make the playoffs in baseball. It never really did but less so in today's world. Every team will have weaknesses and all you can do is try to have way more strengths hoping it sets you up to be a top contender.

Small market teams are also finding ways to win on much smaller budgets. The Twins did it for years and now several other teams are doing it too.

On another note Scherzer was spectacular today.

[Sanlmar]

You can go out and stack a team in baseball but it don't matter sometimes. The blame will get placed all over from the coach, to certain players hitting numbers down, to the bull pen, to the GM. With the exception of Verlander you can't blame the Tigers starting pitching for anything.

Tigers made enough moves over the past couple seasons all across the board. Not many teams have a good hitting catcher in this league so you look for someone who is good defensively and can bring a little contribution as far as hitting goes.

Lets look at one thing many of us were saying back in March. "The Tigers should be going after Stephen Drew". LMAO! Now based on what he has done this year that is money well saved along with one less cancer to complain about.

Even if you have what might appear to be as close as you can get to "The Perfect Team" it don't mean you will even make the playoffs in baseball. It never really did but less so in today's world Every team will have weaknesses and all you can do is try to have way more strengths hoping it sets you up to be a top contender.

Small market teams are also finding ways to win on much smaller budgets. The Twins did it for years and now several other teams are doing it too.

On another note Scherzer was spectacular today.

What does this mean? Its a recurring theme in your posts. The best team probably will make the playoffs. The law of large numbers rather guarantees, it as opposed to say football.

Playoffs have fewer games, of course. More variance but the better team takes it more often than not.

gonna be fun anyway

[BeerAndPoker]

You can go out and stack a team in baseball but it don't matter sometimes. The blame will get placed all over from the coach, to certain players hitting numbers down, to the bull pen, to the GM. With the exception of Verlander you can't blame the Tigers starting pitching for anything.

Tigers made enough moves over the past couple seasons all across the board. Not many teams have a good hitting catcher in this league so you look for someone who is good defensively and can bring a little contribution as far as hitting goes.

Lets look at one thing many of us were saying back in March. "The Tigers should be going after Stephen Drew". LMAO! Now based on what he has done this year that is money well saved along with one less cancer to complain about.

Even if you have what might appear to be as close as you can get to "The Perfect Team" it don't mean you will even make the playoffs in baseball. It never really did but less so in today's world Every team will have weaknesses and all you can do is try to have way more strengths hoping it sets you up to be a top contender.

Small market teams are also finding ways to win on much smaller budgets. The Twins did it for years and now several other teams are doing it too.

On another note Scherzer was spectacular today.

What does this mean? Its a recurring theme in your posts. The best team probably will make the playoffs. The law of large numbers rather guarantees, it as opposed to say football.

Playoffs have fewer games, of course. More variance but the better team takes it more often than not.

gonna be fun anyway

That is true the more games helps level out variance but I almost don't think it's enough.

I don't mean they need to play more games because that is not the case at all and they play enough as it is. It's just baseball has so many variables of things that can happen which you need it all to come together and sometimes it just don't.

I'm speaking more on paper when I'm saying all of this. Teams fall and when they do even if they look as stacked as a team like the Tigers do it don't mean they will get the job done. Of the teams that make the playoffs it becomes a crapshoot a lot of times and all about who gets hot at that point.

Sports like football physical ability really stands out. You still need a solid defense, good enough offense, special teams, coaching, etc... but it's so different then baseball because the variables are way more in depth then that. It's hard to hit great every day or pitch solid every day but in football it's much easier to do enough to win games.

If you stack a team in basketball they can win back to back championships because of the nature of the sport but in baseball the better team on paper that everyone drools over might in the end of the season not be good enough to make the playoffs even if they led their division 90% of the season.

[Sanlmar]

The crapshoot in the playoffs sometimes is just an excuse for a team being poorly constructed for the playoffs.

Red Sox had a deep bench last year.

It's a different season. Matchups are everything. Scouting & reports are available and preparation done that isn't attended to with as much effort regular season.

If a pitcher is off and you are deep you yank him. If you match up better with a different pitcher by playing a different player in right field, you do it.

If a guy is in a slump - go to the bench.

Oakland is gonna prosper here cause they are so deep. Matchups are going to be easy for them.

You really do point out the Tigers weakness, which is if Miggy & VMar run cold you really don't have a lot of offensive options - or am I wrong? Napoli, Carp, Gomes etc were available off the bench for Red Sox last year.

You were diplomatic about the Drew argument earlier. I was blinded by the World Series winning shortstop's ring. Seemed like a good resume'.

Shit does happen. Giants v Patriots XLII. David Tyree one handed grab. Frankly, any given Sunday shit happens.

2012 Patriots play Giants in a 7 game series.....

With the stricter "no touch" rules this year, I am ready for crazier variance than ever in football. We will see how long that nonsense lasts.

[Henry]

Doug Fister Update:

12-3 with a 2.34 ERA

[BeerAndPoker]

Teams still fearing Miggy even if he is down this year and rather pitch to VMart. How is that working out?

http://m.mlb.com/video/v35532241/det...to-right-field

[DJ_Chaps]

2 nights in a row I took Tigers on Proline and they actually win. Heck they were a dog last night, and I took em to win by 2+ anyway. Too bad baltimore cost me b2b proline glory by only winning by 1.

[BeerAndPoker]

Price throws a one hitter and the Tigers lose. LMAO! I went all in on Bovada too which wasn't for a lot of money since I cashed out recently then ran like shit but still feels like I got one outted on the river after the gem DP pitched.

[lewfather]

Pretty sad but since the break the bats have been just shitty. Bad time to run cold.

You have to feel like shit if you're a tigers player after this one.

[Hockey Guy]

Price throws a one hitter and the Tigers lose. LMAO! I went all in on Bovada too which wasn't for a lot of money since I cashed out recently then ran like shit but still feels like I got one outted on the river after the gem DP pitched.

At least you're not simpdog, betting on the Blue Jays while drawing dead.

[Sanlmar]

Tigers relief doing their thing.