  Drankin21 Member Username: Drankin21 Post Number: 246 Registered: 12-2003 |
Good Riddance! http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20080505/SPO RTS02/80505048 | ||
Zitro Member Username: Zitro Post Number: 310 Registered: 04-2008 |
Amen! | ||
Zitro Member Username: Zitro Post Number: 311 Registered: 04-2008 |
Now they are saying Sheff is left? Maybe if he's more involved with the game his offense will come around. | ||
Flanders_field Member Username: Flanders_field Post Number: 332 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yes!! He was making me miss KKKKKraig Monroe. | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 416 Registered: 11-2007 |
I think they were approaching a release date so they don't have to pay his entire 5.5 million salary. Interesting move with Shefield. It appears, bad shoulders or not, that Leyland figures having to sit on the bench and think about your bad at bats is a tough way to break out of slump. Makes sense. Good news is Matt Joyce is a lefty. By the way, didn't he play for the Lions? | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 2260 Registered: 01-2006 |
This move isn't about Matt Joyce. This is about moving Inge-- who, yes, I still admire-- back to 3B, where he belongs, and moving Guillen, whose legs are totally shot, into the DH position. Cabrera will have to learn 1B on the fly, so to speak, and that probably won't be pretty, either, but the other issue is that if Sheffield (who probably didn't come up with this plan but is merely trying to play along so as to help) doesn't work out in the outfield, we will be in a bit of a spot, and I wonder if something could be worked out, like a trade to a team which needs a full-time DH (unlikely, since he appears to be at the end, physically) or if Gary might just say to the team, You know, this ain't working out, I think I've had it, so let's work out a severance package, and I'll go home and wait for the Hall of Fame to call. | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 418 Registered: 11-2007 |
Guillen's lousy throws are what bother me. It's not because of his legs either. It's the routine ones where he has time to set up that he blows. By the way, the Hall of Fame called. They would like at least 18 more homers. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 2263 Registered: 01-2006 |
Har! That's funny, but he already has enough Runs & Runs Batted In to qualify, in my estimation. Still, we can be sure that Gary would like to have those last few HR's on the back of his final baseball card. | ||
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy Post Number: 7760 Registered: 11-2004 |
The Cabrera move to first doesn't bother me in the least. | ||
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy Post Number: 7765 Registered: 11-2004 |
Also to Jacque Jones' credit, he accepted Jim Leyland's demotion like a professional as well. Like it was reported in The News today: "But the one thing I want to make perfectly clear," said Leyland before Monday's game, "is that Jacque Jones is not the reason we're four games under .500. Did he get off to a bad start? Yes, he has. But he's been nothing but a class individual. You make a move and someone pays the price for it. Jones is kind of the one who paid the price, but he was only one of the guys not hitting, not the only one. That's what I feel the worst about it. He was more a victim than a culprit." Bravo for Leyland in letting us know that as well. I think it imparts the fact that he does care about the individual as well. I think his players respect that and we fans should as well. Hopefully this little shake up will get them off their losing ways and back to the land of milk & honey soon. | ||
Jrvass Member Username: Jrvass Post Number: 665 Registered: 01-2007 |
Bravo, Smogboy! | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 2264 Registered: 01-2006 |
I would like to join Jrvass in saluting Smogboy for that one. I agree that Leyland made a fine, classy statement, although I have to say that I think Jones was victim AND culprit. Regarding my earlier post: Of course, I have no concrete idea about what the hell will actually end up happening, around here. Of course2, most of you know that I semi-automatically lean toward seeing Inge back at 3B, but c'mon, we're seeing Cabrera look shaky at the position, Guillen looking like his body is slowly turning into wood, and we're looking like a team who needs a Third Baseman, and Brandon Inge is still RIGHT HERE. I think that the real deal is that we need to have Guillen as the DH (and I don't give a damn how he feels about it,) so we can assign Cabrera to 1B (and I don't much care how he feels about that, either,) and have Inge back at 3B WHICH SURE AS HELL LOOKS LIKE IT STILL BELONGS TO HIM. That plan means that Sheffield is, well, sort of in the way, so it is remarkably super-convenient that he suddenly claims that he wants to play in the field. That makes it look like the Tigers dumped Jones so they could give Sheffield his spot. I don't, at all, believe that is what just happened. I prefer having Sheffield here, but it is possible that another team might be interested. Naturally, nothing like that is going to happen unless he gets better, and resumes hitting. Right now, we're pretty much over a barrel with Gary, and nobody is to blame for it, but it's a problem, for sure. | ||
7andkelly Member Username: 7andkelly Post Number: 356 Registered: 04-2008 |
It's all nicey nicey Leland cares about the I N D I V I D U A L, but it's about time he starts caring about the T E A M ••••• | ||
Zitro Member Username: Zitro Post Number: 319 Registered: 04-2008 |
I wonder who Sheffield's going to pencil into the lineup tonight? | ||
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy Post Number: 7769 Registered: 11-2004 |
7andkelly, at what point did Leyland not care about the team? Isn't this move all about improving the team? Jones is the poor guy that's being shed BECAUSE of the team. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 2265 Registered: 01-2006 |
Smogboy, I'm not trying to antagonize you, as I think you know, but are you saying that, if the team was winning more games, Jones' lack of hitting prowess and his mediocrity afield would be O.K.? | ||
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy Post Number: 7770 Registered: 11-2004 |
I personally think that Leyland's demotion of Jones was also to send a message to the team to shape up. If the team was winning, I think he'd just sit Jones and keep things status quo as not to upset the clubhouse. Mediocrity shouldn't be accepted at all but Leyland's also got his hand on the pulse of the team and I trust he knows which buttons to push and more importantly- when. (And Ravine- we've had enough intelligent dialogue on our Tigers here. There isn't much you can say that would be considered antagonistic to me here. I trust your views.) | ||
7andkelly Member Username: 7andkelly Post Number: 382 Registered: 04-2008 |
Sb: Appreciate your posts. All I'm saying is Leland needs to increase his focus on the team, even if it means decreasing his focus on individuals' feelings. Too much consideration is given to the perceived entitlement of some of the veteran players. Shefield needs to be DL'd, Guillen needs to DH, Inge needs to play 3rd or wherever he's told to play. Winning is required; whining is unacceptable. During these lengthy losing streaks the Tigs are making the same stupid mistakes and managerial decisions. Leland has the smarts to right this sinking ship, but we're taking on too much water, so he needs to adjust ... faster. | ||
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy Post Number: 7772 Registered: 11-2004 |
I think part of the rationale for Leyland not panicking as much we think he should is that as pitiful as the Tigers may seem (and I'm sure we fans think it's worse) is that we're still only 3.5 games out of first place. No one in our division is running away with it. The Twins who lead our division is only one game above .500! I really think that if the Tigers were drifting seriously away from the pack, Leyland would be much more reactionary. He's in an awkward position that he's got to walk the fine line between panic and letting his players fight through this slump. I think in his mind is the fact that this is the girl he came to the dance with; he's not going to ditch her at the first sign of a hiccup. Again, I think Leyland's got his wiry fingers across the pulse of this team much better than any of us fans really knows. I have faith that he knows when to pull the paddles out to give a jolt to the team when they need one. The team hasn't flatlined for an extended period of time just yet. He still has the luxury of some amazing veteran players at his disposal who aren't inclined to panic. Has anyone thought about how the Cleveland fans or the Minnesota fans must be feeling at this moment? Sure the Twins are leading the division but no one in the AL Central's playing stellar ball. And looking at the overall standings in all of baseball, it looks as though the only teams really having a solid winning percentage are the DBacks (.667), the Cardinals (.647) and in the AL, the top teams are the BoSox and Angels with a .629 percentage. Is it parity? Is it mediocrity? More importantly to us here in Detroit- have we been expecting that much more out of our team that it's jaded us a little bit? I know I'm a little disappointed because part of the pre-season hype, but five years ago I would've been giddy in early May to be only handful of games out of first place. I know on paper, we should be better but let's temper it for now and let them figure it out between the chalk lines. | ||
20043_stotter Member Username: 20043_stotter Post Number: 275 Registered: 03-2007 |
What do you call the ruler of Egypt? The King of Denial  | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 428 Registered: 11-2007 |
This fat of a payroll compared to the rest of the division doesn't guarantee championships, or even contending, but I don't think .500 ball is asking too much. If this team can't play better than .500 than the GM has screwed up. |
