For Sale

[legendofgordi]

One used major league baseball manager. Inclined to put relief pitchers in during 1 run games that have never played in the major leagues. Subs AAA ballplayer who cannot play good defense for Brennan Boesch, who was 3 for 4 and on fire tonight. Generally does not want a number 2 hitter who hits north of 230. If these characteristics are of interest to you, please submit your bid. Bidding will start at a bag of used baseballs.

[X8oD]

wouldnt offer the bag the balls are being held in.

The Red Wing loyalty is going to kill this club. The Entire coaching staff has been absolutely atrocious since 2006. They make minor changes, but never are willing to make the big change. Any other team with the offseason expectations levied upon them would have canned their entire staff already.

[PokerAndPucks]

The expectations were too high, based in large part on what several guys did last year when they all had career years. Fat Jhonny is a .265/12HR guy. Bosch, Jackson, and Avila had good years but are still young and unproven and Jackson isn't a true leadoff hitter. Raburn was being counted on to hit all year like he did for that 2 month period when he got hot and he never has, and they've had a black hole at 2B since they moved Polanco out because they knew a rookie would be ready. (BTW, that's the type of move a lot of Wings fans want Holland to do, get rid of an older guy now before he knows he has a replacement. It doesn't work.) Scherzer and Porcello have good stuff but are too inconsistent. Valverde wasn't going to be perfect in save situations again, and middle relievers are usually middle relievers because they're not good enough to start or close. Even adding Fielder just replaces Martinez, adding more power but dropping the batting average, which doesn't make for an upgrade at the plate, and moving Cabrera to 3rd hurts the infield defense. The farm system is devoid on any real prospects other than a couple catchers, Castellanos, and some pitchers who throw the ball hard, most of whom will either get hurt or never learn any pitch but the heater.

Most of the fault lies with Dombrowski, and Leyland is only an average manager whose time has passed.

[legendofgordi]

The expectations were too high, based in large part on what several guys did last year when they all had career years. Fat Jhonny is a .265/12HR guy. Bosch, Jackson, and Avila had good years but are still young and unproven and Jackson isn't a true leadoff hitter. Raburn was being counted on to hit all year like he did for that 2 month period when he got hot and he never has, and they've had a black hole at 2B since they moved Polanco out because they knew a rookie would be ready. (BTW, that's the type of move a lot of Wings fans want Holland to do, get rid of an older guy now before he knows he has a replacement. It doesn't work.) Scherzer and Porcello have good stuff but are too inconsistent. Valverde wasn't going to be perfect in save situations again, and middle relievers are usually middle relievers because they're not good enough to start or close. Even adding Fielder just replaces Martinez, adding more power but dropping the batting average, which doesn't make for an upgrade at the plate, and moving Cabrera to 3rd hurts the infield defense. The farm system is devoid on any real prospects other than a couple catchers, Castellanos, and some pitchers who throw the ball hard, most of whom will either get hurt or never learn any pitch but the heater.

Most of the fault lies with Dombrowski, and Leyland is only an average manager whose time has passed.

I certainly agree with all of this. But my observation is that Leyland is good for 10-15 losses a year simply by being stupid, regardless of the roster.

[PokerAndPucks]

The expectations were too high, based in large part on what several guys did last year when they all had career years. Fat Jhonny is a .265/12HR guy. Bosch, Jackson, and Avila had good years but are still young and unproven and Jackson isn't a true leadoff hitter. Raburn was being counted on to hit all year like he did for that 2 month period when he got hot and he never has, and they've had a black hole at 2B since they moved Polanco out because they knew a rookie would be ready. (BTW, that's the type of move a lot of Wings fans want Holland to do, get rid of an older guy now before he knows he has a replacement. It doesn't work.) Scherzer and Porcello have good stuff but are too inconsistent. Valverde wasn't going to be perfect in save situations again, and middle relievers are usually middle relievers because they're not good enough to start or close. Even adding Fielder just replaces Martinez, adding more power but dropping the batting average, which doesn't make for an upgrade at the plate, and moving Cabrera to 3rd hurts the infield defense. The farm system is devoid on any real prospects other than a couple catchers, Castellanos, and some pitchers who throw the ball hard, most of whom will either get hurt or never learn any pitch but the heater.

Most of the fault lies with Dombrowski, and Leyland is only an average manager whose time has passed.

I certainly agree with all of this. But my observation is that Leyland is good for 10-15 losses a year simply by being stupid, regardless of the roster.

It's like he thinks if he doesn't do the same old thing, people will think he's weak, so he keeps doing them even when he knows it won't work just to try and prove that he's right, he's in charge, and that's the way it is. And yes, it does cost them several games a year, especially when he does stupid crap like put a sub .200 hitter at leadoff or cleanup because the guy he's replacing batted int hat spot and he doesn't want to make any other changes to the batting order.

[Rightwinger]

The expectations were too high, based in large part on what several guys did last year when they all had career years. Fat Jhonny is a .265/12HR guy. Bosch, Jackson, and Avila had good years but are still young and unproven and Jackson isn't a true leadoff hitter. Raburn was being counted on to hit all year like he did for that 2 month period when he got hot and he never has, and they've had a black hole at 2B since they moved Polanco out because they knew a rookie would be ready. (BTW, that's the type of move a lot of Wings fans want Holland to do, get rid of an older guy now before he knows he has a replacement. It doesn't work.) Scherzer and Porcello have good stuff but are too inconsistent. Valverde wasn't going to be perfect in save situations again, and middle relievers are usually middle relievers because they're not good enough to start or close. Even adding Fielder just replaces Martinez, adding more power but dropping the batting average, which doesn't make for an upgrade at the plate, and moving Cabrera to 3rd hurts the infield defense. The farm system is devoid on any real prospects other than a couple catchers, Castellanos, and some pitchers who throw the ball hard, most of whom will either get hurt or never learn any pitch but the heater.

Most of the fault lies with Dombrowski, and Leyland is only an average manager whose time has passed.

Last year was a bit of a mirage based on career years of a few players. We knew Raburn would be bad at the start and he was worse than bad. He's injured now in Toledo but before he got injured he was hitting about like he was hitting in Detroit. Boesch.....never been sold on the guy. Breakout year? That happens to good players. Good players don't swing at crap as often as he does or have that long looping swing. Defense has been atrocious. Specifically our corner IFs who are combined the very worst in baseball. The bash brothers make up for it at the plate but you need to be able to counterbalance their poor fielding with good fielding complementary players. We don't have that. Peralta is OK. At second base.....well, who is our second baseman?

Max and Rick are substandard MLB pitchers. If you look just at ERA they fall below average. And are terribly inconsistent. They are not helped by poor defenders but they still get hit hard.

All in all management made the same mistake they did after 2006....they overestimated the skill of the team. Thats on them. They do have help in the system just not at aaa, except for Turner.