14 Days and Counting

Me too as well! Just imagine the war of words we could see on this forum.

I would like to see a Tigers St. Louis series again because I want to those overrated little birdies loose.

 

You mean like the last time yall faced off?:saint:

 

The Tigers have been in the World Series 10 times, and 7 of those times they either played the Cubs or Cardinals. The other 3 were against Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and San Diego. They have never played an East Coast team in the W.S. And all but one were Mid-West match-ups.

 

Now now. You are not Cards fan yourself.

 

Where in the world do you get these kind of facts?

I suppose we could see that change this year with a Tigers Mets WS.

 

www.baseball-reference.com

And my sick, twisted memory. :laugh:

 

I appreciate Andy giving my Reds some love with his words. And PastorSBC, well, you're just a bitter Cubs fan :smilewinkgrin:

Truthfully, I have to lean more towards the bitter one than the optimistic one. Resigning Belisle likely gave him a spot in the rotation. He gives you a servicable SP but would moving him to the bullpen be out of the question? More on that in a minute.

Harang will be the ace. Arroyo's 2007 has to be an aberration (which was made more so by five blown saves), so he'll be back. Homer Bailey should get his chance to prove himself, and I think Volquez (who came over from Texas in the trade with the Rangers that dealt Hamilton) will get a shot. Affeldt, Cuelto, and Maloney may get their shots as well.

I guess that scares me, but we'll have our rotation down (I PRAY) before end of spring training. Our big question is the bullpen. DESPERATE need of help, and has been. That's why I think one or two of the leftover starters could end up in the pen.

The offense is not a problem. Can Jay Bruce come on quick enough to make a big impact at CF? Minor leaguer of the year, why was he not in Cincy in September getting used to the majors?

(Side note question: on a talk show on 700 WLW, they asked this question: would you rather have an OF of Griff, Dunn, and Freel/Hopper or an OF of Bruce, Freel/Hopper, and Hamilton? The thought was the latter was keeping the Reds from getting good pitching, but the trade off is the former is untested with Hamilton's injury penchant, and Freel's injury plagued 2007.

Anyway, I agree the Twins aren't gone. They still have some good young pitching and some great bats despite Hunter's departure. And the NL Central is wide open.

 

Oh...forgot to mention something to Andy. My boy Sean Casey is now a Red Sock. Hate to see him leave you guys. Wish we had him back. The Mayor is huge in the clubhouse and is still popular with Reds fans.

 

I can´t speak for Andy, but I now personally that Casey´s departure does not bother me that much since the addition of Cabrerra and Renteria. It would be nice that some left handed hitters though.

Still you can´t go wrong with Detroit´s lineup if everybody is healthy and playing up to their potential. I think any team MLB would love to have the Tigers lineup. Should be a great season. Go Tigers!

 

Is there any other kind? :laugh:

 

I was sad to see Casey go, but there was no place for him. Actually, I think MLB needs to increase the roster size from 25 up to about 28 or so. Today's game is so different with the use of so many bullpen pitchers, and it is high time they adjust the rules to account for this. Most teams, including the Tigers, now carry 12 pitchers on their roster, which leaves room for only 4 bench players. With only 4 bench players, they all need to be versatile and Casey just isn't versatile enough. With a 28-man roster, we would have room for a Casey. Great guy and I hate to see him go.

 

delete....

 

I always enjoyed watching Sean Casey play. He reminded me a lot of Mark Grace from the Cubs. I always have hoped the Cubs would find a way to pick up Casey to be a bench player.

 

Sean has good personality too. At least thats how it appeared to me. He seemed to be nice to everybody.

 

I'd like to see expansion of rosters, as well, with a cap on pitchers. I don't know that teams should carry a dozen pitchers. Hasn't helped the Reds

 

I would like to see an expanded roster as well.

But I really want to see a shorted season with more teams allowed in the playoffs.

 

Now, let's not get crazy. :laugh:

I think Grace and Casey were night and day personality-wise (Casey was more rah-rah, and Grace was much more slick and subdued) but the comparison is not terribly off otherwise.

 

Why should there be a cap on pitchers?

 

I just threw that out there. I think the game would put a cap on itself, but I hate to see a team with 60% pitchers. I think it's a sign of where the game is. You have to have a dozen pitchers (or more) because you have 5 SPs and 3 or 4 guys who are 1 inning guys at the most - and dear Lord, please don't ask the closer to face more than 3 batters :smilewinkgrin: I'm not a big proponent of it. Just a thought.

 

I'm not interested in seeing more teams in the playoffs. I'm still not entirely happy about wild card teams.