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#Tigers' Cabrera goes really deep https://t.co/PSVuI4ClCg

— FOX Sports Detroit (@FOXSportsDet) June 21, 2016

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Feelings on the Tigers potentially trading David Price? Personally, I think that if they get rid of their ace, even if it's understandable, it will lead to the Tigers being mediocre for an extended period of time.

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How do the more serious baseball fans feel about MLB's pace-of-play rule changes? I don't watch a ton of baseball as the Tigers are never on here, but when I do I almost always watch something else at the same time because of the pace of the game. I've found I can pretty easily follow a movie and a game at the same time because of all the down time. I don't see any real drawbacks to the changes and it might get me to watch slightly more.

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After seeing the news that Max Scherzer is leaving the Tigers for the Nationals I had a thought: From the perspective of a GM, is there a more difficult position to manage in all of sports than a starting pitcher in major league baseball? Quarterback would seem to be close, but quarterback seem to be more consistent once you have a good one. Outside of the rare example (Matt Schaub), you don't see good quarterbacks go from being good to average or bad from one season to the next. You expect that once you have a good quarterback he'll be good for eight years or so. The MLB pitcher who is good for eight years seems to be exceedingly rare. I would think that would drive a GM crazy.

The Not-So-Mighty Joba

 I'd say this is a 38 second summary of the Tigers game this afternoon:

RoboUmp

On Mike & Mike this morning the guys talked to Mike Schmidt about some comments he made the other day involving a "force field" over home plate that would cause balls and strikes to be called automatically. Now, a force field, if such a thing existed, would cause the ball to bounce off of the strike zone, but otherwise I think Schmidt has exactly the right idea. As far as I'm concerned, the goal of any officiating is to make the right call all of the time, preferably as fast as possible. For many calls in sports there will always need to be a human element, but the strike zone can be determined with such precision that there's no reason to keep human error or judgement as part of the game. Now, I'm sure there are some technological hurdles to clear and it may not be quite as simple to implement as it first sounds but it seems like a worthy goal to me. Why settle for less when we can do it better?

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After the huge contract extension for Miguel Cabrera and the total misfire on the giant Prince Fielder contract are you starting to have doubts about Dave Dombrowski? I understand why you'd want to do an extension, but that number for that many years is insane.

RE: World Series - Lions - UM/MSU Game

World Series: I wasn't rooting for the Sox, but it doesn't bother me too much either that they won. They're generally pretty likeable, though Victorino really bugs me for some reason, and they deserved it. I also don't know that the Tigers would have been able to pull it off with the bullpen injuries and Cabrera's injury and seeming them lose the series to the Cardinals might have been worse that the loss to the Sox.

Lions: I heard on the radio that when the Lions got the ball at the end of the game they only had a 1% chance of winning, yet I wasn't surprised at all when they managed it. I said earlier in the season to my Dad that there was no outcome to a Lions game that could shock me. They're so talented and so inconsistent that anything is possible.

The Game: On paper MSU should win this one. The offense has improved from utterly pathetic to just very poor and the defense is legitimately good. However, they have a tendency to give up the big play, and Gardner is good at that, but you'd also think there's a good chance he throws a pick six. Whatever the outcome, I'm pretty sure the loser is going to feel like they should have come out on top.

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Would anyone else feel a lot better if they knew David Ortiz had passed a drug test in the past week? Besides Colin Cowherd I haven't heard anyone mention this, but it seems worth considering. Sports writers like to point out how foolish "we" all were to take McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds at face value just because it was a great story in the moment. Now a 37-year-old hitter, who has been good, even great, but definitely seemed to be declining, starts performing Ruthian feats and no one is suspicious? I want it all to be true, but I've got this nagging feeling that it might not be.

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Anyone have Dave Dombrowski's number? I'd be willing to be fat and strike out on three pitches for much less than what Prince Fielder makes.

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What's the etiquette for a baseball announcer dealing with a no-hitter? I assume he shouldn't actually say "no-hitter" but can he mention pitcher X has not allowed a hit? Or do you just let the box score do the job for you?

"The greatest hitter living..."

The WSJ has a fantastic article today about Miguel Cabrera and hitting in baseball. It has a number of interesting facts and great quotes, but the section below is my favorite:

"The greatest hitter living can't hit bad balls well," [Ted] Williams wrote. "A good hitter can hit a pitch that is over the plate better than a great batter can hit a questionable ball."

Unless the great batter is Cabrera. This season his slugging percentage (total bases divided by at-bats) is a frightening .590 on pitches that pass between him and the inside edge of the plate. That is, inside pitches that shouldn't be swung at, never mind hit.

The downside? You're not going to learn much that will help your players hit better because the big takeaway is that Cabrera is a freak.

"We're watching one of the greatest right-handed hitters who ever lived."

Jayson Stark of ESPN has a fascinating article from last week comparing Miguel Cabrera to some of the all-time great hitters in baseball. There's a lot of numbers in the article, but the short version is that Cabrera compares well with anyone worth mentioning. It makes me wish I had the chance to see a few more Tigers games.

Play ball?

According to the Wall Street Journal, in the average MLB game, which lasts about three hours, there are 17 minutes and 58 seconds of actual action.

2013 Projections

Thought everyone might be interested in Accuscore's 2013 projections. They should make you feel hopeful (which might be a bad thing) because they project the Tigers to win the division and the World Series.

Triple Crown

Every Miguel Cabrera homerun and RBI from the past season:

What's the Call?

Awesome.  Weirdest play ever.  Did you get the call right?  Did the professional umpires get the call right?  Yes.  Need help on what the issue was all about?  The interference probably saved a triple play.

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This one is for bigger baseball fans than me: Is winning the triple crown the most difficult achievement in sports? Miguel Cabrera is the first to do it in 45 years, which sure makes is sound difficult. Most of the other candidates I saw mentioned were career numbers, which seem to be quite a bit different than a single-season accomplishment.

Biased?

The WSJ has done a little research to judge just how biased hometown MLB announcers are. Mario Impemba and Rod Allen come in right about the middle.

300

Miguel Cabrera hit his 300th career homerun is today's win over the White Sox.