Now the real fun begins!
If you were looking for Kurt’s and Holly’s dueling blogs today, we’ve got a surprise for you…
Now that the off-season is here, Totally Tigers is just getting ramped up. This is the season of intrigue and even more in-depth discussion. Hopefully, lots will be happening with the team over the next 4 months, and we plan on covering it all. So stay tuned and visit us every day because there will always be a new blog to read and discuss.
But we have something more. We want our readers to weigh in and help craft our vision for the off-season. We want your ideas! Today, we ask that you leave comments about what you want to see. Ideas re topics, new formats, new ways of interacting. Tell it all to us and don’t be shy. We can honestly say that we have the best and most thoughtful readers on any Tigers’ blog. We know you won’t disappoint us.
We’ll publish your comments so everyone can get inspired. Come up with your own – or add onto someone else’s. We’ll even break the rules and allow you to post more than once! (You can always suggest topics and ideas throughout the year via the comment box.)
And to get you excited about the upcoming months, we’ll have a mystery guest writer who is an expert on the Tigers sit down with us for a little Q&A.
So grab your keyboards and let’s get crackin’!
Totally Tigers reminds readers to follow the rules found above the Comment box as well as those listed under the Rules tab. Comments not meeting these requirements cannot be published.
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I’ll look forward to staying active on your blog during the off season. It would be nice if we knew a little more about the players’ activities while away from us. What are they doing to stay in shape, and to improve? Also, what are they doing for fun? Where do they spend their off season? Are they in touch with each other, or other MLB players? etc.
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First idea for next year, can we expand coverage and commentary to occasionally consider the White Caps and Mudhens, seeing how the major league affiliate will soon be full of these prospects – all too soon.
Next, let’s break down a new bullpen focus a bit. Away from the starters, I would like to hear and talk about the types of pitches our pen players feature and are working on. This would help us see progress over the course, and within the losses. It could get crazy with detail but I’m not asking that. Just few key points over time beyond pitch count and velocity that could help build hope and let us see the game inside a rebuild.
Last one. Please institute a GM dismissal timer. Like a death clock minus the loss of life part. This addition to TT alone will bring me joy and hope for the 2018 Tigers season.
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Great idea on the minor league reports, I had the same thought before I read yours. Need to include the Seawolves also since we’ve always been told that AA is the level where the real prospects start to show their worth.
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This guest writer, can you give us any type of hint? Have we heard of him or her? Holly, will be a report from Lakeland next year?
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Hi, Chuck – Yes, first of all, you have heard of this writer. He is high-profile and he reached out to us several months ago. The off-season is the perfect time to go in-depth with someone like this and do multiple blogs. As for Lakeland, I hope to go next spring once again. The WBC took away 15 Tigers last year so I vacationed elsewhere. 🙂 Btw, keep sending us your ideas! Thanks – Holly
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Once again, THANK YOU Holly & Kurt for providing daily input to keep us posted on behind the scenes activities about the Tigers this year. You provided light during a very dark season. Doesn’t it seem like yesterday that Spring Training began? It will be Spring Training 2018 before we know it.
With that in mind, we’ve got some time before next year’s draft. It would be great if TT could fashion some blog segments on the upcoming draft that outline top players per position while comparing them to our needs. With need in mind, perhaps some mock drafts detailing the Tiger’s top 5 picks.
Piggybacking on Matt C’s request, your occasional coverage of our minor league activities may provide us some hope for the future. In addition to players, knowing which minor league managers & coaches are performing to TT standards would be great to see.
Several more thoughts about some segments include info on other members of the Tiger’s executive mgt. and our analytics group. How are they doing? Is there performance growth w/in the departments? How does each dept. interact? And of course, if you could uncover more details about the elusive Tigers Way manual, it would be the Coup de Gras!
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Holly, Kurt,
Great job on another season. The blogging was certainly better than the baseball. The minor league feature previously suggested would probably prove to be important, since their will be a lot shuttling to and from CoPa.
Speaking of new features, maybe you could run an occasional story on the fan experience at the ballpark. I flew to Detroit to see my first game at Comerica this summer, and I hope the people of Detroit realize that hey have a gem of a ballpark. One question: isn’t the FSD contract up soon? How would that affect the rebuild?
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Now that the Tiger’s “won” the first pick of the draft, how about some insight into who that pick should be. Should it be a young high school prospect or a sophomore in college? Maybe a graduating college player who may be ready to join the Tigers in one more year? Should this player be a pitcher (as the Tiger’s always go for but rarely find that turns out to be MLB quality) or should they go with a fielder? Is there a Mike Trout out there to be had? And finally, how about some discussion regarding how long it should take for a prospect to become major league ready and at what age that would be? I have long thought that if a player can’t make it to a MLB team by age 23 or 24, then he will only be a marginal player. The Tiger’s are loaded with those marginal players.
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i’m not sure if TT is the right forum for this,but since the Tigers refuse to develop a HOF for their star players, maybe we as fans can develop our own? The HOF in Cooperstown is a separate organization from MLB. I’m getting tired of having to do research to show out of the area relatives who Mickey Lolich and Alan Trammell are. Perhaps a virtual HOF on the TT page?
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I would like to see updates followed by reader discussions on the big topics of this off-season— new manager candidates, and the number one draft pick to begin with. Back and forth commenting without limit could generate some very interesting conversation.
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So many great suggestions by readers and it sounds like Holly, Kurt, and TBD special guest have some wonderful things in the works. (Love the idea of at least a virtual Tigers HoF). The topics I’d be most fascinated to learn more about are likely those that require answers we’ll never really have access to. But wouldn’t it be great to know: 1) how the players truly felt about the initial hiring of Brad, analysis of his coaching style/impact each season, and their thoughts/feelings about his firing, 2) Al Avila’s private/internal thoughts regarding the next manager and the overall direction of the team, 3) Chris I’s real plans for ownership moving forward and perhaps his/AA’s plans for Leyland’s crew moving forward, 4) explanations for why the Tigers’ training staff is seemingly so incompetent, and 5) genuine player discussions of who are the real leaders on the team (Does anyone really command respect of the peers? What will it take for them to help change the culture? Can they affect change?).
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I couldn’t stand – or read – on the sidelines anymore without doing something. I took it upon myself to print out a copy of Sunday’s blog, along with a note on retiring 1,3 and 47 and just how important that would be to Tigers history, to Chris Ilitch. Whether someone intercepts his mail on his behalf I don’t know. However, whomever opens up the envelope will note only get a copy of the blog and accompanying note but a link to TT as well. Btw, virtual HOF created by us is a very great idea. An “inductee” every other month, perhaps!
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Virtual HOF is a dynamite idea. Induct them by position, perhaps we can do ballots and debate among fellow Tiger bloggers and followers. Could be super powerful. The official Tigers fan virtual HOF!
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Need to look at who’s in the TV booth EVERY night. I’m totally bored with Mario telling me the outcome of E V E R Y pitch result. I can see it was “fouled back” or “taken on the outside”. That is why there is radio. For me, a house cleaning must include the Fox TV booth.
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