QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, KUDOS & CONCERNS

By:  Kurt Snyder & Holly Horning

Spring training is officially here! And that means only one thing……Questions, Comments, Kudos and Concerns – a wrap up of the most important observations of the past week. Observations that will have a lingering impact upon the Tigers and MLB.

Our 2 bloggers have identified their choices and they only have 2 sentences for each of their picks. As always, they don’t share before publication so let’s see how different – or similar – their selections are.

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QUESTION

KURT

Akil Baddoo is as big of a long shot there can be when it comes to a Rule 5 draft pick making the team and hanging with the big club. His limited minor league experience certainly contributes to that long shot, but could his raw ability and athleticism possibly make enough of an impression to send him north?

HOLLY

Jim Leyland is once again making the media rounds with multiple interviews and being spotted in the stands every day watching the games with Al Avila and other members of the Front Office. He’s obviously got his GM’s ear, so I wonder how the Tigers can possibly formulate a successful strategy when they’re listening to both JL and A. J. Hinch, who are complete opposites of each other?

COMMENT

KURT

Willi Castro has grabbed all the headlines out of spring training and appears to be leading the competition for the starting job at shortstop. But eventually he’s going to have to be better defensively; a hard-hitting shortstop is definitely what you need but we can’t undervalue the art of saving runs and keeping the opponent’s outs to a minimum.

HOLLY

Brandon Taubman…. Jared Porter…. Ryan Ellis…. Mickey Callaway…. Sexual harassment behavior that was all “the worst kept secret” in baseball yet all of their former and current teams claimed they knew nothing about it while also, ironically (and disgustingly), pretending to support International Women’s Day. Let’s face it – illegal behavior will always be ignored if the person committing it is talented and if they don’t have their behavior called out by multiple victims in the national press as a way to force the team to correct the problem.

KUDO

KURT

Give the Tigers credit for keeping the memory alive and recognizing the first spring training without Al Kaline. Preparing his locker was a classy move and I look forward to what they have planned to finally honor him and his career in the future.

HOLLY

He may have been the Tigers’ 9th-round draft pick after missing a year due to Tommy John surgery, but my money’s on Tarik Skubal to be the first rookie pitcher to successfully break through. Multiple scouts, his manager and pitching coach all describe him as the hungriest and most determined of their young players while also describing his laser-like focus and work ethic as being second to none.

CONCERN

KURT

Grayson Greiner will have a challenge ahead of him when he returns from a broken nose he suffered after being drilled in the face with a dangerous 94 mph fastball. Greiner has struggled badly at the plate throughout his short career with the Tigers and now having to overcome the very real possibility of being a little gun shy upon his return is a concern.

HOLLY

Franklin Perez, part of the shockingly bad Justin Verlander trade, is going on his 4th year with the Tigers but having only pitched a whopping 26 innings in 3 years. Reports from journalists and scouts watching him throw on the back fields over the weekend all report that his sessions do not appear to be going well which is not surprising considering that he hasn’t pitched in a game for almost 2 years.

What did you miss on the Totally Tigers Twitter feed yesterday?

–        Remember the 2008 Tigers?  Does the roster remind you of anyone?  

 

–       He will make at least 5 times more than over a dozen other players.  Who is he?

–       With a $72M payroll, the Tigers rank 24th in the league.  But guess what?

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