While doing fantasy prep I noticed a few things -

Tigers Minor league system is 26th. Their best prospect is a throwaway SP from the Mets. Their second best SP is a recovering cancer survivor. Their third best SP prospect can't find the strike zone.

The Major league team is overpaid, old, and lacks a decent bullpen.

I look at the other teams in the division, the Twins are young and have the third best minor league system in the majors. And much of their top talent is near-ML ready. The White Sox have had their best prospects arrive in the last two/three years and upgraded their infield. They have a good bullpen. They're ready to compete for the division. The Indians have a good minors, the best young player in the AL central, and have the best SP in the division. And the Royals of course have been to the last two world series.

So given the age of the team, the lack of good players on the horizon, and the improvement and youth of the other teams in the division, I think the Tigers are poised to be a butthole team for a long time.

I mean, is Fulmer really a throwaway when the Mets have Harvey, Wheeler, deGrom, Matz, Syndergaard, and Bartolo is still a fan favorite? I interpreted your comment as saying he is bad.
Second, I really don't know how to phrase this but, will cancer really affect Norris? They found it early and with modern medicine... I mean Jon Lester had cancer too.
Lastly, lost it when you said the ChiSox have prospects, lol

Michael Fulmer - Injury prone and inconsistent til last year. Yes, he was a throwaway. How many teams would have him as their top prospect? The Angels?

We'll see about Norris.

Carlos Rondon? Tim Anderson? Jacob May? The White Sox have prospects. And they've either arrived in the last year or are close.

The Tigers are on a downward slope. Pizza boy ain't getting his title. And once he's dead and the team is sold, the teardown will begin...

Yeah, Carlos Rondon is kinda underappreciated, still don't think Anderson or May will turn out. The White Sox have a terrible team even with their "prospects". Melky, LaRoche, Frazier, Avila, Lawrie, Eaton, Garcia, and whoever plays SS, aren't threats at the plate. They only have Abreu and Sale is really overrated because of his strikeout totals

Let it go. Sjpoker has had a beef with the Tigers for a long time. It's because he's secretly terrified of the Tigers. He knows if they manage to stay reasonably healthy for a season they smoke the Royals, and he doesn't like that. He wants us to all collectively calm his fears by telling him that the Tigers are overrated.

Yes, the team is being run quite differently than I'd do it. In spite of the fact that they're still one of the most dangerous teams in the majors when they're firing on all cylinders, I wouldn't have given up so much to win now with such an old team. I'd probably be getting ready to start the rebuild. But as it is, with spending have been done, it's a team that still should evoke this fear from a Royals fan.

Especially since the Royals are the team that's really going down the crapper. In 2 years they lose Cain, Hosmer, Perez, and Moustakas, and Perez is likely the only one they'll be able to keep. The minors aren't really looking so hot in KC anymore and they traded Finnegan. They're all in for the next 2 years with a team that looks good not great on paper, and after that it all goes to crap. And without Detroit money, they can't come back in a few seasons by spending their way out of the hole. Look at their last rebuild. They had a great team and won a WS in the mid-80s, were ok through the early '90s, and after 1993 they had one winning season until 2013. Let sjpoker have his fun right now, he needs it. He's got another long, long depressing streak coming. And try not to be too mean to him when the Tigers win the division this year.

I understand that the Tigers are getting older and don't have a Lucas Gioloto or Corey Seager type elite prospect but people don't give Dombrowski credit for his mini-rebuild last year and the team is younger than people think. Sure V-Mart is old, Verlander and Sanchez have injury problems but JD is only 28. Castellanos is gonna man 3B for years, he's like 23, Jose Iglesias is an underrated shortstop who is only 26. James McCann was the best defensive catcher in the Majors last year. Actually set a record for consecutive errorless games by a rookie catcher. Whatif has him rated as an A+ arm, don't know his CS% though, and he's 25. Daniel Norris and Michael Fullmer look like they could be dangerous #2 starters, hopefully one of them becomes an ace. And Boyd isn't bad either. Shane Greene was unhittable in April and then had an arm injury. So the Tigers have a couple more years with Verlander, Sanchez, and Upton, and will probably replace 2 of them in FA anyways with younger talent. Poker was talking about major league ready talent and the Tigers don't have too many big names but they're set at 4 positions (5 if you include Miggy and his extension) for a long time and if Norris, Boyd, Greene, and Fullmer have a good spring fresh off injuries, that'll be another position they're good at. I'm not saying Norris, Fullmer, Boyd, or Greene will all be aces. Just they'd be a good #2, #3, #4, and #5 SP respectively. If someone doesn't pan out, they'll sign a guy of FA like they usually do, and it'll feel like an improved 2014 eam when they had JV, Scherzer, Fister, Sanchez, and Porcello as their rotation.

James McCann sucks donkey dong.

Posted by bad_luck on 2/22/2016 2:00:00 PM (view original):
James McCann sucks donkey dong.

Statistically the 2nd best catcher in the AL last year

Posted by d_rock97 on 2/22/2016 2:28:00 PM (view original):

Posted by bad_luck on 2/22/2016 2:00:00 PM (view original):
James McCann sucks donkey dong.

Statistically the 2nd best catcher in the AL last year

I'd take the good McCann, Perez, Gomes, and Martin over him every day. I'd probably take Castro too. There's another 5 or 6 in the NL I'd take over him.

So, if we're being generous and believe that he is really, really good defensively, McCann is what the...12th best catcher in baseball? Maybe "sucks donkey dong" was a little harsh, but I'd be looking for an upgrade if I employed him and expected to contend anytime soon.

I think I'd take James over Brian McCann at this point. I'd rather have defense than offense at the catcher position if I have to choose. Best-case scenario is that you have somebody like Russell Martin who does everything. But not everybody can have that. In fact, almost nobody can. It's pretty much Lucroy, Posey, and Martin, and after that you have to start picking your priorities.

I don't think Brian McCann is all offense. His pitch framing numbers were down in 2015 (still way above James McCann) but they are very good over his career. And he throws out a decent amount of runners.

Posted by bad_luck on 2/22/2016 4:27:00 PM (view original):
I don't think Brian McCann is all offense. His pitch framing numbers were down in 2015 (still way above James McCann) but they are very good over his career. And he throws out a decent amount of runners.

Where are you finding these stats? I can't find them.

StatCorner has a free summary:

http://www.statcorner.com/CatcherReport.php

BaseballProspectus is really the best, but it's a subscription site.

Posted by dahsdebater on 2/22/2016 7:14:00 PM (view original):
StatCorner has a free summary:

http://www.statcorner.com/CatcherReport.php

BaseballProspectus is really the best, but it's a subscription site.

Thanks. I was just using "+" stats

The problem with StatCorner is that they really don't normalize for all that much (for example, and probably most egregiously, I don't think they compare to umpire trends; IOW, they treat every strike zone as identical using the PitchFX data or BaseballInfoSolutions data or equivalent, and don't correct for the fact that different umpires tend to call fairly substantially different zones). Maybe over the course of a full season a lot of that comes out in the wash within an individual league; certainly over the course of several seasons it probably would. But for backup catchers who work 30 games a season, it's a bigger issue.