Non Cellar Sellers

The baseball trading deadline is approaching and the Detroit Tigers are once again faced with a tough decision.  Just like last year, they are not one hundred percent out of the post season race (yes, I know it's July) but they aren't exactly in a spot to be comfortable with their fall season chances.  So what are they to do?  Last year, they had some pieces that they were willing to trade away (Price, Cespedes, Soria) and in return they restocked the farm system.  They are no longer the worst in the league, but those moves didn't exactly vault them to the top farm systems.  The difference between last season and this season is that the players that they did move weren't going to resign with the team nor were they difficult to move because they were big names.  This season, the Tigers don't really have the pieces that they can move while improving the future of the team while at the same time not hindering it.

Now why do I think that they should be selling at the trade deadline?  They aren't at or near the bottom of the division.  They are in the hunt for the wild card at least.  There isn't any way they are going to catch Cleveland.  Especially seeing as how they've lost twelve of thirteen games to them this season.  Could they buy at the trade deadline and make a push for the playoffs?  Absolutely.  However, with the way the wildcard is set up, they would be making moves to play one playoff game.  ONE!  If they were to lose that game, they would be done.  I'm looking to the future.  I would rather see the Tigers miss the playoffs for a few years while they restock their farm system with younger talent.  The star players they have now at the highest level are getting older and if they start to stockpile prospects now, they could be ready by the time the current roster turns over.  It's simple and well run organizations understand this concept.  The chance for the Tigers to win the World Series is over, sadly, for right now.  There are too many teams that have leapfrogged them as far as talent.  They have to just remain relevant so when they make another push in a few years, the big name free agents who could help push them over the top will want to sign with them.  If they can go season to season and hover around the .500 mark, when they are ready to push for a deep playoff run they could lure players again.  

Here is where we run into a problem.  Who do they trade?  Who can they depart with and still feel great about where they sit?  What type of players should they go after?  So.  Many.  Questions.  I think that with the moves they made last year, they have set up their pitching staff of the future.  We have all seen what Michael Fulmer is capable of, Daniel Norris has been hit and miss, Matt Boyd is still several years out.  If these guys can all stay healthy, and produce, we could be looking at a strong pitching core.  They also picked up JaCoby Jones who could be a great middle infielder for the future.  They have some talent coming up in the next three to four years, but it never hurts to have more.  They can always use them to trade away for if and when they can make a strong push into the playoffs.  I think that where the Tigers need the most help is the outfield.  Especially after J.D. Martinez broke his elbow.  I thought for few games that Steven Moya would do well for the time that J.D. was going to be out.  But by all accounts, he is best served as a designated hitter or a pinch hitter.  His defense still needs to catch up, but could he be moved for a more serviceable outfielder of the future?

What about Justin Upton?  I know the Tigers just signed him this offseason, but the fact that there is an opt out option after this season is disconcerting.  He could leave and the Tigers would get nothing in return.  It's almost like the situation they faced last year with Price and Cespedes.  The difference being Price and Cespedes were free agents at the end of last season and Upton does have a six year contract so he could stay in Detroit, it would just be a matter of whether or not he would.  I'm not sure how they determine that, but if he decides to leave I wouldn't be heartbroken (I didn't like the signing to begin with) but I would be upset that the Tigers wouldn't move him now to get some compensation.  And who would be looking for a bat that has been struggling this season?  Hopefully he gets hot in the next week and teams start kicking tires.  

Another player that might intrigue teams is Jose Iglesias.  Not for his bat per say, but more for his glove.  I enjoy watching him play and he has really solidified the middle infield with Kinsler.  He does have streaks in him that make me want the Tigers to keep him, but his injury history makes me leery.  The Tigers have is a prospect that can take his place in Dixon Machado.  True, he is someone that wouldn't really be ready until 2018 or '19 so maybe the Tigers shouldn't move Iglesias right now plus his contract is still team friendly.  But in the future, maybe they ship him off somewhere.  Maybe next year.  Next year when all the players are just a little older but still productive.  Next year when the Tigers may or may not be in the same situation they are in now.

After watching teams like the Royals and Astros rebuild through the draft and player development, I want the Tigers to take a similar approach.  I would like for them to give up on winning now.  The last good chance they had at winning a World Series was in 2012 and got steam rolled by the Giants.  After that, everyone could tell that they needed to restock and rebuild.  They just haven't done it until last year.  Mike Ilitch wouldn't allow it.  He wants a championship.  And I understand that, but what he wants isn't what is good for the team or organization.  Saying that I want the Tigers to rebuild doesn't mean I've given up any kind of hope that they play well, I just know that where they are now won't win them any kind of championship.  Besides, if I stayed a fan after the early 2000s what makes you think I would give up on my Tigers.  Life long fans of any team understand the need to rebuild or retool or reboot, or whatever you want to call it.  

Deserted Island List

Time for something fun and entertaining as we watch the world around us go to complete and utter shit.  We've all seen or read or thought about what we would bring to a deserted island.  There are plenty of people who can easily spout of four or five books, movies, or albums that they would want to have.  Other people probably wouldn't be able to give you one or two.  Me?  I'd be able to list somewhere in the eight to ten each range, but let's keep focused.  Below is a list of five movies, books, and albums I would want to have with me if I were on a deserted island.  And before someone starts the whole 'how are you going to play your music or movies without any power?', just don't.  Don't be that person.  Just have fun and assume the Professor from Gilligan's Island made me a coconut and solar powered tv/dvd combo type contraption before I murdered him for survival.

Albums:

• The Beatles:  Abbey Road
• The Clash:  London Calling
• Kendrick Lamar:  To Pimp a Butterfly
• Jack White:  Lazaretto
• Led Zeppelin:  Physical Graffiti 

Books:

• The Catcher in the Rye
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
• Common Sense
• The Road
• 44 Dublin Made Me

Movies:

• Casablanca
• No Country for Old Men
• Pulp Fiction
• Good Will Hunting
• Dazed and Confused

The movie part is where it got a little tricky because some of the movies that I love are parts of a trilogy.  My favorite movies of all time are the original Star Wars trilogy.  The same can go for the Lord of the Ring trilogy.  Sure, each movie in both trilogies can stand on their own, but when I watch one I kind of want to watch all of them.  Because the story spans three movies.  So, if I could smash all three Star Wars movies into one, I would bring that.  But I'm staying within the margins I have set for myself while writing this.  Besides, I've seen those movies enough times where I don't need to have them physically.  I have them in my mind.  Always and forever. 

Recruit Out of the Theaters

Can we take a moment to talk about how creepy it is that the Army is using the new 'Independence Day' movie as a recruiting tool?  I've seen a couple of the commercials and they seem normal until you get to the part where they bring in the movie as a point of emphasis.  The reason I look at it as straight up propaganda is that these movies are going to be seen by the masses.  And not just the adult masses, but kids.  Teenagers.  You know, the impressionable crowd.  Now, do they fully understand what they are seeing?  Probably not.  Are these commercials going to increase the recruit numbers of the military?  Who knows.  Hopefully not.  Because that's a shitty way to do it.

Before you start yelling and screaming about being un-American, think about all the outcries to ban or restrict violent video games because they could have a direct impact on younger people.  You remember the when the Grand Theft Auto games were being released and how some thought that the game content could lead to violent outbursts?  Or all the first person shooter games, same thought and principle.  So how is this any different?  I don't see stories about parents storming the FCC about the army trying to recruit their kids through movie theaters.  If you think this is a bit of a reach, think back to when 'Fight Club' came out.  How many stories did we see about people starting basement or backyard fight clubs?

I know, I know, this is a sci-fi action movie.  There probably won't be a spike in army recruitment.  I'm way overthinking it.  And besides, how would that sound in the recruitment office? 

'Why the army?' 
'Well, I was going to go to college, but after I saw the new Independence Day movie, I knew the army was for me.'
'So, you don't have a family tradition or love of your country?'
'Nope.  It was the movie.  Definitely.'
*whispers* 'Dammit.'
'What?'
'Nothing.  Sign here.'

Below is the only commercial I can find, but there is another that was just put out a couple of weeks ago talking about how the people in the movie learned what they learned from the army for their roles in the movie.  You know, the actors.  Everything they learned for the movie they picked up from the army.  So if you want to be a cool actor in a blockbuster summer movie*, JOIN THE ARMY!

*as soon as you finish basic training and your deployment to the Middle East which we have been dragged into and can't seem to find our way to escape.  But, you know, as soon as you're done with that, you can be a cool actor in a blockbuster summer movie

Conserve and Preserve

I spent quite a bit of time outside when I was a kid.  Lots of time at the lake, in the woods at our hunting camp, playing in the fields around our house.  To say I was attached to the outdoors as a kids might be a bit of an overstatement.  We spent time outside because we were kids, that's what we did.  It wasn't until I was a fully grown adult did I feel like I came to truly appreciate the outdoors.  We fish when we go home each summer.  I make a trip home in the fall to go hunting.  I feel great being out in the woods.  The seclusion might not be ideal for everyone, but to sit out in the silence and away from the world, if only for a few hours at a time, is great.  It's almost awe inspiring, as cliche as that sounds.  

Since 1995, the state of Minnesota has given it's drivers the option to reinvest in their state.  In addition to your annual license plate fee, you can contribute to preservation and conservation of wildlife habitats.  From the Minnesota DNR website:

 'With an annual contribution of $30 or more to the Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Critical Habitat Program, you will be helping to preserve important wildlife habitat and plant communities such as wetlands, prairies, old growth forests, and endangered orchid sites.
Additionally, contributions over $30 go towards buying and managing important natural habitats, which are preserved as public lands. These lands are open to compatible public use, like hunting, hiking and wildlife watching.'

We have lived in Minnesota for five years (holy shit!) and it really does feel like home.  Don't get me wrong, nothing will ever replace Michigan or the Upper Peninsula in my heart, but Minnesota is a close second.  Minnesota and Michigan have a lot of similarities in climate, history, and culture.  We enjoyed living in Kansas, but it felt foreign to us because it was completely different from Michigan.  Little water, minimal trees, too much heat, too little snow.  I felt that this year, it was time to give back a little bit.  So I splurged a little bit and got one of these reinvest in Minnesota license plates.  Because of the way life is, I don't have the luxury of spending a lot of time outdoors here.  Sure, we spend some time walking in the state parks, but we don't have to means to go fishing on a lake.  I have the advantage of hunting at home for cheap because of my Native American heritage.  So this is a way that I can help others enjoy those kinds of things.  Minnesota has a lot invested in the outdoors.  There are over seventy state parks, almost as many state forests. 

I'm sure that there are other states with these types of license plate options, at least I would hope so.  I mean, if your state can spring to print and issue military, college, or other special types of plates, surely they can afford to produce one that helps to reinvest in nature.

Call it Like it Is

During the last seven game losing streak, I saw plenty of 'what's wrong with the Detroit Tigers?'  They have enough talent to avoid a losing streak like that.  Unless, of course, they are facing a few teams that are better.  They were feeling good after sweeping the Twins.  The eight win and infinity lose Twins of 2016.  They got swept by Cleveland and Texas right after that.  So what's wrong with the Tigers?  Nothing.  They just aren't as good as they were four or five years ago. And that's okay.  

It's okay that they aren't winning their division because the talent is coming. The right moves were made to restock the farm system.  After they traded away Price, Cespedes, and Soria, they sent a message that they are in the process of rebuilding. I initially thought that it would be a reboot and they'd be back in playoff races the next season or the season after that.  However, I've watched a few games and against good to great teams, the Tigers aren't on the same level.  And we all need to come to grips with reality:  the Tigers aren't that good anymore.

Rational fans will tell you that the moves they made last year were the right moves. Irrational fans still think the Tigers have a legit shot at the playoffs or even the World Series. That's not to say they aren't in the top half of MLB, it's just that they've been surpassed by other teams.  I think that part of it is because of Mike Illitch.  To be fair, he is key to the Tigers being relevant again, but his win now mentality has hurt the current state of the Tigers.  Their window to win the World Series closed when they were swept by the Giants.  It's been a slow and steady decline and I don't think they have hit bottom yet.

As much as we fans don't want to hear it, if the Tigers really want to be relevant in the next six or seven years, they have to bottom out. Maybe they build around J.D. Martinez and Nick Castellanos. They can't move their big contract players like Miguel Cabrera or Victor Martinez, but maybe they can move guys like Jose Iglesias and get some prospects in return.  I shouldn't say they can't move Cabrera, I should say they won't.  If they wanted to give up on the next four years they could trade him away.  They would be able to restock the farm system for sure if they did.