A tale of 2 franchises, as shown by 2 signings
The 2 dominant franchises in Detroit both announced roster additions today.
The American League champion Tigers resigned their leading hitter in the World Series. The Mayor, Sean Casey, was inked to a 1 year free agent deal.
Say what you will about Sean Casey, that he's slow, injury prone, and lacks power. But I have no problem with the Casey signing. The reason being is that you can see the Tigers' simple logic behind the signing.
The Tigers needed a patient left handed bat, one who doesn't strike out, and has a decent OBP. Preferably, he should be either a corner outfielder or first sacker. Sean Casey isn't the perfect solution, but he was the best of a very shallow first base free agent crop. He'll be a perfectly capable stopgap player for one season. He's not signed long term, it's to a reasonable 4 million dollar deal, and he wants to be here. The Mayor is also well known for his positive locker room presence, popular with players and fans alike, who will be the yin to Gary Sheffield's possible head case yang.
The Tigers have a plan, and are sticking to it. That is to win with pitching, develop it within the farm system, use their pitching surplus as trade bait in upgrading their roster, and use free agency to plug position player holes while waiting for position help to develop in the minors.
I don't think we can argue with the results.
Then we have the hapless, laughable, continually clueless Lions.
The odds on favorite to have the number one overall draft pick in the 2007 NFL draft announced the resigning of WR Corey Bradford. What? The same Corey Bradford that incompetent boob Matt Millen touted as one of their big off season free agent signings? The same Corey Bradford that was unceremoniously waived 3 games into the season as being unable to grasp Mike Martz's offense? That Corey Bradford? Yes, that Cory Bradford...
I'm lost. First, we're told that Bradford is the solution. Then he's considered dead weight, and sent packing. Now he's back? Welcomed with open arms? On top of which, Bradford will most likely see considerable playing time on Sunday? I'm at a loss for words.
Bradford automatically becomes the #3 receiver. That's after spending the last 2 months walking the streets of Detroit, unable to get open and dropping everything he picked up. He follows a season long line of undistinguished backup wide outs such as Az-Akim, Kevin Kaspar, Shawn Bodiford, Glenn Martinez, Devale Ellis. Let alone the abysmal failures that was Charles Rogers and is Mike Williams.
The revolving door of receivers should be hilarious, but long ago crossed over the line into utter, incomprehensible stupidity.
Do the Lions have a plan? Any kind of long term goal? Other than shooting for a top 10 draft pick every year, that is? If there is some sort of method to the Lions madness, I can't figure it out.
The Lions just seem to be stumbling from one signing to the next, throwing good money after bad, hoping to be lucky rather than good with their player personnel decisions, always addressing the symptom, but never the cause.
Today's signings show the rapidly reversing fortunes of these 2 franchises in a nutshell. If you consider the Tigers a healthy, vibrant franchise, you'd have to call the Lions a dying one. If you called 911 about the Lions, we wouldn't see Gage and DeSoto come to the rescue. You'd send the coroner, as the Lions would be considered DOA.
The Lions official cause of death? Terminal idiocy.
I think the wide receiver circus has more to do with Mike Martz than Matt Millen, but it still comes down to the talent that Millen has not been able to stock the Lions' with during his tenure.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've wasted a lot of breath and typing defending Matt Millen in the past, but I've made the complete turnaround. Millen absolutely should be fired after this season. And it would probably cut Sgt. Marinelli off at the knees, which I'd hate to see, but this season - in which yet another one of his celebrated first-round draft picks is about to crap out - should be the final stain.
As you said, there is no plan. Millen has no clue. He really needs to go back to Pennsylvania.