Three Doesn’t Equal One - Fister Dumped, Bigger Deal Looming???

The Trade: RHP Doug Fister to the Washington Nations for UT Steve Lobardozzi, LHP Ian Krol, and #5 Washington prospect LHP Robbie Ray.  Drew Smyly moves in to the rotation.

With social media there’s no hiding the Fister trade or the Tigers fans displeasure from it, but as many others have said, Dombrowski has earned the fans patience and trust that it’s not about what we received in return but what we may do with money saved.

Now that that statement is out of the way, we got hosed in this trade!!  The national media, other GM’s, even my wife is bashing this trade.  Not because we traded Fister, we knew a starter had to go, but because we did not receive the value we should have in return.  My stance was the Tigers who are in a win now mentality (or that’s what I thought) could have cleared salary, and got this garbage return for what I consider a lesser pitcher in Rick Porcello.  Now the lesser pitcher comment met some serious debate on Facebook last night and that’s fine, but if I believe the Tigers have a short window for winning then shouldn’t we have kept the proven guy vs. the potential guy?  People will spit projections at you claiming they are the same pitcher next year, but until you actually see the results doesn’t it make sense to stick with the facts?

Either way, Porcello or Fister this trade is a failure in my eyes based on the return, it’s just worse as I view Fister to be much better than Ricky P and read where Keith Law goes as far as calling Fister a top 30 starter in the Majors.  Does that seem like enough value to you?

The 29-year old Doug Fister who had a career 3.53 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, was 44-50, but 32-20 as a Tiger and was also 3-2 in the postseason with a 2.98 ERA and 1.303 WHIP netted us:

Steve Lombardozzi, 2B/UT – A 25-year old switch hitter who will be in his fourth season in the Majors has a career .264 average, .297 on-base percentage, .639 OPS, averages 2.5 home runs a season, 23.5 RBI’s, 32 runs, 3:1 strike out to walk ratio.  Defensively looks like he is just an above average defender at second base and slightly below average in a limited role in the outfield

Ian Krol, LHP/RP – Krol (22), has a year of experience as a lefty specialist after being converted from a starter in the minors.  Krol appeared in 32 games, 27.1 innings where he had a 3.92 ERA, gave up 5 home runs, carried a 1.31 WHIP, walked 2.6 per 9, and struck out 7.2 per 9.  When facing just lefties, Krol had a .220 average against (vs. .304 against righties), gave up just a homer, and struck out 10 of 56 he faced.

Robbie Ray, LHP – The number five rated prospect in the Nationals system by Baseball America is considered the key piece of the deal.  The 12^th round selection of the 2010 draft advanced as high as Double-A Harrisburg this season where combined with A+ Potomac stats, Ray went 11-5  with a 3.36 ERA in 142 innings, striking out 10.1 per 9 and walking 3.9 per 9, while giving up 13 home runs.  As a prospect, Ray is expected to start in the minors and won’t be seen at Comerica until at least 2015.

Yep, that’s it.  Now does it seem like we got enough value for Fister???   Not a friggin’ chance and although Dave gets lead way with what he’s going to do with this money, it doesn’t make this trade any better in my opinion and in most others…

~sK

Round 2 Day 1 (of 4) Wrap-Up

Another day, another eight movies knocked out for best movie of the last 40 years.  This time we had Die Hard, Taxi Driver, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Internal Affairs, Gran Torino, Terminator 2, Usual Suspects, and the Big Lebowski fall.

Moving on out of the Shawshank Region was Shawshank Redemption 79/21% and Alien 60/40%. 

Out of Pulp Fiction was Silence of the Lambs 71/29% and the Sixth Sense 81/19%

From the Godfather Region, advancing is Star Wars V - Empire Strikes Back 94/6% and a nail biter that was determined based on the higher seed advancing with the Usual Suspects taking out Casino 50/50%

The Godfather 2 Region offered up to good match-ups with a couple votes separating the winners with the Dark Knight advancing 59/41% and an upset special with 23 seeded Good Will Hunting taking out 7 seed Terminator 2.

Here's a look at the updated brackets

Don't forget to vote for "day 2" of 2nd round

2nd Round Match-up's Set for Top Movie in Last 40 Years

Interesting match-ups in the 2nd round include in the Shawshank Region, 20. Jaws vs. 4. Star Wars, 11. Resevior Dogs vs. Raiders of the Lost Ark, and 10. Aliens vs. 7. Apocalypse Now. 

In the Pulp Fiction Region, 3. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring vs. 14. Braveheart and 11. The Green Mile vs. 6. Dark Knight Rises

The Godfather Region intriguing match-ups include: 13. Full Metal Jacket vs. 4. The Matrix, 22. Casino vs. 6. The Usual Suspects, & 15. Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade vs. 31. Rain Man

Finally in the Godfather Part 2 Region, close match-ups could be 8. Saving Private Ryan vs. 9. Back to the Future, 13. Star Wars - Return of the Jedi vs. 4. Goodfellas, and 3. Inception vs. 19. Scarface

Voting to open later today

Below are the updated brackets thru the first round

Top 128 Movie Bracket Update - Day 4 & 5

Sorry to all following as things got pretty busy around here, but I am back and will be opening up voting today for the rest of the first round through next week (as I will be out of town). 

Here's the latest results...

The Pulp Fiction Region
7. Memento 71% over 26. There Will be Blood
Recap: Drama on drama leads to what could be an underrated 7 seed Memento over There Will be Blood with little question and what could be a cake walk in it's next round match up vs...

23. The Kings Speech 59% over Life is Beautiful 41%
Recap: Sleeper, no really, try staying awake during either of these movies

15. Raging Bull 62% over Fargo 38%
Recap: A bit of a surprise as I had Fargo as an upset special for it's unique plot line, but the powerful duo of Scorsese and De Niro were just to much to over come.

2. Fight Club 95% over The Wrestler 5%
Recap: A great performance by Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei looking damn good still wasn't enough to over come one of my favorite movies of all-time for WTF moments in Fight Club.  Watch for this true powerhouse!

The Godfather Part 2 Region
1. The Godfather Part 2 98% over The Untouchables 2%
Recap: A 16 seed has never beaten a 1 seed and a 32 seed sure as hell isn't beating a 1 seed so there you go.  Tough draw for Connery & Costner

16. Batman Begins 90% over 17. Up 10%
Recap: What you don't like talking dogs?  Me either!

8. Saving Private Ryan 97% over Donnie Darko 3%
Recap: Can't say I've seen Donnie Darko and according to the score it seems like many of you haven't either

9. Back to the Future 91% over V for Vendetta 9%
Recap: Marty lives to see another day, but is this 80'sw classic good enough to take out one of the best war movies of all time?  My guess...yes

Here's a look at the latest brackets

Top 128 Movies Bracket Update - Day 3

With day 3 in the books the "Godfather" Region and "Shawshank Redemption" Region are starting to take a little more form with four more finals for each.  Here's a look at the results:

The Shawshank Redemption Region
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 88% over 30. The Truman Show 12%
Recap: An out of the box type movie for Jim Carrey, sort like a college basketball team that runs a unique defense, wasn't enough to hold off a classic movie in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and it's star Jack Nicholson

19. The Deer Hunter 89% over 14. Amadeus 11%
Recap: Amadeus had it chances, but at the end of the day the name recognition took the Deer Hunter on to the 2nd round with a very tough OFOtCN

11. Reservoir Dogs 100% over 22. Annie Hall
Recap: I think we all saw this one coming...

6. Raiders of the Lost Ark 97% over Gandhi 3%
Recap: Yet another blowout in the Shawshank region, however the 2nd round is where things will get interesting with a Reservoir Dogs vs. Raiders match-up

The Godfather Region
5. Se7en 81% over 28. The Princess Bride 19%
Recap: The Princess Bride was on every one's upset radar, especially with the big man in the middle (Andre the Giant), but Brad Pitt (of course) was just to much for the female demographic of the challenge to overlook

21. The Thing 86% over 12. Requiem for a Dream 14%
Recap: Although many people thought they were voting for the only porn that made the bracket, there were shockingly wrong after doing research, but the Thing moves on to the 2nd round anyway.

13. Full Metal Jacket 78% over No Country for Old Men 22%
Recap: Both were disturbing movies in their own right, but how can you argue with a Vietnam movie?

4. The Matrix 100% over Ratatoullie 0%
Recap: Shocked...really???

Don't forget there are more match-ups to vote for on the right and 4 more will be released this afternoon

Here are the updated brackets

Bracket Update Day Two

Here are the second day results.  We are going to start backing down to 4 match-ups a day to vote on in effort to not blow up people's FB feeds.

The Pulp Fiction Bracket
5. Silence of the Lambs 55% over Rocky 45%
Recap: Hannibal served up some fava beans and Chianti to Rocky, just edging out the Rock by a few votes in the closest vote yet

21. Kill Bill Vol. 1 77% over Chinatown 23%
Recap: The over seeded Chiatown was taken down rather easily with an ode to Chinese waxia films of the '70's

20. Sixth Sense 60% over L.A. Confidential 40%
Recap: In yet another upset, but this time much closer than others, the thriller Sixth Sense and one of the most memorable lines of all-time move on to the second round

29. Internal Affairs 71% over 29%
Recap: This is just one of those blah match-ups like a low scoring Wisconsin/Princeton game.  I fully expect IA to be ejected next round

The Godfather Part 2 Region
3. Inception 63% over Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl 27%
Recap: POTC gave Inception a bit of a scare but at the end of a day a Leo movie always wins out

19. Scarface 68% over Unforgiven 32%
Recap:  An underrated Scarface cleaned one of the top westerns clocks pretty handily and could be a threat to Inception in the next round

11. Gladiator 86% over Warrior 14%
Recap: Clearly not enough people have seen what I consider to be one of the best movies in years.  Highly recommend Warrior if you haven't seen it.

27. Bourne Ultimatum 74% over Leon: The Professional 26%
Recap:  The Professional unfortunately is one of those movies that you just tend to forget about and isn't as fresh as the Bourne series.  Either way the Bourne Ultimatum could be a Cinderella, watch out!

Now for the update brackets

Brackets Updated

The first days results are in with around 50 votes per movie (keep sending to friends!)...

The Shawshank Region
1. Shawshank Redemption 89% over 32. Jurassic Park 11%
Recap: Shawshank came out a little slow against the auto bid Jurassic Park, but in the end the likes of Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins were just to much for a bunch of dinosaurs

16. Die Hard 74% over 17. Snatch 26%
Recap: A snoozer of 16/17 seeded match-up with Die Hard's Yippee-ki-yay, mofo taking over.  An interesting match-up in round 2 with Shawshank Redemption has arisen

8. Alien 96% over The Network 4%
Recap: Number eight seed Alien takes advantage of little known '70's movie the Network and seals the biggest win of the tournament so far.  Can it hold up against...

9. Taxi Driver 92% over 24. How to Train Your Dragon 8%
Recap: The classic vs. the new kid on the block, the classic with Robert DeNiro runs away with the show setting up a round two match-up with eight seed Alien

The Godfather Region
26.  Stand By Me 74% over 7. American History X 26%
Recap: Our first upset of the tournament was a blowout for the nostalgic Stand By Me over a heavily favored American History X.  At the end of the day American History X just couldn't match up to the trio of Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, and River Phoenix.  One word..devastating

10. The Departed 95% over Into the Wild 5%
Recap: Just a pure mismatch from the start.  Gangster movie vs. a tree hugger movie (Although I enjoyed it) is a no doubter amongst my list of FB friends.  The big question is can the Gangsters over take the trio from Stand By Me.  I think so...

15. Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade 67% over Toy Story 33%
Recap: Much closer than expected...I mean what were you people thinking!!

31. Rain Man 67% over Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 33%
Recap: This is the definition of upset or is it??  I think there was some strong arming here from Mr. BDub himself and his Facebook comments.  The tournament committee (me) will be looking in to this as a possible fix

Remember we have live match-ups to vote on here on the site (to the right) or on Facebook

Additionally there will be more games added to be voted on today with results being updated tomorrow

Here's the updated bracket.