The Pistons are Mixed Nuts, the Tigers are Making Moves...

Let's review the Pistons' performance through the first 8 games of a VERY young season, with a new coach and several new players (the short version - it's been bad).

First, the 2 main contributors Stan Van Gundy brought in this year (Cartier Martin and Jodie Meeks) have logged a total of 0 (that's ZERO) minutes of regular season basketball. Second, Greg Monroe missed 2 games for a DUI suspension, so Detroit's already anemic offense was further handicapped. Third, the Indiana Pacers were supposed to contend for a title this year before they lost their best player in Paul George, and now they have a worse record than Detroit. So maybe let's reel it in a little and wait for a) Martin and Meeks to get healthy, b) SVG's offense to gel a little, and c) the struggling young players to figure it out.

I think the poor starts by KCP and Drummond have a lot to do with people not knowing their roles. Jennings doesn't know when to pass or when to shoot. Drummond is trying to hard to create and is fouling out. KCP can't figure out where he fits in on offense, and he's probably playing 5-10 too many minutes per game right now (going from <20 last year to >35 this year). Check the worst 3 players on Detroit, based on VORP (value over replacement player):
 

Ok, it's a little hard to read. The bottom 3 names are Kyle Singler 9th, KCP at 10th and Drummond at 11th. The offense has been terrible across the board, with Greg Monroe as the only bright spot (and by bright spot I mean "less dim"), but KCP and Singler are emblematic of the general team malais. Drummond, like everyone else on the team, has not shot well (okay, a drop from shooting .623% to .420% is basically falling off the cliff), but his major problem has been the fouls.

Right now the team is 2-6 (with wins over NYK & MIL) and you can literally SEE the fight going on between a team that has been rudderless/leaderless since 2008 and a coach who is trying to mold a team in his image (not literally, thank god). This is like rehabbing a house. SVG shows up wanting to open up the floor plan, update the kitchen and finish the basement, but then he does some demo and discovers the wiring is all messed up and he has a mold problem.

Jalen & Jacoby discussed a variation on this problem that the Cavs are having right now on their podcast - namely, that the young Cavs players are having trouble molding themselves to a style of play that translates to winning. The Pistons don't have any super stars coming in to provide a clashing element to the incumbent players, but the problem is very similar. They have adapted their style of play to fit the situation. SVG is trying to bring them out of the muck, but it's an arduous process.

This 2-6 start is about what I expected from the Pistons, but I really expected better games from Drummond and KCP. They aren't this bad and they'll get better, especially as Martin and Meeks get healthy. I'm still expecting a move from SVG to swap out either Jennings or Smith (or both) for a player he can use, but that's a couple of months away. This team as constructed is probably a .500 team, but it'll be at least another month until they start playing like it.

Actually, they remind me more of your classic sports movie team, like Major League's Cleveland Indians, when they're just a bunch of misfits and before they have that galvanizing moment that gives them purpose and gets them to use their talents together. I don't know if SVG will have that Lou Brown moment... in real life these things don't usually pan out. Right now Drummond is trying to figure out who he is, Josh Smith is trying to deny who he is (which is anything and everything other than a shooter), and the 2 guys SVG brought in to help his offense work are both injured. This is going to take a minute.

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The Tigers managed to re-acquire Victor Martinez for 4 years, $70M (that's $17M/yr average) and traded a prospect 2B to pick up a potential starting CF Anthony Gose. In my speculating a week ago, I moved forward with the assumption that both Martinez & Scherzer will be gone. That said, I'm not surprised Martinez came back. Dombrowski said re-signing Martinez was the top priority, V-Mart has tight relationships on the team with JD and Miguel, etc., and he was the best hitter last year. I get it. If it was me, I'd want to upgrade the defense at 3B and either move Castellanos to DH or trade him. But Martinez was the best hitter on the market and Detroit is already losing their 3rd or 4th best hitter in Torii Hunter.

The other move, trading for Anthony Gose is a bit of a risk for a team trying to win a title. Gose doesn't hit much (.226 w/ 2 HR last year) but he's fast (15 SB in half a season) and he plays a decent CF.

Yeah, he's in LF in this clip, not CF, but that is a NICE throw. Now they mention that he was way off-line on an earlier throw, but Rajai Davis didn't make that throw all year. Neither did JD Martinez. Ezequiel Carrera wasn't actually that good defensively, despite that nice diving catch vs. the Yankees in his first start. There weren't many good options for CF (or any, depending on how you feel about Rasmus) short of making a trade. Well, they made a trade and picked up a 24 yr-old no-name guy with some promise. I'm kind of meh on this. Dombrowski traded away the top guy in their farm system for Gose. The HOPE is that the same hitting coach that turned JD Martinez from a .250/.272/.378 hitter in Houston to a .315/.358/.553 hitter in Detroit can do something similar with Gose. If Anthony Gose plays plus defense in CF, hits something like .250/.330/.400 and snags 30 bases, I'll be happy with it.

A rumor currently gaining traction is that the Tigers are interested in bringing in Melky Cabrera to fill the Torii Hunter void in the lineup. Melky is a nice hitter. In fact, last year was pretty representative of his game - .301/.351/.458 hitting, 16 HR, 73 RBI and 6 SB. He's not a great OF, but JD Martinez was actually pretty good when he played RF last year and Melky was less bad than JD in LF, so this would be a decent defensive upgrade over the Martinez-Davis-Hunter OF from this past season. Melky is also primarily a #2 hitter, meaning that the Tigers' lineup would read 1. Kinsler, 2. Cabrera, 3. Cabrera, 4. Martinez, 5. Martinez... It's like a law firm or something.

In that same Melky Cabrera article, Dombrowski says the plan for the bullpen in 2015 is to go with Nathan as the closer, Soria as the setup guy, and Rondon as the 7th inning guy. The problem(s) with that?

This is a list of the top 15 closers in the AL. Look at the WAR (wins above replacement). Nathan is the worst at -0.2, Soria is the 2nd worst at -0.1. Soria had a couple of injuries and is only 30, so I'm willing to excuse him. He had a good WHIP, an okay ERA, and he was striking guys out. On the other hand, Nathan is 39 and his numbers fell off the planet. He's not good anymore. He might be better next year, but his upside is pretty low and Soria will be better anyway.

So Dombrowski's plan is to bring back the worst closer in the league, Soria (who struggled last year), and hope Bruce Rondon is recovered from Tommy John surgery? None of those guys are NOT a question mark. I hope he's not serious.

P.S. - Alex Avila might be out the door. I like his defense ok, but he's barely a major league hitter. In fact, he's really not. Pick up Geovany Soto or promote James McCann. I'm done with the patented Avila strikeout-looking-with-2-outs-and-men-on-base.