Non-Lions Stuff

I tend to get pretty Lions-dominant during the NFL season, so I thought I'd dedicate today's post to the other Detroit-area teams. The Lions play on Monday night, so I'll get back to them next week.

The Tigers have been monumentally disappointing, so I haven't said much about them on this blog. I feel like I need to break that trend, but only because there's more bad news to pile on. Brad Ausmus is finishing up year 2 of his 3-year contract, and the consensus opinion outside of the organization was that the Tigers would fire him and pursue Ron Gardenhire to manage the team next year. Well, you can throw that theory out the window. New GM Al Avila announced last week that Ausmus would at least be with the team through the end of his contract.

I'm all about giving a coach/manager the chance to figure things out. I think too often owners & GMs sacrifice the coach to appease the fans, and sometimes they really just needed to let things play out. Maybe that's the case with Ausmus. But I don't think so. Brad Ausmus inherited a NEARLY complete WS contender. The only issue was with the bullpen, although he would proceed to treat the 'pen as though it were a finished product also. I'd say Ausmus cost the Tigers a handful of games last year, including their playoff sweep at the hands of the Orioles. Not good. People were calling for his head THEN, but I thought he might learn from his mistakes and Dombrowski should let it play out a bit.

Then this year happened. The offense added firepower with the additions of Cespedes and Gose via trade, Iglesias returning from injury, and McCann supplanting Alex Avila as the regular catcher. Iglesias, Gose, and Cespedes would greatly improve the defense, as would Torii Hunter's departure and Castellanos improving his footwork at 3B. The starting pitching would take a step back with Scherzer and Porcello leaving, and Verlander struggling to stay healthy most of the year, but the 'pen was expected to be slightly better with Rondon's return and Soria hopefully bouncing back. But after starting the season as the best team in baseball, the Tigers dropped game after game. Some of this was due to unexpected (or expected) poor performances from key players, some due to the lack of improvement in the 'pen, and some due to some HIGHLY questionable managerial decisions.

Ausmus isn't the Tigers' only problem. He's not even their MAIN problem. But he is A problem, and the fact that they're keeping him for another year is disconcerting. It feels like we're just WASTING Miguel Cabrera, who is only the greatest hitter of his generation.

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The NBA preseason is literally right around the corner. The Pistons have games against the Nets, the Bucks, and the Pacers starting next week Thursday, and we still aren't sure what the starting lineup is. Conventional wisdom is that Stan will start Marcus Morris at the 3 and Ersan Ilyasova at the 4, although he might go with rookie Stanley Johnson at the 3 and either Morris or Ilyasova at the 4. He's also intimated that Johnson might get some burn at the 2, which could move incumbent (but so far disappointing) starter KCP to the bench.

Stan seems quite impressed by the early returns from Stanley Johnson. His attitude is already NBA ready, by all accounts, and he seems to be approaching the game with a veteran's maturity level. This is encouraging in that it sounds as like Johnson might bypass many of the typical rookie growing pains.


The Pistons aren't expected to finish that much better than they did last year, however. Las Vegas put the over/under on wins at 33.5, after having won 32 last year. My opinion is this is a bit low, although not by much. The Pistons' Expected W-L total last year was 38-44, and I think the team is slightly improved. The rest of the East has improved as well, so that cuts little ice. I think the Pistons probably finish with something between 35 and 38 wins.

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Michigan football this year looks like a bowl team for once. I don't think they're better than Sparty, and definitely not better than OSU, but they look like some kind of a team right now. The offense is still coming together (that O line... shudder), but the defense looks legit. After shutting out BYU 31-0, I fully expect them to steamroll a pretty weak Maryland team tomorrow. The line right now is 14.5 points, which is pretty high for a conference opponent. It might not be high enough. The Terps were easily handled by Bowling Green (27-48) and got absolutely HOUSED by West Virginia (45-6). I think Michigan is better than both of those teams.


Jake Rudock has at times looked like a 5th year senior, and at other times he's looked like a freshman. Hopefully he'll continue to limit his turnovers and the running game can carry the day.