The Lions have been disappointingly good-ish the past couple of weeks. Ever since they won in Green Bay (for the 1st time since 1991) they've been on a sort of a roll... A roll in that they've won 3 straight games against struggling teams while only playing anything resembling "good offense" in one of those games. It's nice to watch the Lions win, especially on Thanksgiving, but... It's empty. All of it. There are 5 games left, and the other 3 teams in the division would basically have to all lose out for Detroit to make the playoffs. So forget about THAT.
Additionally, my dreams of picking up a top tier QB to replace Stafford are dwindling as the team continues to rack up meaningless wins and move backward in draft order (if the draft were today, they'd be picking 12th vs. the #1 overall pick they were in line for 3 weeks ago). Plus, the organization is less likely to want to replace Stafford as he lives up to his "Stat Padford" nickname by playing pretty well in some meaningless games against poor competition. Stafford's average QBR has been 9 points better in the last 3 games and his average QB rating has been 20 points better. The Packers are still reeling, so I don't know if they'll provide some real competition or if it'll be more of this fool's gold we've been getting.
All the good feelings I had about the Lions' organizational direction have dissipated, despite the wins. First, they hired Rod Wood to replace Tom Lewand as team president. This might seem like no big deal, but to me it mirrors what the Lions did when they hired Lewand and Mayhew in the first place - going with an internal hire instead of trying to change the culture. Then the Lions put their insecurity on display when they demanded CBS fire local radio personality Mike Valenti for being overly critical of the Lions on air. CBS decided not to censor their on-air talent, so the Lions announced they'll move their radio broadcasts to another channel. If that doesn't tell you what a crap organization this is, nothing will.
Check the video, if you have a minute. Valenti goes on a 10min rant about how the Lions PR department have gone after him over the past 10 years and tried desperately either to get him fired or change his tune. Now, I'll be the first to say that Valenti goes too far with his negativism. No doubt. But the fact that the Lions seem to care more about what's being said than by the product they produce should speak volumes. They've had too many Yes men over the years and not enough contrarians. That led to 7 years of Millen, followed by 7 years of Mayhew. When Martha Ford went through Allen Park firing people left and right, I thought, "Khaleesi!" After the Ford family hired Wood and pulled their broadcasts from 97.1 The Ticket, I thought, "Nope, she's Cersei Lannister."
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On the flip, I'm pretty happy with what the Tigers have done so far, apart from retaining Brad Ausmus. Actually, sticking with Ausmus may have cost us the ability to re-sign Yoenis Cespedes, who I REALLY liked, so that actually goes down as a double-minus. But other than that, they made a nice trade for a decent closer in Fransisco Rodriguez, they traded for OF Cameron Maybin (yes, the same guy we shipped to Miami with Andrew Miller for Miggy), and just signed RHP Jordan Zimmermann to a 5-yr deal. There are more than a few issues with the Zimmermann signing, but given how tight their budget is right now, is was a pretty good move.
I was pleasantly surprised to see they let Alex Avila go, given that his dad is now the GM. AA was great behind the plate, but I won't miss watching him watch strike three go whistling by. They still need to add another bat, in my opinion, and probably 1 more starter and 1 reliever. I don't expect any more "swing for the fences" moves, but I'm not ruling it out. Mike Illitch wants to WIN.
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