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Bless You Boys Podcast 123 was recorded August 8, 2014, has a running time of 1:23 and features Al Beaton and HookSlide.
Special guest: Neil Weinberg of New English D and Fangraphs. Neil can be found on Twitter at @neilweinberg44.
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Hear more: BYB Podcast archive - SB Nation podcast archive
Topics:
Neil Weinberg: Neil gives his takes on Brad Ausmus' pluses and minuses, Rick Porcello's breakout season, Brian Kenney, Keith Law and #Killthewin, WAR, and how to dive deeper into into sabermetrics.
What happened to the offense? Yankees' pitchers dominated Tigers' bats over the past four games. Brad Ausmus called Wednesday night's effort in a 5-1 loss the worst of the season, but the Tigers topped it while losing 1-0 on Thursday. The Tigers scored just 6 runs during the 4 game series in New York, and just 2 runs in the 3 losses combined.
Who is to blame and is there a quick fix? I'm sure Ausmus would like to hear it. Fans are calling for the Tigers to do something. But what? If someone were available to help, wouldn't the Tigers have made a move at the trade deadline?
Austin Jackson: Has the trade of Jackson, who was big part of Detroit's offense, hurt more than anticipated?
Miguel Cabrera getting criticized: If you listen to any sports talk radio, you'll hear rumblings from hosts and listeners starting to call out Cabrera, who is hitting .329/.395/.474 in the second half and .278/.440/.444 in August. The only month this season when Cabrera hit like he had for the past 6 seasons was May, .380/.423/.704.
Alex Avila: Despite numbers showing Avila is an average offensive player at a position where defense and the handling of pitchers is prioritized, has the criticism over his bat gotten to the point where it's beyond over-the-top?
David Price: Thoughts on his first start? Was Price the pitcher you expected?
Jim Johnson: The Tigers took a flier on the former All-Star closer, giving him a minor league deal. Johnson has joined the Mud Hens after he was waived by the A's last week having signed a $10M contract then posting an ERA over 7.00. Why not lefty Matt Thornton, who was having a far better season, yet was released by the Yankees? He passed thru AL waivers only to be picked up by the Nationals. (Odds are it was due to Thornton being owed $3.5M next season)
Royals creeping closer: The second place Royals are hot again and have crept within 3 games of Detroit. Time to PANIC?
Dave Dombrowski: Detroit's GM is out of the running for MLB commissioner. Feel free to breathe a sigh of relief.
TV Ratings: The team with the highest local TV ratings is the Detroit Tigers. Their 8.38 household rating is almost a point higher than the second place team, the Cardinals.
All that, plus tangents galore!
Upcoming guests:
Aug 15: Kurt Mensching, The Detroit News
Aug 22: Chris Iott, Mlive.com (tentative)
Aug 29: Jason Beck, MLB.com
Find the BYB staff on Twitter: @BlessYouBoys, @BigAlBYB, @BYBKurt, @HookSlideBYB, @BYBRob, @Tigerdog_1, @JGoro8, @MelissaHeyboer, @CSlonksnis, @NoRunSupport, @Yooper_IA, @GregEno, @SBNationMLB.
HookSlide's Detroit Tigers audio clips archive at Chirbit.com and Facebook page.
For more MLB news, check out SBNation's MLB page. For the latest rumors, head to SBNation's MLB Daily Dish.
The Bless You Boys Podcast can be streamed on-demand over your iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, BlackBerry device, or via the web on Stitcher Radio. You can find links to the app at Stitcher.com, the iTunes App Store, Google Play and other device app stores.