This is the booth reacting to Peaches telling his squirrel wars story. They love him so much and are simultaneously losing their shit at how many feelings this man has about his squirrel opponents.
The Tigers are basically terrible right now but they might have the best broadcast team in baseball.
The Tigers game is in a rain delay, so they are doing their Rain Delay Questions segment where the tv crew takes questions on twitter from whoever. The guy who was doing radio color commentary today broke into the tv booth because he missed his friends.
Approximately 70 miles away Justin Verlander is pitching a rehab start for the Toledo Mudhens, and partway through Rain Delay Questions the Tigers truck got hold of the feed.
This situation has resulted in a 3-way split screen with one screen showing the Mudhens game live; one screen showing the tv play-by-play guy, the tv color commentator, the radio color commentator, and the sideline reporter schmoozing in the booth; and one screen showing the postgame reporter, who is alone in exile at the concourse desk.
Instead of narrating the Mudhens game, the tv color commentator is telling a story about his war with the squirrels in his backyard.
Andy Dirks, the Detroit Tigers color commentator, is bringing dad bod discourse to a whole new level on the broadcast tonight. He is insisting that Kerry Carpenter, whose wife had a baby in November, now has 'dad forearms', which he describes as extra bulgy forearms gained by holding a baby a lot.
A Reunion With Andy Dirks Might Make Sense For Detroit Tigers
!– if'n (winder.cpc != true) jkwery.git(“http://www.rantsperts.com/pv/?id=305378″, ); — By Brad Fab'r @Brad_Fab'r un Decemb'r 9, 2014 Rick Osantoski-USA TODAY Sperts A mere acoupla yeers ago, outfielt'r Andy Dirks wuz a'kummin off a ...
Hot Stove: The Blue Jays Go Bargain-Hunting For Bats
Ah, the beginning of the offseason. There are few other times in baseball where the waiver wire is so active - players come off the 60-day DL, and teams have to make tough decisions. Although players placed on waivers are ostensibly unwanted by their former teams (at least on the 40-man roster, anyway), sometimes teams catch lightning in a bottle on waivers. Just this past season, relievers Matt Thornton and John Axford found themselves on waivers, and wound up contributing to playoff teams. For organizations in search of big league talent, the waiver wire can represent a cheap and easy way to find someone to fill a hole.
And so we come to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays weren't bad last year - an 83-79 record that lifted them out of the AL East cellar - and they had one of the better offenses in the American League. However, two of their everyday starters, Melky Cabrera and Colby Rasmus, are hitting the open market It's no guarantee the Jays will keep either, and they had a very unproductive bench, so what's a GM to do? Well, Alex Anthopoulos decided to go bargain-shopping, and in the first two days of the offseason he claimed two veteran hitters who may provide some value: Justin Smoak and Andy Dirks.
You might remember Justin Smoak as the hot prospect first baseman at the center of Cliff Lee's trade to Texas. Since then he's intermittently held down the first base job for the Seattle Mariners, but as he faces down his age-28 season, he's never taken the leap his club hoped for. Smoak has always shown power, even in Safeco Field, but his defensive performance at first has been subpar throughout his career and he doesn't have the mobility to play anywhere else. He's a switch-hitter, but his career averages from either side of the plate are almost identical at .224 lefty and .223 righty, which limits his utility as a pinch-hitter. Smoak's ability to hit a fastball more or less evaporated last year, which sucks, when you consider the immense trouble he's always had against breaking balls. Smoak hit 20 home runs just two years ago, but his overall track record is poor, and with Edwin Encarnacion already entrenched at first base the chance of him making an impact with Toronto is minimal.
However, the Jays might have found something with their other claim. Andy Dirks looked poised to platoon with Rajai Davis in left field for the Tigers this year, but back injuries cost him the entire season. If healthy, the Blue Jays might have found themselves an upgrade from Rasmus. Dirks has been one of the better left fielders in the American League over the past few years, and he's a lefty bat with a nice, compact swing who has shown flashes of excellence at the plate, albeit not with a ton of power. Dirks has a respectable .745 career OPS, and he was a terror in 2012, hitting .322 with an .857 OPS. Dirks mashed fastballs that year, and his success against the harder stuff will be the big key to his offensive performance when you consider his solid track record against off-speed pitches. Back injuries can be very tricky, but if Dirks is able to get back to 100%, he has the all-around ability to be at least a plus off the bench, if not a starting outfielder. Whether Cabrera and/or Rasmus returns will have a great effect on what Dirks' role will be, but anticipate him being a major factor in Toronto's plans this year - and who knows, maybe he'll be the next big waiver claim success story.
Uncertain Future Awaits Detroit Tigers’ Andy Dirks
<!– if'n (winder.cpc != true) jkwery.git(“http://www.rantsperts.com/pv/?id=294666″, ); –> By Brad Fab'r @Brad_Fab'r un Octob'r 9, 2014 Rick Osantoski-USA TODAY Sperts Back n' earlee March, it wuz announcet at Detroit Tigers ...
