Tracking the Tigersphere: Changes at BYB, Trade Reactions, and Remebering Tiger Stadium

This morning, I was greeted by a surprising post over at Bless You Boys.  Ian Casselberry is stepping down as the Grand Poo-bah and handing the reigns over to Kurt Menching of Mack Avenue Tigers.  Ian gave no deep insight as the why the decision was made, and I am not asking for it.  Frankly, if it was my business, I’m sure he would’ve told us all.

What I will say is that Ian’s was the first Tigers-centric blog I really read.  I had perused a few in the past, but when I found the community at BYB, I knew I had found something special.  BYB, along with Kurt’s now former site, are the models that Tigers Tracks was based upon.  Both of these writers are excellent at what they do, though their styles and opinions often differ.  What saddens me the most is the loss of one of the top voices in the Tigersphere.  Best wishes, Ian. And congratulations, Kurt.

Changes in the Tigers’ roster along with changes in the voices you will hear covering them.  That’s a lot to take in one week.  And they said not much would happen during the winter meetings.

Speaking of Kurt, he was (is) quite upset about the Granderson trade.  As I have stated, I like this deal, and I like it more as I think about it.  I know the bad offense just got worse, and I am hopeful that the roster shuffle is not yet complete.  If the Tigers head into the season with this roster, it could be a very long year, but the season is still four months away, rest assured, more changes are coming.  Regardless of what happens in 2010, the future looks bright in 2011 and beyond.

Lee Panas of Tiger Tales shares the emotional reaction that most fans have had with this trade and feels it was forced by bad contracts that painted the Tigers’ brass into a corner.  I do agree that the obvious financial relief was a huge factor in this deal, but we should also remember that all four players coming back are big league ready or damn close.  Dave Dombrowski wasn’t looking for High-A prospects, he intends to be competitive in 2010 as well.

J. Ellet Lambie agrees with just about everything that Lee wrote over at Eye of the Tigers.  Also, and I’m quite late with this, but I would like to extend a warm “welcome back” to J.  EotT has been a bit dormant for a couple of months as he took care of some personal matters, but I am thrilled to see he’s back at the keyboard and look forward to reading his always excellent work.

One more thing, upon reading the mini-review that Rogo penned at DesigNate Robertson, I finally got around to reading Tom Stanton‘s The Final Season.  The book had been collecting dust on my shelf for the past three years, given to me by an old friend from high school.  For whatever reason, life got in the way of reading it, and of keeping in touch with my friend.  So I finished the book last night and sent my buddy an email to thank him.  The book was a wonderful trip down memory lane.  If you haven’t read it, do so.  And thank me later.