By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
September 28, 2016

In August, 97.1 — The Ticket talk show host Terry Foster suffered from a stroke that the personality labeled in subsequent interviews as mild. Foster has been off his PM drive show since that unfortunate health episode while recuperating and going through various rehabilitation exercises.

When the news of Foster’s condition and leave of absence was made known to the public an announcement was also made that Foster would return to his broadcast chair to co-host with Mike Valenti on October 3rd.

Well, I was told yesterday by industry sources that it is unlikely that Foster will be able to make that planned return on Monday due to lingering issues from the stroke. Executives at CBS Radio are extremely concerned with Foster’s impaired speech and they do not believe Foster has recovered sufficiently to co-host a four-hour talk show.

Now, I am not sure if Foster is pressing to return on Monday or if he is in agreement with station executives that he is not yet ready to physically return to work full-time or not. All I have been told by sources is that Foster is still experiencing “major speech” issues.

The situation is extremely untimely for Foster who just last winter was forced out by the Detroit News when given an ultimatum by the paper to either quit his radio gig and accept the responsibility of covering the Detroit Pistons beat full time or retire. Foster made the no-brainer decision to stick with radio and he accepted a buyout from the News while Rod Beard eventually took over the Pistons gig.

Now, it would appear the stroke has damaged the one instrument Foster needs to perform his duties at 97.1 and the question remains when will he be fully recovered to return to the airwaves to shoulder the load of speaking to an audience for 20 hours a week.

While Foster has been on medical leave, Jeff Riger has been filling in for Foster. Will that continue on Monday when Foster was expected to return to work and if so, will we get more hot takes from Riger that Barry Sanders was overrated?

It would not shock me if Foster returns Monday for an abbreviated shift with Valenti and Riger while announcing he is still going through speech-language pathology with a specialist to get back to 100% and make a permanent return.

Will that ever become a reality? We will have to wait and see.

[Editor’s Note: While the DSR has had MANY issues with Terry Foster in the past, we all wish him a speedy recovery and a return to normalcy as soon as possible.]

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
September 29, 2016

There is a recurring pattern with regard to recent transactions and signings, roster construction and other assorted decisions made by Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland.

Here is the blueprint. The franchise makes some sort of decision. Then the intelligent portion of the fanbase that bases their appraisal of such moves on advanced metrics and basic logic bashes Detroit’s NHL franchise. This is followed by many in the Canadian and American hockey press commenting on Holland’s continued idiocy.

Finally, the local beat writers (Helene “The Scarf” St. James, Ansar “Hanzi” Khan, Ted “I Am So Nondescript Moss Won’t Give Me a Nickname” Kulfan and Bob “Grit” Duff) circle the wagons and defend Holland at every turn as if they were a Donald Trump surrogate on CNN.

And at this point, I am not sure who has the tougher gig, the sycophantic beat writers who fellate Holland for a living or Corey Lewandowski, Jeffrey Lord and Kayleigh McEnany.

(I know this isn’t the first time I have made this comparison, but I like it so shut up.)

We have seen this exact scenario play out over and over and over again. The entire bit is as tiresome as the Hockey Jockey’s Joe Louis Arena playlist. Hell, at some point there should be some sort of collaboration where St. James posts a video blog defending the Steve Ott signing with some garbage Third Eye Blind song blasting in the background.

I’d really like to see St. James whip her scarf around during a stirring rendition of “Semi-Charmed Life.”

And it doesn’t matter if the move is an exorbitant and indefensible contract, like the ones handed out to Justin Abdelkader and Danny DeKeyser, superfluous free-agent forward signings that leave Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha on the outside looking in, or Holland’s continued failure to improve this roster via trade. It’s the same pattern ….

1] Prashanth Iyer and Jiff Myst ridicule the move.

2] National writers like James Mirtle shake their heads at said transaction.

3] Khan goes to bat for the organization while Duff explains that everything will work out fine because ….. Belle River, Ontario ….. ????

4] Blogger George Malik posts a blog on Dan Milstein‘s website explaining how Thomas Vanek’s signing will be great for refinancing your mortgage.

Wash, rinse, repeat. This is currently our lot in life as Red Wings fans.

But yesterday provided a rare occasion where there was direct evidence that Ken Holland is currently one of the WORST GMs in the NHL. This was no subjective argument as to how Abdelkader’s style of play will impact the later years of his contract. It wasn’t a philosophical disagreement over letting the kids rot in Grand Rapids. Nor was it a debate on the pros and cons of Jimmy Howard‘s status as an expensive backup.

No, this was all factual and, of course, the Four Musketeers who make their bones writing about this team were nowhere to be found.

You see, defenseman Kyle Quincey signed a free-agent contract with the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday. Yep, on September 28th with training camps already in full swing and actual exhibition games already being played, the former Wings blueliner FINALLY found a gig.

Now, keep in mind that Quincey just turned 31 years old last month. He is not old by any stretch of the imagination. That age could still be considered the prime of his career.  Particularly for a defenseman.

Not only did Quincey get the last chair as the “Defenseman Musical Chairs” music ended, he signed a one-year contract for the paltry sum of $1,250,000.00. That’s not exactly the league minimum for veterans, but it’s in the same school district, that’s for sure.

One year.

$1.25 million.

And why am I bringing this up today? Because in the past, Holland had signed Quincey to two separate two-year deals (after giving up a FIRST ROUND PICK to re-acquire Quincey in the first place) totaling a little over $16 million.

This is how badly Holland has misjudged Quincey’s career. In October of 2008, Holland decided to place Quincey on waivers so he could keep a decrepit Chris Chelios (who at the time was closing in on 47 years of age) and perennial Norris Trophy candidate Derek Meech.

The Los Angeles Kings picked up Quincey for bupkis and he outplayed both Chelios and Meech that season. Significantly.  Quincey ended up in Colorado a year later and THEN was reacquired by Holland in what basically amounted to a three-way trade at the 2012 deadline.

In return, the Lightning received the Wings’ first round pick in that summer’s draft and turned that selection into goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. And,  playing in the same division as Tampa, I am sure that chain of events won’t end up haunting us for years to come.

Steve Yzerman is looking for a way to get rid of Ben Bishop so Vasilevskiy can take over between the pipes.

Anyway, Quincey averaged $4 million per year while carrying out his second tour of duty in Detroit while playing 19:46 minutes a game last season. There were times that Quincey was even getting run on the team’s FIRST defensive unit.

Quincey played in the first two games of the Wings/Lightning series while the organization’s best defenseman (Brendan Smith) enjoyed a box of popcorn in the press box.

Quincey was so indispensable to the 2015-16 Wings that he played nearly 20 minutes a night when healthy over the team auditioning Xavier Ouelett, Ryan Sproul or Nick Jensen to see what they had with those young defensemen. Meanwhile, ALL three will need to pass through waivers before being allowed to return to Grand Rapids this fall.

[Spoiler Alert: The Wings are almost positively going to lose at least one of those gentlemen without ever knowing if he is ready for the NHL. Maybe one day Holland will be able to bring them back at the low, low price of a first round pick.]

Yep. With preseason games already underway, Quincey finally received a contract offer from an NHL team. And at 31-years old he will be receiving a one-year audition for one-quarter the salary Holland has been paying him for years.

The same guy who played 20 minutes a night last year for Detroit. Picked up off the scrap heap in the shadow of October for peanuts.

Good luck spinning this reality, Bob, Ted, Helene and Ansar. You’d probably have more luck explaining why Trump called a Latina pageant winner, “Miss Housekeeper.”

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
September 30, 2016

As many of you know, I am a degenerate horse player. I have been this way — for better or usually for worse — since I was six years old and I first laid my eyes on my grandfather’s Daily Racing Form. I immediately started handicapping thoroughbred races.

My obsession with the Sport of Kings is well known to any longtime reader of this website as my life has been consumed with every aspect of horse racing, from attempting to pick winners to obsessively studying breeding patterns to spending almost every vacation I have ever had at a racetrack.

In fact, I am writing this article from a hotel room in New York City on my wife’s 40th birthday and part of the festivities include a trip to Belmont Park to watch Breeders’ Cup preview on Saturday. She’s a real lucky lady.

I mean, my horse racing bonafides really need zero solidifying, but let me put it this way. Do you know how my grandpa figured out I was nearsighted? I was squinting while trying to read the odds on the infield tote-board at Detroit Race Course when I was 13 years old. We went home that day and he told my mom to immediately take me to an optometrist. I have been wearing corrective lenses ever since.

And when I get back from New York next week, I am then heading to Lexington, Kentucky to spend next weekend at Keeneland Race Course. Horse racing is my first love and I’ll probably die in the middle of a Pick-6 sequence.

But it hasn’t always been fun and games. There have been times when I was so fed up with the sport/gamble that I could have literally thrown my remote control through a television. It’s one thing to gamble your hard-earned money when you believe the action is legit, it’s another when you feel you have been conned.

And in the 38 years I have been wagering on these beautiful equine animals, I have never been more aggravated, disillusioned and outright fucking pissed off than I was on May 3, 2014.

That date just happened to be the day of California Chrome’s Kentucky Derby and I was, of course, wagering on the incredible card at Churchill Downs. Starting with the second race of the day, there was a wager called the Pick-4.

Now, a Pick-4 is a bet where you have to select the winner of four races in a row. The catch is you have to lock in your wager before the first “leg” goes off. It’s basically a parlay and, depending on the prices of the four winners, the payoff can be monstrous.

I placed my wager for this particular Pick-4 and it was substantial. $450 worth. These were my tickets:

So, I win the first leg of the Pick-4 with the “1” horse meaning both of my tickets were still viable. I was feeling really good about my bet until I saw the opening odds for the third race. The “1” horse in that event was getting absolutely pounded at the windows. My recollection is that this horse opened at under even money.

And if I live to be 500 years old, I will never forget that four-year-old gelding’s name … Masochistic. The problem with the aptly named horse was there was absolutely ZERO reason for him to be favored.

In his career debut in March of 2014 at Santa Anita Park in California, Masochistic barely did any running at all. In a race restricted to horses bred in California, Masochistic finished fifth, beaten by 4 1/4 lengths.

Now the horse was being shipped to Kentucky to run against FAR SUPERIOR competition with absolutely no state-bred restriction whatsoever. There was zero reason the public would be supporting the horse at the windows like this. I knew immediately after a lifetime of gambling that the horse’s connections knew something that WE didn’t.

Even before that race went off, I knew I was fucked. My $450 was as good as gone. Furthermore, the early money was no anomaly. Masochistic went off as the favorite at 2-to-1 when the gates sprung open and the gelding then delivered an absolutely jaw-dropping performance.

He won by 14 lengths without being aggressively ridden by his jockey.

14 lengths.

Gate to wire.

“Hand ride.”

To put this sequence of events in proper contest, just imagine that in his next UFC bout, CM Punk gets in the octagon with Conor McGregor and Punk forces McGregor to tap-out within 30 seconds.

With the added bonus that, for some remarkable reason, the former WWE champion is inexplicably the gambling favorite in Las Vegas for his second career “real” fight.

That’s basically what occurred on the first Saturday of May back in 2014 and I was irate. Hell, I am still furious as I type this over two years later. But it actually gets worse.

Because of the obviousness of what went down while the entire horse racing world was watching on the sport’s biggest day, several people immediately called for an investigation into Masochistic’s dubious victory.

The state of California investigated the circumstances of Masochistic’s career debut at Santa Anita. Particularly the behavior of the horse’s trainer A.C. Avila and jockey Omar Berrio.

The following is what the California Horse Racing Board discovered according to the industry’s bible … the Daily Racing Form:

Look, even before Masochistic came back two months later to destroy that field on Derby Day, the stewards ALREADY had an inkling that Avila and Berrio were up to some funny business.

It’s very rare that the governing body would notice a jockey not trying to win with his mount, but it’s pretty obvious what occurred with the horse’s trainer and jockey.

Masochistic was given an excessive dosage of a TRANQUILIZER and his jockey was most likely ordered not to give his mount the best opportunity to win, setting up a potential score when bettors would have no reason to think Masochistic would greatly improve at Churchill Downs in his next race.

I still am not sure why the horse went off at 2 to 1 on May 3rd. Either the connections just absolutely slammed the worse with both fists or they had big mouths and the word got out that this gelding was a monster.

Whatever occurred, this was a sham on the gambling public and a disgrace to horse racing. Avila had to know from day one that Masochistic was a great horse. He eventually became one of the best sprinters in the country as you can see by his past performances above.

After Avila was served with his $10,000 fine and 60-day suspension, did he show any remorse or contrition? Not at all.

What a piece of shit.

So after 1,000 words you are probably asking yourself what the hell Masochistic or an Avila not named Alex or Al have to do with Detroit sports. Well, I am glad you asked.

You see, 97.1 — The Ticket host Mike Valenti is also a fan of horse racing. He grew up in upstate New York going to Saratoga Race Course and he caught the bug just like me.

Recently, Valenti went into a partnership with his cousin and, I believe, some other folks and they purchased a horse. The name of the partnership?

Loudmouth Racing, LLC.

And I don’t think I have to explain to you why the group is called “Loudmouth” …. do I?

(Well, if you are dubious, another relative of Mike’s, Roddy Valente — a major horse racing owner from New York — confirmed in an interview with Steve Byk on SiriusXM recently that they are called “Loudmouth” because of Valenti’s reputation as a talk show host.)

Loudmouth Racing, LLC, owns a four-year-old filly they claimed for $40,000 back in July named Aussie Prayer. By this point I am sure you can guess who Valenti’s trainer of record is ….

Yep, a crook who it would seem purposely gave a thoroughbred an excessive tranquilizer dose in an effort to dupe the people who fund this sport out of their gambling dollars.

You are better than that, Mike. I can only imagine the rant emanating from your mouth about a baseball, football, hockey or baseball scandal like this on the airwaves of 97.1.

Look, Valenti is a casual horse racing fan. I am guessing he had no idea about Avila’s past. This is probably the first he is reading about it.

But, now you know, Mike, and ya gotta take Aussie Prayer away from this scumbag.

Which takes me back to where this story began — May 3, 2014.

After that dominating 14-length win, I decided to check out who the owner of Masochistic was and I discovered this ….

Los Pollos Hermanos Racing.

Yep, the name of drug overlord Gus Fring’s chicken joints on “Breaking Bad.”

It’s was like they were rubbing our noses in it.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 3, 2016

Earlier in the year, this website reported that a sickly Mike Ilitch had contacted Jim Leyland to gauge the former Detroit manager’s interest in replacing Brad Ausmus. This was in the midst one of the team’s extended losing streaks and the Tiger’s owner was becoming desperate to replace his third-year manager.

Leyland made it perfectly clear to the Ilitch family patriarch that he had no interest in returning to the dugout, especially in a situation where he’d be replacing his successor.

Naturally, the question arose of who you’d rather see manage the Tigers, Leyland or Ausmus. I was steadfast in my belief that Ausmus was a much better option going forward. And nothing during the 2016 season swayed my opinion that Ausmus is the superior in-game manager.

Unlike many people who read this website, I do not think that Brad Ausmus is the worst manager in baseball. That’s probably going to piss off some of my readers, but I have always been honest in this space and I never write anything I don’t believe.

In fact, after watching an ungodly number of baseball games this past month involving the Tigers playoff competition (Indians, Astros, Blue Jays, Mariners, Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles, etc.) I am more convinced than ever that Ausmus is superior to many of his brethren.

Does this mean I am going to write an article suggesting that Ausmus should return in 2017 like reprobate Anthony Fenech or senile Lynn Henning? No. Of course not. I think Ausmus should be fired for reasons I will get to momentarily. But before I dig into that, I think we should recognize some areas where Ausmus DID improve in his third season.

One is sacrifice bunting. If there is one issue that pisses me off more than any other it is giving the other team free outs They are a precious commodity in the American League. Ausmus pretty much eliminated early-game small ball in 2016.

And while he did call for more sac bunts late in games than I would prefer, he was better than almost every other manager in the game. In fact, only three teams in MLB sacrifice bunted less than the Tigers.

My appreciation for Ausmus’ reluctance to bunt was only amplified further while watching Joe Maddon and Terry Francona order their #3 HITTERS (!!!!!) to bunt during the second inning of games in September.

So let’s give Ausmus credit for that at least.

It also seemed like Ausmus improved in year three when it came to utilizing high-leverage relievers in appropriate situations, especially in the second half of the season. Now, the sarcastic Ivy Leaguer wasn’t perfect when it came to bullpen usage in 2016, but there was SOME improvement.

Keep in mind that after the 2015 season, the more sabermetrically inclined front office, led by Al Avila, handed Ausmus notes regarding areas he needed to improve upon. It is my belief that these were two areas of concern and Ausmus did seem to improve SOMEWHAT.

So why do I believe that it should be three-and-out for Ausmus? Well, there are five reasons:

1] He is still terrible at lineup construction.

2] He displays an appalling lack of urgency from Game 1 to Game 162.

3] The team makes the same stupid mistakes over and over which leads me to believe they aren’t scared of repercussions and don’t respect the guy.

4] He is incredibly stubborn and continues to make incomprehensible in-game decisions.

5] There are BETTER options.

The issue with lineup construction might the most maddening since Ausmus has 24 hours to contemplate his best batting order for each game during the SIX-MONTH season and still has no fucking clue how to best utilize the offensive talent at his disposal.

While there is a movement among many organizations to abandon the traditional and counterproductive lineup construction, Ausmus continually went down with that ship in 2016.

Now, when the Tigers were 100% healthy, Ausmus’ decisions weren’t atrocious. Unfortunately for us and a dying Mike Ilitch, they were rarely healthy. And when Ausmus had to improvise it led to disastrous decisions.

Ausmus’ archaic notion that the number two hitter has to be a player with speed no matter the circumstances led to decisions like placing Mike Avlies, Andrew Romine, Tyler Collins and Jose Iglesias in that spot during the season.

I am not sure if Ausmus had an opportunity to notice during the constant shellacking his team received at the hands of the Indians this season, but there were many times that speed-impaired catcher/first baseman Carlos Santana actually batted leadoff for the Tribe.

And why did Francona do that?

Imagine that. It’s important to get Miguel Cabrera and J.D. Martinez a greater number of ABs than MIKE AVILES OR TYLER FUCKING COLLINS!!!! What a radical thought.

When Cameron Maybin was injured and the team had limited options for the #2 slot, it was a fucking no-brainer to just move everyone up a spot in the order. This is something Ausmus simply could not comprehend.

While it wasn’t the only reason the Tigers struggled this season (OBVIOUSLY), it doesn’t take a Dartmouth graduate to understand that placing losers with career on-base percentages under .300 in front of Miggy and Victor Martinez isn’t optimal.

But these boneheaded decisions were only the tip of the iceberg regarding Ausmus’ main issue… an utter lack of urgency from April through September. This has been a constant feature since he took the helm in 2014 and, if anything, it actually got WORSE in ’16.

As evidenced by the backlog of teams still in playoff contention up until the final few days of the season, it is extremely apparent that the addition of the second wild card makes it a priority to accrue as many “W’s” as possible. Whether the game occurs in the first week of May or in the last week of September.

Incredibly, Ausmus hasn’t only failed to grasp the reality that games early in the season matter as much as the ones in the fall, he doesn’t even seem to understand in his own mind that games at the END of the schedule are crucial.

Like, you can’t even rip Ausmus for highlighting September games more than early season ones because he actually treats EVERY SINGLE CONTEST with minimal regard.

I am not sure if it’s his surfer boy mentality, but can SOMEONE, ANYONE explain his asinine decisions over the last few weeks of the season, which included, but wasn’t limited to, his repeated delusion that Jordan Zimmermann was a credible option to start meaningful games?

Or his apparent schizophrenia during the Royals game the Sunday before last where he vacillated between using a high-leverage reliever in the fourth inning (Shane Greene) and a pitcher who should have been shelved for the year (Mike Pelfrey) in the fifth?

In a crucial game that the Tigers offense kept creeping back into, Ausmus actually utilized Zimmermann. It might have been the first time in MLB history that a pitcher had to miss a SIMULATED GAME START because he was thrown into a playoff chase the day before.

Or how about his learning curve on determining when Anibal Sanchez was going to lose it or how long it took the dope to realize Mark Lowe was no longer a high-leverage bullpen option?

Fuck, Ausmus’ abominable performance in Toronto the weekend before the All-Star break should have cost him his job. I don’t know about you, but those games against the BLUE JAYS sure seem pretty important in retrospect. But who could have guessed that then? Oh right, everybody but Ausmus.

I could go on and on about situations where Ausmus couldn’t adapt to situations in real-time, or break down his lack of knowledge about the opponent’s exploitable issues but if you can’t comprehend that Ausmus’ laid-back, almost comatose demeanor doesn’t seep into his team’s psyche, I guess you’ve never watched them run the bases.

Which leads me to the sycophantic, cuckolded apologists for Brad Ausmus who have gone on a public relations tour over the last few days regarding the manager’s continued employment.

I am specifically talking about Henning, Fenech and Debbie Downer himself, Chris McCosky. All three of these cunts have written glowing articles in the last few days about Ausmus’ job status and championed his return for a fourth season.

Their behavior is actually even more disgusting than the Tigers’ failure to reach the postseason with a $200 million payroll while a flawed team like the Orioles (check out their starting rotation and then try not to vomit) accomplished the feat in a much tougher division.

We will go in order of publication date, starting with the drunk-driving, sexual-harassing, stalker Fenech. Check out this utter nonsense out from “The Beast’s” drivel ….

What the fuck does that even mean? Ausmus is 2-for-3 in putting the Tigers in position to win a World Series? Ummm, they MISSED the postseason in two of those three years. And in the ONE season they did make the playoffs, he somehow couldn’t win a game against a Baltimore Orioles team missing Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Matt Wieters. When HIS starting pitchers were David Price, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

In three seasons and with over $500 million in team salary, Brad Ausmus hasn’t won ONE playoff contest. And this walking, talking, breathing zit has the audacity to tell us that Ausmus has put the franchise in position to twice win the World Series?

Like, how does this human pimple still have a job? Is the paper worried he will sue them for sexual harassment because he used to fuck one of his superiors (Stefanie Murray) in the newspaper’s parking lot?

Fenech then attempted to use Ian Kinsler as a character witness for Ausmus by using some quotes in his article from the team’s second baseman. The comments were a tepid endorsement AT BEST.

And it appears that Fenech cherry-picked Kinsler’s thoughts because this is what Kinsler was quoted as saying on Sunday:

If he’s our manager, he our manager? Seriously, one of Fenech’s main points in his article was the support from a guy whose testimonial for Ausmus included the line “the grass isn’t always greener.”

Ted Cruz‘s eventual endorsement of Donald Trump was more compelling. I’ve never read a more lukewarm supporting statement in my life. Hostage videos appear more sincere than Kinsler’s remarks.

And then Henning jumped into the fray yesterday with his own defense of Ausmus that included a bonus admonishment of the fanbase for having expectations that were too high.

Right, because enjoying a minimum $70 million payroll advantage over the rest of the teams in your division shouldn’t come with an added level of anticipation.

This was Henning’s second such Ausmus defense in the last couple of weeks with the first one appearing as a blatant public relations release from the Tigers organization with Henning’s byline attached.

It is quite evident the front office was attempting to grease the skids in the event that they decided to bring Ausmus back and they used Henning as their vehicle to float this trial balloon.

Seriously, if Henning would have displayed love for his first wife in the same manner he has been showing it for Ausmus lately, maybe she wouldn’t have divorced him without giving him any prior notice. Maybe she just wasn’t satisfied sexually. Can anyone imagine Henning being good at cunnilingus?

I wonder when wife #2 will wise up, pull a similar Gloria Unger move and dump this loon.

Who in the world believes that Ausmus is one of the game’s better-regarded skippers? ANYONE?

And if those two articles weren’t enough, McCosky came over the top of both of these imbeciles with one of the most offensive articles I have ever read. This piece-of-shit hype man for every manager or coach he has ever covered is an absolute disgrace to journalism. But his column Monday took the cake.

Seriously, someone actually wrote that Ausmus was “brilliant” in all aspects of managing. And “Officer Barbrady” penned this piece AFTER getting called out NUMEROUS times this year for being an apologist for Ausmus ….

…. by George Hunter. The well-respected crime reporter who works for the same newspaper as McCosky.

Yep. McCosky BLOCKED his own co-worker on Twitter because he labeled him an Ausmus apologist. And what was McCosky’s retort? He wrote a 2,200-word puff piece today blowing Ausmus.

I mean, McCosky somehow even twisted Ausmus’ decision to let Mike Pelfrey pitch to Brian Dozier a few weeks ago (Dozier hit a home run) as a positive even though Dan Dickerson, Jim Price, Mario Imbemba, Rod Allen and Kirk Gibson ALL ripped the move.

Think about it. People ostensibly being PAID by the Tigers are more critical of Ausmus than the Detroit News‘ beat writer. I don’t think Ausmus’ wife or mom could have provided a more full-throated defense of Brad if they tried.

I am going to take a break from shredding McCosky for a second and let Fangraphs’ contributor Neil Weinberg take a swing at this piñata ….

Neil is a gentleman and would never say anything like what I am about to say so let me finish this off. A couple of years ago, McCosky wrote an article in the News where he claimed he once considered driving his car into oncoming traffic so he could end his life.

I stated that I thought that was very selfish. What did the other unsuspecting driver do to deserve such a fate? My suggestion was McCosky should have picked a lake, any lake, in that area to drive into, thus sparing an innocent bystander.

At this point, I will volunteer to be that other motorist. I will take one for the team so you good people won’t have to read this SHIT any longer. This is our “Baby Hitler” moment and I am ready to go back in time and sacrifice myself.

Seriously, though … WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? I have seen more dignity watching “The Bachelor.” It’s like these three bootlickers are vying to get in the fantasy suite with Ausmus.

And the one universal defense of Ausmus from this triumvirate of trash is this constant lament that the Tigers suffered an inordinate number of injuries compared to other teams in baseball and Ausmus was a miracle worker for keeping the team in contention.

This totally ignores the fact that teams like the Indians, Mets and Rangers all made the playoffs while experiencing similar or WORSE issues …

@JordanStrack @JeffMossDSR. Injuries? Not hardly compared to other teams. pic.twitter.com/TWG7L8ewMJ

— Mark Conant (@MarkConant) October 4, 2016

Yep. Keep banging that bullshit drum even though SOME of the team’s injuries were beneficial in that they allowed Michael Fulmer, Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd to get some run.

Brad Ausmus shouldn’t be the only one filing for unemployment this week. These three piles of human debris should be in line right behind him. And man, what a traffic jam there would be up Brad’s sphincter if that occurred.

“Triple nasal” penetration.

Almost as impressive as spinning that Ausmus is some brilliant tactician.

To be continued on Tuesday’s DSR Podcast ….

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 4, 2016

This week’s episode of the DSR Podcast featured a rehash of my trip to New York which included a visit to the Howard Stern compound at SiriusXM, a trip to the Comedy Cellar where Chris Rock, Dave Chapelle and Aziz all performed together and all of the horrific news regarding the Tigers, Lions and Wings.

Plus, Spiro called in again.

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 5, 2016

Let’s be clear about one thing. The Tigers and Red Wings are no longer under the control of Mike Ilitch. Due to a grave illness, Mike’s role with Olympia Entertainment is now basically non-existent.

After winning a power struggle with his sister (current University of Michigan regent Denise Ilitch) a few years back and being anointed the heir apparent to the family’s Pizza Empire by Mike and Marian, Chris Ilitch is clearly pulling the strings at Little Caesars HQ.

And Chris’ fingerprints are all over the news that Brad Ausmus is returning for a fourth season to manage the Tigers. Especially the decision to merely pick up Ausmus’ team option for year four instead of giving Ausmus a contract extension which would remove his lame duck status.

It’s incomprehensible that after three seasons of watching Ausmus manage the Tigers, ownership and the front office couldn’t make a definitive decision on surfer boy’s future.

I am not looking to relitigate the decision to bring Ausmus back, but only two options made sense:

1. Firing him and starting fresh.
2. Providing Ausmus with an extension of at least an additional year over and above the club option.

Instead, the team basically punted while insuring that the franchise would have to deal with ANOTHER season of uncertainty. I mean, you are basically telling your fanbase you don’t have enough faith in the manager to extend him. But hey, enjoy 2017, folks!!!!

So why did Al Avila only do the bare minimum when bringing back Ausmus? Well, based on what former DSR managing editor Justin Spiro told me on this week’s DSR Podcast, it’s because of Chris Ilitch’s edict that he doesn’t want to ever pay two managers at the same time.

That’s probably why Ausmus returned for a third season last year — when there were rampant INTERNAL rumors that Ausmus was gone — and it’s likely the reason Avila didn’t want to extend the former catcher, knowing that he would literally be stuck with him until that contract came off the books.

In fact, if Ausmus is the supposed hot commodity that Lynn Henning and Chris McCosky are trying to sell you on, he should have told Chris and Al to fuck off with their lukewarm one-year offer and tested the free-agent market.

But he is not. Because he isn’t.

And while I’d obviously much rather have Manny Acta, Gabe Kapler or Alex Cora at the helm of the Tigers, I honestly don’t think this decision is completely disastrous. The front office did give Ausmus notes on areas where he needed to improve last offseason and I believe he did — slightly.

If Jay Sartori and Sam Menzin could work with Ausmus on proper lineup construction over this offseason and the front office brass could somehow infuse a sense of urgency into the laid-back skipper, I would be somewhat content with the guy. Those are big “ifs” but I am not going to fret any longer over a decision that is out of my control.

(Maybe I am in denial, but giving myself an ulcer over Ausmus’ return isn’t exactly appetizing.)

What worries me A LOT more than the decision to give Ausmus a tad more rope with which to hang himself is an offseason without any input from Mike Ilitch. The thought of Chris calling the shots on the team’s budget is terrifying as we know what occurred the last time “Mr. I” was incapacitated.

Back in the fall of 2013, Mike was going through a health crisis (from which he eventually recovered) so it was Chris Ilitch who was making major executive decisions back then. Former GM Dave Dombrowski wanted to add free-agent closer Joe Nathan in an attempt to fix the team’s weak bullpen.

Dombrowski was given an edict from Chris Ilitch that if he wanted to add Nathan and his $9 million salary, DD would have to cut payroll elsewhere. That led to the disastrous trade sending Doug Fister to the Washington Nationals in exchange for a poor man’s Mike Aviles and two pitching prospects who weren’t ready to contribute to a contending team in 2014.

While I gave Dombrowski a lot of shit for the deal in which he acquired Robbie Ray, Ian Krol and Steve Lombardozzi, the current Red Sox GM would never have been in that position in the first place unless Chris Ilitch had put a gun to his head.

It was no coincidence that the day after the Fister deal, the team announced the signing of Nathan to that two-year contract.

Anyway, the thought of that ill-advised Fister deal still terrifies me to this day. You have to wonder if Avila is going to get a similar directive to slash payroll now that Mike Ilitch is no longer setting the budget.

Look, once Mike Ilitch dies, this team is not going to stay in that family for long. Hell, it would not shock me if, during the negotiations between Olympia and Tom Gores and Arn Tellem to bring the Pistons down to Little Caesars Arena, a discussion hasn’t commenced regarding the Pistons’ owner’s interest in adding the city’s baseball team to his portfolio.

The Tigers have always been Mike’s baby and Chris Ilitch isn’t going to keep this franchise one second longer than he has to. The only question is how much damage will he do while helming the ship. Could the Fister trade be a harbinger of things to come this winter?

Here is the deal. The Tigers have an excellent chance at contending in 2017 with the status quo. They don’t have to make any huge free-agent splash at all. The roster is pretty much set barring a drastic austerity program.

You could do a lot worse than a starting rotation of Justin Verlander, Michael Fulmer, Daniel Norris, Jordan Zimmermann and Matt Boyd.

That’s two Cy Young candidates from 2016, a rookie who showed during the second half of the season why he was once a top fifteen prospect in all of baseball, and a pretty decent fifth starter option in Boyd.

The big question mark is obviously Zimmermann but he is going to make $92 million over the next four seasons and one would have to hope that he will rebound from his injury-plagued debut season in Detroit. Nobody is expecting dominance from Zimmermann, but competence would be nice.

Give me a guarantee of a Zimmermann 2.5 WAR next season and I am all in.

If the team picks up their option on Cameron Maybin, the lineup is pretty much set as well. The addition of a capable backup catcher who can hit from the left side of the plate (a reunion with the son of the team’s GM would do) and a righty bat that can platoon with Steven Moya at the DH position when Victor Martinez inevitably loses all knee cartilage would suffice.

Even the bullpen MIGHT be adequate with Bruce Rondon looking like he FINALLY turned a physical and mental corner along with the likes of Justin Wilson, Alex Wilson, Shane Greene and, eventually, Joe Jiminez.

If Mike Ilitch weren’t at death’s door, you’d like to dream about a monstrous offer to someone like Aroldis Chapman. But since that’s not happening, the team might as well bring Francisco Rodriguez back for a $6 million team option since his buyout is $2 million anyway. K-Rod has his issues, but he is definitely worth $4 million.

The Tigers won 86 games in 2016 with very little injury luck and a full year of Fulmer and Norris in the rotation next season SHOULD help. There is no reason why a somewhat healthy 2017 version of this team couldn’t contend for the AL Central again.

Which is why a significant decrease in payroll would be an absolute tragedy. Between the promising young staff and Nick Castellanos’ development, and Verlander and Miguel Cabrera demonstrating that they aren’t going down the tubes anytime soon, 2016 was evidence that the window for this team is NOT CLOSED.

Chris Ilitch slamming the door shut on this era just to save a few million dollars for a family worth almost SIX BILLION dollars — in the midst of getting public funds for their new hockey arena — isn’t going to be a good look and he will rightfully be vilified by Detroit’s baseball fans.

And it’s not like any salary reduction is going to come through popular moves like getting rid of Anibal Sanchez, Mark Lowe or Mike Pelfrey. Those contracts are all unmovable so the bloodletting would have to come at the expense of Verlander, Ian Kinsler or J.D. Martinez. 

And here is the thing. Dombrowski bit the bullet on the Fister fiasco and folks who are not familiar with this website or with Tony Paul’s Twitter account probably have zero clue that it was Chris’ fault for dealing away Fister for zero immediate assistance for a team that was a legit World Series contender.

If an order is made NOW and Kinsler or J.D. are dealt, EVERYONE is going to know the culprit. If Chris wants to play the role of heel over what amounts to a cup of coffee for you and me, he will be treated accordingly in this city.

The best way for Chris Ilitch to save face and not become a pariah is to keep the payroll where it’s at for the 2017 season and then put the franchise on the market the second his dad passes. There is no shortage of billionaires with Detroit ties (Gores, Dan Gilbert, Crazy Steve Ballmer) and maybe we’d hit the lottery and Mark Cuban would enter the bidding. Without Bud Selig around to cockblock him like he did a few years ago with Cuban’s Cubs interest, maybe that’s not a pie-in-the-sky dream.

But Chris is already going to have to endure the comparisons to his dad running the family business and if he decides to slash the payroll of the Tigers, his initial foray into the REAL public eye is going to be a black one.

Sit tight. Take the loss. And then sell the team, Chris.

Of course, the irony in all of this is Chris has been running the Wings for years now with little assistance from the old man. And while MANY fans of that organization — myself included — have been begging for a youth movement and budget-cutting with the city’s hockey team, Chris has refused to sign off and instead continues to desperately hold on to that pathetic playoff streak.

Chris Ilitch has given orders to Ken Holland to extend that meaningless streak for as long as possible even if it’s a detriment to the franchise’s future, which means Holland has been given orders to spend right up to the salary cap ceiling.

It would be our luck if Chris fucked up BOTH of his father’s teams for totally divergent reasons.

Ending any hope of the Tigers winning a World Series during the Verlander/Miggy era would be Chris Ilitch’s legacy if he orders a needless budgetary cut to further line his family’s coffers.

He’ll be Public Enemy #1.

I hope he is well aware of this.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 6, 2016

For the first time, a Detroit Pistons executive has stated in public that the organization desires that center Andre Drummond attempt to shoot free-throws underhanded.

Former super-agent and current vice chairman of Palace Sports and Entertainment Arn Tellem told a gathering at Franklin Hills Country Club in Franklin, MI Thursday evening that the team has requested that Drummond shoot underhanded free-throws in an effort to improve on his woeful career percentage from the charity stripe.

Tellem was speaking in front of a crowd with Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert when Tellem began discussing the franchise’s issue with Drummond. The career 38% free-throw shooter had his worst season ever from the line in 2015-16. There were internal discussions as to how to improve this horrific situation which led to the team’s superstar being benched late in games last season.

It was announced last week that Drummond had settled on positive reinforcement through the process of watching his made FTs utilizing virtual reality. This revelation was mostly met with ridicule from the team’s fanbase.

It is now abundantly clear that the Pistons organization desired that Drummond switch to the underhanded technique as evidenced by Tellem’s comments tonight.

Tellem even went as far as to state that he wanted Drummond to work with NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry to perfect the art of the underhanded shot. Barry was on a DSR Podcast earlier this year and volunteered his services.

Furthermore, Tellem stated that the reason Drummond continues to refuse to engage Barry and switch to the underhanded technique is due to “manliness” issues and “ego.”

Tellem stated that if the underhanded style improved Drummond’s accuracy from the line by ten percent it would be worth it, but Drummond is basically too proud to make the switch. Strangely, Drummond’s ego and pride hasn’t been bruised by shooting 35% from the line last season and getting yanked from tight games because of his inability to make free-throws.

Now that one of the highest ranking officials associated with the Pistons has stated to a public gathering that the team wants Drummond to make this switch, it will be interesting to see how the thin-skinned center reacts.

One has to wonder why the franchise didn’t insist on this change when they made him the highest paid player in team history this summer.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 10, 2016

Right before my weekly appearance on Ryan Schuiling’s program on 92.1FM in Lansing, news broke that the Red Wings and their ignoramus General Manager Ken Holland exposed Teemu Pulkkinen to the waiver process guaranteeing the heavy shot winger’s career in Detroit is over.

Here is my bombastic response …..

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 11, 2016

On tonight’s DSR Podcast, I spoke with WingingItInMotown.com contributor Prashanth Iyer about the Red Wings opening night roster, the asinine decisions that led to the loss of Martin Frk and Teemu Pulkkinen and the continued awfulness of Ken Holland.

Also, I ripped the Detroit sports media for ignoring our Arn Tellem story and Justin Spiro called in to discuss the debate.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 13, 2016

Over the last few years we have lost a disturbing number of outstanding entertainers to premature death, but none impacted me more than the drug overdose of Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

The Academy Award winner was my favorite actor (the thespian equivalent of Mike Trout or Barry Sanders) and I mourn the incredible appearances we missed out on due to his needle and the damage done.

One of Hoffman’s most underrated roles came in the overlooked Tom Hanks movie, “Charlie Wilson’s War.” In that film, PSH played a CIA agent named Gust Avrakotos who was instrumental in assisting the Afghan rebels in ridding their country of the U.S.S.R. during the eighties.

At the end of the movie, after Congressman Charlie Wilson’s secretive assistance from Capitol Hill helped Avrakotos’ operatives turn back the Soviets, Avrakotos warned Wilson that this was just the beginning of the aid Afghanistan needed. This was that discussion:

The reason for that parable? Because Avrakotos knew if the U.S. refused to help fund the Afghanistan rebuild, some serious shit would boomerang on us. So Wilson went back to Congress and attempted to get money to rebuild Afghani schools and to purchase food for our Cold War heroes and he was summarily refused.

Surface to air missile launchers, yes. Money to educate youth? Nope.

Of course, we all know what occurred in Afghanistan in the subsequent years. The Taliban took over the country and gave Osama Bin Laden a safe haven to plan 9/11 and that was our own “We’ll See” reminder.

That Zen Master story reminds me of the situation we are currently stuck with regarding Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland.

Because while it’s OBVIOUS that no one would regret the windfall the franchise received from the 1989 draft (Sergei Fedorov, Nicklas Lidstrom, Dallas Drake, Vladimir Konstantinov) or Håkan Andersson’s draft day steals (Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk) leading to FOUR Stanley Cup banners, we are definitely getting our “We’ll See” moment right now.

Because without Mike Ilitch’s blank-check approach to free-agency —  evaporated due to the salary cap era —  along with Andersson’s return to mere mortal status and the loss of assistant GM Jim Nill to the Dallas Stars a few years back, the Detroit Red Wings are currently stuck with the worst General Manager in the National Hockey League.

Yes, I said worst. And that’s not hyperbole. Because of the team’s past success — over which Holland’s influence can be debated — the organization is now tethered to this man who has been leading us into an abyss for years.

With the year 2017 just around the corner as the puck drops tonight on the season, this franchise STILL doesn’t have an analytics department to assist Holland with the changing dynamics of roster construction and the doling out of ice time.

While Stan Van Gundy has built one of the largest advanced metrics departments in the entire NBA — if not the biggest — and the Tigers have added Apple’s Jay Sartori and promoted Sam Menzin, the Wings’ mathematical department is as antiquated as their current building — which they are about to blow up.

Look, if you want to know why almost every forward in the regular lineup played more minutes last season than Tomas Tatar it’s because of the team’s total aversion to sabermetrics.

If you wonder why the Red Wings’ best defenseman in 2015-16 (Brendan Smith) was a HEALTHY SCRATCH for the first two playoff games while Jonathan Ericsson and Kyle Quincey played critical minutes in Tampa, it’s due to Holland’s flat-earth beliefs.

And if you think the Red Wings have hit rock bottom…all I can tell you is, “We’ll see.”

Because the past few months have been Holland’s masterpiece and I warned all of you folks that this was going to occur before the summer transactions even happened.

It was my belief that the WORST thing that could have happened this offseason was Holland dealing Pavel Datsyuk’s dead cap contract away in exchange for the ability to add free-agents, but not even I could have imagined how disastrously that plan would work.

I figured some organization that needed to get to the cap floor would end up taking Datsyuk’s final year off our hands and that might cost Holland a couple of prospects like Teemu Pulkkinen and Martin Frk.

What I could not have POSSIBLY seen coming is not only would he lose those commodities for absolutely NOTHING in return, but Holland would further damage the Wings future when making the Pavel trade.

But that is exactly what he did when he sent the albatross contract (brought to you by Dan Milstein) to Arizona instead of drafting the Sarnia Sting’s Jakob Chychrun. 

Chychrun was the no-brainer selection at that point in the draft.  During his draft season, Chychrun was considered the second best prospect available behind only Auston Matthews. Ever hear of him?

For whatever reason, a kid who was considered the best defenseman in the 2016 Entry Draft fell into the Wings’ lap at #16. Instead of running up to the podium to grab a left-handed, puck-moving defenseman, Holland decided to dump Datsyuk’s salary cap hit in exchange for the 20th pick and a second round selection.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Holland used the first round pick on defenseman Dennis Cholowski. A kid who is a project, was considered a second- or third round pick at best and about whom Holland HIMSELF said on draft night that he was AT LEAST four years away from making the NHL.

Chychrun? Well, he had one of the best training camps of anyone in the 2016 draft and MADE the Arizona Coyotes opening night roster. At the age of 18. Here were some comments from an article Bob McKenzie posted about Chychrun on TSN.ca.

So while the Red Wings’ 23-year-old defensemen (Ryan Sproul and Xavier Ouelett) can’t crack a top six that includes Ericsson and the perennially banged-up Niklas Kronwall, Chychrun at five years their junior is wowing the NHL.

And let’s talk about Sproul for a moment. In March of 2015 the promising defenseman — who once won the equivalent of the Norris Trophy for the Ontario Hockey League — skyrocketed up the Hockey News’ list of top prospects.

Yep, Sproul was rated the 49th best prospect in the world 19 months ago. And yet, we could be a week or so away from Sproul suffering the same fate as Pulkkinen and Frk as he will most likely be the odd man out when Kronwall returns.

So, either the Wings are AWFUL at developing their promising young talent or they are constantly misevaluating their own prospects. Pick your poison.

Because on that Hockey News list of Top 50 prospects, the Red Wings had FIVE players listed. And only one of them (Dylan Larkin) is starting this season with an important role on the team.

Anthony Mantha is in Grand Rapids.

Pulkkinen is in Minnesota.

Ouelett is a spare part defenseman who will most likely be in the press box once Kronwall returns.

And Sproul will probably be exposed to the waiver process — and lost — once Nik is ready to come off short-term IR.

And yet what might be the most depressing part of this past offseason was the juxtaposition of the man who IS our GM and the person who SHOULD be the franchise’s GM.

Because while Holland did nothing to improve the Wings’ defense, added a scumbag like Steve Ott to the roster — which further buried Andreas Athanasiou, Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi on the depth chart — (not to mention helped cost us Pulkkinen and Frk),  re-upped with Darren Helm, handed Luke Glendening a new deal and gave a soon-t0-be 33-year-old forward (Frans Nielsen) a SIX-YEAR contract, Steve Yzerman was in the middle of having one of the best summers a General Manager has ever had in the NHL.

Before I go on, just remember that Mike Ilitch wanted to keep Yzerman when the Hall of Famer left Detroit to run the Lightning back in 2010. Mr. I asked Holland to take a promotion upstairs and let Stevie Y. run the show. Holland refused his owner’s request so Yzerman exited town.

And while Holland was busy trying to salvage Thomas Vanek from the scrapheap of hockey and unwisely spent every dollar allotted him due to the foolish Datsyuk/Chychrun deal,  #19 was busy bringing back Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov for HOMETOWN, team-friendly discount deals.

Yzerman was also able to massage the cap and keep Alex Killorn, Vlad Namestnikov, Andrei Vasilevskiy and J.T. Brown as well.

Nobody in the NHL thought Yzerman could pull off ALL of those moves and yet he amazingly positioned the Lightning as Stanley Cup favorites. And I didn’t even mention Yzerman refusing Jonathan Drouin’s trade demand last winter and then watching the young forward blossom in last year’s postseason.

That’s what we could have had. Instead we are stuck with a manager who couldn’t figure out a way to trade Jimmy Howard’s contract, handed Datysuk a FRONT-LOADED contract extension when he KNEW Datsyuk desired a return to Mother Russia and doled out contract extensions to aging players like they were 20% off coupons to Bed, Bath and Beyond.

And things are only going to get worse. The organization has barely any cap flexibility moving forward. Arguably Detroit’s best forward (Tatar) is a restricted free-agent next summer, their best defenseman (Smith) is unrestricted and there were whispers this summer that Zetterberg is ALREADY contemplating retirement which would leave the franchise in an untenable bind due to the NHL’s rules regarding cap-circumventing contracts like the one Holland gave the team’s captain back in 2009.

Holland thought he was being cute by signing the then 29-year-old Zetterberg to a TWELVE-YEAR contract but the subsequent CBA penalized those types of deals. So one day the chickens will come home to roost and the Wings will have even more dead cap space to deal with. I’ve been told that could come as soon as next season.

Even more aggravating is an organization that made its bones with European players seeming to now to be taking a xenophobic, Don Cherry approach to roster building.

How else can you explain receiving absolutely NOTHING in return for Mattias Janmark, Calle Jarnkrok, Pulkkinen and Frk while players like Riley Sheahan, Glendening, Helm and others get every opportunity to not only make the team, but get huge minutes?

Which leads me to the most frustrating part of being a fan of this team. A majority of the fanbase (at least the vocal portion) have been ready for a youth movement for years. The hardest thing for a sports executive to sell is patience — playing inexperienced players on the theory you might need to take one step back to take two steps forward.

Yet Wings fans have been begging Holland to utilize this approach and instead we are given the Brad Richards and Ott experience while guys like Pulkkinen are never given a fair shot. It’s like your pre-teen children BEGGING you to serve them broccoli and asparagus and to set an early bedtime and responding by feeding them McDonald’s and forcing them to watch Jimmy Kimmel before going to sleep.

People ask how I can call for Holland’s head while the team is in the midst of a 25-consecutive-season playoff run. Like, we are supposed to be impressed with consistently qualifying for the postseason on the last day of the season and then getting eliminated a mere ten days later in the first round?

Because as bad as the situation is today, it’s only getting worse. Holland is compounding mistakes and the only way to right this ship is to take away the wheel from the person who is steering it straight into an iceberg.

In THREE years, the Red Wings will have over $36 million in salary dedicated to the following players:

• A 40-year-old Zetterberg
• A 36-year-old Nielsen
• A 33-year-old Abdelkader
• A 33-year-old Helm
• A 31-year-old Glendening
• A 30-year-old Danny DeKeyser
• A 36-year-old Ericsson
• The dead cap space of the ghost of Stephen Weiss

So let’s summarize where this organizations stands ….

The team’s GM is on record as saying this current team isn’t a Stanley Cup contender.

They have zero cap flexibility next offseason when they’re moving into their new arena.

Not only is the team in salary cap purgatory for the foreseeable future, that won’t begin to clear up until AFTER the 2019-20 season at the earliest and that’s only if Holland doesn’t make any additional boneheaded signings.

Can shit get any worse for this once proud franchise?

We’ll see.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 14, 2016

Any longtime reader of this space knows that I am not a fan of Kelly B. Hall Stafford. The wife of the Lion quarterback has been an annoying nuisance ever since she came to town with Matthew Stafford, straight from the University of Georgia’s cheerleading squad.

Their cliched relationship has been ponderous for bitter Lions fans sick of the last 59 years of losing with only one playoff victory to show for it in that time.

She has bashed Lions fans via social media to the point that she had to delete her Twitter account. Presumably at the request of her then-boyfriend.

“You wouldn’t even know we were playing at home the way these fans are booing our home team. #Unbelievable.”

Kelly has been a big proponent of the “Don’t blame us, we haven’t been here for 60 years” mentality, which is like fingernails on a chalkboard to many despondent Lions fans.

She once attempted to use her Instagram account to hock tickets to a game in New Orleans, which this website then turned into a nice charitable donation. She has blasted NFL referees. Bombed Stafford’s former offensive coordinator. And even ridiculed media members who have the audacity to call her husband “Matt” instead of Matthew.

I could go on and on about Kelly B.’s noxious personality, but this story isn’t about her. Nope. It’s about this city’s new Kelly Stafford. Her name is Erica Ott.

Look, the one thing you can say about Kelly Stafford — even when she is annoyingly selecting the team’s new cheerleaders — is that her husband is a star player. For whatever it’s worth, Matt(hew) is the best Lions quarterback since Bobby Layne.

He isn’t perfect (except when he’s losing games against above .500 teams on the road — and even THAT was snapped last season), but he is still a pretty damn good QB. And for a town that has experienced Gary Danielson, Andre Ware, Rodney Peete, Bob Gagliano, Jon Kitna, Charlie Batch and Ty Detmer, that is still worth SOMETHING.

But imagine if Kelly Stafford were the wife of a scrub. Can you picture how grating that would be? Like if she had a big mouth and her husband was Dan Orlovsky? (Oh yeah, there was Bobbie Coke.)

Well, that’s Erica Ott. It was bad enough that Ken Holland went and signed her husband Steve Ott for absolutely NO reason whatsoever — which cost the team Teemu Pulkkinen, meant the demotion of Anthony Mantha to Grand Rapids and the press box relegation of Andreas Athanasiou.

Holland went and signed a guy who scored THREE goals in the last THREE seasons at the expense of youth. Unfortunately for us, the Wings GM was in desperate need of “sandpaper” and couldn’t find a Lowe’s or a Home Depot near his house.

What an absolute slap in the face to Red Wings fans to bring this dirty player to Detroit after years of despising him as a member of the Stars and Blues. It would be like the Boston Celtics or Chicago Bulls signing Bill Laimbeer.

In 1994.

When his career was kaput.

Eventually Ott will get benched just like most of Holland’s recent free-agent-signing turds (Jordin Tootoo, Mikael Samuelsen, Stephen Weiss, etc.) and it will be interesting to see the reaction of his wife based on this story about the members of the Suicide Squad which was written when Ott was in Buffalo.

It all started when douchebag Ott was quoted bashing Sabres fans by the well-respected Buffalo News hockey reporter Mike Harrington ……

When Harrington accurately quoted Ott in his blog, Ott didn’t appreciate it …

There’s no blaming our fans? Except for that three-paragraph rant in which you explicitly BLAMED THE FANS!!!

“Stop being a joke.” Yeah, Harrington, how dare you accurately quote what Ott was saying?!!?!!

But things got worse when Harley Quinn entered the fray. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH worse …..

Be a fan or fuck off.

Be a fan or fuck off.

Simple.

Ott’s then-fiancee actually told the Sabres beat reporter for the Buffalo News to be a fan. Or fuck off. She did that.

She told a journalist to BE A FAN!!!!!

Well, Erica Ott should at least enjoy her time in Detroit since Ted Kulfan, Helene St. James, Bob Duff, Gregg Krupa, Brendan Savage and Ansar Khan ARE fans of the team who will say nothing negative about this organization. So it is kind of a match made in heaven.

But that’s not usually how it’s supposed to work. Which Harrington politely pointed out to Ott’s now-second wife ….

But Erica wasn’t done. She dug herself an even deeper hole ….

Yep, the beat writer’s negativity is the last thing the fourth-line winger’s future wife needed. Oh man, I don’t think she is going to like a significant portion of the Red Wings fanbase, which is in part informed by this website.

Because Ott already had about four strikes against him BEFORE he took the ice last night in Tampa wearing the Winged Wheel for the first time.

Nobody wanted him here except the team’s GM.

He stinks. He is washed up.

We aren’t going to just forget what a cunt he was BEFORE he got here which might be excused if he brought ANYTHING worthwhile to the Wings.

His asinine signing cost us a player MOST of the fanbase wanted to see get a chance in Detroit.

And his presence is currently cock-blocking the team’s most exciting young prospect. A kid who led the team last year in penalties drawn even though he ONLY played in 37 games.

Like, if she can’t handle jokes about her baby’s diaper ….

… I am guessing she won’t appreciate the way fans are going to treat Steve if his presence continues to keep Double-A in the press box.

Which, by the way, brings me to another interesting point. I have ALREADY been told by a few Red Wings fans that Steve (or maybe his wife) runs Twitter searches for “Steve Ott” and blocks anyone saying anything negative.

Not folks who actually @ Ott, but just people who criticize him without tagging his handle. I mean, that’s some next-level, thin-skinned behavior right there.

Anyway, I will leave you with a few Tweets that further demonstrate the Kelly Stafford/Erica Ott connection …..

Between the Tweets and the fake boobs, somebody set Kelly and Erica up immediately. They really should be BFFs.

Of course, not every family member of a Red Wings player is this toxic. We at the DSR like SOME familial relations ….

Going to be a long season.

For everyone involved.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 18, 2016

On this week’s edition of “Mondays with Moss” on Ryan Schuiling’s radio program on 92.1FM in Lansing, I commended Lions coach Jim Caldwell on a great job.

I also defended the franchise for honoring the 1991 team that got obliterated in the NFC Championship game against the Washington [Racist Name.]

No. Seriously. I did. And I didn’t lose a bet.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 18, 2016

We celebrated the one-year anniversary of the DSR Podcast at Podcast Detroit this evening and Chris Ilitch’s decree for Al Avila to slash the Tigers’ payroll was the main topic of conversation.

I also discussed Ken Holland’s most recent infuriating comments about roster construction, Grant Hill’s desire for the Pistons to retire his #33 and Rod Beard’s attempt to substantiate the DSR’s Arn Tellem report regarding Andre Drummond.

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 18, 2016

Nothing that was announced at Comerica Park this afternoon should come as a surprise to anyone who has spent any amount of time reading this website. We’ve been reporting for years that the moment Chris Ilitch assumes control of the Detroit Tigers after his father Mike Ilitch’s death the organization’s budget will be significantly reduced.

This information — while not earth-shattering — was based on interviews with Ilitch family members and Olympia Entertainment moles. The first glimpse we had of Chris’s meddling was back in December of 2013 when a very ill Mr. I was incapacitated and Chris ordereda budget  reduction before the Tigers could sign closer Joe Nathan.

In other words, Chris Ilitch’s first foray into ownership of our baseball franchise was the widely panned Doug Fister trade. And after today’s depressing season-ending meeting that Al Avila had with (selected) members of the Detroit media, you have to wonder if that shit sandwich was just an appetizer to an austerity program for 2017 that will debilitate the Tigers.

The only mildly surprising detail from today was that the announcement of a budget slashing came while Mike is still alive, but that is probably more a product of the patriarch’s severely compromised health than anything else.

It’s been known for months that Chris is running this ship due to Mike’s decline. The only thing we really learned today is that the Freep and the News had better have Mike Ilitch’s obituary in the can. Chris wasn’t going to wait until the body is cold (or even officially pronounced deceased) before issuing this directive.

And make no mistake about it, this is a Chris Ilitch production. Do you really think Avila walked into Chris’ office with a plan to downsize? Uh huh. That’s like telling your wife to go out and purchase a Louis Vuitton handbag and her coming home with a discounted purse from TJ Maxx.

(This is what Drew Sharp tried to sell his readers in the pages of the Free Press this afternoon. It would appear that imbecile is now plagiarizing Chris Ilitch’s wet dreams.)

Yep, with the Cleveland Indians on the verge of a World Series berth — and the Royals only a year removed from a championship — their AL Central rivals announced that they will be downsizing.

A franchise that couldn’t beat those teams to the finish line even with a HUGE inherent financial advantage now seems content to compete with them on an even playing field. It all means that it is a near certainty that the Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Victor Martinez, Max Scherzer, J.D. Martinez era will end without jewelry. 

And no, this doesn’t count…

Just a humiliating failure along the lines of the early 1990s Buffalo Bills and the mid-1990s Cleveland Indians. A decade-long dick tease with no money shot whatsoever. Just nightmares of pitching errors, David Ortiz and Buster Posey. 

I don’t even want to speculate about how Avila is going to accomplish Chris Ilitch’s goal. But let’s say that the Tigers have been losing $25 million per season the last few years and that is what has to be cut. Will the Tigers cut ties with Cameron Maybin and Francisco Rodriguez? Will Julio Daniel or Ian Kinsler get dealt?

Will the franchise create a bidding war for Verlander — which might be the smart organizational move anyway — and trade JV at the apex of his remaining value (coming off a year where he put up a bWAR of 6.6)?

At this point I don’t give a flying fuck. Instead, I want to focus on why a franchise that handed out two $100-million contracts AND a TWO-YEAR contract to Mike Pelfrey just last offseason suddenly decided to belt-tighten.

I mean, when the team spent all of that money last winter Mike Ilitch was 86 and not in great health. You don’t have to be an actuary to figure out where this was going.

And please save me the “Mike was trying to give it one last kick at the can” narrative. The team DECIDED to sign Justin Upton for SIX years when they could have had Yoenis Cespedes for half the term. They handed Jordan Zimmermann a FIVE-year deal. These weren’t short term-contracts awarded with the singular focus of winning in 2016 or else.

It is incredible to realize that the Tigers are some sort of hot potato or a game of musical chairs where whoever is in control of the bank account when the music stops gets to call all the shots…but here we are.

So now Chris Ilitch is in total control and, based on what my sources have told me for years, first we will get the budget reduction and then the sale of the team.

Which begs the question, why not just put the team up for sale NOW and spare yourself the public outrage, Chris? Why become a pariah when NOBODY would hold a grudge if you just hung a “For Sale” sign on Comerica Park?

It can’t be due to you not wanting to hurt your dad’s feelings because you obviously have no issue with completely pissing on his dream to win a World Series.

Is it a tax issue? Because you are going to have to answer to the public on why a family worth almost SIX BILLION DOLLARS is hellbent on cutting payroll by $25 million for what basically amounts to a public trust.

To put that into perspective, if you have a household with an income of $65,000.00 and very little in savings, a slash of that percentage is equivalent to about $280 for YOU.

Yep. The Tigers are completely switching gears for the comparable cost of an XBOX to Detroit’s Royal Family.

$280.

A family that just accepted $283 million in public financing to build Pizza! Pizza! Arena.

And not only is Chris Ilitch going to be demonized by a large percentage of the TIGERS fanbase for dialing back on the cut-throat goal to win a World Series, his leadership of the Red Wings is completely contradictory to that philosophy.

Just take a look at what the GM of his hockey team said last night to Bob Wojnowski regarding the Red Wings’ blueprint ….

And now juxtapose that with Avila’s comments today regarding the Tigers ….

I mean, the Ilitch property that has a legitimate chance to win in 2017 (the Tigers) are entering a “difficult process” and “changes are coming” while Ken Holland continues the status quo with a team that even HE admits has no chance of winning a Stanley Cup this season.

This couldn’t be more baffling and infuriating. Let me remind you that these two teams are supposedly owned by the SAME PERSON!!!!!!!

And if you don’t think the Tigers have a shot at a 2017 World Series with the same cast returning, why did team management tell us just TWO WEEKS AGO that this team would have made the playoffs if it weren’t for injuries to J.D., Nick Castellanos, Zimmermann and others?

Hell, Avila even went as far as to say thatthe team probably would have qualified for the postseason if Daniel Norris had been part of the rotation from April on. Or at least would have had a much better chance.

So based on their OWN theory, why wouldn’t you roll the dice again and hope you have better luck with injuries coupled with another year of experience for Michael Fulmer, Matthew Boyd and Norris?

None of this makes sense on its own. And when you compare the Tigers getting “younger and leaner” when they are still viable with the Red Wings’ absolute refusal to do the same when they aren’t …. well ….. I need a fucking bottle of Captain Morgan and a Costo-sized bottle of oxycodone.

So do yourself a favor, Chris. SELL THE TIGERS.

We know you don’t want them so rid yourself of the trouble. Because you are going to be villainized until you do.

Get Mark Cuban or Tom Gores or Dan Gilbert or Steve Ballmer on the phone and make a deal.

You don’t need the hassle.

And we don’t need you.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 21, 2016

If you enjoy this website and the main page articles, you can thank Drew Sharp for that. So, I guess that’s the one nice thing I can write about the longtime Detroit Free Press columnist who passed away today at the age of 56.

Back in May of 2011, this website was deader than disco. I had stopped writing posts for the DSR because I had basically been beaten down by the awful Detroit sports media and I didn’t feel I was having any impact whatsoever in this market.

It was probably the seventh time I had quit the site — that number is only eclipsed by the number of times I broke up with my wife before we eventually got married — and I really thought I was done forever.

And I might have been, if not for Sharp. Because as I was watching Justin Verlander toss his second career no-hitter in Toronto, I felt no compulsion to come out of self-imposed retirement. That was until I read Sharp’s column about that historic game.

I am not going to go into all of the sordid details about that infamous Sharp column, but it was clear from Sharp’s writing that he didn’t actually WATCH the game. He wasn’t in Toronto and his boss obviously told him the paper needed a column to commemorate JV’s no-no so Sharp wrote it — presumably from his sofa.

You can read what ended up being a three-piece expose into Sharp’s journalistic malfeasance and his paper’s refusal to admit what occurred here, here and here.

So I guess it’s ironic that the only reason I am about to publish this piece — which I am sure will rub many of you the wrong way — is because Drew Sharp was not an ethical journalist and behavior compelled me to continue the DSR.

When I first got the news from my sister this morning that Sharp had tragically died at such an early age, I didn’t think I would even write anything about it. I had no feelings about the news whatsoever. I wasn’t happy (obviously) or sad or anything. I was just totally indifferent.

There is a price to pay when you have spent three decades INTENTIONALLY trolling your audience and making your readers (and sometimes listeners) despise you and that cost is apathy when something like this occurs.

Look, if Sharp was just a disingenuous writer who made his bones by PURPOSELY infuriating his readers, I would probably feel some sadness today. But he was much worse than that.

Here is the deal, I probably wouldn’t even be posting this if not for the insane number of articles and social media posts we are currently being inundated with extolling the virtues of Sharp’s journalistic INTEGRITY.

You want to say you liked Drew personally? Wonderful.

You want to write that he was a wonderful dinner companion on Pistons’ road trips? Have at it.

But if you are going to say the man was an outstanding journalist and wonderful human being, I am going to call bullshit based on what we learned about the guy in the last year.

Here is just a sampling of what baited me into writing this article …

But the worst was the article by Lynn Henning mentioned in this Tweet ….

In that article, the buffoon Henning said things like this …

A fine journalist.

A professional.

I am sorry, but when you die your sins don’t magically disappear. If that were the case, the first paragraph in Richard Nixon’s obit would not have included Watergate.

If you are going to write a piece about Drew Sharp in a professional sense, well you HAVE to mention his 2015 plagiarism scandal. Like Crain’s and Awful Announcing did in their articles about Sharp’s death today.

Hell, even Sharp’s colleague at the Freep, Carlos Monarrez, vaguely referenced the white elephant in the room in this Tweet …

Of course, the “one thing” was Sharp plagiarizing the work of iSportsWeb’s David Harns last fall — an article Harns wrote about MSU quarterback Connor Cook’s relationship with a fan of his from Ohio named Miranda McCoy.

Miranda is a 25-year-old woman who was severely injured in a car accident and is currently in a quadriplegic state. I say currently because I hope modern science will one day progress to the point that Miranda will walk again.

(Full Disclosure: I have become very good friends with Miranda since the Sharp scandal occurred and maybe that is part of the reason I am so infuriated by the phony eulogization of Sharp.)

Here is the real story of what kind of journalist Drew Sharp was. In December of 2015 he was caught red handed plagiarizing Harns’ work.

He subsequently told bald-faced lies to his boss Kevin Bull regarding how he gathered information about his own Connor Cook/Miranda McCoy story.

Sharp then refused to publicly apologize to either his readers at the Freep or his audience on Detroit Sports 105.1. Even though his then- co-host Matt Dery wanted him to do so.

He was given MULTIPLE opportunities to apologize to Harns PERSONALLY and yet he never did. And now he never will.

Now, David Harns is a much more forgiving person than I am. He is a very religious man (unlike me) who believes in second chances and redemption. All Harns wanted out of Sharp was a simple “I am sorry,” but Drew refused to speak those words as recently as August 29th of this year when they were face-to-face in East Lansing.

There was someone else who was owed an apology and that was Miranda McCoy. Sharp took what was a beautiful story about her friendship with Cook and turned it into a melodramatic soap opera that she didn’t want any part of.

Because of Miranda’s current situation, she is basically completely dependent on the assistance and the kindness of others. And yet, Sharp couldn’t be bothered to offer her a simple apology for dragging her into this controversy.

As you probably know, Sharp was the reigning champion of the DSR’s Worst Detroit Sports Media Personality tournament. The goal is to deliver the Horse’s Ass Trophy to the winner every year, as we had done with Terry Foster and Scott Anderson in previous years.

We never had an opportunity to honor Sharp, but the plan was to have Miranda there with us when we did.

And about this crap that Sharp was a wonderful guy and we didn’t really know the REAL Drew Sharp? Whose fault was that? The man was in the public eye for nearly 30 years. Maybe if he would have been a genuine journalist instead of an African-American Skip Bayless, every obituary today wouldn’t have required a qualifier.

I received this note today from a former iHeartRadio co-worker of Sharp’s at WDFN: “I never made an effort to get to know him. I was told by others he was a great guy and nothing like his columns. I was never given a good reason why we were paying a guy to be as dishonest to the listeners as he was to his readers.”

So no, this wasn’t JUST about the plagiarism. It ended up being about his behavior after that original sin as well. Not unlike Tricky Dick himself.

And about this crap that Sharp was a wonderful guy and we didn’t really know the REAL Drew Sharp? Whose fault was that? The man was in the public eye for nearly 30 years. Maybe if he would have been a genuine journalist instead of an African-American Skip Bayless, every obituary today wouldn’t have required a qualifier.

I received this note today from a former iHeartRadio co-worker of Sharp’s at WDFN: “I never made an effort to get to know him. I was told by others he was a great guy and nothing like his columns. I was never given a good reason why we were paying a guy to be as dishonest to the listeners as he was to his readers.”

I am sorry for his wife, Karen, and the rest of his family for their loss.

But I am not going to sit back and watch the media’s revisionist history of this man’s career. He was a mercenary troll who frequently took shortcuts regarding his craft and, when called out for those transgressions, refused to even address them.

And I am sure there will be a lot of folks out there outraged that I wrote something like this on the day of his death.

Do me a favor. When I die one day, please be honest in your thoughts.

If you enjoyed the DSR when I was around and an article or Podcast helped get you through your day, say that.

If you thought I was a fucking monster with no compassion and evil incarnate, please don’t let my expiration soften your stance.

Just don’t be a fucking phony.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 23, 2016

One of the most baffling and criticized trades in Detroit sports history occurred three years ago this winter. In a perplexing move, the Tigers sent Doug Fister to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Steve Lombardozzi, Robbie Ray and Ian Krol.

From the moment the trade was completed, I have been searching for the reason former General Manager Dave Dombrowski decided to pull the trigger on a deal that was immediately bashed by the entire baseball world.

I even snuck into the press conference at Comerica Park announcing the team’s signing of Joe Nathan so I could grill Dombrowski on why he had traded a very competent starting pitcher for what seemed like pennies on the dollar.

Further complicating matters was the Tigers odd decision to sign Mike Pelfrey this offseason for a two-year, $16 million deal when Fister accepted a one-year contract in Houston for $7 million.

Why would Al Avila bypass the better starting pitcher option in Fister — who already had experienced great success in Detroit — while providing Pelfrey more money and term?

None of it made any sense. Well, until recently when I finally got to the bottom of the l’affaire de Fister. You have lingering questions and I now have the answers, so let’s go ….

Why Was Fister Traded Back in December of 2013?

This is a multi-pronged answer and actually far more complicated than we all originally thought. There really were four contributing factors:

1] The Tigers were desirous of getting Drew Smyly into the rotation and the starting staff was logjammed with existing commitments to Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello and Anibal Sanchez. Someone had to go from their perspective. We all knew that.

2] What I — and others like Tony Paul of the Detroit News — had originally reported was this was a salary dump. Fister was due to make $7.2 million in 2014 and Dombrowski was on the verge of signing Nathan to his regrettable deal which was going to cost the Tigers $9 million in ’14.

At the time, Mike Ilitch was ill and out of commission so his son Chris Ilitch was making the team’s budgetary decisions. (Sound familiar?) Chris told Dave that if he wanted to sign the former Twins closer, he had to slash payroll elsewhere.

And while this was a factual account, there were way more components to the decision than just fiduciary ones.

3] Now we get to the stuff we really didn’t know. And it’s salacious. There was a personality conflict between Fister and Verlander. It was so extreme that sources have told me that Fister went to Dombrowski to complain to the General Manager that Verlander was damaging team chemistry and morale.

It is my belief that this “team chemistry” issue manifested itself when Fister (and other players) became upset that Verlander used his clout to get Director of Team Travel Tyson Steele transferred from working with the Tigers to a new gig at Little Caesars.

As I wrote on May 5th of this year, Steele ended up marrying Verlander’s longtime girlfriend Emily Yeun after the Cy Young winner unceremoniously dumped her for Kate Upton. 

Steele was a very popular figure in the Tigers clubhouse with many of the players giving Steele huge tips for assisting them with their accommodations and some players (it appears Fister was one of them) were incredulous that JV would get Steele transferred when he had done nothing wrong.

Verlander had moved on to a supermodel/actress and Steele became Yeun’s shoulder to cry on. From what I have been told, one thing led to another, they began dating and are now married. Steele had done nothing nefarious and Verlander’s alleged spiteful behavior rubbed some players the wrong way.

Of course, Verlander wasn’t going anywhere back in 2013 so Fister became an easy salary to dump.

4] Here is where it gets a little strange. So Fister was upset with JV for the Steele incident? Well, the Tigers organization was not exactly thrilled with Fister, either. There were rampant rumors that Fister was bedding a daughter of one of the Tiger coaches.

I have no way to verify the veracity of that rumor so I won’t mention the aggrieved coach’s name, but this was the scuttlebutt down at the offices on Montcalm Street.

So, you want to know why Fister wasn’t an option last offseason and they signed Pelfrey to a $16-million deal when they could have had Fister for $7 million?

The answer is sex.

Insert your own asinine “Fister, I didn’t even know her” joke here.

Did Dave Dombrowski Do His Due Diligence?

This is the part of the story I had dead wrong. If you remember, when I busted into that Nathan presser, I asked Dombrowski if he had done his “due diligence” prior to trading Fister away for three players who would not help them in 2014.

It seemed like the deal was rushed so DD would have the financial flexibility to sign Nathan. This seemed especially true when unnamed baseball execs stated they didn’t know Fister was on the market and they wished they would have had a chance to make a pitch to DD.

As you may recall, Dombrowski vehemently denied my assertion that he wasn’t thorough and pulled a white piece of paper out of his sports coat that supposedly listed the starting pitching prospects that Dombrowski had been targeting.

This is an excerpt from my article that day in 2013 regarding that infamous press conference ….

I sure as hell didn’t expect him to pull a white piece of paper with names of pitching prospects on it from his pocket and tell me that he wasn’t going to show the list to ME, but instead would let JOE NATHAN take a gander as a means to substantiate his claim that he had done his due diligence.

And here is that picture of Nathan looking at the names ….

I still can’t believe that occurred.

Anyway, Dombrowski wasn’t lying. Even though nobody in the world had Robbie Ray listed as an elite prospect, the Tigers had a scout who was enamored with the southpaw. And that scout convinced Dombrowski that Ray should be the centerpiece of any deal with Washington involving Fister.

Two weeks before the trade was consummated, this scout was telling close friends that Robbie Ray was the shit.

Whether you liked the deal or did not, Dombrowski was not caught with his pants down due to a last-minute edict from Chris Ilitch regarding the budget.

The Tigers wanted Robbie Ray badly and they got him.

Was The Scout Right About Robbie Ray?

This is the part that really makes no sense at all. Tigers fans had one major complaint about the Fister trade and it wasn’t that Doug got dealt.

It made perfect sense to swap one of the team’s starters to fix other issues the organization had back in the winter of 2013. The rub was ALWAYS the return.

For a starting pitcher coming off a 4.1 bWAR in 2013, Dombrowski received Italian Don Kelly, a nondescript situational lefty reliever prospect and a starter with some upside. None of those three were projected to help the Tigers in 2014 — a team that won the AL Central — and none of them did.

The biggest remaining mystery to me at this point is if Dombrowski and the scout were so in love with Ray, why did they bail on him after one season and trade him to Arizona for Shane Greene?

Because at the end of this long, winding road, that scout was right. Robbie Ray was a top-shelf prospect who most likely will develop into a very good starting pitcher.

Now, if you are a lunkhead dummy who doesn’t believe in sabermetrics, you might think I was crazy for making that assertion. After all, Ray went 8-15 in 2016 with an ERA of 4.90 and a WHIP of 1.468 for the D-Backs.

But if you delve deeper in Ray’s statistics, you can see the ONE good transaction former Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart made while in Phoenix was to acquire Ray on the cheap.

Ray had a K/9 of 11.25 last season!!!

11.25!!!!

If you aren’t familiar with K/9, that would rank as Verlander’s second best ever in his career. And Max Scherzer has NEVER had a higher strikeout per nine innings rate.

Ray’s FIP in 2016 was 3.76 and his xFIP was 3.45 which is why he earned a very respectable fWAR of 3.0 this past year.

Robbie Ray is going to be really good and that will be the final chapter in this sordid mess.

Tigers fans got screwed from every angle on this deal. From trading Fister for no immediate assistance back in December of 2013 to giving up on Ray too soon.

But now that you know the rest of the story, we weren’t the only ones getting fucked.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 23, 2016

Is this employee of the Washington D.C. football team peeing into a cup while the gentleman in the suit blocks the view at Ford Field this afternoon during the Lions 20-17 victory over the franchise from our nation’s capital?

What in the world?

Former University of Michigan basketball player Anthony Wright did a little digging and it looks like the man with his cock out is special teams coach Ben Kotwica.  The nose seems to be a dead giveaway.

Here is a blown up pic of his dick. Guy seems to need the help.

We will keep you updated on this breaking story as news develops …..

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 24, 2016

On my weekly appearance with Ryan Schuiling on 92.1FM in Lansing, I discussed the legacy of Drew Sharp and nuked Sharp’s former co-worker Joe Rexrode for taking a shot at me.

We also discussed the Washington Football Team’s assistant coach rocking with his cock out at Ford Field on Sunday.

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 25, 2016

On tonight’s episode of the DSR Podcast, I discussed the legacy of the late Drew Sharp with current DetroitSportsNation.com Editor-in-Chief Justin Spiro.

We also went down memory lane and played some classic DSR related Sharp bits. Like when I confronted him outside of Comerica Park and his interview with Howard Stern wack packer Sour Shoes.

In the second hour, I discussed the lack of outrage over Chris Ilitch’s decision to slash the payroll of his father’s precious and attacked Red Wings blogger George Malik over what appears to be more bought-and-paid for commentary.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)

By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
October 26, 2016

The Detroit Red Wings are in the midst of a five-game winning streak. Due to an injury to the overpaid and extremely overrated Justin Abdelkader, this website’s favorite player, Andreas Athanasiou, is in the lineup and is wreaking havoc.

And it doesn’t appear that the cooked Niklas Kronwall is anywhere close to returning to the lineup meaning Ryan Sproul will seemingly continue to get an opportunity to display his talents. There is a lot to enjoy regarding the Wings, but the imbeciles who cover this team — either for a living or a hobby — aren’t on that list.

Let’s start with bought-and-paid-for blogger George Malik of the “Malik Report,” who has gone on a social media blitz regarding the Jakob Chychrun situation. And this despicable, low-character charlatan can’t receive enough scorn for his behavior.

You might remember a couple months back when I wrote an article about Malik’s relationship with mortgage broker midget Dan Milstein. As you probably know, Milstein also in recent years masqueraded as Pavel Datsyuk’s agent.

Well, Malik contributed to a pathetic Q & A with Milstein about his “agent business” where Malik lobbed softball after softball to the minuscule broker. It was embarrassing for all involved but the most egregious part of the entire charade was Malik’s failure to disclose that he was on Milstein’s payroll.

Malik and his patron “Kulka’s Korner” spread this diseased Q & A on social media without a disclaimer that it was paid propaganda. Keep all of that in mind when I get to the meat of today’s transgression.

On Friday evening Malik started this campaign to calm down Red Wings fans reacting to Chychrun’s success with the Arizona Coyotes. Here was his Tweet:

Of course, you remember that the Red Wings had the opportunity to draft Chychrun with the 16th pick in this past June’s Entry Draft, but instead decided to ship Datsyuk’s dead contract to Arizona in exchange for the 20th pick in the first round as well as a second-round selection.

Many considered Chychrun to be the best defenseman prospect in the entire 2016 draft, yet he fortuitously fell into Ken Holland’s lap at 16. Instead of rushing up to the podium to snag the Sarnia Sting blueliner, Holland dealt this Willy Wonka “Golden Ticket” away so he could rid himself of the albatross Datsyuk contract.

The one that had he negotiated. Front-loaded. When he knew #13 was desirous of returning his home country.

…. but Cholowski could very well be a first-pair defenseman down the line.”

Let’s be clear about something. Cholowski was a reach at #20. A project. NOBODY had him rated that high. Many had him pegged as a second-round pick after he was listed as a “C” prospect entering his draft year.

And while a growth spurt raised Cholowski’s status, he was still a defenseman who was considered to be “very raw,” “a noticeable step down from the top tier of defenders eligible for the draft,” lacking “strong defensive positioning” and “quite skinny.”

Kind of reminds me of Eric Ebron’s strengths and weaknesses coming out of North Carolina before the Lions drafted him. 

“He’s really good, but has issues catching the ball and blocking.” Well, aren’t those kind of important for a TIGHT END??!?!!?!??

Anyway, on draft night Holland HIMSELF said Cholowski would need to spend four years at St. Cloud State University in order to develop. Yes, St. Cloud State. Where through four games Cholowski has zero goals and two assists with a -2 Plus/Minus rating.

Meanwhile, in the NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE, Chychrun has scored a goal and chipped in two assists in his first five games. As an 18-year-old rookie DEFENSEMAN.

PLAYING OVER 16 MINUTES PER GAME!!!!!

And get this, Chychrun won’t even turn 19 years old until March 31st. Hell, he is a month and a half YOUNGER than Cholowski.

Hahahhahhahahahaha.

There might be nothing more difficult in all of sports than to play in the NHL as an 18-year-old defenseman. There is a very short list of teenagers who have accomplished the feat. I mean, we are referencing guys like Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque and Aaron Ekblad. 

You’re talking about all-time greats and dudes who went first overall in the draft.

But Malik didn’t stop after that Friday Tweet. He wrote 800 words on his compromised blog on Tuesday continuing this same theme that it’s too early to judge the Datsyuk/Chychrun trade because there are a ton of moving parts and then once again spewed a bunch of nonsense about Cholowski:

I’ve seen Cholowski and (Filip) Hronek play, and their play is encouraging and exciting. Cholowski’s the best stick-on-puck defender I’ve seen the Wings develop in ages, and Hronek is a dashing, daring puck-rusher who simply needs to put on weight.

WHAT?!??!?!? Cholowski’s the best stick-on-puck defender he has seen the Wings develop in ages?!?!?! They haven’t developed him AT ALL. He was drafted just four months ago and he is in Minnesota playing college hockey!!!!!!

What the fuck is this LUNATIC even talking about and why is he so hellbent on defending the Datsyuk/Chychrun trade? Like, do I even need to spell this out for you?

Think about it for a second. Datsyuk’s legacy will always be intertwined with Chychrun. If Datsyuk hadn’t selfishly signed a three-year, FRONT LOADED contract to stay in Detroit and then changed his mind about his future BEFORE THE INK HAD EVEN DRIED ON THE CONTRACT there would have been no need to send his dead cap space to the desert.

And Jakob Chychrun would currently be skating in Sarnia waiting for the Wings to give him a chance to play in the NHL in 2020.

If Chychrun develops into a Norris Trophy contender in the future, fans will remember that it was Datsyuk’s fault that he isn’t wearing a Winged Wheel. So Malik is muddying the waters with talk of salary cap space, Frans Nielsen, Darren Helm and others.

Just like any good mercenary would do for his boss. At this point how can you TRUST anything that Malik writes? I wonder who else has paid for his “services.” It wouldn’t shock me to learn there was some sort of quid pro quo between Malik and the organization.

Follow.

The.

Money.

But Malik wasn’t the only Red Wings “reporter” embarrassing himself this week.

After Detroit’s 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, there were no fewer than THREE articles written about Steve Ott’s role in the game.

I am being serious.

The Scarf in the Freep:

Ted Kulfan in the News ….

And that imbecile child Will Burchfield on 97.1’s website ….

(And stay tuned, we are going to soon run a piece dedicated to this “frat boy” fuck’s existence.)

Yep, three articles about Ott’s “grit” on the same that evening the franchise’s prized prospect Athanasiou had arguably his best game as a pro. Double-A scored one goal, assisted on another and set up Helm on another beautiful play that should have been a goal.

Athanasiou was one of the best players on the ice all night (when he was actually ON the ice …. he played a whopping 11:29 last night) and was dangerous on almost every shift.

But did we get an article about AA’s tremendous performance? Did any of sycophants who cover this franchise mention THIS?…

Nope, instead we got more PR from Holland’s propagandists.  By the way, read Prashanth Iyer’s Tweet about 100 times and then remember that when Athanasiou is the one in the press box when Abdelkader returns from injury.

And NOT the guy who should be sitting when #8 returns.

The man who received three glowing reviews from the Detroit press.

Mainly for taking a power play away from his own team.

Fuck this city.

(You can follow the writer of this piece on Twitter @JeffMossDSR. Also, you can join in on the discussion of this article on Facebook by clicking here.)