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I feel the same way about Rainer. Untouchable now. He may be the best of all of the prospects.

Rainer is our future SS, not McGonigle, who likely ends up at 2B. Yost is very far away and might eventually push Rainer to 3B. I’d put Bryce in the rare untouchable tier, with Clark and McGonigle.

They need good pitching.

I am off about $10K somewhere, but this is mostly correct; they spent over 104.8% of their pool

Showcasing Hartlieb for Toronto? Bichette traded during or after the series?

Oh, come on now. Lean into that with your chest. Crowd the plate when you’re typing that. Chins up, people. They weren’t going to get through a whole season without some sort of struggle. Must win. For crying out loud, they survived Ryan Kreidler in CF and Kenta Maeda on the mound earlier on this season. Must win. The park should be packed with Toronto coming into town. A rekindling of 1984 in a somewhat different geographically playoffical set of circumstances. The winner of this series gets control of the Windsor Ballet until the next season. Wait, what? Must win!

He seems nice.

I think this is a flawed, 85-90 win team that significantly overachieved. I also don’t think they are nearly as bad as they’ve been lately. Im opposed to doing anything foolish, especially for rentals. I hope we make the playoffs, but it’s not worth plugging a few holes at high cost to mortgage our future. Trade from org depth and focus on help that can contribute for a few seasons, at least. The dream scenario would be Steven Kwan and Cade Smith from Cleveland, but I doubt Harris would pay. I’m also not getting hung up on the Skubal window—realistically, ‘27 is when our top prospects are likely to contribute. Hope Skubal is part of that.

Until Ozzy and the band split, I was a huge fan of Black Sabbath. I will always be a fan of the original band. I managed to see the original band four times: March 6, 1972 Dorton Arena Raleigh, NC Opening bands: Wild Turkey & Sweathog December 7, 1975 Coliseum Greensboro, NC Opening bands: Savoy Brown & Journey January 21, 1977 Memorial Coliseum Jacksonville, Fla Opening bands: The Outlaws & Mike Pinera (Iron Butterfly) September 1, 1978 Hampton Roads Coliseum Hampton, Virginia Opening band: Van Halen (First US Tour) These guys were just everyday guys that made it. I read Geezer’s book, Into the Void. I never read Ozzie’s or Toni’s. Geezer’s book was 👍 hilarious stuff. Ozzy was one of a kind. RIP Ozzy. Back to the Beginning

Just saw the news and realized that I outlived Hulk Hogan so I win. I’m 73. He was 71.

Don't you dare.

Why would any sane person take Josh Hawley’s advice.

You don't want to see him when he's not nice!

Guardians lose. Tigers' divisional lead is back up to 8.5 games.

https://bsky.app/profile/jimcallis.bsky.social/post/3luasujcnms2b

He seems to have taken some bad LSD or mushrooms. Sounds like a bad trip to me.

I don’t know the signing bonus rules. But based on this spreadsheet, teams are allowed to offer up to $150K to picks after the 10th round without it hitting the cumulative pool “cap”? And as we see with the overages above and beyond $150K to Hamilton and Wimpelberg, those count against the pool?

I concur

He's not wrong about Trump being a POS and a fraud though!

Appreciate the detailed response. If Tyler Freeman might be a .300 hitter, but if he is having a career year with his 0.4 fWAR (or, worse, a -0.1 bWAR), then I wouldn't want him here regressing on my dime. I simply don't think Freeman gives us anything more in RF than we have gotten so far from Wenceel, Herry, Zach, and company. I don't see him as a clear upgrade and I would not be willing to spend even mid-level prospect capital for him. Besides, I just don't see the outfield as being a clear problem for us going forward, with the possible exception of a still-injured Parker, who could be replaced in center by Javy at the moment of truth. I doubt Max starts in Detroit next year, and I really doubt we go all in and spend half a billion on a stick over the winter, especially in the outfield where there are still plans. I take your point about Tucker, but I'm not sure Harris thinks he'll be a fit, nor do I necessarily think we are on Tucker's radar.

Van Andel I agree with everything you said except that Van Andel Arena can't do football*. It's a hockey/basketball sized place. *Okay, technically it can do Arena football. Fond memories of the Grand Rapids Rampage... but that's not UFL football.

Bigbie? The guy who moved back a level and has been passed up repeatedly for promotion? He's more likely to be cut by next year's opening day than graduate to the bigs.

I'm glad Harris is in charge.

During this 1-9 stretch that started July 9, team ranks (per FanGraphs): Runs scored: 30th since July 9 (through July 8: 6th) wRC+: 30th (7th) ISO: 30th (6th) BABIP: 22nd (6th) Batter K%: 27th (23%) Batter BB%: 11th (16th) Baserunning: 5th (6th) Defense: 15th (15th) Runs against: t-29th (4th) Pitcher K/9: 1st (13th) Pitcher BB/9: 22nd (5th) Pitcher HR/9: 25th (9th) HR/FB: 28th (13th) ERA: 30th (3rd) FIP: 22nd (6th) xFIP: 4th (5th) As bad as things have been, there are some underlying bright spots in that we are still doing some key things as well during that stretch as before it. We're still taking walks and running the bases. The defense is holding up. Our pitchers are all of a sudden striking out guys at a league-leading clip. and not just Tarik Skubal. The home runs we're giving up may be due at least as much to bad luck as bad pitching. Putting it all together, this looks less like a massive soul-crushing correction than it does a stretch of some really bad luck. Seeing this before/after comparison actually made me feel a little better. We may not exactly be a legit 100-win team, but I think we're going to be OK, and remember, we are not in a ring-or-bust situation. We have an bright immediate future as well.

I have been a pro wrestling fan for as far back as I can remember. WWF/WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, ROH, AEW, New Japan. Watching pro wrestling has gotten me through a lot of my life and helped me traverse some of my toughest moments. I was a Hulkamaniac through and through as a kid. I was an nWo-ite after a period of time when Hulk Hogan turned bad and became Hollywood Hogan. I know that man isn't perfect. I know he was a piece of **** in a lot of ways. He was flawed, imperfect, and yes, a racist. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't devastated by this news. I'd be lying if I said Hulk Hogan wasn't a gigantic part of my childhood. I'd be lying if I said wrestling and everything didn't help me get through a lot of rough days as a kid. RIP Hulk Hogan.

Insiders really respect the ethereal and presumably transitive qualities of superstardom.

Don't think we're giving up enough in this deal?

He was good at the end of last year, not so good this year. He has no velocity, no swing and miss and he's 34.

Take it to the Cubs forum.

IMHO, I would not give up Rainer for that package.

I don't think many singles-hitting major leaguers are over 60! 😉

A Corvette is a Chevy..................Just sayin'

Is Briceno overrated there?

Law's updated top 60. McGonigle 1, Clark 2, Briceno 22, Ranier 38. Top 60 MLB prospects: Kevin McGonigle, Max Clark top newest rankings - The Athletic https://share.google/vofFZPrxmz4CiQbYO

Were the Tigers showcasing Melton to the Pirates yesterday?

WSJ is owned by News Corp and Rupert Murdoch are they not? So the same company that owns Fox News is having this story broke under their own nose.

It is interesting that WSJ is breaking stories which I am sure they have known about for a while. They are a pretty conservative outlet with a wealthy audience, so not who you would normally expect to be targeting Trump. In fact, their editorial section used to be embarassingly pro-Trump. Why would they hold onto the birthday card story until now? Perhaps, you are right that they have what they want now, so they'd like to push out Trump before he screws things up.

Chicks dig the long ball.

What was the phrase, Singles hitters drive Chevy's while Home Run hitters drive Cadillacs.

When the team is firing on all cylinders, all or most of the lineup is really working counts and driving up the pitch count. That’s more what I want to see than anything with Riley. If he strikes out a lot, then ok…..but make them work to strike you out. Same thing has been going for Carpenter this year too. If a pitcher gets ahead in the count against either of them, then they just start swinging for the fences and the at bat becomes less competitive. We’ve been strong this year because guys like Gleyber, Javy, Tork, and McKinstry have done a much better job YoY in at bat quality. I’d just like to see Riley be the face of that and truly become an elite hitter. We all know he has that potential.

Panthers are being relocated (again). Sad, but hard to say it was unexpected. The attendance and interest just wasn’t there.

They're going to be sellers since it worked so well last year.

I honestly don’t think they’re as bad as they’ve been lately but they’re certainly not a .667 team.

flush this entire month so far.

Joe Buck says bite me

We’ve been on the road the past three weeks following Lewis and Clark from Kentucky to the headwaters of the Missouri. On our way back we took a detour and ran by Devils Tower. Got this before the clouds lifted

Pam with the Poison Pellet in the Penitentiary may be on tap as the newest Clue solution.

Believe me when I tell you that Alex Cobb is not happy with his circumstances at the moment.