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A few of you have mentioned the absence of @Jim Cowan who was also Charles Liston on the old board and wondered what he was doing and if he was OK and I reached out to him through email and he said he’s doing just fine but that he finds his general interest in being a part of a message board on a daily basis to have waned and that it only has its greatest value as an all consuming passion which has for the time being ebbed. He said that he’s excited about McGonigle and the starting pitching and sent his best to a number of you. Since it’s a personal message, I don’t feel comfortable relaying too many of the details, but my own concern was that something healthwise had happened to him - we are both 74 so that can be an issue - and it hasn’t. Anyway, that’s the scoop.

This is spot on;

lol

I think these takes of Clark being a bonehead are both lazy and false. Every interview I’ve seen with, he is humble and grounded. Ignore the chains and tattoos and whatever associations you might have with them. He’s solid.

Toledo Mud Hens Triple-A · IL 📊 St. Paul Saints 0, Toledo Mud Hens 1 #2 Max Clark 2-for-4 | 2 H, 1 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K (1 SB) #6 Hao-Yu Lee 1-for-4 | 1 H, 0 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K #26 Eduardo Valencia 0-for-1 | 0 H, 0 R, 0 RBI, 3 BB, 0 K #27 Trei Cruz 1-for-4 | 1 H, 0 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K Double-A · EL 📊 Erie SeaWolves 1, Chesapeake Baysox 4 #15 John Peck 1-for-4 | 1 H, 1 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K (1 2B) #30 Justice Bigbie 0-for-4 | 0 H, 0 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K #30 Peyton Graham 1-for-4 | 1 H, 0 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K #30 Izaac Pacheco 1-for-4 | 1 H, 0 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K West Michigan Whitecaps High-A · MWL 📊 Great Lakes Loons 7, West Michigan Whitecaps 3 #23 Jackson Strong 0-for-3 | 0 H, 0 R, 0 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K (1 SB) #30 Roberto Campos 1-for-3 | 1 H, 1 R, 0 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K Lakeland Flying Tigers Single-A · FSL 📊 Daytona Tortugas 5, Lakeland Flying Tigers 6 #3 Bryce Rainer 0-for-4 | 0 H, 0 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K (2 SB) #21 Jude Warwick 1-for-4 | 1 H, 1 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K #24 Grayson Grinsell 4.0 IP | 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 HR #30 Jack Goodman 1-for-3 | 1 H, 1 R, 0 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K (1 2B)

ex-refinery guy here. The picture is actually very complex, many interdependencies. Each refinery is pretty much set up to run optimally on one type or mix (which may or may not also mean one or one set of sources) of crude oil. The flexibility of a given refinery to do something else varies with its particular equipment but profitability (ie prices go up) will almost always suffer, at least short term, if they are forced to switch crude slates. In the US, most midwestern refineries run Canadian crude or oil that comes by pipeline from the gulf. East coast refineries import more, West cost refineries source some local (CA is a big producer but nowhere near CA's consumption), a lot of Alaskan, some ME. Refiner's generally hike their prices the instant world oil prices go up, though in reality they have several days (not months) supply already on hand and any oil at sea may already be paid for, though that varies also, some tankers do arrive with the oil un-purchased and the deal is cut on arrival. I'm few years out of the biz now so I don't have any inside sources any more, but I would estimate that in the US, total imports from non North American sources are low enough that given the fall in demand that the increase in prices will produce, I doubt we will see outright US shortages, but don't ask me to bet on that, and there will likely be some local dislocations. The situation in Europe and in particular Asia is much different. They know their vulnerability to supply upsets so in general Asian refiners keep a LOT more crude inventory (month+) on hand, which is the only reason why you haven't had Asian nations (i.e. China) making more noise about retaliation against the US (trade etc) if this doesn't end soon.

At least we got Damion Easley. 😉

I am less impressed by Greene every year.

Kudos for the return of the MiLB reports!

Long story but one that still makes me emotional. My lifelong best friend died from cancer in May of 24. We met in kindergarten, went to all 13 years of school together, played sports together, roomed together at MSU, and shared a house a couple times in our early 20s until marriage etc. How does this relate to your post? One of my most vivid memories with him was an Eli Zaret/George Kell moment. I'm pretty sure it was on the Morning Crew show either the morning after they hit 35-5 or a few days before they did. He was a dairy farmer and some mornings I'd get up and go visit him in the feed room as he ran the silage unloader. George came on with Eli and started with "It's magical Eli, just magical" with his Arkansas twang it was unforgettable. For the rest of our lives he and I would use that phrase to describe things, sometimes seriously, sometimes sarcastically. Now and then that phrase comes to mind and I think of my buddy......

To his point, Colt has a future and Carp really doesn’t, so if Hinch always sits Colt against LHPs, he better be darn sure Colt’ll never ever hit them, because it’s going to limit what we’ll be able to get from Colt during his career; and also, last night was the second time in three games we got hamstrung having Jahmai bat against a RHP late after pinching for Colt at DH earlier. He struck out swinging both times. We risk that becoming a potential game-plan by opponents. Fun fact: Colt had a better OPS+ against LHPs than RHPs in 2024.

Seriously, though. This stupid, worthless g*******d pig.

Appreciated!

Thanks Bert. I am very happy to hear that he is doing well.

I don't think it's too soon to complain that the jewels of the Al Avila All-Stars are dragging the team down, even as another couple of them are doing everything they can to keep the team afloat. Unless by some miracle at least two of them shake off the doldrums and start delivering on the draft positions and/or accolades accorded them, there's going to be a reckoning with them, and perhaps sooner than later. As things stand, I don't see us extending any of them.

we all said the same thing last summer and we signed mason appleton and JVR.

This is what I remember.

I think it was last year when I really noticed just how dead-eyed Riley Greene is—like, totally vacant, nothing there. I don't know whether that is related to whatever his level of drive for the game is, but even setting that aside as a concept, nothing he has shown me has demonstrated that he has much drive to excel. He strikes me as somewhat of a clock-puncher. Of course, all Riley has to do is repeat 2024 a few times and no one will give the slightest crap how dead his eyes are.

I hope they lose by 50 tonight. Then I can bang my head on the wall when someone says they should start Jenkins and bring Cade off the bench in the playoffs.

I think this is a good take. Talbot was pretty useless this season and we knew from the beginning that a lot of the team's early success was Gibson and the temptation would be there to burn him out. I just don't get this reluctance to see what a guy can do, what the worst that can happen - he shows he's not ready? It's not like you'd be sitting prime career D. Hasek to look at him, he would be stepping in for just barely there Talbot.

A little bit. But mostly as background noise like you. I wish they had sent Lanier down there a bit more this season. He played 248 minutes this year which is 8 games at 30 MPG. You need game time to work on what you practiced and 8 games in a calendar year is not cutting it.

I was really hoping we'd see a Riley that has moved away from the extreme swing but I'm not seeing it. I see Riley as a guy who can either be a very good 20 HR hitter or a pretty useless 35 HR hitter and he seems determined to be the later. He's just not built to hit homeruns without the long swing. His frame can't generate the power that a big guy like Judge or Cabrera, or even a more compact but powerfully built guy like Trout can without having to over commit on his swing. And the over-commit is going to leave him a poor OBP hitter if he won't change it. Be a good hitter and let the HRs come on the good barrels and he'd be fine (IOW if he had just continued to let his '24 approach improve)

Yes, If Greene, Torkelson and Carpenter hit even at their normal levels, it will solve a lot of problems

I wasn't really suggesting that Clark was similar to Gibson, just that he has a distinct personality from their current group. From a fan's perpective. I do like to see different personalities on the team. Watching the game last night, I was thinking I don't know McGonigle from Keith from Dingler. They all look and act the same.

Neither am I, but we can still speculate on it! 😃

I'm pretty sure Minnesota is now locked into the 21st spot and can not move down. They still mathematically can move up to #20.

Are the Wizards under the impression the more embarrassing the loss the more ping pong balls you get?

Might as well stop losing.

good news, thanks for doing that Bert.

well that's what we have all been hoping for! And seriously, on this team 'best hitter' was not a very high bar to clear. But he's still trailing Keith's start by ~40 OPS pts though he's passed Keith in most counting stats (also has ~13 more PA). Assuming this is the real McGonigle and not just the charged up version that will run down in a month - which is admittedly a huge assumption - I think he and Colt are as likely to be the highest OBP guys on the team as anyone else. And McGonigle may hit for more power. Colt has shortened his swing so much he has almost no hip rotation, he's really sacrificing power potential for contact right now. Maybe as he gets comfortable with the new stance he'll start to use his lower half more.

So all this amounted to was that we have given Bibi the free use of the worlds most expensive lawn mower for 30 days (which we get back with its blade seriously dulled) so he could extend his 'forever war' just a little further out before it becomes the failure it will inevitably be.

LOL - Spencer apparently loves batting 7th, on base 10 of his last 16 PA.

Meanwhile, Trump is obliterating Republicans more than Iran. This race wasn't even close.

Iran is literally better off today than before the war and has an even more extreme regime in place.

I think grand parents being soft with children is a requirement.

Imagine bragging about voting for this ****

I remember almost everyone had them in love with Devin Witherspoon. That was probably accurate since they traded out of the 6th pick after he was off the board.

And Vance is in Hungary, stumping for Orban, and wagging his finger at Europe … telling them the oil shortage is their problem because they stopped buying Russian oil. **** all of them. Let’s hope Orban crashes & burns in his election this weekend. And then hope we can do the same here this November

Every time I see Lakeland come up in the spring I think of HueyTaxi

Vance scares me about as much. No spine whatsoever. He's currently in Hungary campaigning and claiming voter fraud there for their current Dictator.

Really. The platooning thing is what you do when you’re dealing from a position of weakness. And yes, there’s a methodology backed up by data and I respect that and do not intrinsically dispute it, but wouldn’t it be nice to see several McGonigle type players in the lineup that you don’t have to pull again and again for late inning replacements? That’s probably asking for too much but I would still like it.

The crew was woken up today with a prerecorded posthumous message from Apollo 8 and 13 Astronaut Jim Lovell who welcomed them back to his old neighborhood. He echoed Frank Borman's Christmas Eve message by mentioned "the good Earth".

BEGIN RANT- Red Sox fans are upset that the 2–7 start of the 2026 season is the worst start in Red Sox history for the first nine games. I’m going to restrain myself from saying something profane like “Oh my heck, sit on a tack you silly persons!” But if that’s the worst it’s been in the first nine games in 126 years I think they may want to reconsider this impertinent complaint. -END RANT