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To paraphrase an old Danny Murtaugh quote on fans and players and apply it to GMs

First of all, I reject the premise often repeated by some fans that Scott Harris is merely sitting on his hands and doing nothing, implication being that he as a major league PBO does not care about the losing as long as the calendar continues to turn on whatever his plan is. That doesn't pass any reasonable smell test. But mainly, I have to believe that there is only so much Harris can do anyway, especially in the middle of a season. He can't just go out and pick up an average major league starter, let alone a team-changing All-Star, off the free agent pile or waiver wire whenever he wants. And he can't simply acquire one in trade in which he is giving up nothing of any value to us. To believe as much is just magical thinking. Scott Harris fielded this particular iterational team reasonably expecting that there would be offensive improvement in those guys with ceilings, and hoping that most of the remainder would hold some of their gains from last year. What he didn't do was to stockpile an entire major-league-starting-level replacement team in reserve if/when his first team players start populating the injured list like rabbits, and he didn't do that because practically nobody does that, because that takes resources almost no team has. So I believe he can hardly be fairly criticized for that. It's hard (or perhaps more like inconvenient) to remember now, but before guys started going down to injury, our offense was doing a pretty good job, as Jay Jaffe pointed out on FanGraphs: And this is with the team fielded this year by Scott Harris. I get that this may be an unwelcome reminder to those fans who demand dramatic (or drastic) action NOW. But that kind of action may not even be necessary even with this 40-man roster, especially as guys start coming back off the list to help out. But maybe all we have to do at this point is wait for the guys to come back and get our roster a lot closer to what it was always supposed to be this year. And also, imagine if Scott Harris takes the action those fans want, starts replacing players and field management willy nilly, and fails because the new players, coaches, and manager are all worse. Are those fans going to be understanding of that and conclude, well, we're still losing, but at least he tried, so I'm back on board with him?

You can’t do solar in space. Haven’t you seen pictures? It’s dark.

Won't someone think of the space birds?

3 wins until Mitch Marner brings the Cup to Toronto! Go Knights Go!

Sparky Anderson once said that it's too soon to judge a team until after their first 10 games following a 4-21 stretch.

Trump is on my TV rambling about how the Reflecting Pool is "bigger than skyscrapers". He even has a chart to prove it.

No need to extend a starting pitcher beyond the first 6 years. They all get hurt.

Make no mistake, there is a decent bloc of Tiger "fans" who enjoyed what they saw in May because for some reason they have a hatred of Scott Harris... I see it as a combination of his youth and intelligence. Many are not cut out to be baseball fans because it's every day and requires some balance. You can't over react to every play and every game but talk radio and podcasters and twitter folks need something to talk about.

KC loses, the Tigers out of last place in the AL Central!

Reading the negativity spewed about today's lineup right now is fun.

The tigers have the second worst CF DRS in baseball at -8. Worst is pit at -9. And I can’t say for sure but I suspect that playing corner OF in CF and IF/DH types in corner OF also doesn’t help.

Maddoxesque performance by Melton.

Wow, what a great eight innings for Melton.

The good news is this is just another story. I've heard reports of 36M, 37M, 40M, and now this one for 44M. This is a lot of guessing. My only hope is that it's closer to 35 than 40M. I'd obviously prefer 25-30M, where he actually belongs, but we all know that's not happening. I do love how defenders of this always justify it with, "He's only 22 so he'll get better", but nobody can offer up an answer for WHAT he'll get better at. What skill does he have that we're betting on him improving? Dunking? He's shown zero ability to be a stretch 5 and you don't suddenly learn defensive instincts and gain perimeter footspeed. I'd be more willing to bet that this season was his ceiling than that he will suddenly turn into a Embiid, Jokic, or even Gobert.

All the way to Bert!

BERT STATUS: ACHIEVED

Halfway to a Bert...

The overarching thing with Harris is that people simply love to have something to bitch about.

I think for a lot of the fans you describe, there's not just a little anti-intellecualism going on with that, and to your point, I also believe it's driven by his youth and intelligence, but also, his slight build and soft face that do not resemble those of most major league ballplayers. If he were an ex-ballplayer in the exact same position saying and doing the exact same things in the exact same way, he'd be getting a far wider berth from those fans you describe.

I see Piston fans are on the Cam Johnson hype train again. Nobody ever mentions that in 7 seasons he has never played in more than 66 games. Or his last four years he had played 54, 57, 58, and 42 games.

CF was not the major source of their problem- if anything IF D was as bad or worse, it was poor run production and poor pitching = mostly relief. They gave up 19 more runs in may than april, but scored 37 less.(one game difference in total games I'm ignoring) The increase in runs against is both pitching and defense - say you split xs runs allowed 50/50 between fielding and pitching then ~46 of the 56 run differential was still in hitting or pitching, mostly hitting.

Depends on the corresponding move and the outcome of the DFA. Probably a net zero... Guys getting healthy will move the number down. I project a frozen roster the rest of the way, and players on split contracts making minor league money instead of major league moves the number down. Compare guys recently demoted and see how their number dropped.

I think what would help the honest news business would be per story pricing. Not as a replacement for subscriptions, but as an adjunct. That would help support reporters doing in depth stories because when they hit, they would generate additional revenue. I can't count the number of times I've picked up a lead on a story I wanted to read that led me to a local newspaper or some e-mag that was paywalled. I would have gladly paid a buck or two to read the story but wasn't going to subscribe to an out of town paper to do it. If the argument is that the overhead on small e-payments to too large, then build a micro-payment system. Maybe you buy 10 or 15 tokens a month and drop them at any news outlet in the system. There is a market for journalism. What's killing journalism is the lack of good ways for good journalists to get paid in that market.

I suspect the reason Max is not in Detroit is that he's simply not ready. There might be more to it than just his AAA wRC+ which trumps our short-tern need to lift us out of contention for last place right now whatever the cost. Even if our primary and secondary CFs are out, the backup backup CF options we are putting out there are probably considered to be still better options at the big league level than Max is today, June 3, 2026.

I lived in Western Pa until I was 12. The French and Indian War as we call it was an important part of history there. A couple of years ago we visited Fort Necessity on a trip back to Michigan. Much smaller than what I expected and what I thought I visited when I was 8 or 9. Turned out my visit way back then was to Fort Ligonier, another 7 year war fort built by the British. I also spent a bit of time touring around Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Another Seven Year Fort.

I don't have any major specific complaints about Harris, although it's fun to poke his ardent supporters I liked the roster going into the season and liked their chances of making post-season. May was a disaster which I think was due primarily to a large number of injuries at the same time and then things just snowballed. I don't think there was much Harris could have done. I suppose rolling the dice on Clark was one thing, but I doubt it would have added many wins. If he did poorly, would it have slowed down his development? I don't really know.

It may seem like turmoil, but Bari is doing exactly what she was brought in to do.

The Twins are next.

"I see ... well, Mr. Mullin, the fact is that you have made three false statements in a row in Minnesota. How many more do you believe you have to make before we can call it a pattern?"

I'm glad it's not May anymore.

Imagine getting shut out by Flaherty and De Jesus. Tampa fans should conclude that their season is over.

Who does this guy think he is? Jake Rogers?

Getting some guys back. They need to get to fewer than 10 games under .500 by June 30. 5 under by end of July. .500 by end of August. 10 over by end of September. Easy peasy, lol

SEYMOUR! THE SCOREBOARD IS ON FIRE!!!! No mother, it’s just the northern lights

Flaherty back out there for the sixth inning… he promptly walks Diaz on four pitches. Thanks, Brad…

Hinch is an idiot. NOW he has them score runs? where was that in May?

I can live with Short if he’s just used as a defensive replacement. It bothers me more than Wenceel and Jahmai are still here over Lee.

We should have traded Cossa for Myles Garrett.

Mayor Mamdani signs order to ban bedtimes for kids during the Knicks playoffs run. 😂

its his signature shot. i dont think duren will ever be antonio mcdyess, but prohibiting him from learning a skill is silly. having the possibility of making mid range jumpers might open things up for him depending on who is guarding him. i just dont rate duren. but i guarantee you they will be looking to diversify his offensive repertoire.

The parent team is doing poorly and honestly the prospects aren't doing too hot either, quite a few top ones are injured and the ones that aren't well most of them aren't living up to the biliing but there are some bright spots I want to focus on. Thayron Liranzo - The statline looks not great at first and he was injured to start the year but he has turned it on in May. Sporting a .235/.346/.529 (.875 OPS) line over 19 games, he has 6 HR in that time frame. I think a lot of people were down on him last year due to the performance but I think we have to remember that he is still only 22 and is playing in a league where he is 2 years younger than the average. Ben Jacobs - Last years 3rd round pick, started in Lakeland now in WM, over 8 games he is sporting a 2.05 ERA with a 0.88 WHIP and a 13.2 SO/9 John Peck - Considered the best defensive SS in the system he has turned on the bat a bit. .276/.313/.521 shows a player flexing some power but the lack of walks and the elevated K's are concerning. Jhonan Coba - SSS alert but in the FCL he has a 1.69 ERA with a solid 3 pitch mix. Someone to keep an eye on.

1. The tweet you posted is apparently not accurate. 2. it is literally unbelievable that Rod Wood made any decision about scheduling an international game unilaterally. 3. Rod Wood was involved in hiring Spielman, Holmes, and Campbell and in wholly changing the culture of a previously pathetic franchise.