Jim Cowan

Figuring out batting averages at 10 years old, sitting at the kitchen table while listening to Ernie, was a good start at math proficiency.

3 hours ago, CMU97 said:

https://www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fastball/news/former-detroit-tigers-outfielder-victor-reyes-signs-overseas-deal-and-will-play-in-kbo-with-lotte-giants

Whenever I read KBO the pronunciation in my head is KYBO.

I saw a great photo of Norm Cash barbecuing in his back yard, it was one of those little round steel barbecues, and you could see the next couple of backyards, there weren't any fences.  It was a solidly middle-middle class environment. 

15 minutes ago, oblong said:

Gordie Howe was a little bit like that.  He was viewed as being too naive and accepting of whatever the Red Wings management told him in regard to salary information. "Oh yeah Gordie, you are the highest paid guy.  For sure... don't worry"

Bob Baun was traded to the Red Wings, went out to dinner with Gordie, and told Gordie how much money he was getting on his Maple Leafs contract.  It was a lot more than Gordie was getting from the Red Wings.

2 hours ago, oblong said:

Part of me feels a civic duty to support local journalism. They can expose corruption and other problems and prove useful to society. I was paying $9.99 each for the news and freep. I cancelled during a purge on expenses.  I’m torn. We do need a strong media for accountability reasons. 

I agree 100%, you need local journalism.  I pay for my local rag, the Hamilton Spectator, and also for the Toronto Globe and Mail, the only quasi-national paper that does not have a hard right or hard left agenda.

2 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Does he have a hot wife?  

He's still young enough to have a hot mom.

4 hours ago, 1776 said:

Shooting from the hip?!?! Hear! Hear! 
My comments were based on interviews conducted over a full 12 month period with several of Chapman’s former team mates at every level he has ever played…including T-Ball! I also interviewed several of his former managers and coaches. Bob Melvin was very gracious to give me a few minutes of his time with all he has on his plate right now. 
In fact, a minor league bus driver for an unnamed minor league team on which Chapman played, informed me Chapman gave him one of the best tips he’s ever received. He stated the tip afforded his family a “real Christmas” that year. 😢
Of his present and current neighbors that responded to my inquiries, there were nothing but positive responses regarding his character and willingness to help others. 
Shooting from the hip indeed!

 

I didn't mind lending you my Lear, but for Pete's sake at least fill up the tank before you return it next time.

26 minutes ago, chasfh said:

We've been talking about how this has become an organization of pitcher whisperers since Harris took over, but if they can make this happen somehow, it will go a long way toward proving it.

 

Scott Harris:  "Also, he's lefthanded and has a pulse".  The hubris demonstrated in his comments is not something that I welcome, it reminds me of the Twins 20 years ago.  They signed "third baseman" Eric Munson and his hands of stone, and Terry Ryan said "once Gardy and his staff have a chance to work with him he'll be fine".  He wasn't fine.

37 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

So I talked to my mom about this whole situation last night at dinner with her. My mom is your run of the mill Democrat. She always votes in every election and always votes for Democrats. She's progressive, but not socialist or DSA. More in the Warren lane of the party. She consumes her news primarily from MSNBC, the Today Show, Meet the Press, This Week on ABC, 60 Minutes, Time Magazine, and through articles online. She doesn't read or get content from any of the super lefty news sites like Democracy Now,  the Intercept,  Jacobin, Counter Punch, Salon, etc.  She's not on Twitter ever and rarely on Facebook.

Keep in mind that her first husband and his family, not my father, were Palestinian and Arab-American. I asked her what she thought about the situation, trying to limit my opinion and bias as best I could, to gauge how she truly feels as a run of the mill, mid-70s, white democratic women. 

She believes all of the following . . .

1. What Hamas did on October 7th was wrong, barbaric, and was a terrorist attack that should be strongly condemned. 

2. Isreal has a right to fight back against Hamas but they have gone too far and are becoming an occupying force like the United States was in Iraq. 

3. Israeli settlements are a significant concern that don't get the attention and condemnation they should. 

4. Isreal is bordering on a genocide and needs to pull out of Gaza to allow humanitarian relief to come in. 

5. While Hamas is cowardly and uses human shields she believes that the Isreali government is not being discriminate enough with their bombing campaigns. She's also upset at them bombing southern Gaza now after declaring that a safe haven weeks ago. 

6. She doesn't understand why Joe Biden won't call for a ceasefire and why we give aid with out condition to Isreal. 

7. She'll vote for Joe Biden but feels he has handled this situation poorly and with not enough regard for Palestinian life. She is saddened at the massive loss of life and feels that Biden won't call for Isreal to back down. She feels this is the worst moment of his presidency far and a way. I asked her if she thought this was a failure on Biden's part and she said a fairly stern yes to that question.

8. She understands why people call this a genocide and are angry at Biden but that in the end, Trump would make the situation far worse. She feels Biden is trapped in a box but could do more all at the same time. 

As a progressive, but not leftist, older, suburban white woman,  I think that mom is fairly representative of a big portion of the average democratic voting block. She thinks Biden is increasingly on the wrong side of his party on this one and needs to show more concern overall to the Palestinian cause. She said dating back from the years she was married to her first husband Esa, whose family was Palestinian, opened her eyes up to their side of the story more than normal. 

Your Mom is my clone.  I agree 100% with her observations, I could not have said them so well.

Biden has a tough row to hoe here.  As an example on the CBC news recently a Jewish couple from Toronto, leaders in their diaspora community, described how much anti-Semiic prejudice they were experiencing and as a result, more to the point, how much they hate Netanyahu.  They hate Netanyahu, they freaking hate him.

So Biden is on an island that is getting smaller and smaller, an island that the ultra-progressives have probably already abandoned.

17 hours ago, Jim Cowan said:

Different sport but is Jon Rahm's blood money deal actually better than Ohtani's deal?  Did he get $400 million up front?

It appears that the answer is that he got $300 up front, $300 deferred, the likelihood of earning about $30 per year, a staff of 10, and use of a royal family private jet.  It's  a 4 1/2 -year deal. 

Jon, watch you don't sit on any forensic evidence on that airplane.

All the people murdered by MBS will still be dead.

2 hours ago, mtutiger said:

Jason Benetti in his interview with the Awful Announcing podcast mentioned a number of factors as to why he went over to the Tigers, including his view that the front office is "willing to spend on free agents".

Another data point to my view that people outside of Detroit view this organization much differently than the fanbase does.

"Having an owner who won't spend" appeared again in a Motor City Bengals article again last week.

Different sport but is Jon Rahm's blood money deal actually better than Ohtani's deal?  Did he get $400 million up front?

2 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Wait until you see the waiver claim Harris makes this week.  It will blow your mind.  

A week later he puts the same guy on waivers, and turns to the audience with a look of shocked surprise on his face. 

Jennifer and Bailey and Ginger and Mary Ann, they are all adequate for the teenaged male fantasist, but none of them can even come close to Mrs. Peel.  

2 hours ago, buddha said:

people who say they like bailey over loni anderson are just trying to sound cool.  wkrp hipsters.

loni anderson is much better looking than bailey.  its not even close.

lol.

Yeah you probably like Ginger better than Mary Anne.

Anthony Badoomboom.

That's it, I'm never coming in here again.  I mean it this time.

1 hour ago, Dan Gilmore said:

I’m more of a Bailey Quarters guy.

Oh absolutely it's Bailey, all day.

2 hours ago, casimir said:

Cincinnati.  Where former Tiger infielders go to improve their lot in life.  Heck, even Wayne Krenchicki’s bat got better after leaving Detroit for Cincinnati.

Oh, you don’t believe me?  Shame on you.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/krencwa01.shtml

Spooky.

That is a nice deal for Candelario, it looks like an overpay to me.  He'll like Cincinnati,  the way that Castellanos and Suarez did.

That's because Scott Harris doesn't want to win.  How do I know that?  Because he didn't find a creative solution for getting Cabrera off the team last winter.

38 minutes ago, 1776 said:

Just for fun they should ask him where Aleppo is.

Good one.

48 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Questionable strategy to challenge a mod to leave the site. 🙄

You're struggling to understand it.

1 hour ago, MIguy said:

For someone so skeptical of science, you sure are willing to accept god without asking even a single question regarding his origins.   

You are new here, and will be forgiven some mistakes borne of inexperience.  Your post here is unintentionally hilarious because you don't know that you are speaking to, probably, the pre-eminent engineer of this entire community...and you have called him out for being "skeptical of science".  It's pretty funny but you will probably get a free pass this time.

2 hours ago, Jim Cowan said:

I'm neither disappointed nor pleased. As some have pointed out it removes the lame duck aura, but other than that it doesn't make business sense.  I am not aware that Hinch does much particular harm, or much particular good, same as any other manager.

I do have to modify this a bit...I don't like the way he wears his hat.  He jams it down tight on his head, the tops of his ears are sticking up above his hat band, and the top of his hat is clinging to his head.

That isn't how you wear a baseball hat.  You wear the band above the tops of your ears, and there is an air space between the top of your head and the inside of your hat.

If I were to fire him for anything, it would be this.