1984Echoes

If Buch and Kiisk are in GR... We still have a plethora of smallish skilled players both in Detroit and "AAA" GR. I'd like to see Stevie Y make a trade. Berggren would be easy... I don't know who else. Ras because he's soft? I saw an article suggest Detroit trade Copp similar to a guy last year, we pay lots of salary, but get a 1st rounder back. It said the two were nearly identical in skill and cost and performance etc... (forgot the name, I was just breezin' through...). If he does this, I'd like him to trade up the two 1sts and get the biggest, baddest, two-way playing PF he can get his hands on. I'd like to see him trade for Marchment, not go after Marner. I want to see some serious effort towards making our team "harder to play against". I want to see Stevie Y be as active as necessary this offseason to accomplish that. Be active. Be smart. Get us some two-way players with toughness and experience. Please. With sugar on top.

Slumlord roots. Try as he might. He's still trash. And everyone knows it. Everyone.

Split the series. Best possible outcome.

I think they are specifically looking for potential Major League talent that is "on the cusp" or "almost there"... I mean.. they just signed Guerrero for $500 mill... I don't believe they are looking for a tear-down... Sweeney, Jung, Melton and Baddoo all qualify, IMO. And Bigbie and Anderson are not far behind. They are not getting Basallo and Mayo for a couple months of Bichette. I think your assessment is incorrect. My "package" may also be incorrect... but I think I'm in the ballpark.

Some thoughts: I don't trust locking Baez into one spot... at SS. I don't trust that he won't fall back into old habits, or that pitchers make some adjustment and he starts to get embarrassed again. I like him... I do! Just with... some... reservations. I actually like that Hinch can put him into any spot that he feels helps the team win games... and it seems that Baez has really bought into that as well. And it seems to have inspired him. I want to keep that. He can play 2B, SS, 3B, CF, probably LF too. Maybe even RF? And he can play every single day... or 98% of the time... because Hinch is going to put him ANYWHERE that he needs him and will allow to Baez to succeed. Not to be a broken record... but I like that... And I want to keep that. On that basis... I could go with a Bichette trade. I was interested in that last year. This year... I think we're better prepared for this type of trade. WAG a trade: Sweeney, Jung, (can we add one of Malloy or Baddoo in here, just to give them a shot? Just trying to be nice... Or maybe even Bigbie... just to give him a chance...), Troy Melton, and Max Anderson. For Toronto's: Bo Bichette, Addison Barger (adding Barger opens up Baez to mostly manning SS next year, btw...), Mason Fluharty, and Jeff Hoffman OR Brendon Little.

Anyone see "Imperfectly Perfect"? I watched it sort-of once but was mostly distracted by other things so I wanna see it again where I'm sitting down and really paying attention...

Maybe... But I don't know if he's ready just yet... And Glasgow IS ready. He's done it before. I am perfectly fine with Glasgow starting this year and Ratledge learning... maybe he even takes over at some point in the season, even if not at the start... Specifically, quotes from Hank Fraley: "Center is not natural for him yet..." "He definitely needs more time in there, more training..." That sort of feels to me like... he may, or may NOT be ready for game 1... We'll see what progress he makes in Training Camp and the pre-season games...

Specifically: After the first invasion in 2014, when Ukraine lost Crimea and a portion of the Donbas (but stopped them in their tracks at that point): American and other NATO forces flooded into Ukraine (after the fighting stopped of course) and armed and trained Ukrainian forces in western fighting techniques. Specifically, command structure. We convinced them to stop giving top-down commands for everything (IE: from Vladimir Putin Commander-in-Chief giving all orders for every single Russian movement and the troops being paralyzed when they can't carry out his commands... what now?). The Ukrainian Army took that to heart and started to develop an NCO (Non-Comissioned Officers such as Sargeants, Sargeant Majors, etc.) Corp and allowed their Field Officers (Captains and Lietenants) and NCO's (aforementioned Sargeant-types...) to make battlefield decisions. Why is Ukraine winning this war? Because small groups led by an NCO or Field Officer out-maneuvered superior Russian forces constricted by top-down orders. Small Ukrainian groups kept the Russians out of Kiev. Attacked and defeated the initial Russian paratrooper landing in Kiev Airport. Destroyed a column of Russian tanks headed towards Kiev. They have constantly out-maneuvered, out-fought, and defeated Russian forces far superior in numbers. Why does Russia win additional Ukrainian territory? Because they throw 100,000 Russian soldiers at a Ukrainian position with 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers and try to overwhelm them with numbers. It doesn't matter if Russia loses 80,000 Russian soldiers (in Putin's mind) and the Ukrainians lose 500 over 3 months of fighting... as long as Putin gains 5 more miles and 1 more Ukrainian village... in Putin's mind... he has won. If the United States were FULLY involved... Putin would lose ALL the territory he's stolen from Ukraine, including Crimea. This has been the "half-measure War". Neither Trump nor Biden has offered anything more than half measures. One out of stupidity and corruption, the other out of fear. And Russia has shown the world NOTHING... except that they should be DIMINISHED... not AWARDED for this genocidal travesty. America should be ashamed of itself.

I could see a Manu-Frazier-Ratledge-Mahogany-Sewell being a top NFL starting O-Line for 5+ years as soon as that all comes together. Maybe I'm only dreaming... but I don't think it's too hard to envision... Meaning... I don't think your statement necessarily follows from Ragnow's retirement. They'll always be looking to add to the O-Line... but I don't believe the stress there will be any different than always wanting to add to the D-Line, LB'ers or DB room, or RB or... OBK: "Only Brad Knows..."

If we're good at drafting and developing however... There will have to be some strategic trades of minor league depth (not our potential superstars/ top guys) for Major League depth guys that help us in September and October. Overall I agree with you. But we won't have room for everybody in Detroit either. So I am anticipating some smart trades coming soon... maybe even this year/ deadline.

No-Fly zone west of the Dnieper. So easy. Putin will whine big HUGE tears about Western interference in his back yard and then shut up and give up the war (atrocities). And take what he's gotten so far. Which is all he's going to get.

Hendrickson... get 'er done Holmes. I'm OK with Glasgow taking over at Center. I'm not sure how the two guard spots are going to shake out with Mahogany-Frazier-Ratledge (and maybe even toss Eguakun in there as a backup C; although I don't believe he's shown much)... But we're going to have to go through this every so often, and still maintain a way to stay on top and in the hunt for playoffs/ Super Bowls... We already have gone through that this year with new coordinators & other coaching spots after offseason hires... Now... we LITERALLY have to go through a "changing of the Guards". Oh, and a new Center. It might force us a step backward... but I have confidence from DC all the way down that these guys will respond and we will still be a legit threat for the SB. I'm betting that Glasgow takes the Center spot this year. Even if Ratledge or Frazier take the starting Center spot... eventually, I don't think that will happen this year. So we'll need Glasgow to perform at a high level. I believe both Ratledge AND Frazier are being cross-trained at Center... just in case. I hope Mahogany takes one of the starting guard spots... freeing up either Ratledge or Frazier (I think Ratledge takes the other spot...) to "float" as top backup for the 3 interior spots. And I hope Goff has a 100% healthy year with no time lost due to injuries as a result of O-Line struggles... Just my 2 cents. Is Eguakun anything? A UDFA Center-only from last year... I don't know what level he's at... Again... I go for an upgrade on Defense to counterweight some O-sluggishness due to these changes. Whether that's upping the offer to Smith or taking the big swing for Hendrickson... I'll leave that up to Brad to decide (obviously...).

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Or more trades that clear 40 space... Like this coming trade deadline...

2020 draftees Trei Cruz and Gage Workman: "'Don't you... forget about us...'; NOT just Torkelson, Dingler and Keith... hey, we wanna join the party too!!!"

Official Trump Administration policy: The faster that American peasants can die, with less medical costs, the more tax cuts can be made to enrich American Oligarchs.

Minor grammatical correction...

No.

You've decided to join the ranks of American Crackpot Conspiracy Theorists? Why?

We're talking Meadows FYI, not Pacheco... Unless there are two convo's going on and I'm missing who you are actually responding to...

"Bogo Markovic" has a nice ring to it... I feel like we're getting something extra... For free...

I wouldn't go that far... But I am nervous or apprehensive that it is... ("Please be real, please be real, please be real...!")

If a couple kiddies from GR could make the jump, or they trade for a top-4 D... That could push Chiarot & Holl down to 3rd pair only, or Holl to 7th D... And I think that would be perfect for the Wings. Petry is UFA... leaving only Gustafsson sitting in the box as a "break-in-case-of-DIRE-emergency" 8th D'man. I'd love to see Buium or Wallinder go crazy and take 1st pair with Seider... not that I'm counting on that or anything like that... 😉 I think Compher can come back. Uncertain how much... I just think he has better in him... Maybe paired with Danielson on a 3rd line? Speaking of which... who needs to move to make room for Nate? Berggren? Tarasenko? Rasmussen? All of the above? (getting a power forward or two back in various trades or signings...) Just a couple of thoughts I was thinking...

Not much different from Mantha. I was hoping for better from Ras...

Which is why I said a 3rd team would have to be involved and I just WAG'd that it would cost a 3rd and 4th to dump Tarasenko. You may have missed that...