1984Echoes

I'm not interested in ancient history. I'm interested in this year, and next year, and... etc. "Way too long" doesn't mean a thing to me. You know, like a Cornerback. Short-term memory. Whatever has happened... has already happened. Forget it and move on. For peace of mind, I would recommend becoming more like a... Cornerback. And this year and next year tells me that all the injuries and broken prospects still need to be healed in order to create at least some kind of a base for the team to be competitive.

No, it's NOT blind faith. If you claim it's blind faith, then what you are saying is that you have ZERO belief in any of our prospects' talent, and that includes MLB kids who haven't taken off yet such as Greene, Tork, Mize, Manning, Skubal, etc... (you have ZERO belief in their talent?), and that you have ZERO belief in Hinch and Fetters, and ZERO belief in the changes that Harris has made to our minors' developmental team, and ZERO belief that Harris can properly identify talent. Leaving nothing except blind faith. YOU may be 1000% blind faith, I am not.

It's not blind faith... I actually DO believe in many of these prospects. And they ARE... VERY talented. But with injuries and actual performances against MLB pitching... progress is not linear. I still think the talent level of "Avila's kids" is at a very high level, much higher than we've had in a very long time. Since the 70's. I don't think we've had this level of overall farm system talent since... yes, the 70's. (Counting the already graduated Greene, Tork, Mize, Manning, Skubal, etc...). It's just that... realization of that talent is... obviously... tricky.

As an aside: Jake Rogers has a .182 BABIP this year... Can he NOT get more luck than that?

Correct, no choice. And just because they haven't made it yet doesn't mean they won't. They are still all kids. And yes, I still do believe in them. It's just going to take some more of that very dirty word: patience. And this just totally sucks right now so... I get it. One last thing (IIRC): I think I had Faedo in the Bullpen. A rotation of Mize-Eduardo-Manning-Skubal and Turnbull as 5th starter? Or maybe Wentz? I can't remember... but I definitely had Faedo in the BP. Again... this team goes nowhere without some of these kids making it. So I still believe in them.... but, you know... Here's hoping...

Do you mean like the 2021 offseason when they signed Eduardo and Baez? So the answer to your question is... yes. The Tigers have already done that. And just like the Rangers last year... everything fell apart and stunk. And expectations were not met. By either team. The difference obviously is that the Tigers kids haven't taken off yet (Greene was starting to but... of course an injury...) and injuries completely decimated their chances both last year and this year... So I still say they need to heal all their kids and find out if they have a base of talent to actually start to contend. We're a year behind the Rangers because of injuries. But what does Skubal become when he gets back from his injury? Manning? Mize? Eduardo? Greene? Austin is done for so it's time to move on, but... Faedo? Even if Faedo gets dropped into the BP does he become something good there? Rogers is back from injury... can he improve his contact rate? Can Tork get to a .300+ BABIP instead of the .255 he had last year and the .277 he has this year? Can he find more power? Can Carpenter continue? When Miggy retires this year does that open up a spot for Malloy? Can Malloy/ Keith/ Dingler cut it against MLB pitching? What about Turnbull? Wenceel Perez? Baddoo's upside (what is it?). What about Parker Meadows? Olson? Madden? Even Jung who's a bit further away? All of these guys we are going to find answers on over the next year+ or so... So it sucks having to hold onto patience during this absolute ****-show. But this team goes nowhere unless there is a successful corps of kids that make it. And FA's won't paper over a 100% failure rate on the kids. So we better hope for a 50/50 success/failure rate on all of these kids or we'll suck for a lot longer than 2022 & 2023...

There's a name for that: It's called "Work in Progress". That doesn't change the mission statement at all. But it does also involve a very nasty, dirty, despicable word: "Patience".

GPS/ geolocation of the call. Cellphones can be tracked.

The most apt statement I made this past offseason was that the Tigers mission statement for the 2023 season was to fix all their broken players. That statement is still 100% correct and hasn't changed one iota.

And he would STILL say: "Screw you Tigers, I'd rather play with the Yankees."

Hmmm... very simple to me... Execute the MF'er for treason.

This tells me that outside of Lamar's spectacular ONE season, his best QBR's were: 67, 59, 50... And Goff's were 63, 61, 55, 50, 50... Randy's point remains valid.

Better yet... can we just send Canada all our Trumps? To rake leaves of course...

None of the above. It's called the receivers getting... separation.

Damn, I haven't heard that in a long while... One of my favorites and I love Astrud's voice... RIP.

Prigozhin captures Russian Lieutenant Colonel... Although Wagner had been attacked by this LC so... More like they are firing at each other (pot-shots, not a full scale war): https://www.yahoo.com/news/prigozhin-alleges-wagner-mercenaries-captured-082400319.html

And the closer he is to just dying off before he has to face any such thing as justice... It's a no-win situation; but I am still holding out for justice even as it slowly dwindles out like a spent campfire....

Not at the expense of a better prospect.

Oh please YES throw a racketeering (RICO) charge at Trump, Georgia. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/signs-pointing-racketeering-charges-georgia-150743943.html

If anything... There will be depletion of Trump's aging and dying (sorry to be impolitic) supporters and a new 4-year addition of young voters who are extremely (90% rate I believe it is) anti-Trump. And of conservative voters who he got in 2020 but can NOT stomach Jan 6th (however great or few that those voters are...). He is not gaining voters, he is losing them.

Excellent thread. Excellent points. I'm buying into the ideas 100%.

Obviously killing a US Senator is beyond any acceptable red line... And deserves the harshest response possible... But just talking realistic here: There's no way killing Putin is part of that response. American policy is we don't assassinate foreign leaders. And, that's just not going to happen, even in this instance. If he ordered/ succeeded in killing a US President...? Maybe. Something to think about... But the next step down from direct assassination would be a war to eliminate the adversarial government, to include the guy at the top.... and that's not realistic either. Invade Russia? As bad a shape as they are in currently... not going to happen. What does that leave us with, as a harsh response? At the very least, this: 1) Close all Russian consulates, and kick out 100% Russian diplomats in the U.S. Kick them all out. 2) Declare Russia an International Terrorist state. Also at the U.N. We have American policies on the books that come into play when we declare a terrorist state. That's what the US does. The United Nations also has policies against terrorist states, I believe, although I'm not certain what actions they take specifically. 3) Speaking of the UN, kick Russia out of the Security Council. They've never filed the proper paperwork. They just assumed the seat when the Soviet Union dissolved. Making it exceptionally easy to do this. Have any Russian diplomat attempting to enter a Security Council meeting escorted out... by security. Preferably Ukrainian Security. In order for Russia to gain re-admittance into the Security Council, they would need to be approved by 100% of the remaining members (15 at-large I believe, plus 4 permanent after Russia's removal) and the US has a veto so... Russia will never get back in. Period. Offer up Ukraine as the new permanent member, to take the old Soviet Union permanent seat. Vladdy would love that. 4) Congress is required for an Act of War. So this won't happen. Even as near and dear as Graham was, I am certain of this, to all his fellow Senators and House critters... But they can also authorize a military response. The correct military response is: all Russian military naval vessels are fair game outside their exclusive economic zone, for retaliation. For the murder of a US Senator. So they are effectively, verboten outside the Baltic and Black Seas, and outside their Arctic coastline. This is us, not the UN. Sevastopol would be a problem to attack anyways, with potential huge loss of American lives. But their ships in Syria or Cyprus port could all be attacked/ sunk. And any ship on the open seas could be attacked/ sunk. If they want to attack back, let them try. They know they've overstepped their bounds with an American political assassination so my guess is they slink all back (submarines with nukes included) to their home ports and close shop. Effectively, they are shut out of being an international player. Not 100%. But damn near. And they would have to figure out how to get back into the good graces of the international community. Unless they prefer to become North Korea 2.0. Which means: the Russian elites would probably assassinate Putin and replace him with a new regime. So... same result but only they can do the dirty work (the Dirty Deed Done Dirt Cheap).

That's not even close to any kind of given... They do still have nukes... you know.

That's a known factor. That's why the Russians keep sending human waves at the Ukrainians. To sop up ammunition so their artillery or more experienced troops can try to take advantage. They've been doing that for at least the past 6 months or so... Great military strategy to convey to their soldiers: "Please soak up as many bullets as you can before dying. Spaceba."

This would have nothing to do with costing Putin his life. That is dependent entirely on a different set of unrelated factors. Why do you think that?