1984Echoes

A lot of that was obvious but where I would disagree is that: China will in no way suffer from Russia's defeat. They will simply shift focus. They will shift current strategy to an all out build out of pipelines & other to facilitate Russian oil and gas flowing into China. But it will be under China's contractual terms. And Russian oil and gas has been slow to develop in China, previously, because the Chinese drive hard bargains. Very hard. Hard for Russia to stomach. And therefore, limited buildout to-date. But now that Putin/ Russia are between a rock and a hard place, with the EU repudiating their energy supplies... Xi will have them over a barrel. I believe they are currently getting 30-40% discounts on the Russian oil & gas they are purchasing, because of the existing sanctions. China will push for long-term contracts with Russian supplies at a severe discount. Effectively, a price cap. China has already been copying their advanced military technologies onto their own platforms, so they no longer need Russia as a supplier. Having Russia as a military partner would have been advantageous... but they will have to live with a severely diminished Russia as an economic/ military entity. I won't state the same for political ideology as I think there may be changes in the Russian polity coming soon. But since they have lost their ranking as a military superpower (aside from a nuclear arsenal..); it doesn't really matter anyways. China will force Russia into a commodities supplier relationship, which I think was destiny anyways for Russia under the current regime. This is just happening a whole lot swifter than anyone could have imagined. Because of Putin's Folly. Lastly, on Taiwan... It's probably short-term painful for China... but they have a long game... so I think they will start to tread more carefully and again, will just look to adapt/ shift their techniques to deal with the new reality. They've been throwing a lot of temper tantrums recently... but they'll figure out what changes they need to implement to continue on their attempted path towards becoming the dominant #1 superpower. Which I don't think was ever realistically achievable (more like parity), even if their economy will soon be larger than the US Economy. Overall, probably some disappointment on Xi's side but... he'll adapt quickly IMO.

Yes. I made a couple adjustments but used your comment because I think that's where we're at. Just my 2 cents but I don't think the Org/ new GM will have any interest in bringing Barnhart back so it's Dingler and Sanchez at AAA and Rogers/ Haase with the Tigers. I don't know how Jake's arm is progressing after TJ but... I don't think they'll bring in a FA either... I think next year will be to just see how the position fleshes out next year or, as you've pointed out, try upgrading in 2024 if they feel it's necessary. I don't know if Dingler will be the starter in 2024, or just get a cup because he isn't quite ready... but I think he can be the long-term answer. We'll see...

They are either IN, or have taken Kupiansk... it's a little unclear; but as indicated, any Russian troops in Izium will soon have their retreat cut off, can be encircled, and captured: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wrapup-1-ukraine-troops-raise-090145556.html This looks like one of Ukraine's goals... to capture as many Russian POW's as they can. I wonder if Putin will trade the millions (1.5?) of Ukrainian women and children that he's kidnapped to get his "disgraced soldiers" back. This will be a Ukrainian demand in any negotiation. On Putin's decision...? 50/50 at best. Why would he trade women and children for disgraced Russian soldiers (his line of thinking I believe)? Which will be a destabilizing issue in Ukraine (that is what Putin's thinking will also be IMO so...) not better odds than 50/50.

And Haase and Candy with 6 hits including 3 HR's and a BB saying "Hey, we thought we might try and help out too... is that OK with you guys?"

Who was the Toledo hitting coach they brought up with Tork and Kreidler? Maybe everyone en masse decided to shift over and listen to him instead of Hessman and Coolbaugh? Just WAG'ing here...

Castrei jobs on the line next year since they no longer have Al backing them...?

Looks like they're taking Baez out... for defense?

And Candy has triple ability too... not a lot but...

Glad to have some additional support...! Yeah... he had a bit of a rough start. But I won't put that on any of these rookies or 2nd/ 3rd year guys because they will all still have some Major League maturing/ growth curve to overcome. I sort of expect some foibles along the way... (well... not THIS level of issues that we've had to deal with, but... oh well... nothing we can do about it at this point except hope the issues diminish in a major way next year). I have a good level of hope for next year... but it's heavily weighted towards all these young guys - Wentz included - being able to show some serious growth. That might take more than just one year to show up though...

Oh I've mentioned him multiple times... As G2 points out though... it took him a little time to fully get back from TJ, including (or especially) the command & control part...

It can do nothing else but help... That and a few rookies getting their footing...

I've always thought Wentz would make a good #4 or 5 at this level. So yes, I was always a supporter but... No, I didn't (and don't) think he would be better than Manning. But I'll take a 5th starter out of him if we can get it...

As long as he can keep producing they'll need to find a spot in the lineup for him...

Toledo: Lipcius again with a 2 for 4 including a double and now at .327/ .932... if he can't handle SS does he have enough bat/ glove where we could put him somewhere? Or as Ed says... is this BABIP fueled and he will regress to the mean soon enough so don't worry about it...? Erie: Madden pitched a good game but gets the loss on 2 unearned runs; 4 inn's, 5 hits, 1 BB and 5 K's... No offense to speak of at all... WM: Dylan Smith pitched a good game and gets the 4-0 win on 6 shutout inn's, 2 hits, 2 BB's and 6 K's... Not much offense but Serretti went 2 for 4 (incl. a double) and is hitting .294 at WM... Pacheco hit a HR in a 1-4 but is still below Mendoza at .190.

Now 7-0 as the Tigers O has seemingly come to life near the end of this season... And Wentz pitching a shutout so far... Harbinger of next year... right? 😜

And he's willing to use inhumane violence to achieve his Peter the Great ambitions.

I think this is incorrect. This war is 100% about Putin's historical grievance. The Soviet Union lost its global standing/ prestige/ power/ influence when it fell apart. He wants it back. That's it. Domestic standing is just a side effect.

The only thing worse than what he has already done is... To use their nukes. We'll see if he goes that far... or if he backs off. My money is that he starts looking for a way out of this mess. He is completely shutting off the EU from Russian oil/ gas/ coal as a way to try and strong-arm the result that he wants. (A) I don't believe the EU will buckle under the pressure. (B) I think Ukraine's successful counteroffensive increases the pressure/ shortens the timeline significantly. (C) I don't believe he will act worse. I don't think he'll go that far. He's a gangster/ violent fascist willing to use genocide/ kidnapping/ etc... to get what he wants... But I firmly believe he does not go nuclear. I firmly believe he will start looking for a way out. He wants to keep Crimea, no matter what. That means negotiating for peace, and giving up the rest of Ukraine territory in return for keeping Crimea, and finding a cooperative agreement concerning Crimea (Russian access/ water supply from Kherson) rather than the current adversarial situation; which is better than losing everything. He can spin a cooperative agreement on a Russian held Crimea as some sort of win. Good luck with that, but that I believe is what he will soon be forced into... Just my 2 cents.

I was so dead set on retaking Kherson that I was not paying attention to the eastern front. So that's why they were talking up up retaking Kherson so prolifically and for an extended period of time?! To drain Russian forces from the east, and sent to the south/ Kherson Oblast. Their (Ukraine's) counteroffensive in the east took me by surprise as well... Like I said, I had my mind set on Kherson. But they've already taken Balakliya and are about 9 miles outside of Kupiansk, a major railway hub for resupplying Russian forces. If Ukraine retakes that, Russia (resupply lines) are severely hampered, and Izyum will be next, followed by a major pushback in Lugansk Oblast which Russia struggled terribly to take over... Which means Putin's 2nd (or was it 3rd?) stated reason for invading Ukraine ALSO flops. He's GOTTA be feeling some heat at this point in time...!

They're all in a panic right now in Russia... I believe including Putin; although he will never (I should say: "never say never" but, at least at this point) show it. This storyline will be interesting to follow. Also... if it gets bad enough... if Putin actually does get removed from power, as you alluded to in the other storyline...

That was yesterday's news. St. Petersburg politicians asked members of the Duma to charge Putin with treason. They've been arrested. TBC...

So... I better follow my own device and have some... patience. Like it or not.

1) Don't spend $ 135 mill on a House of Cards. Like Schoop, Grossman, Miggy, etc... Even Meadows & Eduardo... who we didn't know would run into injuries/ other issues this year... 2) Patience. Cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together again in just one year of spending some money. Especially when relying on (A) foreseeable underperforming assets (Grossman/ Schoop/ Miggy) and (B) also relying on a boat load of kids who are naturally going to have ups and downs until they establish their footing in MLB. Requiring... patience, no quick FA fixes. We could hope that everything goes perfectly right in 2022 and we get our 80-ish wins... Or, like we all did, including Ilitch, we forgot that Murphy's Law does actually exist and things do go wrong. So... patience. I don't want to do anything different in 2023 so we can see how most of these kids (at the higher levels such as MLB down to no further than AA) flesh out before making any decisions/ changes in the on-field personnel... but that's just me. Ilitch should see that the correct lesson is to continue to develop the farm system so that free agency is turned to only as a last resort. There is lots of promise on the farm, but it will take further patience. And further improvements in the development system. And someone at the top who can do more/ faster than Avila to bring the Org front office, from top to bottom, into the 21st century. We are half way there, but need an integration specialist that can pull all the pieces together, and make them work cohesively. As for money, I hope that our prospects turn out well enough that we are offering THEM 8 year contracts to buy out 2 or 3 arbitration years as well as 5-ish years of FA at a hometown discount. And filling in only 1 or 2 holes with outside FA's. That's how I want to spend our annual Salaries. But... that's probably a different topic of discussion for the very far off future... at least as it looks like right now...

They want to save civilian casualties and stuff...

It would not bother me to extend current day Tajikistan into any predominant Tajik territory in Afghanistan, and lop off the rest of it as Pashtunistan as you say. The Taliban are all Pashtun... the only issue is that there is a chunk of Pakistani territory that is mostly Pashtun also so there will always be troubles fomenting there... But if you combined the two Pashtun territories I believe that would extend all the way to the Indian Ocean and therefore give them a modicum of economic viability... Maybe enough to throw off the Taliban extremists... although, that could backfire... Separate issue... but I have long wanted to carve out a Kurdistan for the Kurds. The largest culture/ ethnicity without its own country. Northern Iraq, eastern Turkey (no wonder they're always attacking the Kurds...), northern Syria, and northwestern Iran. I would give them a land bridge to the Black Sea and to the Caspian Sea. But that's just me.