RatkoVarda

46 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Rapist Trump treats Spanish airbases like he treats women; he can have them if he wants them, and they are not allowed to object.

Orange pedo turd brags he can do forever war. MAGAs scammed again, Chapter 95,846.

don't want to knock Holmes when he just got great value, but he needs a good 2026 draft after the disaster of 2024 and the meh 2025 draft

they are in a weird spot of being really, really talented but with lots of holes, some of which are going to have to be filled by rookies in 2026

To the list below we can add:

Iran's nuclear capabilities were totally obliterated.

Golden Oldies (some of which we have already seen again):

We don't want the next smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.

We will be hailed as liberators.

Military action will cost between $10 and $100B, but no more.

Mission Accomplished.

13 hours ago, Nate7474 said:

He’s been one of my favorite players to take in the mock draft simulators when available. I think he will be great at the next level. 

unlike most teams that use 4/2/5 defensive lineup, Lions go with a lot of traditional 4/3/4

if you want to sometimes (or fulltime) move to a 4/2/5, having Campbell and Styles at LB seems like a great idea

29 minutes ago, ICroupier said:

We have a lineup with very little projection or upside.

as someone who has wanted Harris to do (a lot) more, IMO this is wrong.

They are what they are: Baez, McKinstry, Jones are not going to outperform 2025 numbers; same for Dingler

Low ceiling, not much more there: Meadows, Wenceel, Rogers, Sweeney

but

With a little health luck, could see big improvements: Torres, Carp, Vierling

Still have another gear, which they may or may not find: Tork, Greene, Keith

Future Allstars: McGonigle, Clark

Lots of other young bats: Valencia, Lee, Anderson, Cruz, Briceno, Liranzo

Trump is a rapist.

Trump is a rapist.

 a

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write:

I'm pretty sure the head of the MLBPA can bang as many of his sisters-in-law as he wants without losing his job

the problem is, he had an inappropriate relationship with a union employee, who happens to be his sister-in-law

23 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

At times I wish there were more than two parties in the US. I'm not sure given our DNA whether it would work, but would go a longer (than now) way to stop the Party Purity B-S we're seeing now. 

But that would go along with things like ranked voting and multi member districts. 

maybe ranked choice is the way out,

but the GOP pours huge money into Jill Stein and others every POTUS election, hoping to peel of 1-2% here or there; that is money well spent by them on their useful idiots 

Some anti-vax MAHA group is buying a Super Bowl ad so ear carnivore and convicted rapist Mike Tyson can tell America not to eat processed foods.

1 hour ago, LaceyLou said:

I don't know if we can overcome this. 

We won't.

Dems may not be allowed to ever win again if the SC goes along with the Orange Pedo Turd's plans. If Dems ever do win again, they will repeat Biden's mistake, and fail to round up all the MAGA trash up and throw them all in jail.

"I want to work with them" "I want to reach across the aisle" "We are all in this together"

F*** that s***. These people are out to destroy the country. And now that they have gotten a taste for it, it is never going away. Never. The power, the racism, the grifting - it is simply too intoxicating to them to let go. I compare this current state of affairs to the Sandy Hook shooting. Little kids were gunned downed en masse, and as a country we did .... absolutely nothing. Now, non-whites are being terrorized en masse, and as a country we did .... absolutely nothing.

1/3 of the country supports it. 1/3 is fighting it. But the other 1/3 is on their phone as the country burns down around them. This is just not a serious country. Everything is memes and hot takes, distracting us from the overlords amassing unlimited power and wealth in plain sight.

The country will continue for a good long while, for as long as billionaires have something to extract from the dying husk of the country.

But The United States of America is over.

Racist orange pedo turd says that as soon as he saw the Obamas portrayed as apes, he had his people post it.

I do not want the Tigers to sign Skubal to a 10/400 deal. It is likely the last few years could be ugly, perhaps very ugly, and the Tigers cannot risk having 40M+ in dead money on their books. That is a risk the bigger markets can take. 5 x 50 does not get it done, but I would try, and then watch him walk.

Skenes was paid 875K for his 6.5 WAR last year; the Pirates got a superstar performance for peanuts, and then re-allocated the money they would have had to pay a superstar pitcher right into the pockets of the owner, trotting out a bottom 5 payroll.

Clearly the only solution to this problem is to limit the earning power of players, so billionaire owners can make higher profits.

9 hours ago, Shelton said:

The arbitration panel shall, except for a Player with five or more years of Major League service, give particular attention, for comparative salary purposes, to the contracts of Players with Major League service not exceeding one annual service group above the Player's annual service group

I think that Skenes could ask for $32M in his 1st arbitration year. He is allowed to ask, but the arbitrators are supposed to focus on 1st and 2nd years salaries. If they think special circumstances merit $32M, so be it.

Skenes, like Skubal and Ohtani, are unicorns. I have no problem if they are are compensated as such.

Current projected CB Tax payroll 2026:  $233,614,050

In all seriousness, they have only $10M before they hit the first tax threshold, and that could limit them if they want to pick up a big bat at the trade deadline.

Skubal's 1st goal was to reset the arbitration market - DONE

Skubal's 2nd goal is to reset the FA market - TBD

(interestingly, Valdez reset the market for AAV for FA LH pitchers with yesterday's deal)

$ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7017277/2026/02/05/detroit-tigers-2026-top-20-prospects-keith-law/

Sexton ended up in Chicago, probably not a guy they are interested in re-signing. Would have greatly preferred to add Sexton to give Cade some ball handing relief, than wish-casting that Huerter is going to find his stroke.

9 hours ago, Tigermojo said:

"Detroit also forfeits draft capital because Valdez rejected a qualifying offer from the Astros. They’re a revenue sharing recipient so it’s the lowest penalty, their third-highest pick in the 2026 draft. That’s currently slated to be their Competitive Balance Round B selection, which is 69th overall. The Tigers could look to trade that pick — Competitive Balance selections are the only ones that can be traded — rather than losing it as the compensatory pick. They’d then forfeit their third-round selection (#98 overall), but another team might be more willing to give up something of value for the higher draft choice and accompanying slot value that makes it worthwhile for Detroit to lose the third-rounder."

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/tigers-framber-valdez-agree-to-three-year-deal.html

this entire paragraph at mlbtraderumors is dead wrong. the CB picks can be counted when determining a team's 3rd pick, but, unless traded, the CB pick CANNOT be the pick that is forfeited, so they are going to lose the 98th pick for signing Valdez. Kind of incompetent for them not to know the rules.

the story actually is this: the Tigers have gamed the system a little bit, as they are losing their 4th overall pick for signing a free agent

Ilitch now has the Tigers with a Top 10 payroll and less than 17M from the first competitive balance tax line.

Someone needs to reign in his irresponsible spending!

1 minute ago, Tigermojo said:

Boras getting Pittsburgh involved seemed to move things along for Valdez.

$32 million for Skubal means Boras is looking to break records in November.

Boras does not rep Valdez