gehringer_2

And I think we are at a point where the money matters. We've pretty much lost the noblesse oblige class of wealthy people willing to bankroll civil society, but today's middle class still is not awake to the fact that the responsibility is now theirs. And it doesn't have to be political money. Support your University, the ACLU, your library system, buy your local newspaper, there hundreds of places that middle class monetary support can help protect civil society from the caprice of a rogue Federal government.

with Perez and Meadows back Javy drops from #1 in CF to #3, but no, that won't stop Hinch from getting him out there enough to keep a hand in.

but the other thing is that the kid just doesn't strike out. You get a lot more mileage out of your ABs when a third of them don't end without you hitting the ball!

we can only hope that title isn't a premature take on "the man Putin hasn't killed yet"

But I never like trading to get older in the first place. The way the CBA works, older players are financial death to any but the richest franchises (which we aren't) so I don't really see moving prospects on any scale as a viable long term option for the Tigers, unless you want another Dombrowski boom/bust cycle. Personally, I'm too old to be interested in another 10 years of bad baseball! You will start losing you own players fast enough that what you think is a surplus coming up today, won't be when the time comes.

he raised his OPS 50+ from April to May so the trend is in a good direction, but the less promising part is his walks are dropping off. I don't know if I'd be keen on just throwing Baez out there full time at SS again, but with Javy who knows? McKinstry is having a great year but I still don't like him as an everyday SS.

Sweeney and Malloy have similar OPS over the last month or so, both around 600. Sweeney marginally better. But Sweeney plays a premium position and actually has a reverse platoon split, so it's pretty hard for me to see what possible advantage there in in keeping Malloy, but the fact is TPTB seem to like him more than I do (as a player that is ).

Can't be too disappointed in the offense this weekend, Bubic and Wacha might turn out to be the best pair of pitchers they face back to back this season. If KC starts to hit at all they are going to be heard from.

Good to be leaving KC if Perez is starting to heat up.

If a starter doesn't go 5 it's up to the discretion of the scorer. He thought Lee made the biggest contribution. That's all there is.

Javy should have swung at the 1st one - best pitch he got in the AB.

How many time do you see a manager bring in a pitcher just to match the handedness of the guy at the plate and then have the guy basically pitch around him?

and of course, all the hits today are Baez, McKinstry and Greene.

runze, s'il te plaît!

He was doing well till about May 15. His last 35 PA have been at about 150 BA. McKinstry has scuffled in his last 30 or so as well.

I want him to be the best he can be. He can be better against LHP than he has been this season which would make him an even better piece in the lineup.

this season his K rate is up and walk rate is down - but his slugging is up a bit. It's close to a wash in wRC+ but his platoon split has gotten way worse. Last season he was 698 OPS against LHP, which is fine. This season down to 522. I would agree if he wants to stay an everyday player he needs to back off on the all or nothing approach tendency.

Big arm but from my strictly fan level power of observation he has a problem reproducing his release mechanics reliably - which is leading to too many uncompetitive pitches. If the brain trust think he's got a chance to or is close to fixing that, I can see giving him more run.

Agree. I like both "How many guys have you drafted that made your team" and "how many guys did you bring to the majors from the minors". I think both of those things measure important aspects of a franchise's capability to sustain itself on a reasonable budget.

Spotrac reports Torkelson's total career earnings to be just under $11M

So basically the scammer (Trump) got scammed by the better scammer (Musk), which is how it always goes. a bunch of total numbskulls.

If/When the other side gets control I think we will find any number of things don't get reversed quickly, if at all, because the other side wasn't all that excited about them either but continued on because they had constituencies they didn't want to lose.

Skubal is combining superb control with high velocity and a lot of change of speed. That's the combination that allows him to throw so many strikes that the batter can count on a strike, and still not be able to hit anything. He's similar to JV in that the change of speed is devastating, but also a bit different from a young JV in that JV usually could not paint corners with his fastball as Skubal can, but JV's FB was so live it was extremely hard to square up even when he left it middle, middle.

Not sure how he is cleared to play if he's still in pain moving around. Scar tissue? Adhesions?

553 OPS in his last 47 PA. For Kerry that's a slump.