gehringer_2

I think it has to be more difficult to develop the kind of analytics around hitting as have been accomplished for pitching because with hitting the biomechanics is only half - if even that - of the story. There are so many additional neurological issues - vision, reflex, concentration, decision, layered on top the biomechanics issues around swing, balance, bat speed, etc.. Makes it a more complex problem. You may make a physical change that should theoretically help a guy but maybe it doesn't help because he is blocked somewhere else. It's going to be harder to figure out what's going on. Or maybe another way to put it is you can put guys into better physical approaches, but it may or may not make them better hitters. Obviously if you do at least help the guys that can be helped it should still put your org ahead of an org that can't even do that. Marginal success rates matter even if net success rates never get as high as with pitchers.

Yup. These ship are now up to 250,000 tons and there is a practical limit to how low you can make the harbor speed limit because the ships have to maintain steerage, which is needed as container ships have huge windage.

That was an arched truss. If the ship damaged the left tower enough that the arch form was compromised, all the forces go out of balance and it's all over. Since the elements in the truss have to support both compression and tension, they are tied together tightly enough that they pulled down most of the right side before there was enough xs force to actually break the truss. The point where it finally broke was so near the right tower that the remaining mass on the right tower was too out of balance to stay up - like a teeter-totter, the torque just rotated it off the right tower to the heavy side. I imagine when this bridge was built they never contemplated the size of the ships that are in service today. Even if they had I don't know how much you can do to protect any structure from an impact by 250,000 tons even at only 5 kt or so.

sometime this week I'm going see CoPA's park factors show any correlation to the Tigers offensive output. Haven't decided exactly what to pick, but just looking at the park factors over the years vs the team, my impression is I'm going to see a correlation. I know park factor is supposedly production neutral, but I don't think baseball as game is itself production neutral. It makes sense to me that a poor scoring team should depress the output of its opposition as well because they won't substitute or pinch hit for optimum production if they are always already ahead.

There seems to be a very wide variation is the human phenotype wrt opioid response. There are enough people who have documented their own ability to simply walk away from it that we can't deny that it is apparently true for some people. But there are probably larger numbers at the other end for whom addition is ultimately a death sentence because their physiological reaction is deep and irreversible.

Exactly. If he faces the charge, says and does the right things as a first offender he's got a decent chance at getting his life and career back. But not like this. Getting bad or no legal advice or just in denial and refusing it.

don't forget Meadows. If he can stick he's probably worth 0.15 on the team ERA by himself.

I think those are supposed to be totals through 71 games for each season though he's off one in '23

I think he is probably in the bottom third on 3/28

NATO represents the center of Democratic power in the world. But Fascism is better for business. No pesky proletarian voters forcing laws and regulations on their born with a silver spoon god given right to do what they want.

The other thing is that you cannot compare the situation with pitchers versus hitters esp in terms of ST. It's apples and oranges. Pitchers are much easier to evaluate in terms of observables. If a guy is throwing 99 with life and command of the zone and control of his secondary pitches(I.e JV), he can pitch the majors - once those things can be seen his probability of success is high enough you take him with you. He may flame out but it will be cause he loses his command or hurts his arm. A hitter can put up a 1000 ops against ST pitchers and it means virtually nothing. The sample size is too small, the pitching is too erratic, and hitting is a marathon - the fact that a guy can hold the concentration to stay on the ball for a couple weeks means little in terms of his ability to do it for it for 500 AB and after he's been seriously scouted..

All right hand hitters flail at down and away sliders. As a Tiger JD Martinez regualrly flailed at down and away sliders, Lance Parrish regularly flailed at down and away sliders. We are all hyper-conditioned to watching for it with Javy now so that is all we see. But that is not really even his problem. His problem is not that he gets fooled strikes out more than he used to, he doesn't. His problem is he's not hitting the pitches he swings at in the zone. Can the Tigers get him to where he figures it out? Who knows, but they have $98M reasons to keep trying! Plus as has been noted, there is no even remotely sure thing in the system anywhere close to replace him. McGonigle maybe - and he's probably 2 yrs away. The Dodgers brought Leonard along mostly as a SS but the consensus seems to be he can't hold down SS in the majors. Santana is pretty much a bust, Workman's glove is supposed to be OK but he can't get his Ks into any reasonable range. And Kreidler hit 220 in his age 25 AAA season. So looking at the system there isn't much grounds for optimism. Granted the chances of improving Javy are probably not very good, but this season they are probably still better than the hope in other options, barring a trade.

If Javy shows no improvement, SS will be the obvious target in a trade of XS pitching.

at minimum Kreidler has to prove he can hit regular season AAA pitching with enough success to imply he has any chance against MLB pitchers, which he has yet to do. I'm rooting for him but he's not shown adequate evidence the can hit in the majors yet. Javy actually had a couple of good AB today and he has tagged a few more pitches in the last few days. We all seem to be persuaded this coaching staff is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and there is no doubt Javy is a uniquely talented athlete, so I'm fine with letting it play to see what they can accomplish. There is a lot fan talk about him not being willing to work but that's just social media flotsam, everyone near the team says he is busting his butt doing what they are asking.

he didn't give up much of anything. The runs scored on a bad throw by Baez and misplayed ball in left by Malloy.

Bottom of the line-up through 4: double for Urshella, two walks for Malloy and 2 hits for Kelley. ...and they've all been stranded.

You wouldn't think any great negotiation is needed, it's not like he is Julian Assange, he's just going to be charged and bail out.

7Ks through 3IP for Flaherty.

Ray score two runs on questionable defense.

agree with this.

I think this is probably true, but I also think the current NIL system is not likely to remain in place for very long. The money to pay the players eventually has to start coming from the money they actually generate - i.e the game media revenue. The NIL system is fundamentally a fantasy, players are being paid out of money which is in reality donations instead of the money their sports are actually generating. That's unsustainable - not to mention stupid.

Could be. But he may also have told his immediates (e.g. Mom?) that he was taking off without necessarily telling them where he was going. Still given the choice between him having some elaborate off shore escape plan vs he's just hiding out with some kind of 'local' support, I'd vote for the latter. But you have to think he figures out fairly quickly that hiding out he's got no life anyway....

Youngish, successful, zero prior Michigan baggage.

I will reach a heretofore unexperienced level of frustration with Yzerman if Edvinsson is sent back to GR when Walman comes back. Talent matters more than handedness.

Though those two were 'banned' long after they had been elected to the HOF, neither had pursued a post playing career in managing (Mays did coach a bit), so those 'bans' didn't really have the practical effect that Rose's has.