gehringer_2

I would look at this from the standpoint of Russian internal processes. The "West is all against Russia" is central to Putins entire narrative structure. It was becoming clear that the pipeline had little chance to produce $$ for Russia because stopping gas flow was becoming an imperative for both sides. Given that, that last political value he could salvage on the home front would be to sabotage it, blame the West or Ukraine and take it as another example of Western biligerance againt Russia. And I can imagine that when Putin was weighing options he asked the question "but if we blow it up now can we fix it later" his minions certainly assured him - based on Russia's underwater capabilities - that it could be done - without having given proper consideration (if any) to the damage salt water intrustion would have done by the time rolled around for a repair to be attempted.

Serretti?

I think a big question mark for these nutty State GOP legislature with be to what degree they meddle/micro-manage their state universities in such manner that they become unattractive to the best and brightest applicants. For any state, having the best students leave home to go to colllege somewhere else is one of the worst 'brain-drains' since most of them won't come back.

I'm ready to move on from J Schoop and I want a 3b who can go to his right.

This inning more on the IF than the BP.

I hate 0-2 hits.

It's too bad the tigers don't seem to care to put someone at 3rd who could make some of the plays they aren't making. Ryan Kreidler anyone?

Schoop needs to make that play.

LOL -- then Maton walks one in!

Torks upper cuts it too much, not deep enough to score even Vierling

Riley took a couple pitchers he should have hit, but it goes for a walk so can't complain too much. Loads them up for Tork!

pretty good outing for Wentz

Carpenter doesn't seem too worried about how he feels. Stinger maybe?

bottom hand on the bat - RH batter. You are correct Sir!

baesball gods farting in the O's general direction early.

McKinstrey's bat dies a hero

Oh NO! I turn on the TV, hear Monroe, mute the TV and turn on the radio, on the 1st commercial breal there is Craig hawking stuff. I'm cursed.

Home game - maybe we get Gibson instead of Monroe?

That little head-bob clip is going to be his 'Dukakis looking stupid in a Tank Helmet' moment.

Javy probably told Hinch he was fine and then when they got on the field his throwing was maybe not so good.

By and large, individual players don't matter - it's total roster value. The key to moving a guy like ERod is that you do it at the point where you can get more wins back for him they he is worth to you - so you get better. THAT was Avila's single biggest failure. There was reasonable rational for moving most the players he moved, but he failed to get back the value that should have been there and that was the justification for those trades to begin with. The better example was when DD moved Curtis Granderson, he got back Austin Jackson and Max Scherzer. Max is going the HOF and AJ was potentially a perrenial 5 WAR player before the leg injuries accumulated. The idea of moving guys to teams reaching for the brass ring is that they are enough in WinNow mode to give up more absolute future value because the present value you offer is multiplied for them. But sure, if you are the seller in that situation and do not get more back then you gave up, then you have Avila's Tiger legacy.

The problem is that people *thought* they knew a lot about Trump from watching in "Reality" TV, but of course reality TV is thoroughly scripted, massaged and air-brushed, so Trump got the double benefit of being able present himself just as 'falsely' as any actor playing a role, as all the while the hollywood appartus of the 'Apprentice' - as do all 'reality' shows - continually promulgated a fantasy about its reality.

It is even at the top. The problem in baseball is always small sample size - a guy can have a little hiccup and who knows if it's short term thing or something real. I look at what happened with Brady Singer. Brady was the consensus number one 2018 pick 10min after the 2017 draft was over, but then struggled a little the following year and his stock dropped all the way to 18th in his draft, passed over by acclimation by Casey Mize among others. But guess what - it looks like Brady should have stayed higher in that draft. If Kelenic's hot start this season is real he will exceed Brady's value in a year or two but right now Singer is the leader in the clubhouse for WAR from that draft and there were growing questions about Mize's prospects as a pro even before he went down with TJ. And of course, lest we forget - Mark Appel.

LOL - right on cue - from Beck this morining: https://www.mlb.com/tigers/news/riley-greene-making-adjustments-at-mlb-level-for-tigers

I think all you can do is notice whether they are checking off the boxes they need to get to where they need to be. Tork struggled to barrel up hittable pitches for most of last season. He has overcome that in spades so far this year. You can't look at that kind of progress and be depressed about it. Yes, he can probably use a little adjustment to his swing plane - but you don't mess with a guy too much just as his bat to ball skill is starting to come around. Let it marinate for awhile and see if the adjustment doesn't just come by itself as his success and comfort level achieving contact grow. To me Greene is a little more complex. His heat maps show a strong bias to low pitches. To my naked eye that matches the fact that his swing plane is deeply inclined i.e - like a golf swing. Since he's swinging up, he can't get the bat into the hitting zone at the top of the zone very well, and MLB is getting to be a high pitch/strike league. He has plenty of reaction speed and bat speed and reasonable pitch recognition, but I think he will eventually have to alter his swing and/or setup to improve his plate coverage up and away.