gehringer_2

I took that as a pure "win now" play. I don't think Ray's talent has hard to see, but he needed more time to turn into the pitcher he would become than the Tigers were willing to give him.

exactly. Granted you might be predisposed to take what the player says with a grain of salt as the player who has been scuffling has an interest in projecting that there was a reason for his poor performance that has now been addressed so he can in turn project more success from himself going forward. In such case one expected counter from the Tiger org might have been, "Well we worked with Robbie on x/y/z but we are sorry we just didn't seem to find the key for him but we wish him well...." What as NOT expected was for the Tiger manager to say "Yeah, well, that *is* a problem." Sure we can spin that a Hinch just setting the bar at the "We can all always do better" level, but if so still not the most articulate way to do it.

LOL - Rangers have committed half a billion to their middle infield, and they can't turn easy double plays.

Arb salaries can drop by a max of 20%, don't know if it ever actually happens though. If team offered -20% and the player offered no change, I can't imagine any MLB arb not taking the player's NC number since no raise would already be considered a huge concession in the current system.

the problem comes when the cops join on their side and you have to call out the national guard......

Stolen from the comments section of a WaPo political column: "I will give Trump this: he supports one of the traditional Republican values -- small government. He wants the government to consist of himself, and himself alone."

MRI'd his calf.

From what we hear, they have exhausted all medical options on the knee. But then again, despite our assumption that players are always getting the best medical advice available, we know sometimes they are not (Magglio having been an example). Or there may be some 50/50 option Cabrera has refused that he might change his mind about that might work. Still I would judge the odds of any of that to be vanishingly low. He'll probably have to have it replaced before he reaches 50.

IDK if Harold thought it was going foul, it was a HR or it was going to be caught, but he didn't run out of the box like he thought it mattered.

Harold is the one that surprises me. I really thought playing more would end up with him being exposed by more pitchers, but he's raised his game.

LOL - Three Tiger base runners all on the 3rd baseline at the same time there.

Riley going to be sad to leave Texas.

I assume I can configure an audio compressor on the Mac I use for streaming but I haven't run it down yet as I had dropped back to the live broadcasts. That other thing with gameday that has reduced its appeal is that they are about 45 sec delayed this year. I suppose the delay may be my provider instead of gameday's fault, but that makes no difference in the end.

It took many years, but I believe the FCC finally forced radio stations to stop broadcasting commercials at higher audio levels than their regular programming - but now the practice has just moved to steaming services. The commercials in the Tiger game day stream are running at least 12db higher than Dan's mike in the booth, to the point where if I the cut the volume to 'bearable' for the spots, I literally can't hear Dan at all. The increasing severity of this practice has actually driven me back to listening on broadcast radio despite the greater convenience of using the stream. However today's game on AM an my house is out of range for 1270 AM. 😡 😡 😡 😡 😡

It's funny how Victor generates so much opinion. He's just your basic utility OF. Yes, he is a major leaguer, no he won't be a multiple WAR player. You'd think a guy that was neither a bum nor a star would be less controversial.

It's hard to see what the end game is. He is not accomplishing anything, nor is he helping his team, nor is he taking any final bows. That last one seems to make it plain he plans to come to ST next season - why not just call it a year and take the last month off and get an early start on whatever rehab might be possible?

You have no GM, so no-one is going to pull the trigger on that decision. Whatever your opinions on AJ Hinch for good or ill, he's a 'players coach' plus I think it's clear he is not the kind of guy who has a lot of strong opinions he will go to the wall for, or even rock the boat hard. So a decision like that seems unlikely to come from him either.

I tend to believe the RW heat is getting to Judge Cannon. There is really no earthly reason a 'special master' is needed this case. The specifics of the documents are not even the real issue. A special master is used when a case presents technical or scientific issues complex enough that the judge doesn't have the competence to understand and evaluate the relevance or truthfulness of the testimony she is hearing. That's nonsense in this case. Any well educated person can listen to people from the intelligence community tell you the significance of a document in an understandable way - this ain't quantum physics. She is just bailing out.

First time since mid July they have won 6 in a ten game stretch.

Verlander might be the last to get to 250, let alone 300.

IDK if it even matters if JJ has the higher ceiling. Cade is a pretty good game manager and in the NCAA as many game are won with steady competence and decision making as off the chart talent. It goes both ways, M is under no obligation to give JJ the chance to turn into the QB he could be but isn't yet if that isn't what gives them the best chance to win. The very fact that a kid can go somewhere else now reduces the obligation on BOTH sides.

Nice outing for Bryan Garcia as well. 6IP 1H 1BB 7K. At 27 he's a little old to turn into a big prospect but he's in contention as a back of the rotation guy.

LOL - I wish JH luck, this is a tough needle to thread.

It's his job to try, but I don't think in the end Harbaugh can do much that makes a difference, all that is going to (or should) matter to JJ is whether he starts games or at least gets half the in game reps. Maybe if Urban Meyer were coaching M I could see him keeping two guys conned for a whole season, but I don't see that as Harbaugh's strong skillset. This is just the reality of college football today. The system gives guys the opportunity to go find a place to be a starter, and there is no reason they shouldn't use it. There is no reason to spend your life prepping to do something, finding yourself in a situation you can't do it, and not taking an open door out. It's no moral victory for anyone's life experience for JJ to miss the chance of being a multi-year NCAA starter somewhere if he has the talent. JJ doesn't owe Michigan being Cade's injury safety valve if Harbaugh decides he's going to start Cade. And I actually would give credit to Harbaugh as being a coach who in the past has been willing to let guys go seek a better situation without hard feelings.