gehringer_2

I have no idea what Strongs medicals are other than 'multiple surgeries' but sure - if he's a guy that might get some physical recovery/benefit from a year on PUP just holding a clipboard he could be a steal.

has the Tiger side of the field been colder for some reason?

I still believe that once the team as a whole reaches a more average level of play that the better players will have much more chance to excel. But they did not get as close to that as I thought they might this season.

I've read and watched so many good pieces on Russia recently I've lost track but one description really sticks in my head - which was of Russia as a multi-tiered kleptocracy, where power was all about who you were allowed/expected to steal from, the limit on your power being basically the limit to the geography of where you could steal, and the quickest way to get in trouble is to accidentally steal from someone more privileged than yourself. Putin sits at the the top demanding his cut from everybody. Sort of a mafia'd up version of an ancient tribute system but all done via the normalization of theft/diversion rather than sending wagons of gold and virgins to the proconsul. And the result of course, is that everything ends up hollow, everywhere. Eaten up from the inside out.

that certainly didn't take long. Almost surprised Yzerman didn't have the new guy announced already - but I suppose he could be working for a team still playing.

Well, under normal circumstances, if Putin assumes room temperature, you would assume Patrushev would not have enough of a consolidated power base of his own and the whole thing would quickly collapse. But sometimes not -- Can you imagine if you end up with another Chavez/Maduro outcome and the new guy actually is worlds worse than the guy you didn't think it could be any worse than?

well that's even easier.

Hmmm. not bad news but the story this links to appears to be a month old.

you think Putin may catch Andropov's cold on the table?

well if you just look at WM, you could read it as they want to give both Perez and Nivigato more playing time since both are out of the gate well, but the Wolves have even more IFs crowding the field and I have to think they want to give Workman all the time at SS they can.....Then again if W. Castro goes down, maybe they will put Short or Clemens on the 40 and call him up, and there is your opening at Toledo for someone from Erie.

I haven't made any predictions about wins and losses, that ends up where it ends up. The frustration is the guys we are not getting to see play, and terrible defensive play by the guys that are out there. It's hard to blame management because so many guys are playing abysmally below standard. I never expected Harold to challenge for any gold gloves, but other than coming in, which he does reasonably well, I don't think I have seen him make a single play at more than arm's reach to his left or right - he's been terrible. Barnhart - what can you say? He is blocking balls as per reputation, but his throwing has been atrocious, no matter to what base. Baddoo has forgotten how to go back (if he ever knew), Grossman has alligator armed fly balls, Candelario is having more hit off his glove than go in. Haase has played multiple positions..., badly. They've put Willi in the OF and cheered his play coming in on popups - well of course, he's an IF, then swallowed hard as he hacked balls he had to go back on. It's just hard to watch constantly waiting to for the next breakdown. Considering how many extra outs they are giving away the pitching has to be even better than it looks.

Next time they need dessicant for baseball storage, just call Lee.....

I see some discussion now as to whether Putin will be be forced to increase 'mobilization' of the Russian population. But really, it's already too late for that. He can't train new conscripts on any weapons systems that matter fast enough to be any help before the inevitable Ukrainian counter offensive in the East starts. I think you can throw all the data about armed forces metrics out the window in this conflict. There are two factors that override all the rest: the morale differential between the two armies, and the fact that the maneuver of the Russian army is being driven by political imperatives laid down by a delusional dictator in place of any reality based strategic thought.

I thought that about the Red Wings at the end of last season.....🙄

No

Overall I think for football, game performance vs athletic projection is a safe way to go. Sure you may miss a great athlete who just never had the chance on the field here and there, but you will probably also end up with a lot fewer busts, and (IMO) in football quantity is everything. You just can't afford to miss on a lot of draft picks. Sort of the opposite of baseball where your misses hardly matter at all - you only need to hit big on one or two players out of the dozens signed each year.

Interesting note. In one of Ezra Kleins podcasts (a national treasure) recently he went into some detail about how in the pre-crash period, an unrighteous feedback loop arose between the banks, mortgage originators and builders that motivated the building of ever higher priced housing to support more bond issuance and of course the shenanigans to get people into bigger houses than they ever should have been considering. So that was one big piece - at least up through 2009. Of course generally, you have the same issue with houses that you have with cars - profit margins are better on big houses than small ones, so no-one is going to build small as long as they are still able to sell big. The crash may have broken some of the abuse in the mortgage/bond system, but it didn't change that, and near zero interest rates had a similar effect at keeping builders building bigger than buyers could afford at the more historically average interest rates we are on the way back to. The other thing I wonder, and this is pure speculation because I don't have any specific data - is whether the pressure on latino immigration is constraining the housing construction industry. Anywhere you go in America most housing construction workers are hispanic. If you want to jump start housing construction, I would suggest liberalizing legal immigration from Mexico and CA.

right - a slumping team makes everyone look like Cy Young. It's not a reliable take.

maybe because they seem to be going for guys with solid game performance records more than combine warriors.

What's worse this year is that the guys that are bombing are guys we are kinda wed to: Schoop, Candy, Barnhart. Last year it was Mazara, Jones, Ramos, Greiner - guys that were there more on the cheap than real expectation they would succeed.

Adam Bergner with 5 inning of no hit ball with 3K for the Wolves.

well, credit where credit is due, they have made a big hole already.

I'd like to know how the idiot scorer can give Baez an error on the Betts ball that Candy screened him on and in fact probably deflected. And then just to add insult, also give Betts a hit. They need to just do away with 'official' scoring - it's become a total joke.

so who would have thought we'd already be missing Isaac Paredes? In short order we've gone from having plenty of IF depth to Harold's hands turning to stone, Candy's and Schoop's bats turning to mush, and Kreidler on the IL, and Willi still just being Willi. Of course we've already had 3 OFs on the IL as well.... Not sure how bad it has to get before we see Zach Short or Clemens.

Just got a little more likely. Embiid - concussion and broken orbital.