gehringer_2

I do think Greene is about as sure a bet as we have seen in a long time to be a well above replacement hitter. I'm not sure what kind of average Torkelson will hit for but the plate discipline and power are real, so I expect a good OPB and some HR so that should keep his OPS afloat. Of course in a 1B that is a minimum expectation.

and of course at his age, like Reagan, the fact that he is mentally acute now is no guarantee he will be in 'x' more years. But for now there is little way of knowing what 'x' may be short of dissecting his brain today.....

good point. Nobody should have to play hockey back to back.

I know this gets fed by his sometimes tortured elocution, but anyone who has actually dealt with the mentally acute old and those with dementia would understand that that kind of thing is just natural physical aging, just like you can't run as fast, you maybe can't talk as fast - it's has nothing to do with quality of the underlying higher level thinking. And especially in Biden's case -as he had to overcome an underlying speech impediment in the first place. As a matter of fact I have known any number of people with serious dementias across the spectrum who happened to elocute extremely well right past the time when what they said represented connected thought. It's just not a relevant marker of anything either way. It does make for poor quality political theater, and that is a problem for Biden in world that no longer has the patience or analytical ability to see past image.

He needs to be ready to play right since if Hill does make the team Riley will play less CF. It will also be interesting what their internal HawkEye evaluations tell them over the season. The eye test is frustratingly inaccurate when judging an OF's overall time/distance to the ball. We only see how fast they seem to be moving (stride, etc), their real speed and first step are hard to assess visually. For instance there is some argument that Reyes actually may have better straight line OF speed than Hill or Greene, but because of his height and body conformation it doesn't look like it. Of course he is not as athletic as Greene or Hill in terms of catching the ball and you have to consider route efficiency, but just an example that everything can go into the mix on these decisions since they now have better quantitative data on everything.

The overtime goal exactly encapsulates the Wings' problems. Sutter, who is billed as near the top of their second talent tier with Fabbri and probably after Vrana didn't/couldn't get back down the ice fast enough then didn't find or engage his man when he did get there. The talent drop off when Larkin, Raymond and Seider, who are good enough to regularly dominate play at 3 on 3 against all comers, leave the ice is just so huge. You need your second tier talent to at least be effective checkers that can hold serve even if they are not gifted scorers themselves (the obvious past model being Drapes/McCarty/Maltby). For Wings that is maybe Bertuzzi, then crickets. Still, they played a decent game overall last night. If Blashill can keep them at last night's level the rest of the way maybe he can be forgiven this month's blowouts.....

Cabrera's double today. Front foot off the ground- good to see.

It will be interesting to see how much the Dodgers regret the $$ they committed to Mookie Betts. So far they've paid Betts $50M to produce less than 4 WAR more than Alex Verdugo. Even rich teams will eventually suffer from those moves.

You hope there is some truth to this - that as they get better at improving the players they pick, it feeds back into the scouting process with the data about what kinds of players they have been able to do the most to optimize and that becomes part of your competitive advantage

yeah - If a Kreidler, Dingler, Workman, Madden or one of the recent international signings make it it will be a welcome step forward. If your 1st rounders make it, you need about 50% on your 2nd rounders and internationals and you aren't in half bad shape as an ongoing system.

LOL - Sutter completely loses his man, Rangers score in overtime.

aaaand Lindstrom with the penalty and NY with the PPG. Wings hold on to insure one point.

always amazes me how RW players drop back off their man into the 'box' as though they were short handed when they are 5 on 5 in their own zone. Now that is the kind of thing that maybe is coming from Blashill.

Veleno passes out of an open net opportunity....

wings get the lead back on a shot in traffic off a face off.

there was another report that some troops had actually gone onto the plant grounds, which are certainly still too hot to wander around without proper PPE.

so what is 'development'. At one extreme you have what the Tigers used to do, which was draft guys, let them play games in the minors and see if anyone rose to the top. IOW, passive. What they are moving to now is maximal interventionist - teaching the mechanics of pitching grips, measuring everything they can about a hitters kinesiology with an aim toward fixing mechanical weakness, etc., etc. We know the 1st approach didn't work, the $64 dollar question is whether the second approach will actually make any difference or if the key remains 95% in the initial scouting and picking. If the latter is true is the system isn't going to matter, it's all in the personnel and you can only hope you find, pay and keep the best scouts. Or probably some mix.

he's skates well enough to forecheck a little, which is more than most of them do.

gonna be tough for Greene to do that from Toledo.

the best answer would be: "It doesn't matter what I think the answer is because all are equal before the law" , which in essence is pretty close to what she did say.

Oddly enough though, for me it's a source of hope for the RWs. That Ken Holland got another GM gig in the NHL after what he did to the Wings is proof that the old boy network is still so much more operative in the NHL than judgment on competence, that it makes it that much easier for a guy like Yzerman to move his org past half the teams in the NHL before he even has to try too hard.

HaHA - Of course for many of them it means they shouldn't be racist, and sure, that's a problem!

LOL - Maybe she should have said: "Chromosomes are genetics, gender is a social construct."

and if that drone was armed, those young men have some Ukrainian operator's sympathy to thank that they are still alive.

We have to put the Kool-Aid away. Watch Veleno, Rasmussen, Zadina, with any kind of objective view and it's pretty clear - they are not very good. Skating, passing, possession skills all lacking in all three. The rest of the line-up are end of the liners like Staal, or other team's discards. Blash may be a good or bad coach, but he isn't the reason these guys can't beat anyone to a puck or make an accurate pass or play through a check or shoot the puck effectively. To be charitable they have so far built 1/4 of an NHL roster. A couple of years ago I thought the Red Wings would be the 1st team to turn around, but I don't think that anymore even with a GM as talented at Yzerman. Which is too bad because they are wasting time for Larks and Seider esp., who deserve better mates.