mtutiger

True, it's all about accounting for sure.

Surprised they didn't just opt to throw in a couple of duffel bags of used baseball bats instead

It really is my biggest concern in this process.... we, as fans, may hope they get something of value for these two players (or others), but I sure hope that's not what Harris is trying to project, that's all.

Yep, if you even so much as lightly criticize anything MAGA or MAGA adjacent, that makes you an arrogant, elitist coastal snob who is out of touch with reality. If you cheer on Budweiser employees losing their job over the last culture war du jour on the right, that makes you a Real American. Rinse, repeat, etc.

Setting aside the stupidity of this whole culture war item, it's wild to see these guys cheer on people losing their jobs

It's really tricky because the Jeff Riger and Mark Gorosh types (not to mention Evan Woodbury or the other beat writers) will roast him if he doesn't bring back anything most likely, but I suspect all the good traders in baseball get to that position by being able to risk getting nothing in order to return max value.

Seeing the path from being a losing club to a winning club is always going to require taking the leap of faith and believing that young players will ultimately develop into what is expected of them. As buddha has suggested above, there is evidence that this is happening. Which, you would think, would make it easier to see a way out of their current position.

I know people have set this bar that where Harris has to get something, but part of how you maintain leverage is having the backbone to walk away if you don't get what you think is good value. I kinda hope that's the approach they take with Rodriguez in particular.... and if they cannot find a good enough deal, just work hard to see if he can be extended.

Yeah, I don't get how people can get that angry or worked up over this season.... they need more talent, but they have also showed a lot more real promise at most levels of the organization and the major league team will likely clear the (incredibly) low bar that most of the fan base seemed to set prior to the year.

He's not wrong though.... the reactions to the 14-3 loss to the Padres were kinda ridiculous in the context of a 162 game season where even good teams can get hammered from time to time. The reactions to yesterday, which was probably as much about Shohei Ohtani as it was the Tigers if we're being honest, is similar as well.

Deleting security footage is definitely consistent with no criminal having been committed.... /s

"Whataboutism" would be arguing that Hunter Biden shouldn't be prosecuted at all here. I'm guessing most, if not all, don't care one way or another what happens to Hunter Biden. The issue for the Pig Smuggler is that years and years of looking the other way on the former President's kids just completely obliterates one's credibility when it comes to caring about "two-tiered justice". Just cut the bull**** and call it what it is: its about politics, not a "two-tiered justice system"

Yep... there's the Ivanka/Jared tier where you do illegal **** while working for the government and nothing happens, and then there's everyone else.

Given that Rudi Colludi has admitted that he made false statements in this case, why would anyone take any his claims seriously going forward?

He didn't get to 1.05%, so it doesn't matter, he's a miser who doesn't care /s

The thing about rumors or leaks is that they're usually out there for a reason.... which speaks to how often they can be inaccurate.

Three top-30 prospects? Outside of maybe the Orioles, not sure any other teams could meet those narrow parameters lol

Unpossible!

Speaking of conservative cancel culture...

Totally, I understand controllability and how it factors into the conversation. My initial comment was simply about there not being better options below Baddoo.... at least taking controllability out of the equation and on pure performance, it's hard not to see the appeal of trying Meadows over Baddoo right now, and I think the production on both ends of the equation would easily justify it.

Yeah, with minor leaguers hitting a new level, they don't always blow the doors off in their initial appearances. It stands to reason that shorter time-frame splits are kinda necessary to add context versus just leaning on the whole-year stat line. Luke Gold, who was just promoted to West Michigan, is a good example.... he was horrendous during the first two months or so of the season in Lakeland, but ended up .269/.367/.428 upon promotion: These are Meadows' monthly splits as well: Not saying that Luke Gold is going anywhere long term or that Parker Meadows is a future star or anything, but from a player development standpoint, mastery of a level after initial struggles seems like the kind of thing that a system would want to see of a player to justify a move to the next level.

I just don't get why it matters how fans react to a hypothetical world where Meadows is called up and there are some initial struggles. Really, I'm not one of these "call 'em up" type guys, but at some point, you see results happening on the big league club with one young hitter really struggling (Baddoo) and then you see the results from another hitter (Meadows) who has seen his numbers ascend as the year has gone on in Toledo and it just hard not to question the idea that Baddoo cannot be demoted because there aren't any better options. And, unless he's used as trade bait for some reason, they will need to see Meadows at some point as well. Don't get the idea why now couldn't be that time, but ultimately the team is gonna do what it's gonna do.

I'm failing to understand any of this as a rationale not to bring up a different hitter than Akil Baddoo. Or that Parker Meadows might not be a better option at the moment.

Just to add, the "when he comes up and sucks..." rationale was a pretty popular one last year when people were wondering when Kerry Carpenter would come up.... We saw how that turned out.

Last 30 days, he's slugging .533 and has an .892 OPS. The overall trend, if the arrow is pointing upward, probably should count for something. A 75/80 wRC+ would probably be better than what Akil Baddoo has done over the past month, so not sure how would AJ be treated any worse than he is now when he is forced to run Akil Baddoo out there night after night.