mtutiger

These are all bad guys - no good guys to be found. I do imagine that some of the resentment that Prigozhin is tapping into has to do with the aimless nature of how Putin and MOD have continually fed Russians into this unwinnable meat grinder of a war. Seems like there is a best case scenario that involves a reassessment of that conflict. But I wouldn't trust any of these guys lol

IDK, this feels more like Kabul 2021 where the insurgents just kept outkicking their coverage and the fall happened much sooner than expected. It really all depends on the will of Russian forces closer to Moscow...

Not that foreign policy matters much to voters, but increasingly looking like the two leading GOP contenders have bet on the wrong horse vis a vis Russia/Ukraine conflict

I have no idea whether or not Wagner has the muscle to actually stare down the Russian military in some sort of civil war, I'll leave that to the experts. But I do think, from a leadership standpoint, this really demonstrates what a fatal flaw it is to have to rely so heavily on a paramilitary force to carry out state actions. Eventually, maybe they can turn on you, especially if they aren't appreciative of the direction you are giving

Let me guess - they're busy on day 10 of subgate?

In about five hours Wagner rolled up on Rostov, a city with a significant military presence, and took over? That's seems... suboptimal for Vladdie P

Just waiting on Pig Smuggler to show up to discuss how, actually, this is all well and good for Vladdie P

Pittsburgh Associates... Sounds like organized crime lol

Wow, maybe "Haircut" sometimes knows what he's doing?

I know that he's entertaining to some and, by extension, provides some value to his listeners by adding enjoyment to their day. Even if I find a lot of his positioning objectionable, I get it. But he's not the one with a license in anything, or who has spent years becoming educated in sciences in order to become an expert in their field. Unlike Hotez or other actual professionals, whether it be medicine or engineering or whatever, Rogan has a very small and limited liability for any of the things that he or his guests say on his podcast. His only real job is to drive podcast downloads and make money off ads. That's literally it. It's really not unlike cable news; Rogan makes an incredible amount of money for how little value he adds to society. I dont understand why we care about him or his opinions, or why anyone should feel obligated to be on his show for any reason.

Hmm... maybe the young hotshot with the business degree knows what he's doing???

The "Call 'Em Up" crowd is crowing extra hard today....

The opt-out makes things tricky as well... if he weren't injured and pitching well, teams would have a better idea of what he would do at the end of this season. Seems like most assume he will still exercise it, but that is less clear now imo.

Dude absolute rides Spencer Torkelson like a rented mule yet will hardly ever criticize, or allow criticism, of Javy. I know Javy plays a position of higher importance defensively and has played it well this year, but he's also below .600 in terms of OPS.

I guess with TORK, even with the struggles he's had over the last two weeks, he's just not the biggest problem this team has at the moment. And AJ, for his part, has recently been slotting him in the two-spot with regularity of late. Some of that is lack of options, but even so it stands to reason he still believes in TORK and his approach, even if the results haven't been there much of this year. I do admit having a lot of satisfaction at seeing him do what he did last night not just because he's important to this baseball team, but also because, fairly or unfairly, he bears an abnormal amount of brunt for their struggles as a team. Sure, it owes to his status as a 1-1, I get it... but he's still 23 years old with a little over 600 MLB ABs, who really didn't have a long stint in the minors. And the metrics are better this year, and unlike last year, he hasn't looked hopeless at the plate. The best version of this team going forward has Spencer Torkelson as a big contributor to their success, so he should be given every chance to succeed. Especially given that, outside of Keith and maybe Jung, I don't see many possible studs coming up behind Tork (or Greene) at the moment

I dont know that mediocrity is the right word - there are successful Republicans, or even MAGA types out there. But as people have become more animated by politics or have had their identities wrapped up in politics, I do think it makes it harder to want to have to deal with having to navigate those political differences. I ended up with someone similar, probably more liberal even, then I was using the apps back in the early-mid 10s... but I didn't really factor in political ideology as well and made contact with people who were more conservative. But it was a different time... fast forward to today, I'm not sure I would want to deal with it myself given how politics tends to bring out the worst in people these days, particularly on the right

First point you make is particularly true of DeSantis... I'm not sure he's made a single media appearance outside of the conservative echo chamber to-date.

Sometimes that's all you need to do. We remember Miguel for all the homers and hits, but he also made a living hitting fly balls to get that runner home from third. If Spencer wants to hit his potential, he's gonna have to hit those long flyouts in that situation more consistently as well.

Surprised we aren't getting more "old friend" alerts on that front tbh

I had assumed you declared the product dead back in April, tbh

We aren't far enough removed from Avila for him to have 0%

A little over 20 years ago, Dave Dombrowski uncorked his "you try and trade him" rant. Granted there are younger fans who don't remember that, but certainly almost everyone here remembers it one would imagine. I dont know that the situation now is as dire as it was in 2002, but it certainly isn't that much different either. They don't have a lot of tradable assets and, to the extent that free agency isn't all about $$$$$$$$$, it's one of the least marketable products going in the sport. Harris will get grief because it is part of the job, but I dont have a great understanding of how people can sit and complain about Avila set the Tigers behind by years and how they have no chance at competing until 2026, and yet complain about Harris not being in a "win-now" posture. Just doesn't make a lot of sense to me

And somehow, he's still probably the best hitter in the lineup (outside of Carpenter anyway)

This broadcast may be worse than the results

Perhaps you are right... I also think location matters a lot in the Rangers case as well; it's probably a more desirable market than Detroit. But again one could argue that Baez/Rodriguez were significant investments on the level of Pudge/Magglio and they havent exactly worked out like expected either. In the Rangers case, they didn't get to where they are just on their free agent signings. They needed the core to come through and they did. Until that changes in the Tigers case, we are really just arguing over a range between 65-70 and 70-75 wins when we discuss free agency imo