mtutiger

Exactly. Doolittle's comment operates from the premise that the Tigers had a lot more leverage than they actually did in this situation. But if the Brewers, Rays, others weren't gonna field offers, what leverage did they have? As great a pitcher as he is, he's a rental. If anyone wants to be mad at the return, would probably be better to focus on other teams for not really considering a deal for Skubal.

From the column: "Still, from the Tigers' perspective, it feels as if they could have waited longer before calling it a deal. We are still more than a day from the deadline, after all, and sometimes, teams get a little aggressive as the clock ticks down. Could the Tigers have gotten more if they had leveraged that? Alas, we will never know." Could you imagine the fan reaction if they had failed to trade Skubal because they let time run down to the very end and had unrealistic demands that the Dodgers were never going to meet? What a ridiculous comment.

People have really unrealistic expectations of what a rental player is going to return, even one on the level of Skubal

The Mets, Padres, other orgs have spent a lot of money over the past number of seasons to less success. The Dodgers have a lot of money, but they also are a smart organization that focuses on identifying talent in trades with other organizations and develops them while they are in their organization. It isn't just about about the money, they also are sitting in a position where they can make the trade today, with multiple players inside of MLB's Top 100 prospects included, and still be one of the best farms in the game after the trade.

With the Brewers too, it comes down to having a track record of developing prospects. Take a little confidence in that and act accordingly. The fact that they didn't make the deal here says a lot.

Skubal is a world class talent, but in this context, he's a rental. Even if he does end up signing a deal with the Dodgers afterward. Given the circumstances, I think they made out fine. Although on principle still kinda hate seeing them sell while being not that far out of an actual playoff spot

The last time he told the story (three days ago), they were three different animals. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

Midge knows which way the winds are blowing... I'm all about infighting, but it's definitely all about opportunism

I really do believe there's a reckoning of some kind coming. We can debate whether it's sufficient or good enough because it may be more about material conditions (ie. Gas prices) versus issues like abortion or immigration, but people are angry and there will be a response politically Having said all that, what I despair about is that all of this stuff is happening, and he says and does all the stuff that he does, and people who know better in elite circles, whether it be the media or in business or what have you... They see everything we all see, but they downplay it or turn away and act like it's NBD or "politics as usual" It's really been a blackpill for me to see how much Trump has done to alienate a large majority of the American public, only to see elite circles try to downplay it all. It's enough to make me think they're fine with all this BS

I saw a AAA price map of Wisconsin yesterday, it was amusing how you could see the dividing line in terms of which counties get their gas from Chicagoland and which ones get their gas from Pine Bend (outside of St. Paul)

Right. But if there were a greater demand for what she was selling, she probably would have had no troubles raising the money necessary to be competitive to Platner in the primary. But the polls of Mainers continually painted a different story... This is sort of the problem to me... I understand the skepticism of Platner given what we know about the guy. But the qualitative and quantitative evidence suggests that she was never going to be a competitive candidate to Platner, even with his flaws. It was a miss on recruitment by the establishment here, it is what it is.

If Mills thought she could win, why did she drop out?

First off, you say "besides age" as if age isn't a big deal, particularly at this moment in time for the Democratic Party. It is a huge deal for voters, particularly after Biden was forced to drop out in 2024, after RBG hung on too long to her seat, after watching four D representatives keel over in the past year and a half in a very divided house. But even setting aside the age thing, Spanberger and Sherrill both ran races that were effective to winning support over to their side in the primaries and both were clearly up the challenge of the jobs they were running. Mills, with the campaign she ran, didn't demonstrate any of these things. Voters are sending a message here, whether you and I like it or not. Hope the party establishment learns going forward.... to be fair, they have had some recruiting successes this time around landing Cooper, Peltola, getting Brown to run again, etc., but this was a pretty clear miss on their part.

It's crazy that in this thread there's so much attention spent on Platner and Maine voters being idiots, but very little spent discussing the campaign that Mills ran (and how terrible it was from all accounts). Even setting aside the age thing, she transparently didn't seem invested in the race to the degree that she needed to be. And as a result, she didn't afford the voters much of a choice. Again, saying this as someone who doesn't particularly like Platner and frankly find myself distrustful of the guy, but the situation is just not all that surprising given the circumstances. Hard for me to get worked up about it.

Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill are both much different candidates than Janet Mills.

Something may well come.... but people kinda assume the "something", whatever it might be, will end up working. But if people are paying out the ass on gasoline and people are as angry and upset at Donald Trump as they are, particularly in a state like Maine that leans blue, it may not work at all. Expect the unexpected, folks.

This is the same GOP that lost their **** when Minnesota got a rid of the seal on a bed sheet flag and replaced it with something better.

Even if it isn't strictly age, voters in 2026 expect candidates who want to fight. And the want candidates whose heart is truly in the effort. That just wasn't Janet Mills, at least from my far off vantagepoint of the campaign. Again, have all the same reservations about Platner that many do, but it's just not surprising to me that it played out this way.

That's really a question for voters in Maine, isn't it? Again, they put forward a candidate in Janet Mills someone who is too old and clearly didn't have the heart to run the kind of race that she needed to in order to win. Voters notice these things, no amount of money or ads or what have you was going to change the fact that Mainers weren't going to support her in the numbers needed to win the nomination. I share a lot of the same concerns that you and MB have about Platner, I really do.... but given how it all played out, it's just not surprising at all.

Just because he's a bear wanting to eat you in the woods doesn't mean that he shouldn't be held to account in the same way that a normal President would be. And one of the expectations of a normal Presidency would be that it is *their* responsibility to bring an end to crises or to recognize their mistakes and pivot. The fact that it is impossible to imagine him doing any of these things does not relieve him of the expectation that should be had for all Presidents in a situation like this.

I mean, there are things Trump could do as well to deescalate the conflict. But that's not going to happen as he's shown himself completely unable to pivot in his second term. We can talk theoretically about how things can improve between now and November, but that would require an administration that actually responded to the signals the population give off about unpopular policies. And by all accounts, Trump doesn't give a **** about what the population thinks about the Iran War or gas prices or ICE or anything.

If this were 2022, I'd agree with you... but I don't know this time around. This is a terrible, anti-incumbent environment for Rs, Collins herself isn't really well liked by her constituents anymore and is also getting up there in age, and people are angry and upset with the direction of the country. Keep harping on the environment because Platner would not be the first terrible candidate to win an election in a favorable cycle for their party.