mtutiger

I don't know that Slater wouldn't come in and make significant changes if he were named the dude, but again, I do think the role he's played with the Cardinals, one which has been more about retooling / keeping the Cardinals relevant and in playoff contention is a much different animal than inheriting one of the worst rosters in baseball and having to retool or execute a rebuild on the fly. I know they are different sports, but that's where I think the Bob Quinn comparison is relevant - when the Lions hired Quinn, they hired a guy who, by the time he had risen to prominence within the Patriots org, was already part of a perennial contender. And when push came to shove and he got the job running a team needing a significant overhaul, he didn't rise to the occasion, and perhaps that was at least in part due to the nature of the job being a lot different than what he was accustomed to. One expects that whoever they hire will be better than Al Avila, but even among all of these candidates (almost all of whom seem to be from winning orgs), one imagines that there are things about their background that differentiate them and make them better or worse options. What the team values and what I value may be different, but when I look at them, the ideal candidate would have previous experience building up a losing ballclub. And Slater doesn't have that as far as I can tell.

OK

I would find it hard to believe that 2020 hasn't influenced how pollsters have tailored their models going into 2022. The fact that polls aren't necessarily showing what the conventional wisdom would suggest may be cause for some skepticism, but it isn't necessarily proof that pollsters haven't made changes.

This may be an overstated factor, but one thing that concerns me about hiring from the Cardinals is that anyone employed there for any length of time hasn't really been part of a team that is currently on the bottom half of the league and been part of rebuilding / retooling them to succeed. After all, it's an org that has had one losing season in the past 20 or so years. That doesn't mean that they haven't had to retool or adapt - they have, which explains how they have stayed competitive. But while the experiences may not be perfect, and also being a fan and not a baseball insider, on the surface Josh Byrnes and Dana Brown look like two of the better options in my view because of the level of experience that they have and having been involved in taking teams in rebuilding postures and bringing in a lot of talent to get them out of it. Particularly Brown - no doubt his hands are all over getting them out of the lean years of 2015-16 and into their current state.

Would it be too much to ask Gregory to put this one away? Too many other good things happened today, would rather remember those lol

5 hits for Eric Haase... wow

More than it looked tbh

Jason Foley... finally someone who can retire Mike Trout lol

I dont want to crap on the moment for Lester or his dad, because it's cool for them. But yeah.

Its a different district after redistricting, but it's crazy to think of Ottawa County being in a Lean-D seat.

I'll probably be crosshairs of some folks by saying this, but I dont even mind so much if Menzin ends up surviving in the org - he's relatively young and could learn under a better executive But it'd would be a Godawful move to give him the big President or VP title - even if it isn't Theo, this is a mess that requires someone with a track record or some resume to fix. Someone like a Byrnes or Dana Brown or someone like that who comes from a winning culture and has seen ups and downs in this league.

Good Lord, he may actually be worse than Oz lol

Patrick Sandoval day for the Angels. Over under on runs 0.5?

(It was a Big Lebowski reference)

Those are some good burgers, Walter...

Huh, turns out he had nuclear secrets after all

Nah, I just dedicate too much time to horrifically bad baseball 🤣

I'm mostly surprised that the guy from the Cards that Lynn mentioned wasn't Randy Flores... he has been the name that Cody and others have floated.

Probably a decent gamble....

Cody is the best writer on the beat and I don't have much to criticize him for, tbh. To the extent that I do, I think there's a tendency to pass along comments like the ones about Grossman or to share the comment he heard about the draft room being 80/20 for drafting Neto without much of the context that comes with it. And the readership / listenership just tends to accept that as fact without thinking about the greater context. The latter comment is a particularly good example, the difficulty I have with just swallowing that uncritically are the power dynamics at play inside the Tigers right now; with Al gone, and not without reason, he makes a pretty convenient scapegoat, particularly for employees who are still employed by the team and may be worried about their future given all the changes on the horizon (in other words, current employees wanting to differentiate / launder themselves of the Avila era). To be clear, I am not saying that what was said isn't true or, at the very least doesn't have some truth to it. But as we should all know by now, whether it's politics or sports, people talk anonymously to the media for a reason.

I doubt it, I believe he explained on last week's podcast that even the fact that he was talking to the media and suggesting that the Braves had been proactive coming to him with ways to address issues in his swing still reflected poorly on the Tigers even if he had cooled down. Obviously do not disagree with him on that, but knowing that, I do think The Athletic may have been too quick to swallow the narrative put forward by the Braves/Grossman as well.

Injuries could be part of it for a couple of players - Candelario, Baez and Grossman (before he was traded) all had stints on the IL and one wonders whether there has been any impact there. (Not an excuse, but perhaps a partial explanation). Again to preface that this isn't an excuse either, but for some of the hitters perceived to be more impact players coming into the season, it may just be harder to hit in a lineup when doesn't scare the other team. Javy would be Exhibit "A".... in the past, he's always been more of a complementary piece rather than being the guy. If he's on the Mets again this year, he likely blends in and might end up seeing better pitches to hit, not so much with this lineup.... there's no place to hide when you're being backed up with the Castro Brothers

The recent results from Robbie make the small hot stretch he had after the trade look a lot like the couple of games he had against the Rangers when he was still with the Tigers.... a small dead cat bounce with water reaching level afterward. I do think the Braves may have been a little too quick to declare victory on this one....

For sure. To that end, for as much as the "anti-wokeness" crowd complains about the excesses of "wokeness", they can be just quite grating and heavy handed in their approach IMO. Often mimicking what they complain so much about