mtutiger

His profile is different than the guy who was let go from the DBacks all those years ago, and even with the scandal he is probably held in somewhat higher esteem baseball wise than he was at that time as well. My thing is that, for as much as we complain (justifiably) about the job the FO has had, he's really not in a bad spot with this team. The reporting has been that he is more involved with front office decisions than most managers, which is not insignificant in an era where the going assumption is that managers are more irrelevant than ever. Not to mention that the front office just did a major overhaul of the minor leagues to be more data driven, which fits his profile as well. That was the point being made in the first post: this may not that be a bad gig for him. Particularly in a sport where Belichick-types don't really exist. And he's not likely to get it elsewhere.

I should find that to look at... Relative to the league, they probably are better than the 2003 team. I do know injuries have hurt them bad, Luis Castillo has been out etc.

I still don't get how the "almost as good as" things matters... either the talent on the 2022 Tigers is better or worse than 2021. That's it. And with the signings, the talent was by any objective measure better than what it was going into 2021. Not to mention the fact that they traded for Meadows as well. I never said it would fall entirely on Hinch. He's great. But if they manage to do worse than they did in 2021 while having a more talented roster, that generally does not lend itself to getting cake gigs in MLB. If something changes that makes it look like a possibility, I'll let you know, but at this point it seems like baseless speculation from a relentlessly negative fanbase 23 games into the season.

That's irrelevant.... Baez, ERod and Chafin are all talented players have been "resources" to winning ballclubs. ERod was pitching in the ALCS as recently as last October. So, again, if this team underperforms expectations after having gone out and brought in these players (regardless of whatever "column" they fit in for you), I'm not sure the rest of the league is gonna understand that.

The way this org works, AJ leaving would probably mean George Lombard managing.

If they manage to finish with a worse record than the 2021 club after having signed Javy Baez, ERod and Chafin, among others, I'm not sure the league is gonna understand that.

By doing what? Managing a team to back-to-back losing seasons? Including a second season where the team (and manager) set expectations higher than it managed to achieve? I don't see teams rushing out to make that hire.... baseball is a "what have you done for me lately" business.

A couple of things: If the Tigers are as bad as many seem to expect them to finish, why would one assume that another team would rush to hire him? Do guys who have multiple losing seasons in a row land cake gigs often? This organization appears to have given him a lot of say / leeway in personnel decisions since he has arrived, more than most organizations give their manager, particularly in this day and age.. why would he give that up to go into a situation where he may not have that same role? Along with the second point, that additional say allows Hinch the opportunity to help build something, which is the kind of thing that could further his legacy, particularly given that he sort of inherited an ascending team in Houston and had his reputation tarnished by the sign stealing scandal while manager there. I think AJ knew what he was getting into when he signed up for this role and just haven't seen any evidence that he's not invested in the success of this ballclub.

There's a real "2003 Tigers" vibe to that club right now... and it's kinda sad to watch.

Schoop with the day off (not sure about Baddoo leading off tho)

This team seems to have a Tucker Barnhart play every night lol

Reason takes that stand (correctly IMO) because it presents a whole bunch of other questions about the kind of power that the legal system has in holding pregnant women accountable for an unsuccessful pregnancy. Put another way, if you hold a pregnant woman accountable for this, what stops the legal system for holding them accountable for a miscarriage because they took a specific medication or drank alcohol (for all we know, before they ever knew they were pregnant)? I don't know about you, but I really don't want to live in a world where women who have miscarriages (which I'm guessing almost everyone knows someone who has had one, btw) could be held criminally liable for it.

This thread by Jane Coaston, who is pretty reasonable overall, kinda nails it. Now that it appears we are heading in this direction, the goal for a lot of conservative punditocracy seems to be to frame this all as a way for states to adopt the abortion laws of France and Spain. And to do so is to be willfully ignorant of what is *actually happening* at the state level. I know it's happening where I live, in Louisiana (with the bill I shared earlier), MIssouri, etc. I mostly get frustrated because, moreso than some others here, I do struggle with abortion on moral grounds. But the problem is that there are a whole host of other issues that the most extreme, maximalist position on this issue presents as well. And no one who is in favor of that position seems willing or able to deal with the end result of the other issues that arise from it. I even asked one of the more pro-life posters the other day who they thought should be held criminally liable, and the response was "that's for the politicians to deal with". Like, if one feels as strongly as they do on this issue, that answer shouldn't cut it for those in the middle. It just shouldn't.

Yep. It's easier to ignore cases like these, or pretend they don't happen, or ignore questions about who is held liable for an abortion, or to act like there's nothing that could possibly happen to popular forms of contraception. Despite the answers not being clear at all.

So what happens on miscarriages? Any of these politicians consider that yet?

I mean, I do think there's sincere religious beliefs involved here. As misguided as the actions (specific to limiting access to contraception) may be from a policy perspective. But even so, setting aside how much religion should be influencing policy (I know where I stand on that lol), the reality is that when you get into the question of when life begins, you really cannot separate abortion from contraception. As much as some conservatives would like to, particularly given how popular many forms of contraception are. The big reason I keep bringing this up is that it's totally believable to me that if Roe goes, there's really not much stopping states from limiting access to certain forms of contraception. Which is a net negative for women's health and would be deeply unpopular overall.

I am fully aware of the reasoning and am fully aware that they aren't banning condoms. But in the case of the bill in question, it's a regressive policy (ie. targeting Medicaid recipients who are generally lower income - also a demo that sees a lot of abortions), the net effect will lead to less options for contraception for those who cannot afford to pay for an IUD or who don't have medical insurance that will cover the procedure. I just don't see that as a good thing, and am gonna call it out when I see a poster lecturing everyone about contraception when the most effective forms of it end up at risk of being limited.

I'd probably put Workman in the possible ML starter category as well, otherwise this seems right to me.

It seems like he's on the Parker Meadows track.... (not that he's fully recovered his stock, but still)

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/fight-over-birth-control-looms-as-missouri-lawmakers-prepare-for-special-session/article_7073a044-a7b7-5bdb-8910-c50156afd22e.html

So many red flags in this story...

The pitching matchups actually lineup halfway decently for this series. They miss Verlander, the rest of the starters have been so-so for Houston, etc. But of course that requires that all nine guys remember how to hit lol