mtutiger

Better late than never

I sorta did, although I live in the DFW market and follow the Rangers somewhat by default

Definitely, he has the stuff and experience to be one of the quicker movers from the overall 2021 draft class.

The 12 Hour Kool Aid Sesh continues lol

Their business model relies on getting new blood into their farm system, so the pick may be the bigger chip here.

I think it's more good than bad, although it's a tendency that causes the fan base to get squeamish at times. Earlier in the post-lockout session when Collin McHugh signed comes to mind (ie. all the good relievers are going away, Tigers need to do something)

Madden / Smith break camp with the WhiteCaps

Maybe it'll light a fire under him a bit... one can hope anyway

Thread title, but unironically

Good problem to have

Knowing how Tampa wins every trade they are involved in, they'll probably make a useful player out of Paredes lol. But you are right, this is a good move for him as well... he would have been stuck in Toledo otherwise.

Yaaaassss please!

If the EU/NATO didn't have the Baltics or Poland or other former Warsaw pact states, I'd be more inclined to agree. But they do, and as such there are internal costs that come with pulling back as well. Tend to believe this is underrated when people speculate on whether there will be a pullback or when/if the west will thaw relations with Russia.

Understood, all good points.

Not a military expert, but Mark Hertling suggested in a twitter thread that a reconstitution of their forces is going to be really hard to achieve. And success isn't guaranteed.

Isn't part of the issue though that the resources needed to accomplish these sorts of goals in a negotiated settlement would require a massive escalation from their current posture? Not to mention changes on the ground to bring order to their effort? At least from what I have read, Russian state media has been selling this entire engagement as being small scaled in nature and one that is going about successfully. Embodied in their Orwellian framing of a "special military operation" when in fact they are engaging in all pit war. My question is twofold: how do you ramp up resources (ie. More conscripts/troops) while continuing to maintain that your "special military operation" is limited in scope? How do you get whatever remaining units/equipment from the northern theater (ie Kyiv, Belarus) needed in the east when you have had logistical challenges throughout the entire conflict? Much of which will all have to take the long route from Belarus, along the Russia border to Rostov before reentering theater? That ain't gonna happen overnight. I guess my point is that, despite falling victim to sunken cost fallacy and accordingly remaining motivated, it isn't written into the stars that Russia will achieve even their secondary objectives out of this... maybe they will, but it'll require a turnaround that, this far, hasn't appeared yet.

Can he do it outside of spring? Same as it ever was lol

Wow, Campos crushed that ball

Skubal has been nasty all day, though wish he were more economical with the pitches

Skubal was nasty in that first inning....

Since it appears that April 1 has come and gone and the EU appears to have called The Paper Czar's bluff on using Euros for gas transactions, is it safe to call his threats 'empty' yet?

Poland and the Baltics leading the way, as per usual

The fact is that Ukraine, flawed as their democratic institutions may be, has consistently put in the work toward liberal democratic values. It's why the comparison to the Middle East doesn't work... they are largely making the choice on their own. Not having it forced upon them.

The answer was always obvious, but frankly too many people put too much stock into whatever line Putin and the Kremlin gives at any given moment on any given subject and that maybe blinds them to common sense. Sure, there is a historical connection between the Russian and Ukrainian people, and there are many Russian speakers in Ukraine who historically look east versus west in terms of geopolitical disposition. But we are still talking about a proud people from a sovereign land... one can maybe be inclined to look east without wishing to be invaded by their eastern neighbor. Some arguments seen before the invasion, here and elsewhere, seemed to struggle with this... people may have leanings, but they may have them within the context of a sovereign Ukraine, not within one being invaded and subjugated. Where the friends and neighbors are being slaughtered, etc. A lot of contemporaneous interviews from people in Kharkiv and east of the Dnieper that I've seen in print or in TV clip seem to back this up - suggesting that very few expected an invasion and that, once it did happen, it was a sin that would take generations for the Russian government to fix, with a prerequisite being the departure of Putin.