mtutiger

MREs?

This is true to an extent, but even if not as drastic, it's doesn't seem hard to envision there being negative economic consequences that would leave China in a worse position than the status quo. At the end of the day, that seems to be what China cares about... protecting their business model. Much like Tony Soprano used to allude to, you aren't making money if you're in a war.

Pretty high praise for Brieske....

I still don't understand the logic pre-lockout that the Rangers overpaying Seager made Correa getting in excess of 10/325 inevitable.... it may have just said more about the Rangers (and their playing fast and loose with payroll) than it did about the shortstop market or other teams' desires to match that. In order for Correa to get that kinda contract, there has to be another team out there willing to give him that.... maybe there still is, but as you suggest, there's a lot of signals that he may be back in Houston next year. I wonder how much they know about Boyd's recovery from injury since non-tendering him or if there have been any discussions with him. With as thin as the starter market is getting, it may not be a terrible idea to bring him back if they feel Alexander can hold down the 5th starter slot and feel good about Boyd's trajectory.

It looks like a salary dump for the Twins. Yanks are picking up $50mil of Donaldson's contract per Heyman Still, seems like a trade perfectly designed for both fanbases to hate

Bizarre...

Not at all, although Minnesota is still pretty weak at the moment in the starting rotation department

I would have to imagine China has concerns about their relationships in Europe and how they are being impacted by this conflict. Their response in general has been incoherent... on one hand amplifying a lot of the Russian propaganda on social media, on the other hand (AFAIK) not doing much in terms of physical or financial aid for Russia since the beginning of the invasion. Which probably reflects them trying to calibrate where to go from here.

Yes, and it is really frustrating in a situation like this where "owning the libs" starts to mean taking sides against the United States. I'm not even saying that the Administration is above criticism (I think they've handled this well but criticism that is lodged in order to improve the response or correct whatever problems arise is welcome)... but when it goes beyond that and into spreading Russian propaganda about biolabs, you are abetting the enemy and are not being patriotic. Full stop.

Its a start lol

They really need bullpen help as well. I know people don't love giving free agent contracts to bullpen arms, but this team has a lot of question marks out there. I'm open to the idea that guys like Lange/Funkhouser can graduate to reliability status, but even so, its the Achilles heel of this team

I tend to be in the starter and reliever camp. The OF is more potential than established at this point, but pitching depth is a necessity if they have any designs on competing this year.

Seems like a big deal

The dictators dilemma in a nutshell

Exactly the right approach

👀

Haha!... the local sports talkers in DFW practically had him penciled into the Rangers rotation as soon as the lockout ended

Quite a position for Israel, of all countries, to take

I'm fine with them not getting Rodon... that is too much money Grienke is polarizing bc of his velocity loss, but I'd still consider him for a #5 slot. May command too much money tho

And let's be honest: there are plenty of examples in history of a much larger military inserting itself into a conflict with a smaller country and not prevailing. Vietnam and Afghanistan (x2) are the ones that come to mind. Russia definitely can still win the military conflict part of this war, but it wouldn't be unprecedented if they didn't.