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There's only one way this is going to stop: Biden has to start nailing public appearances, period, starting with Stephanopoulos. Biden has to look sharp, be articulate, and most of all, not rush his words like he did to open the debate. I think his trying to speak faster than a drug commercial reeling off side effects is the main thing that caused him to stumble all over the place. He doesn't have to speak slowly, and in fact he shouldn't because that would be just as bad, but one of the core things he needs to work on moderating the speed of his delivery. Because he needs to projects confidence every time we see him from now on.

Yeah, that whole thing in that podcast about just how competitive Scott Harris is on a personal basis just rang hollow, mainly because it is so tediously unremarkable in an industry defined by its competitiveness. I appreciate Harris's plan and I think it's flaling not because it's a bad plan, but because so many things we all thought we could reasonably count on went so spectacularly wrong. The man is in a tight spot, and I sympathize with his situation because I believe it's not exactly his fault. But it is his responsibility, and when something like this happens, big boys in big pants do big things to set it right. Now, in our case, the scope of "big" is limited. We're not going to trade for Juan Soto or Elly De La Cruz or Ketel Marte, because they're not going to be made available to us; and we're not going to find an All-Star who's still sitting out there waiting to be signed; and we're not going to bring in someone off the pile like Evan Longoria or Hanser Alberto or AJ Pollock or Josh Harrison (or Tim Anderson!), because they're probably below replacement level by now. Just about the best we can hope for now is that somehow Harris can flip our dwindling (e.g., Flaherty) assets for at least one major-league ready infielder. That seems like a pipe dream, but even if it could happen, that's not going to save this season. This season is, for all practical purposes, done. No one wants to hear this, but our options are kind of limited in the offseason, too. Yes, I understand this is a decent free agent class, but remember that the "agency" in free agency means players get to choose where they go, and very few players would choose to go to an organization that has lost for eight years running and will be projected to lose for a ninth next year. When it comes to free agents, we are in a class with the White Sox, Rockies, Marlins, and Nationals. That's how players think of us at this moment in time. Harris could take a big swing at talking a pitcher like Max Fried into coming here on an overpay (if Baby Doc were to allow it) because we have a track record of making pitchers good, but Comerica is basically death to hitters, and short of somehow reconfiguring the park into a home run hitter's paradise, anyone who has a choice is almost certainly not going to choose to come here. The best shot Harris has of signing anyone this offseason, I believe, would be Willy Adames, and that would take an offer in the range of Baez years, and that would make it a tough sell to the fans. In the end, it looks like the surest way we're going to start winning is by building the winner from within, and then adding pieces once we get that core in place—in short, Harris's plan now. It sucks that assets we have now that we were counting on are flailing and setting back the timeline even further, but let's face it, that's our reality now. Ain't no magic wand gonna fix it. If somehow Tork and Keith could come out of the gates raking next year, just those two guys, even if everyone else does what they're doing now, we're going to have a completely different view of this team. To me, that's the main thing we have to hope for. But if they don't, and we end up going through this all over again next year, people's jobs might start being in jeopardy.

Is he all over RWM hammering Biden on his debate performance? I don’t know, I’m just asking.

Further to this point, it is probably not in Trump’s nature to avoid piling on in cruel ways when this happens. I think probably someone had to tell him he needs to sit back and let the Democrats eat themselves, and I don’t think it was aides who told him. I think it was a benefactor.

Maybe Harris is waiting for the deadline to pass so he can see what we get before he makes his moves? If he makes moves now without knowing that, he might be hamstringing himself in some way.

So you’re talking basically about established All-Star-level players who are going to perform no matter whether they follow the program or not? Yeah, well, I guess that’s fair as far as that goes. And of course they’re not going to follow the plan because kids today, amirite? But that’s not the majority of players. Not even close. Something like two thirds of all players who pass through the major leagues in any given year are 1 WAR or less players. Guys like that are one really bad stretch from losing their entire careers. And when those decisions are made by management, guys who follow the program are going to get a little consideration to see whether they can turn things around than guys who shirk. You may not buy into that idea but that’s just what I believe. Unlike the algorithm for OOTP AI managers that can’t take that into consideration, human managers definitely do. This isn’t high school where the jock can ignore the teacher and never study and they’ll still successfully graduate. This is the one shot at the career marginal players have been dreaming of all their lives. They’ve already worked and sweated and cried for years putting in the extra effort to make it there in the first place. I just can’t see them throwing it all away by repudiating the coaching, and those that do are the exceptions that I believe get weeded out fast.

Trump doesn't have to make a grand decree that puts them out of business. He can just nibble them to death like a duck with things that hurt their business until they decide to change their tone about him just to make it stop.

This proves that Trump can make moves we can all see are smart.

I think Biden has proven he can lead the country in ways that don't depend on how being a smooth talker.

I have no idea what you mean by this, but what I am saying is if somebody is not following through on off-the-field coaching, like training or adjustments or things of that nature, it's gonna get found out through his lazy, sloppy, or sub-standard performance, and they're going to lose their job, and boo hoo hoo for them, but they'd deserve it.

Which made sense, because after the deluge, Harris had to see what we had that we could salvage, so we could jettison the rest and build from there. Then we fill in the holes where we need it. Looks good on paper, right? The big problem for us is that a lot of that plan simply fell through. The plan was for Tork to take a decent step forward and be a better than average hitter, and for Keith to hit better than a 68 OPS+ and hopefully playable a passable 2B, and for Javier Baez to put up at least the replacement level season he was projected for, and Parker Meadows to have a decent rookie season, and Kerry Carpenter to stay healthy and rake, and for Matt Manning to finally take his permanent place in the rotation, and for Casey Mize to step up to the top half of the rotation, and for Tarik Skubal to be an ace, and for Jack Flaherty to be good, and for the bullpen to be the same level of good as last year. And we got only two of those, and parts of two others, all on the pitching side. That's why we're floundering toward the bottom of the league instead of contending for the third wild card spot. Fans will blame Scott Harris for not planning for the contingency of basically everything going wrong all at once and having something tucked in his pocket he could pull out at the point anything goes upside down and we don't lose a step. I think it would be harsh to hang it all on him for not doing that. Nobody makes plans for when basically everything goes wrong. Nobody does that. There are not enough controllable major-league-quality resources available for teams to keep in stock when basically everybody goes upside down. When it does happen, you absorb it, hopefully learn key things from it, and make adjustments for the next year. I would completely agree, though, that we are either at or near the point at which Scott Harris is going to have to call an audible on his plan. I'm not sure what that would look like, exactly. Maybe it's a big shakeup of optioning or DFA'ing a bunch of guys and calling some wild cards up from Toledo, or signing whatever free agents are still available (come on down, Tim Anderson! 😜). Maybe it's firing some or all of the hitting coaches. I don't know what kinds of impactful choices are available to us at this point, but sometimes the mere appearance of trying to do something and failing is a better look than just staying put and hoping.

Well, if they do that—if they shirk training essential for the job for which they are being compensated handsomely—then they don’t deserve to stay in the majors, do they?

I kind of think the plan for Malloy, if everything goes right, is a share DH/bat off the bench/fifth outfielder. I also think the plan is for him to hit well.

I don’t think that. I think we thought we had at least a puncher’s chance at the playoffs, and if we were reasonably close we’d need him for the push. But selling him at the deadline was a decent fallback plan, if not for the injuries that are sapping his value.

Is everyone else seeing these Smalls cat food commercials? I see them three or four times every game. I have no idea why a cat food company would spend so much on MLB baseball, so I gotta wonder whether it’s a local pod where you see ads for merchants in your town, while on Extra Innings we get a national insert from DirecTV?

That’s one way of showing leadership!

So funny you say that because I realized just today how many pieces we’re missing that will prevent us from getting there!

Keying in a bit on your item #3, the return for Jack Flaherty is now going to be a lot less than we were hoping a couple weeks ago it would be, so we might be in qualifying offer territory now.

Somebody should find their way into whatever Invision bulletin board these Biden people use and tell them they need to grow some balls, change their soiled underpants, and move on. 😉 1 big thing: Biden's staff panic after debate Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios President Biden's debate performance has left many of his own aides worried about his mental fitness and angry about what they see as a lack of candor from Biden's senior advisers, Axios' Alex Thompson reports. "Everyone is freaking the f*** out," one official said. 💥 Behind the scenes: Senior White House officials addressed the president's lackluster performance with staffers last Friday, the day after the debate. Many officials felt they were given talking points, with no real explanation of why Biden appeared unable to string sentences together or articulate a case for himself over former President Trump. The lack of answers from senior aides has continued this week, leading to growing anger and resentment among many inside the White House and the Biden campaign. 👀 "It's dark," said an official involved in the campaign. "It feels like there is zero leadership or information. People are being told to keep their heads down and keep working, but they're not seeing the president or being given any reason why they should have faith in him." 💬 The other side: Many of Biden's most trusted aides believe the debate was just one bad night and expect it to blow over. It would hardly be the first time he's defied critics even within the Democratic party who say he's too old, they note. "We have a lot of experience keeping — and spreading — the faith in moments where we're counted out; by staying focused on delivering for the American people and building on the most successful record of any modern presidency," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said. Go deeper.

Yes, I did that! Although, to be fair, I was not the one here who came up with "punched-in-the-mouth look". But I liked it! Also, I didn't realize you were one of the cool kids who uses dark background. Mad respect, bruh.

And item 1 is not? 😏

I believe we touched on this one the other day: even setting aside the two years lost to injuries, Casey Mize is a pitcher from another era, a guy who relies on hitters to chase splitters falling out of the zone, and they don't, so he gives in and then he gets crushed. Not all the time, but more than a former 1-1 pick should. He simply can't blow away guys with 99 or better up in the zone, and those are the pitchers teams want, and he may never become that because, especially with his injury history, he doesn't have the building blocks to make that transformation. That's why he will probably always be middle of the rotation for a bad team, and back of the rotation or spot starter for a good team. Heck, a good team may not even want anything to do with him.

Right, but this was asked and answered years ago, so no one gives a s*** anymore. It jumped the shark once it slipped into the realm of fodder for late night jokes. Please don't get me wrong: I'm not seeking to minimize the horror experienced by the children caught up in this. It's just that I really want this to matter, and it won't, because not only is nothing being done about it, it has actually passed into the cultural zeitgeist as a common source for humor. You know, hey, there's Trump and Epstein dancing around in a 90s video, ha ha, what else is in the news? This is how far we have fallen.

This is actually old. Been known for some time. I think I might have even seen it referenced here.