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I'm coming around to the idea that the Tigers may be done picking up players for their major league roster next year. We were already set at 1B, SS, C, and two outfield slots as of the final day of the season. We've already signed Canha, so that takes care of the third slot out there. We have two guys at the top of the system, Keith and Jung, who have maybe even better than a puncher's chance of coming north out of Lakeland, and could man 2B and 3B, and Harris is on record as not wanting to pick up guys who block our best prospects. So I don't think we sign or trade for either of those positions. Worst case, if both flop in March, we still have Vierling, McKinstry, and Ibanez at minimum to rotate among the two positions. Point being, I don't see us signing an established big leaguer—as though there are a bunch of them out there to choose from, anyway—for either position while telling even one of our two top position prospects to go pound sand for the next year. That leaves the pitching staff. We've already signed Maeda, and I think wey're counting on the three former prospects to win spots in the rotation, and we have Olson and Gipson-Long on deck now, and possibly one or more of Ty Madden and Wilmer Flores killing it in March and earning a spot north. That's eight possibles in-house to start the season with, so I don't see us going out and signing or trading for a league average established pitcher to upset that plan, and I sure don't see us tying up nine years of the future hoping to get the one guy 15 other teams are running hard after as well. So I think we're done with the rotation. The one area we might sign someone for is in the bullpen, which is already considered a strength of ours with Lange, Foley, Vest, and Holton anchoring the back of it. We could pick up a late-inning left-hander as long as they don't require a boatload of years, so I don't see Hader coming here, either. (Not just because of the years, but also because the prima donna don't-pitch-me-except-in-a-save-situation attitude he's known for. We have seen how Harris treats prima donnas.) Someone like a Brad Hand or a Will Smith or even a Matt Moore could make their way here for the next year. But I also wouldn't be surprised to see nothing more happen for the 'pen. (Or the "BP", if you prefer.) Yeah, I know, I'm no fun. I'm simply more interested in what I believe is gonna happen than what I hope against hope might happen.

"Too hurtful" to what friend?

Man, woman, etc., etc.

I don't think Biden sucks at all. I think he's great and I'm definitely rooting for him to win next year, and not just for Agent Orange to lose.

I don't think we know what the IDF's actions are during warfare in Gaza any more than we knew what the US's actions were during warfare in Iraq/Afghanistan/etc. Everything we think we know is what people with interest are communicating to us.

I think the stopper on Yamamoto for this front office might be less than AAV and more the years. Even for a 25-year-old with little injury history, it seems unlikely this front office would commit nine years to one pitcher, especially since we haven’t even established ourselves as a contender for the playoffs yet, let alone a ring. I’d love to see him on the Tigers, but from a practical standpoint a nine-year/nine-figure contract like his would be a better fit on a team that’s established and contends all the time, such as Dodgers, Yankees, Braves, even Cardinals. I would guess he’ll end up on the west coast, which would probably intensify his fame in Japan.

I think one of the things that might have tamped down Meada’s market, other than age, is his recent injury history. He missed all of 22 with TJ, but, also, two months of 23 with triceps strain. And all this following some time off for a groin injury in 21. He is also seen to be an unlucky stretch away from being consistently crushed by high BABIP on his hard-hit stuff. Nevertheless, this is more than just a plugging-up of an opening at the top of the rotation. He’s a veteran presence with playoff experience who can guide the young staff through challenging for the playoffs, which seems like a pretty good possibility for this team starting this season. And if he can keep the fly balls from leaving the massive home ballpark, he’s a decent bet to replicate is mid-90s FIP- for at least one more and possibly two more years. From Maeda’s perspective, this is the culmination of his life’s work from a comp standpoint, having just come off an 8/26 he signed with the Dodgers. That’s not life-changing money in MLB terms but, coupled with his wife’s TV reporter earnings, they weren’t hurting even in expensive LA. If he can stay healthy and produce, he could probably scare up another one-year/eight-figure deal after this one, maybe even two.

Eastern time zone teams are generally harder sells for Japanese players for a lot of reasons: cultural differences are starker; traveling back home takes a lot longer; ET night games start at 8:00am vs pacific time teams' games starting at 1100am, which make them better for TV. I'm sure there are other reasons. Not saying Yamamoto could never ever sign with Detroit, but it is a lot longer shot.

The irony is that they don’t appear to care what The Man said if it doesn’t suit the purpose they already had in mind going in. The Bible is a big book and there’s a lot in it to ignore in the service of making a point.

It's hard for the US to be anything other than "Israel right or wrong", since the Jewish people as both individuals and as a political identity still occupy that moral high ground from ~75 years ago. That said, I've been gobsmacked how many (I had thought) reasonable people of the Hebraic persuasion think nothing of the idea of killing hundreds of thousands of Gaza civilians because, hey, they voted Hamas in back in 2004 or whatever it was, so it's their own damn fault what's happening to them. Of course, never mind that Hamas has blocked elections ever since then, and that half the people in Palestine are children and weren't even alive or old enough back then to vote. Justice is the demand, just like it was post 9/11. Exact same idea, it looks to me.

I think Utley making it would help Whitaker on a future committee ballot.

I think Trump himself is going to make a lot of that happen. Just like last time.

Well, Trump has already affirmatively stated what his plans are for when he returns to office, and it's going to be nothing but revenge and retribution for all his enemies, which is basically anyone with a different color hat. It's actually the only thing he's said that he is gonna do, as far as I can tell. Unless you're waiting for him to make the affirmative case to the American people about what he's going to do about the federal budget and tax negotiations and all that, in which case, lol. 😉

Told you it was fashionable. 😏

I've always thought of the whole born-again thing as being related to this. Their thing is, you can't earn your way into heaven—only by the blood of Jesus after you've accepted him as your Personal Lord and Savior™ can you ensure your spot in heaven. But the flip side of that is, and must be, that once you are saved, you can't earn your way out of heaven, either. That must mean by definition that a saved person can sin in the worst ways imaginable until the second they die, but as long as they've accepted Christ, they're perpetually golden. I guess that's why the concept that being a cruel MAGA is an unChristian way to behave bounces right off their deaf ears, because acting in we've come to believe as being "Christian" was never the point for them. Being a saved Christian is not an act, it's a condition, and if you can never lose it except by explicitly rejecting Christ, what's the incentive to act "Christian"?

I think Trump earned his second term loss. The only way I can see Trump winning is that reasonable people stay home and/or Republicans fix election results in swing states. I see no way a reasonable person abandons Biden for Trump, and despite all the fashionable dark-joke cynicism we see about the American people as a class, there are more reasonable people than irrational people. Remember, Trumpism has lost hm three straight election cycles, and he and that party are doubling down on the very thing that lost those elections for them.

The curse of a social system that neither teaches nor values critical thinking skills.

Far be it from me to say it serves him right.

Mauer won three batting titles and an MVP at catcher, which is a really big deal, and he had plus-plus sideburns that got him TV spots, so he fulfills the fame part. Fifty-five wins is enough when paired with that. Maybe this year, maybe not, but I think he gets in at some point. I think Sheffield has the career totals, what with 500 homers and all, but he was also a sort of generic nondescript slugger during Chicks Dig The Long Ball, so he gets a little lost in that shuffle. if he has his same numbers during the 60s and 70s, he sails in. Sheff did have a sudden vote surge on his ninth ballot, but he does have twenty points to make up as well, so I think he’s a long shot. Victor will always be in the Hall of Tiger Fan Hearts, but he and Torii don’t have a prayer for Cooperstown. Chase Utley should get in, since he has a ring and a little bit of fame through things like It’s Always Sunny, but the Utley Rule thing might cost him votes on the margin. Probably not this year, but maybe with five years he’ll be in. A-Rod should have been an inner-circle Hall of Famer on his first ballot, of course, but there are probably still enough moral scolds and douche scolds to keep him out for the next eight years. Beltre is the only lock this year.

I think he might have evolved into a Heyman-level hack.

Wasn’t Morosi also the guy who said the Tigers and Eduardo were negotiating after the season ended? He needs a win to get back on the horse.

I’m not sure abut how the backup program copies. It looks like by file to me on the interface but I don’t know what it is under the hood. The program app is called Fileback, and I’ve been using the same copy of it since the 2000s. It hasn’t even been updated since 2009 and the guy who created it might even be dead. But I know it like the back of my hand, it’s awesome, and I’m gonna use it til I die. Anyhoo: The sector sizes are different. I am moving the files from a disk that’s NTFS 4096 to one that’s ex-FAT 1024. Is that the difference right there? Should I reformat the SSD to sx-FAT 4096 to match? I probably should keep it ex-FAT because it’s an external SSD, right? Or should I change it to NTFS? Or: is there any way for me to change it without formatting so that current files are there under ex-FAT 1024 and all new files after that come in under ex-FAT 4096?

I like Maeda as a target. He's old, but he still has good strikeout and walk rates, gets a lot of swing and miss especially outside the zone, and he has a lot of playoff experience he can share with the staff. I would approve of a serious offer.

What's his public minimum demand? 😁

Cue Trump posting on his Social Truthiness thingy congratulating North Korea and calling Kim Jong-Un smart, successful, and handsome. https://x.com/abplive/status/1727016671528059082?s=20https://x.com/abplive/status/1727016671528059082?s=20