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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.

I knew all those write-in votes for Michelle Obama didn't go to waste! 💀

Do I? Who? Share a post with me if you have it.

OK, so, Craig Monroe was ordered to leave the ballpark within minutes of the post coming to light, even though the post was deleted in those minutes between when it was posted and when he was sent packing. That tells me pretty conclusively that the Tigers and Bally were waiting for any opportunity to get rid of him. I can't hazard a guess as to what else might have been happening between the scenes, but I could see during the very first broadcast that star jock Craig Monroe was big-timing Jason Benetti, the nerdy gimpy new kid with the googly eyes, and I gotta believe that had at least something to do with it. The thing from the story that practically shocked me was that Monroe was not even an employee of either Bally or the team, that he was a contractor working on a game-to-game basis without health or any other benefits, and without any guaranteed minimum of games. I don't know whether that's common for in-game analysts for the Tigers, or for teams in general. Point is, though, we have most definitely seen the last of Craig Monroe, and speaking only in terms of his performance on the air, I couldn't be happier about it.

This is what news as a profit center looks like.

How do people you know look when they hit 84?

From the Department of Careful What You Wish For:

And yet despite it being there and available to all, the impression voters have is still that Trump is way more physcially and mentally fit to be president: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/24/voters-views-of-biden-and-trump/ And I promise you these top two numbers are no better for Biden now than they were in April. So ... now what?

Oh ****ing A, it's gonna get overturned on appeal for sure, isn't it? Damn it. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/02/nyregion/trump-sentencing-hush-money-trial.html?emc=edit_na_20240702&ref=cta&nl=breaking-news