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I can see Ibanez sticking around. I don’t know that they will try to pass Kelly through waivers so they can stash him away in Toledo. I think the front office is gonna give him a chance to hook on for a starting job someplace else. I don’t think McKinstry or Maton are going anywhere. I also don’t think we keep Joey Wentz so we can lose Will Vest.

If Miggy can manage to jack two more bombs, then he would have the most career home runs of anyone who has ever played for the Tigers.

At least she's not going to end up on OnlyFans like some Congressional representatives we can name.

Dred Scott might like to have a word with you about this. 😏 Notwithstanding this, I totally cosign onto your post.

Then Parker can move to left when future face-of-the-franchise Max Clark comes up.

Exactly—I’ve been using the word “reform” in the sense of blowing up the makeup for the current judiciary, then forming it anew with all new appointments. I did not mean it in the sense of re-educating current judges. I’d been thinking he would do it as way to tap into the whole anti-deep-state sentiment in general, and as a way to consolidate even more power unto himself, but now that they’ve basically closed down his core New York business down, I could see it being more of a personal grudge now. He would talk about that part, although I would think his surrogates would focus more on something like outrageous woke rulings.

It might make more of a difference by activating latent 2nd Amendment people waiting for a case to become electorally active over. Taxing the heck out of guns and ammunition might do that. Maybe some bold lawyer even brings a lawsuit challenging the very right of government to tax a constitutionally-protected product, one which, theoretically, people should be able to purchase most freely.

I wonder whether this might be the point where Trump starts running on reforming the judiciary.

Holton’s Statcast card is a sea of red, not unlike Skubal’s. Holton may not be as untouchable this winter as Skubal is, but I gotta believe it’s gonna take a lot to pry him from our warm, awakening hands.

"You know how I describe the economic and social classes in this country? The upper class keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work. The poor are there just to scare the **** out of the middle class ... keep 'em showing up at those jobs!"

Meanwhile, in Erie, Pennsylvania …

Another $8 million for buying out the option next year.

Yes and yes, plus they all know he can get away with it because he has always gotten away with it.

They will report that in the mainstream media which they know the red hats never read, so Trump can cover his ass with the feds while still maintaining his stone cold killer cred with the MAGAs.

The $64 question is whether by setting up a system by which they go after reportage and opinion based on falsehood, how they are going to determine that? Just because Trump says something is false doesn’t make it so, yet once he’s president and gets to make that decision, we would all be living under his version of truth across all media, and Alarmist Non-Sense Alert, that includes here, among us. Finding and punishing ordinary people committing thoughtcrimes has been impossible, but rapid advances in artificial intelligence will make it so much easier to drill down and find every last apostate in the public media square, no matter how small and insignificant, and sooner than we may be ready for. I might caution to watch what we say, but it’s way, way too late for a lot of us, or at least for me.

What, they couldn’t get him on Burisma, either?

I would guess that even if Biden had not given the Venezuelans permits to work, there would still be millions of them wanting to escape that hellhole to come to the biggest, most beautiful country with the best economy and the brightest future for their children on the planet.

I don't know ... I never really thought of Carpenter as a linchpin for the next playoff team, although I admit to getting swept up in his performance earlier this season. Odd as this might sound, I think I'd have more actual concern if he were a high 1st round draft pick, for whom the expectation would be perennial everyday regularity and probably a few All-Star nods at some point in his career, as it is for Tork. Instead, Carpenter was a 19th-rounder who was expected to be an organizational soldier, but who happened to fix himself to enough of a degree to get a decent look-see in the bigs. Even if he were to retire right now, his 3.0 WAR renders his career the best of any 19th-round position player since Seth Brown, drafted in 2015 (4.3). Before that you've got Adam Engel 2013 (3.1), and you have to go back to the 2010 draft to see a really good career from a 19th-rounder (Adam Eaton, 18.3). They are really rare birds. So I kind of look at Kerry Carpenter as like playing with house money in a way, and if he were to flop into oblivion at this point, I would be sad for the guy and for us as fans, but I couldn't be particularly disappointed, because he's already done more than anyone could have expected him to.

At this point I'd be fine trading anybody in the system provided the return was favorable. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that Skubal is the one untouchable on the roster, and that Tork is also "untouchable" not because we want to keep him so badly, can't be moved because of his limitations. Even all the top guys in the system are also tradable for the right return, I think, with the possible exception of Max Clark.

It wouldn’t surprise if their payroll were less next year than this, since $50 million or so is a lot to come off the books all at once, but I can also envision them signing more free agents this winter than last winter. I agree that this winter is a litmus test for Harris and expectations are higher.

Our savvy new front office improved us this season from offseason moves. I like our chances of them improving us next season same way.

It is not my hope that we keep all our prospects. I don’t care if we do or if we don’t. It’s perfectly fine by me to deal from the top of the system when it’s the right time to do so. What I’m saying is I would be very surprised if we do so this winter, and I don’t think we will. I believe we will deal top prospects when it’s time to obtain star established major leaguers who will put us over the top to win the division or go deep into October. I don’t think this franchise is in that position yet.

I’m unemployed for a reason. 😁

Maybe we have the basis of an 81-to-85-win team in house today, and we’re just a year early on them at the moment. We’re not going to get top position players off the market, and unless he is a total wizard, I don’t see Harris being able to trade for one without giving up serious capital in return. Maybe Max Clark would have to be part of that, who knows? I’m sure he’ll get some position players in, possibly a distressed underachieving asset. Or maybe he can swing a Jimienez-type deal involving Lange or Foley and pick up a JHM-type guy in return, the kind of guy more likely to help in 2025 than 2024. Or maybe we’ll be looking at his acquisition at the end of March wondering what the heck was he thinking picking that guy up, but we might think differently about it once June or July come around. The one thing I truly doubt will happen is that we offer a package like Skubal and Jobe and Jung and Keith for an established Padre.

Those sideburns are freaking amazing, aren’t they?