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He’s vetting for maximum loyalty for certainty of pardon, if it comes to that.

I tried to post this one last night but couldn't do so from the ballpark. Erie still loves its Tork.

Oh, people will buy his denials, all right. Hell yeah, they will. They are all in, and there's no going back now. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Nothing short of ****ing brilliant.

I can't think of any either, outside of Brandon Belt, and he's 36 and not a lock to rake, either. I don't think we can just pick up an available well-hitting first basemen at Target. In any event, if I were going outside looking for help, whether via trade or signing, I'd be prioritizing shortstop before first base.

Anyone you're thinking of in particular?

I've been wondering whether Baseball self-reported this particular incident by design because they want to characterize players betting on baseball as marginal nobodies who don't even know how to do it right, and who are not good players anyway, which certainly means they could never influence a game or a play in the service of a bet. That way, gambling seems less threatening to the integrity of the game, and Baseball gets to protect their uber-lucrative association with gambling interests. I mean, really, just look at the way we're all making fun of it. Jesus, what a doofus! He can't even break the damn rule right! What we don't know, and could probably never know, is that they may also have discovered multiple All Stars with high merchandise sales attached to their names betting on games in which they have a duty to perform, and there is exactly zero chance of our ever hearing anything like that unless it's somehow leaked to the press. I'm not saying Baseball for sure did this, and I'm not even saying that I believe they did. What I am saying is that if they ever did it, we'd never know it, because they would bury it fast and deep to protect the enterprise. Tell me why I'm wrong.

JHM! First major league hithomer!

Artist's renderng of Chris McCoskey contemplating Sub-Replacement Level Ex-Tiger Jose Urena's start tonight:

That makes sense. To take it to a ridiculous extreme, what if a pitcher wanted to warm up for 20 minutes? The umpire has to have the power to cut it off at a reasonable point.

We saw Hao-Yu Lee Jack a three-run bomb in the first.

Greetings from beautiful Erie, Pennsylvania!

OK, they definitely have to be trolling us here. Nobody makes this choice by accident. I mean, come on.

That’s makes sense on paper, although it is offset somewhat by the inherent advantage new pitchers have when they come into the game at first.

Just got an iPhone 15 Pro Max, decided to speed test the 5G, and … wow. Just … wow. Get a load of how much data the test down used. Almost 1.4 gigs. That’s “gigs” with a “g”. My first-ever computer had a hard drive that was 40 megs, with an “m”. I now have dozens and dozens of Excel spreadsheets bigger than that.

Controlling the zone does a lot better with actual good hitters.

Yes, and I think it’s a pretty good slot to put a low on-base guy who can run bases really well. I’ve done that in my old-timey sim league.

The Zach McKinstry Sucks Club is a bit chastened at the moment. 😁

Honest question, why do you believe this? Is there something you read about him that leads you to believe this? If so I'd love to see it because I haven't come across anything either way. Or maybe it's basically a feeling you have about him?

No reason to eat it, like, ever? Or just today on June 4, 2024? Because I agree with that latter, if for no other reason then we have no one in-house whom we know is better. As for value on defense and baserunning, yes, he probably has positive value on both, but sometimes that's not enough to overcome truly execrable hitting, and all parts of the game are additive in terms of what it means to wins. The problem is, Javy may not have as much of either going for him as we think. B-R has him at 0.2 dWAR so far this year, and Fangraphs actually has him as a -0.1, with minus-1 defensive runs saved and minus-2 outs above average, mostly because of his throwing woes, but also, the ball is clanking off his glove too much. I know FPCT is a discredited statistic, but he is no better than middle of the pack in it, for what that's worth. I understand it's hard to believe Javy even might be a minus defender, because he makes such visually spectacular plays, but remember how Derek Jeter compiled a historic highlight reel of appealing defensive plays, and he was still one of the worst everyday defenders at shortstop in the game. As for baserunning, again, take this for what it's worth, but Fangraphs has Javy at 55th of 155 qualifiers in XBR, which is Statcast baserunning above average, putting him behind Riley Greene, Matt Vierling—and Mark Canha, believe it nor not. Javy is above the fold, yes, but not by as much as we might imagine he would be. Add it all up, and if we had a better alternative ready to go, I would conclude that Javy Baez's defense and baserunning would not be enough to keep him employed here for much longer.

Exactly. Kreidler's role on the Tigers would be stopgap until we were to get someone permanent there, and there's a good chance he won't be as good as even Javy today is.

The hire of Ron Gardenhire was proof positive that everything Al Avila said about the importance of analytics was horse**** lip service.

“Vote for me or the Jew reporter rots.”

Sounds like a witch hunt to me. 😏

I envy you.