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Should we be betting against Riley’s .420 BABIP, 18.2% HR/FB rate, and 50+% GB rate? Or is he gonna keep up his 136 wRC+ with those peripherals for the rest of the season?

Well, Eduardo is keeping his guys in the ballpark.

I like Eugenio Suarez a lot more now that he’s killing it on my OOTP historical league team.

Making an out on 3-0 will cost you in kangaroo court, especially if you’re a cipher on the team.

I think the initial assumption should be that the person can be your advocate, until they prove otherwise, which can and does happen. But in the case where the threat of getting an attorney involved comes onto the table, we should probably assume at that point that any cordiality we'd had in the relationship will be damaged, if not totally destroyed. It might be cathartic and make us feel good and powerful to make such a threat, but there is almost always a cost to doing so. But even if we are willing to forego the relationship for the sake of threatening legal action, coming off angry as well will serve only to make us look unhinged, and that might actually weaken our position if the other side counters with politeness and restraint, even if it's cold and less-than-sincere. Because anger is basically intimidation of a physical type, it wins really only in situations where one side can prevail by physically overpowering the other, and even then, a cold lack of emotion in physical encounters can have its own chilling effect. Ever get physically bullied around by a guy who was business-like about it instead of angry? That is its own special type of unnerving. To me, the real key is whether the encounter is relationship-based, or a one-off. If we want to maintain a relationship with an organization and expect to continue doing so, then becoming angry and making threats will surely damage that relationship, quite possibly beyond repair, and we should be cognizant of that potential outcome before we yell and scream and threaten attorneys. If it's a one-off situation and we know we will never see or do business with the other party again, though, then such threats are much less costly, but we also still better be ready to back it up or it still might not work.

That's true if catharsis > restraint, and there's no need to maintain a cordial ongoing relationship.

Get familiar with using ChatGPT, or whatever other AI app you're signed up for, to craft emails or follow-ups for you in thorny situations. Our HVAC provider had us on overlapping contracts for a couple of months and I had asked for a refund, crafting the original email myself. After some back and forth I got him to acknowledge the problem and he did agree to the refund. That was June 11. I'd heard nothing by June 28, so I wrote a short two-sentence "please advise" follow-up email. Still nothing. I was thinking of calling the guy today and expecting to maybe experience pushback, because this would be the third contact about this issue, so I was wondering what exactly should I say to minimize that? As that task was lingering in the background I was perusing some newsletters and I was reading a story about openAI when, 💡: Why not have AI craft the follow-up email for me? So I asked it to do this: Write me an email in first person plural to someone who promised me a refund after overlapping two contracts with me but has not paid me yet even after telling me by email that he would, and not replying to a follow-up email asking about it. This is what it came up with: Dear [Recipient's Name], I hope this email finds you well. I am reaching out regarding the refund that we discussed and that you kindly agreed to provide. We had a conversation over the phone recently, during which you acknowledged the overlapping contracts and assured me that the refund would be processed promptly. However, it has been some time since our conversation, and I have not received the refund as promised. I also sent a follow-up email, but unfortunately, I have not received a response from you. I understand that unforeseen circumstances can arise, causing delays, but I kindly request your attention to this matter as it is important to me. I believe in maintaining clear and honest communication. Our prior agreement and your commitment to issuing the refund have not been fulfilled, leaving me in a position of financial inconvenience. I kindly request that you take immediate action to rectify this situation by processing the refund as soon as possible. To ensure a smooth resolution, I kindly ask you to provide me with an update regarding the refund status within [give a reasonable timeframe, e.g., three business days] from the receipt of this email. If there are any unforeseen circumstances that are causing the delay, please provide an explanation so that I can have a clear understanding of the situation. I value our business relationship and believe that this issue can be resolved amicably. I appreciate your prompt attention and cooperation in resolving this matter. Should you require any additional information or have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Thank you for your understanding and assistance. Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Contact Information] It's rather long and detailed and strikes me as almost patronizingly over-polite, but I thought, what the heck? Not much to lose here if this approach goes upside-down. I inserted specifics in place of the bracketed parts and sent it along. I got a call back from him within ten minutes. Uh-oh, I thought, what if he's ticked off by my persistence and is loaded for bear? I may be the customer, but I'm not in the mood for that kind of drama. But, oh well, here goes ... He starts off in a slightly agitated tone, but he wasn't agitated at me. He was agitated because, he said, he'd put this refund in through his system twice and still I'd gotten nothing, so he "ripped" his business manager "a new one" because this whole thing is making him and the company look bad, and I should be hearing back from the business manager by email first thing this morning and status and timeframe. Well! That worked out pretty well! Thank you, our future AI overlords!

I'm thinking Baseball simply didn't want to fund those lowest leagues anymore, probably because the hit rate on players who would end up going there was so low. I'm guessing that now, players like you mention, who used to go in the 20- or 30- or 40-somethingth round, now go undrafted and if they want to pursue a pro career, they can develop in independent leagues on someone else's dime.

Perhaps Cerkownyk fell off everyone's radar because he was considered unsignable. Maybe we had to throw a bunch of overslot money at him to pry him away from his sweet deal at Connors State.

I’m pretty sure my softball slugging this year is well over 1.000.

It does sound kind of wacky to a guy in his 60s who’s never heard of this kind of thing before, but my reading on this tonight has taught me that some transitioning people can still lactate, and that this is valid, so, OK, seems as though guidance is needed. The NY Post story claims to have spoken with “several doctors” who express concerns that the CDC has “failed to gauge the risks posed to children drinking milk produced by chemicals used in gender-reassignment medical operations”, but this whole sidebar seems speculative, on the same order as, we shouldn’t give people welfare because they’ll just spend it on drugs. Also, I don’t see anything that indicates that chestfeeding people are at any more risk of poisoning their children with milk tainted by hormone drugs than breastfeeding people are of poisoning their children with milk tainted by methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, or any number of other dangerous, deadly, and/or illegal drugs. Besdies, the CDC page discussing this has a link to another page listing out drugs that transitioning people use, including Estradiol, Spironolactone, and even testosterone, so the guidance definitely contemplates the phenomenon of transitioning people chestfeeding their children: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK501922/ I’d rather the CDC provide guidance on this under Biden than for them to allow Trump to influence them to discourage COVID testing even for people exposed to those known to have the virus. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/08/trump-administration-influenced-cdc-guidance-to-suppress-covid-testing-house-panel-says.html

Is that wowza for whatever junior college league Connors State is in?

Ha ha, yeah, Harris ain’t dumping TORK!

I’m pretty sure that for a while, every time I hear of McGonigle, I’ll think of Patty and Selma.

True to some degree, although as rounds go, ninth rounds have better results on an on an overall basis than 19th round, and that when you look at career results for all the rounds, it really does go pretty sequentially that earlier-round picks perform better as a class than later-round picks. I remember seeing this on a website called Baseball Gauge before Forman bought it and took it offline.

I think it’ll be interesting to see whether the changes the Tigers have made to their philosophies and approaches, as well as the success they are showing in both pitching and defense, will lead to more pitchers being interested in coming here this winter. I don’t we’re as close to getting hitters of similar comp yet.

The idea that this is a loaded draft for hitters leads into something I’ve been wondering about: are kids coming through the draft miles more advanced than prior drafts because of performance science seeping down from what only the majors had once to the amateur (e.g., high school) level? Are kids with a profile to go pro just becoming greater hitters as a class versus prior classes, because of the ability to adjust based on data that players before them never had? It’s going to even out one day if true, but maybe we are going into a short period of some have it and some don’t, which might lead to hitters stepping off the spaceship from Planet Baseball, like de la Cruz, for a few years.

OOTP players definitely talk back. Some of them outright lip off.

This is extreme just for the discussion, but it might be the difference between “Wow, I don’t really understand this pick, what do they see in the kid?” and “this pick sucks, we’re so doomed.”

Fine by me, so long as he doesn’t turn into the next Byron Buxton who can’t stay on the field.

Looks like Harris sold him on the long term vision.

Really, that swing Tork went on for strike three was the same as the swing Ibanez went on, and this time Gania and Price said they thought he went. So, who knows.

Too bad the trade deadline couldn’t have been June 30.

Welcome to the club!

Fire him.