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Keith, probably and Meadows, definitely. Jobe is flinging low-A ball right now after getting hurt. He’s a few years away from big boy pants.

I think the umps were right, but Gania, the PBP on the radio today, might be one of those “my guys right or wrong” guys. I think that comes off as ingratiating, and minor-leaguey. YMMV, but I don’t like that kind of guy. I like truth-tellers like Dan.

So replay shows Baez went on that check swing, but Gania says, “ehhh, I don’t think he went …” So looks like maybe Gania is that guy.

See what Carpenter did with Vlad there? “Nice play, man …”

I wanna see how things are shaping up at the end of March 2024 before I commit to that number, but yeah—it’s not about this year.

Dan Dickerson is my TV guy. 😁

Jim Price was my “coach” at Tigers fantasy camp in 2008 and he is truly a very nice guy.

Man, Riley Greene is hard at the plate!

I serve ‘em up … you knock ‘em out of the park!

Hustle double by Ibanez! He had the throw beat, too. Just smart heads-up baserunning there.

How are you guys enjoying the 50-year season-ticket holder?

What percent of the last ten, twenty, thirty no hitters are combined I wonder?

Wow!

What an outing by the kid. Now Foley/Lange I assume, if we can keep the lead.

If he gets injured in the All Star Game I swear I’m gonna pass a kidney on the spot.

My favorite part is his decision to include the homoerotic imagery as a way to show off his he-man bona fides to his gay-bashing base. I mean, really: tell us without telling us, Ron …

I just think it's asking too much for Hinch, and Harris, to find eight major league regulars, four regular rotation guys, and a regular back of the bullpen, out of this motley system. Harris inherited a mess, and part of that mess is being left with a severe lack of leverage to swing deals and sign impact players. We are at least a couple of years from being able to do that. In the meantime, we have to play the players we got, and try to find diamonds in a market that's rough on people who are low on options. Even if some people were to get what they wish for and see Harris kick Hinch's ass to the curb this winter, there's at least a 50/50 chance they wouldn't like his replacement, either, and then we'd have this conversation all over again next year.

If Baddoo has much less of a future with this team, and in fact they don’t see a future for him at all, they might as well sit him and play Hot Hand Vierling to see whether he can hack it. If they think Baddoo has a future here, then they had better find space for him on the field on a pretty regular, at least platoon, basis. Not for nothing, I remember fondly the days of reading posts earlier this season about wanting to see Andy Ibanez walk the plank, and I look forward to a return of those days.

I agree with this in principle. The question is whether we have guys on this roster that we can do that with. Who do we have on this roster today who has proven that they are, or are ready to be, major league regulars, a guy who plays at an above average level on a reasonably consistent basis and who has enough future with the team that you could see signing him for more than a year at a time? Riley is in that camp, if he can stay on the field. Maybe Tork. Anyone else? Because it’s not just about the platoon issue, which is a very real consideration for rosters and lineups that every manager in the game, not just Hinch, has to deal with. It’s also about whether a guy is even ready to take on the responsibility of playing every game every day, good for 650 trips to the plate in a season. There are a lot of guys in the game who just can’t do that at this level, whether they aren’t consistent enough to perform every day, or can’t handle the pressure of performing to everyday expectations, or even because they are more prone to injury or just get plain tired. And even if you think you want to see someone every day, there’s a really good chance you might not like the results if they do. That was one of the things I would say about Mike Fontenot when he played for the Cubs: he was great for 300 at bats in a platoon situation, but give him an everyday job and you starting seeing all the things he can’t do.

More like the wrong players. Unless you want to write Vierling and McKinstry down for 150 games in pen and not look back no matter how they do afterward.

I hear ya. I wanted him to stay, too, from the very beginning, and I took a lot of **** here, and from more than one guy, for banging that drum. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t entirely Harris’s decision to let him go, or based on an assessment that Jeimer was done done.

I would say it's a miss only if there were a clearly better 3B on the market at the same time that Harris picked Maton over. Was there, in your opinion? I would also not characterize Malloy as a miss because he was not a good third baseman in the Braves system, either, so it's not as though we were bringing him over as third base or bust. I think they tried to give him one last shot there to see whether he could improve under different coaching enough to cultivate him there. Apparently, he can't, but he might pay out in left.

I still have the initial faith that Harris is doing everything he can to find the best players available at any given time, so if he hasn't yet signed someone better than Maton, my assumption is that there is not a better player than Maton at this position who is freely available. Once it is clear that Harris is consistently failing to find and sign the best players available on the open market—once he demonstrates that he is incompetent at this very basic part of his job—I'll pick up the torch and pitchfork along with everyone else.

Yes, if they are out there.