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I might have been one of the first, if not the first, to hypothesize that the main issue might not be that the coaching is failing the hitters, but that this collection of hitters just might not be good enough. After all, not every player can produce at a Hall of Fame level if only he had the right coaching. Some guys simply have very low ceilings. I think we might have a few of those guys on this team right now. That said, I also can't say that this is true, or even that this is what I firmly believe. It's still just a hypothesis for me, and it may not really be provable one way or the other, because how do you do so except through the eventual results years from now? So I expect we will have an active and spirited discussion about this during the coming couple of years. But I am glad we've gotten this discussion rolling, because frankly, I was getting a bit tired of hearing the hitting coaches, and by extension A.J. Hinch, getting raked for failing to put All-Star-level hitters in the batter's box this year. Not that I'm a slappy for Hinch and the coaches, but it seemed like too simplistic an implication being made: change the manager and coaches and the guys we have now will become All-Star hitters. To Oblong's point, there is a force on the other side of the field actively trying to thwart us and that we have to work through. But, also, we were told by multiple sources (ZIPS, Marcel, PECOTA, etc.) coming in that this team was going to be a bottom-of-baseball offense, and I'm pretty sure they were not predicting that because of the coaches we have.

I think Trump would like to be sentenced to jail—not that he wants to actually go, because even if sentenced he still might not (SCOTUS to the rescue!), but he wants the world to see Merchan pull the trigger on it. it would play beautifully into his victim-of-the-deep-state narrative, and I would be concerned that even independents might be swayed in his direction by that. Not least of all, I wonder whether his being sentenced for contempt would become the big issue at hand and they would have to delay the actual illegal campaign contribution trial further to litigate that. So, careful with that axe, Eugene ...

Took me a few seconds to understand your reply, but I wasn't referring to the Starbucks thing, but instead the comment Shai Davidai made in his tweet, that kids yelling at each other in the middle of a street constitutes "domestic terrorism". That seems rather melodramatic.

My favorite part of the map is the reference to the NBL.

I didn’t love how they all gave in to breaking up during literally all the sketches, but maybe it was more or less a Ryan Gosling support thing. It’s not as though it’s an ongoing issue with this cast. I was wondering how did the other people in the audience in this sketch not break up? Maybe they don’t speak English so they don’t know what’s being said? Otherwise they ever really good at maintaining stone faces.

They’re kids acting out trying on political activism for size. They’ll be parents living in the suburbs and working for F500 companies within ten years.

lol kids with cameras yelling is domestic terrorism

This history of detached private equity is that they drive down costs and flip for quick profits, so I would imagine the fan experience will degrade and unnamed source players will start complaining about declining quality of work environment. Hope I’m wrong.

Back on the horse.

Sign who?

Or pick up an additional three or four actual hitters. The rot was so deep when Harris came onboard that we all knew it wasn’t going to be fixed by now, or fixed all at once. I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but probably at least another year, if at all. The hitters are also probably going to have to come up through the system—hitters like Keith and Jung and Clark and McGonigle—versus relying on a free agent market as long as we have an inherent disadvantage built into this ballpark.

Well, you got half that right, anyway …

Alex Lange is always going to be the Little Girl with the Little Curl.

What a fantastic map! A+!

Difference being that people liked Adam Everett.

True, they still have 52 minutes to get the thing delayed.

That does seem to be a thing the last few years, where obviously talented performers such as athletes and musicians play down their skills by publicly positioning themselves as everyone hates them and wants to see them fail and they’re fighting against all odds to succeed, so they try to get people to root for them on that paradoxical basis. It’s such a common thing now it must have some cool name attached to it. Fake Underdog Complex? I don’t know, probably too on the nose. Plus a problematic acronym. But you get the idea.

Funny you say that because ever since I moved to Chicago, I am frequently struck by how flat and clipped and nasal Michigan accents are. I sure didn’t notice it while I was living there. I thought we were the Walter Cronkite network standard accent.

Happy Jose Lima Day!

I agree that luck matters, but a good foundation can help you make your own luck, and I think we’re going in the right direction.

If he can turn them against the union, he can turn them against the government, and then he can remake it all to his own liking.

Elite on defense and low BABIP are directly related. Just goes to prove the axiom that a lot of pitching is actually fielding.

Way to gut that out and get the split, Foley. Man, we've seen some games this season so far!

Holy ****, what an at bat by Julien. This turned out to be a game!

That play at third, right there, for the second out in the ninth? That's what we signed Urshela for.