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That should clear the way for him to sign a deal with the Yakult Swallows.

No matter how much hitters jack up to hit jacks, they could always deaden the ball enough to overcome it. If they could cut homer rate by a third or so—basically, 2014 level—and maintain that, pitchers would eventually get more comfortable laying up on the down-the-order hitters who wouldn't be able to put the ball out of the park if they tried. Then we would get the benefits of fewer strikeouts, more balls in play, shorter at bats, faster games, longer starting pitcher outings, all of it. They will never do this because the home run music video is Baseball's #1 marketing tool (with the strikeout/punchout music video running well behind in second). But high pitcher attrition rate will continue to be the cost, at least until someone can figure out a heretofore-unconsidered innovation to solve that.

Sure, this works fine for us, but I'm pretty sure JV can do better than $20MM guaranteed over two years.

Enough to throw 4/80 at him on faith and goodwill?

Maybe. Has Perlata shot a guy to death yet?

It’s gonna be the navy blue, because people like colored jerseys, and then only the Yankees and Dodgers will left to stand against it. It’s a shame, but what’re you gonna do.

The thing the most concerns me whenever this kind of thing comes up, a thing that’s supposed to finally bring TFG down, is that what will happen is what always ends up happening: Republicans dismiss it as a partisan political hit job, they gum up the works to prevent real action, and Democrats have no effective answer for any of that. Hit reset button and repeat. Meanwhile, we’re running out of time. We’ve got basically a year to fix this, because if this strain of Republican takes over in Congress, as they have in many states, then democracy will actually be on the clock, as it is in those states. And once they remake the judiciary, that’s when democracy will be over.

Now all we gotta do is get Fox News to tell their viewers this, and everything will be all right. 😏

Christ on a cracker, if this guy is not stopped and ends up running in 2024, and actually wins, then this country is truly fucked, and it won’t come back for any of us in any of our lifetimes. tl;dr: stop this guy already.

That’s it? Forty-four percent? Progress!

It’s worth noting that the Supreme Court upheld right of the states to require vaccines in times of pandemic in Jacobson v Massachusetts in 1905: The liberty secured by the Constitution of the United States does not import an absolute right in each person to be at all times, and in all circumstances, wholly freed from restraint, nor is it an element in such liberty that one person, or a minority of persons residing in any community and enjoying the benefits of its local government, should have power to dominate the majority when supported in their action by the authority of the State. It is within the police power of a State to enact a compulsory vaccination law, and it is for the legislature, and not for the courts, to determine in the first instance whether vaccination is or is not the best mode for the prevention of smallpox and the protection of the public health. There being obvious reasons for such exception, the fact that children, under certain circumstances, are excepted from the operation of the law does not deny the equal protection of the laws to adults if the statute is applicable equally to all adults in like condition. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/197/11/

If you believe Statcast's Outs Above Average stat, he's at zero for shortstop in 2021, although +2 for all positions, since he has played a few innings at 2B for the "Sawx", which is probably what accounts for the 73rd percentile OAA ranking for 2021. Although, that 73rd is down from 89th and 98th the past couple of years, so he appears to be trending in the wrong direction, which you can understand since he is in his age 31 season. And it's not terribly likely he gets better from here.

So have I. I was kidding about picking him up, anyway.

Here's another possibility for shortstop, and hey, he's a Devil We Know! 😉😆

Mike Ilitch did spend money like a drunken sailor, though.

Perhaps the most horrifying part of this wholly horrifying article is that “64% of all extremist group joins are due to [Facebook’s own] recommendation tools” … predominantly thanks to the models behind the ‘Groups You Should Join’ and ‘Discover’ features.”

The “drunken sailor” comment was unfortunate in light of the prior owner’s penchant to way overpay on years and dollars all the way to the end. It’s part of the pattern Avila has shown his entire time in the job. He fumbles through public appearances in a way that draws questions about his decision-making, and coming into this year, his decision-making wasn’t exonerating him. Thanks to AJ, I believe, that’s different starting this year.

Not like I have any inside knowledge, but adding everything up, I think it’s all AJ. I also don’t think Avila’s comment was a deliberate shot at Mike or DD, and I basically said that. I think he’s just in over his head. His strength was scouting talent, not maintaining public relations.

It’s true that Al Avila is building a good team around him, although he didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to do so until this year. At least I’m living to see that, so better now than never. I don’t think he ever really grew into the job. I would really like to see him get kicked upstairs.

This is pretty much how it landed with me, too. This really does shine a bright spotlight on a clear deficiency of Al Avila: the inability to extemporaneously articulate his thoughts at the level of effectiveness necessary for the top public-facing official of a highly visible organization. Either Al meant the "drunken sailor" comment as a dig against a beloved icon whom even people not beholden to him still reverentially refer to as "Mister"; or he blurted out the comment cluelessly, not realizing that it could be perceived in that way. Personally, I believe it's the second option, but really, either way, it reflects poorly on Avila as a communicator and leader. The one thing this is not is surprising, because it reminds us that Avila is an erstwhile scout who basically Peter Principled his way into the Tigers GM job. The Tigers apparently didn't want to go through the time and expense of searching for a replacement for Dombrowski, instead just handing it to the guy who happens to be next in line at the moment. But as pliable as Avila appears to be, an obvious upside for ownership, the deficiency that leads to this kind of faux pas is just as obvious a downside.

And since right field was out, you had to throw ground balls to the pitcher to get the batter out at first. You also had to supply the catcher. We had exactly zero left-handed hitters among the two groups of kids I’d play sandlot with, so closing off RF was not an issue for anyone.

Hard no on Tucker Barnhart. One of the worst-hitting catchers in baseball, and his pitch-framing isn’t good enough to make up for it.

I used to think Charlotte could never support a big league team because the population of the DMA is so spread out, they would never draw 40,000+ fans 81 dates a year. But now I’m coming around to the idea that attendance doesn’t matter all that much, given all the extraneous revenue streams teams enjoy, so they could probably put in a 27,500-seat stadium that will look more full on TV, which helps with optics, plus they could sell out more which would lead to higher ticket prices, which is always a nice nice-to-have.

In the city of Chicago, it is illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk, so you must ride it in the street. So we have no choice. Of course, the main roads in the city are nothing like the main roads in the suburbs, so, there's that.

Also, I prefer it to shouting.