chasfh

What do you think that's about? I'm not aware of any implication attached to it.

I can see that being true at the Trump level, but what about at the congressional or state level? Could it make a difference? This is not a passive-aggressive question, I’m seriously not certain.

TBF, the difference is easy to understand because there were still considered norms when Hillary did that back in 2016 and it was considered remarkable. Trump smashed through that barrier with a firehose and now using language like that considered unremarkable, especially for him. I think it’s all purposeful, too: by using words like “vermin” to describe your “enemies” (which is another word that used to shock when used in the political arena), or by calling every Democrat a “fascist” over and over, it reduces the power inherent in those words and makes people lazy about the actual danger they impose when the actions they lead to start happening.

It’s probably not unlike how some people botch pronouncing other people’s names on purpose as a sign of disrespect. How many different pronunciations have we heard of the vice president’s first name?

Blast from the past! How’s that guy doing?

Hopefully the GOP funding problem is systemic and not cyclical. I’m all for the Republican Party going bankrupt, and I think most of us here are, too, at least the Party in its current form. My main concern is that with their backs against the wall and it becoming increasingly clear they can’t fund and win democratic elections, they’ll start acting out in a bid to take power by force. Or do we think they’ll just peacefully accept their fate and retreat into their homes to binge watch Duck Dynasty and NCIS reruns?

Good thing this is not a country ruled by God's word.

One of the more depressing experiences I had was when I was leaving this downscale casino hotel I was staying at for a non-gambling thing I was doing in Vegas to go to the airport, 715am on a Sunday morning, and seeing just the most depressing group of people sitting at the slots, expressionless faces, mechanically putting coin after coin in the slot and pulling the arm, with all the computerized faux-festive music pouring out of the machines nonstop. I was thisclose to shedding a tear in despair at the scene.

Juno Temple is a lot better in Season 5 than I imagined she would be when I noticed it was she in the first scene of s05e01.

I use a bike pump to top up tires if I'm down by just a couple of PSI. Yeah, it takes a bit of effort but I also get to keep my quarters in my pocket.

Health is always a wild card, but assuming minimal injuries, I think we might have the horses right now to compete for and win a Central Division title. We're almost certainly not going to win 100 games, but 100 wins is also not what it's going to have to take to win this division. I take your point about Wentz and Hutchison, but their increased workloads were also due to plans falling apart because of injury, not because we planned on being bad and needed someone bad to get us there. Anytime massive amounts of injuries happens, it's all hands on deck, and if we get hit by the injury bug like that in '24, it'll be no different. But if we can stay relatively healthy and limit list time, I think this staff could do pretty well without having to rely on the likes of Joey Wentz to eat innings. If we do sign another pitcher, I think it's going to be because one of Skubal/Manning/Mize/Olson experience some kind of injury during the winter or spring. If none of them do, which of these guys would grab some pine based on being the fourth of four in potential? I assume that would probably be Reese Olson, would you agree?

That being the case, we should probably go ahead sign the remaining 58 free agent starting pitchers before they all get away. 😉

I'm coming around to the idea that the Tigers may be done picking up players for their major league roster next year. We were already set at 1B, SS, C, and two outfield slots as of the final day of the season. We've already signed Canha, so that takes care of the third slot out there. We have two guys at the top of the system, Keith and Jung, who have maybe even better than a puncher's chance of coming north out of Lakeland, and could man 2B and 3B, and Harris is on record as not wanting to pick up guys who block our best prospects. So I don't think we sign or trade for either of those positions. Worst case, if both flop in March, we still have Vierling, McKinstry, and Ibanez at minimum to rotate among the two positions. Point being, I don't see us signing an established big leaguer—as though there are a bunch of them out there to choose from, anyway—for either position while telling even one of our two top position prospects to go pound sand for the next year. That leaves the pitching staff. We've already signed Maeda, and I think wey're counting on the three former prospects to win spots in the rotation, and we have Olson and Gipson-Long on deck now, and possibly one or more of Ty Madden and Wilmer Flores killing it in March and earning a spot north. That's eight possibles in-house to start the season with, so I don't see us going out and signing or trading for a league average established pitcher to upset that plan, and I sure don't see us tying up nine years of the future hoping to get the one guy 15 other teams are running hard after as well. So I think we're done with the rotation. The one area we might sign someone for is in the bullpen, which is already considered a strength of ours with Lange, Foley, Vest, and Holton anchoring the back of it. We could pick up a late-inning left-hander as long as they don't require a boatload of years, so I don't see Hader coming here, either. (Not just because of the years, but also because the prima donna don't-pitch-me-except-in-a-save-situation attitude he's known for. We have seen how Harris treats prima donnas.) Someone like a Brad Hand or a Will Smith or even a Matt Moore could make their way here for the next year. But I also wouldn't be surprised to see nothing more happen for the 'pen. (Or the "BP", if you prefer.) Yeah, I know, I'm no fun. I'm simply more interested in what I believe is gonna happen than what I hope against hope might happen.

"Too hurtful" to what friend?

Man, woman, etc., etc.

I don't think Biden sucks at all. I think he's great and I'm definitely rooting for him to win next year, and not just for Agent Orange to lose.

I don't think we know what the IDF's actions are during warfare in Gaza any more than we knew what the US's actions were during warfare in Iraq/Afghanistan/etc. Everything we think we know is what people with interest are communicating to us.

I think the stopper on Yamamoto for this front office might be less than AAV and more the years. Even for a 25-year-old with little injury history, it seems unlikely this front office would commit nine years to one pitcher, especially since we haven’t even established ourselves as a contender for the playoffs yet, let alone a ring. I’d love to see him on the Tigers, but from a practical standpoint a nine-year/nine-figure contract like his would be a better fit on a team that’s established and contends all the time, such as Dodgers, Yankees, Braves, even Cardinals. I would guess he’ll end up on the west coast, which would probably intensify his fame in Japan.

I think one of the things that might have tamped down Meada’s market, other than age, is his recent injury history. He missed all of 22 with TJ, but, also, two months of 23 with triceps strain. And all this following some time off for a groin injury in 21. He is also seen to be an unlucky stretch away from being consistently crushed by high BABIP on his hard-hit stuff. Nevertheless, this is more than just a plugging-up of an opening at the top of the rotation. He’s a veteran presence with playoff experience who can guide the young staff through challenging for the playoffs, which seems like a pretty good possibility for this team starting this season. And if he can keep the fly balls from leaving the massive home ballpark, he’s a decent bet to replicate is mid-90s FIP- for at least one more and possibly two more years. From Maeda’s perspective, this is the culmination of his life’s work from a comp standpoint, having just come off an 8/26 he signed with the Dodgers. That’s not life-changing money in MLB terms but, coupled with his wife’s TV reporter earnings, they weren’t hurting even in expensive LA. If he can stay healthy and produce, he could probably scare up another one-year/eight-figure deal after this one, maybe even two.

Eastern time zone teams are generally harder sells for Japanese players for a lot of reasons: cultural differences are starker; traveling back home takes a lot longer; ET night games start at 8:00am vs pacific time teams' games starting at 1100am, which make them better for TV. I'm sure there are other reasons. Not saying Yamamoto could never ever sign with Detroit, but it is a lot longer shot.

The irony is that they don’t appear to care what The Man said if it doesn’t suit the purpose they already had in mind going in. The Bible is a big book and there’s a lot in it to ignore in the service of making a point.

It's hard for the US to be anything other than "Israel right or wrong", since the Jewish people as both individuals and as a political identity still occupy that moral high ground from ~75 years ago. That said, I've been gobsmacked how many (I had thought) reasonable people of the Hebraic persuasion think nothing of the idea of killing hundreds of thousands of Gaza civilians because, hey, they voted Hamas in back in 2004 or whatever it was, so it's their own damn fault what's happening to them. Of course, never mind that Hamas has blocked elections ever since then, and that half the people in Palestine are children and weren't even alive or old enough back then to vote. Justice is the demand, just like it was post 9/11. Exact same idea, it looks to me.

I think Utley making it would help Whitaker on a future committee ballot.

I think Trump himself is going to make a lot of that happen. Just like last time.

Well, Trump has already affirmatively stated what his plans are for when he returns to office, and it's going to be nothing but revenge and retribution for all his enemies, which is basically anyone with a different color hat. It's actually the only thing he's said that he is gonna do, as far as I can tell. Unless you're waiting for him to make the affirmative case to the American people about what he's going to do about the federal budget and tax negotiations and all that, in which case, lol. 😉