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I wasn't lol'ing the idea of Akil Baddoo being a prospect. I was lol'ing the idea that A.J. Hinch was obviously screwing Baddoo by keeping him on the bench and playing Robbie Grossman instead, which is what Jim Cowens was basically claiming. After his first game back from the minors, Baddoo went 1-for-23, far worse than even Grossman was doing. He kept himself out of the lineup because he had stuff he had to work on so he could get back in it. I was also lol'ing the idea that Kody Clemens was an actual left field prospect, and was being blocked by Robbie Grossman. After Grossman left, Clemens never started in left field again.

OK, so, nothing? All right, then.

He should just go back to Prospectus. They’re about the same speed now.

What are you even saying anymore?

It’s the only way they can win in the end: rig the election to win and then mobilize the military, various police forces, and/or right-wing militias to subjugate the majority of the population. Because there is no way they can win a free and fair election. And once they accuse the Democrats of doing the exact same thing, that’s when we will know for sure they are making their move.

That’s going to be pretty rough on all franchises small and cheap.

There are some high profile examples like Adames and Suarez, but after looking briefly into that once, I don’t know whether we suffer from our draftees going on to success elsewhere at a greater rate than average.

Do you think Hinch played Grossman at the expense of Baddoo?

Agree. I hypothesized that exact thing here myself and believe it’s the way that pitching has developed that leads to more injuries, making the improvement of medical systems to deal with that more crucial than ever.

LOL! Good one! No, seriously. Which young developmental players are you referring to?

Which young developmental players are you referring to that were on the bench in July?

Between the firing of the old guard under which these injuries happened and the investments the club has been making in the infrastructure of the team from top to bottom, the team agrees with you and is not sitting back and hoping things normalize themselves by sheer change of luck.

If you're honestly asking the question "Who made those calls? Avila? Or Hinch?" about how prospects were developed or whether they were or were not brought up on time, then you're not sure. That means you think Hinch might be making those calls over Avila's objections. If you think that even might have happened, then yeah, it looks like you might want to blame Hinch for it. I can tell you right now who made those calls. It was Avila. That's why he got fired. Finally. Thankfully.

If there’s blame to be levied on Hinch for the terrible performance of a substandard roster of players such as the 2022 Tigers were, I honestly don’t know what that would be. I don’t know why we would blame Hinch and not Avila for the late call up of Kerry Carpenter to the majors. Hinch is the field manager of only the big league club. Avila was the executive vice president and general manager of the entire organization. Why blame Hinch and not Avila for that non-callup? Why blame Hinch, the guy who wasn’t even managing the minors leaguers, for the stalled progress of the minor leaguers, and not Avila, the guy who brought all those minor leaguers into the organization and (purportedly) oversaw their development? I don’t really get the idea behind that. Nevertheless, that’s what’s happening. Maybe it’s because A.J. Hinch is the guy fans see on the TV every night while the Tigers are en route to yet another 96-loss season, while Al Avila sits in a suite, or in an office on Montcalm, out of the view of the camera. Maybe it’s that people blame the guy they see. Maybe it’s because in that way, A.J. Hinch is the face of the organization. I guess I can see that part of it. I guess all we can do at this point is wait to see what happens next. I hope you’re rooting to be wrong on this. Because if for some inexplicable reason you’re right—which, I can’t even imagine how that can even be—then really, god help us Tiger fans.

Speak for yourself … 😁

Totally fine, I get that. You don’t know, and to be fair, I don’t know, either. But I have this feeling, based on nothing more than what I’ve read about his tenure here through the prism of my sabermetric readings over the years, and I believe he is the real deal for us. I’ll take the blame for the whole thing if I’m wrong.

Honestly, all due respect to 84, I don't think the concern is legit. I firmly believe Hinch was merely playing the hand dealt to him, under a system he was forced for a time to work under and which he, I believe, worked from the inside to help overthrow. I think Hinch has proven that he is the opposite of stick-in-the-mud jockhead anti-analyticism. If people still want to blame him for the garbage Avila put on the field and the strategies that Avila, I believe, demanded, that's fine, they're certainly free to. I would strongly disagree with a take along those line. I know it's always hard to believe that a new day is dawning right in front of your eyes, because after being burned so many times before, no one wants to be made to look the fool for emotionally going all in on it. People want to be regarded as wise, not foolish. But I believe, 100%, that new day is dawning, and I myself am willing to risk being seen as that fool. Anyone else with me on this? Because if I am alone on it, that's OK, it wouldn't be the first time.

You're welcome.

I think All In The Family is in the conversation for greatest, most influential sitcom ever.

Am I missing out on a new orthodoxy? So hard to keep up when you're out of the country on vacation ...

Well, if we're doing sitcoms now, this has got to be near the top of anyone's list.

Is that what you think?

Bold prediction: based on the articulateness he has demonstrated this offseason, once he retires, Eric Haase will become Dan Dickerson’s sidekick.

Speaking of tall, and separate from your comment about the Jimmy McNulty casting because I also can't think of anything but The Wire in anything I see him, what is the deal with casting Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Di? I know Di was pretty tall, but she wasn't 6'3" like Debicki is, who completely towers over literally everyone else in every scene she is in, and it is completely distracting.