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Just because Jack Morris is objectionable doesn't make Craig Monroe any better at what he does. That said, any assessment I make represents my opinion, rather than objective fact that you must cosign onto. If you like Craig Monroe, cool. Fact is, I live out of town, so I can do radio overlay over TV video anyway. Or at least I could as recently as last season. I just hope Monroe doesn't end up the permanent partner of Dan Dickerson.

It's not harsh at all. It's right on the money.

I believe -12500 means you bet $12,500 to win $100. If the line is +12500, that means you bet $100 to win $12,500. The favorite is always the minus team. EDIT: lol all i had to do was scroll down one post ...

I know, that's what makes chasing after them such a fool's errand. Yet, there they go.

Trump is definitely still the leader of the GOP. He whipped the Republicans into shape and put Kevin McCarthy into the Speaker's seat. Did you not see that along with the rest of us?

Honestly, I don't think having Craig Monroe in place of Jack Morris is any kind of upgrade. He may be a nicer guy than Morris and also tick certain boxes, but his style is super off-putting to me. It's not just the homerism which, yes, is bad. But even worse to me is his whole I'm-still-in-the-game schtick: referring to The Guys by their cutesy-poo clubhouse nicknames; acting as a cheerleader and an apologist for The Guys; leaning hard on jock-talk crutches; and, of course, his general lack of actual insight for which he's apparently relying on his memory of what it was like when he was a player on the inside, rather than studying up on the game as an informed outsider. In other words, he comes off like a YouTube or TikTok amateur, not as a broadcast professional. Consequently, that might be just the kind of thing that appeals to Millennials and Zoomers. Can't wait until he talks about The Guys' social media feeds and red carpet walks.

Happy MLK Day! That the man had a dream about how little kids of all colors can play together gets repeated ad infinitum, but he also had a vision about everything else that doesn't get repeated nearly as much. Here's a reminder of that vision now. “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” —A Time to Break the Silence: April 4, 1967 “The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and racism. The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power”. —King to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) board on March 30, 1967. “…the price that America must pay for the continued oppression of the Negro and other minority groups is the price of its own destruction.” —The American Dream: July 4, 1965 “White Americans must recognize that justice for black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society.” —Where Do We Go from Here? 1967 “Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn. The reality of substantial investment to assist Negroes into the twentieth century, adjusting to Negro neighbors and genuine school integration, is still a nightmare for all too many white Americans…These are the deepest causes for contemporary abrasions between the races. Loose and easy language about equality, resonant resolutions about brotherhood fall pleasantly on the ear, but for the Negro there is a credibility gap he cannot overlook. He remembers that with each modest advance the white population promptly raises the argument that the Negro has come far enough. Each step forward accents an ever-present tendency to backlash.” — Where Do We Go From Here: 1967 “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” —Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963 “Again we have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifices. Capitalism was built on the exploitation of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad.” —The Three Evils speech, 1967

Least surprising revelation of the day so far.

The San Diego Padres are such an interesting franchise. Here they are spending like crazy to put expensive stars and prospects on the field, yet their entire base of support is basically a single county. Unlike any other team (except probably the White Sox), the Padres don’t have much of a fan footprint beyond their immediate trading radius. San Diego is not even a particularly affluent metro area, ranking about 17th among those in the US that have teams. But if 2022 attendance is any indication, it’s working so far. I still believe were it not for league-wide revenue sharing making up such a high share of team receipts, though, they couldn’t get very far with this strategy.

Hopefully. Good thing we didn't sign him to a 9/320 deal, right?

I hear ya, but that's really a serious question: who is this guy and why does he have so many followers who care about his opinions about the Tigers?

Florida also has so many people living there that it would rank 58th of 235 countries in population, nearly as many people as Australia and Taiwan.

Vireling had something closer to an 8% walk rate until September, after which he had an inexplicable 2 walks in 89 plate trips, so I'm guessing it's an outlier, and perhaps a response to the Phillies possibly asking him to put more balls in play (which if true did result in a higher SLG). He also had a 10%+ walk rate in AAA. I think he'll probably be 10%+ in Detroit after the Tigers work with him a bit.

Who is "Calico Joe" and why should we care what he has to say about the Matt Vierling versus Victor Reyes?

Pitcher gets two free throws over to first. On the third throw he’d better get the runner out, because if he doesn’t, runner is awarded second. It’s the possibility of being thrown out on the third throw that keeps him close. In the end I don’t think this will have any effect on runners’ leads.

Harris/Hinch must know something about Cisnero we don’t, even though his more obvious data points seem to conclude non-tender. They felt it was more important to pay him 3x the minimum than non-tender him and risk him not coming back on a cheaper or minor league deal. They wanted to keep him here and were willing to pay him to do so. I’m guessing it’s his demonstrated ability to limit hard hit balls. Last year Cisnero was the only pitcher with more than 50 batted ball events to not yield a single barrel. His prior three years all showed this metric ranging from pink to pinkish-red. They must believe they can do something about his walk rate and are willing to risk a couple of large on him guaranteed to try to fix it.

This strikes me as a pretty brazen effort to crash that part of the welfare state that doesn't benefit the people who vote for them.

Yes, let's be completely honest: totally agree.

Cooler take: most people aren't politically tuned in enough to tell the difference between the two. To anyone going just off headlines, which is probably most people, they look the same. It's obvious to you and me just how deep Trump's criminal and traitorous activity runs, but I think we're in the minority. I think most voting-age Americans who don't like Trump don't so because of his loudness and his bluster, and don't really understand or maybe even believe much of what they hear about his alleged criminality. I think this is in part because the media reporting on it have been so successfully demonized, and in part because a lot of what they do hear is comes to them as hot takes or as entertainment, rather than as vetted news stories.

Yeah, it's getting pretty embarrassing for him. One thing that sucks is that Biden will pay a heavy price for this, because of the way Democrats own up to things, while Trump, whose similar infractions are likely multiples times worse, will only increase in esteem for his, because of the way Republicans love to guzzle librul tears.

This is probably the most accurate projection for a roster six years from now I’ve ever seen, since there are a bunch of names I’ve never heard of! Although we might be hard-pressed to get Jonathan Hesson to put his lucrative obstetrics-gynecology practice at Ascension (fka South Macomb) Hospital in Warren on hold to join the rotation. EDIT: Ed beat me to the accuracy observation.

To clarify, my position is: I don’t get it, but the new regime must see something in him I don’t, so I’ll trust them. It’s not anything like: oh my god, they’re wasting my money on this palooka, fire Scott Harris. That said, if Cisnero shows clearly sub-replacement level early on, I hope they yank him right away before they waste too many innings on him, because innings are a precious commodity. I hope they don’t keep running him out there past his sell-by date hoping to get their money’s worth in a way they wouldn’t with a guy on minimum.