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I can work on contract or retainer. Call me.

That may be true, although that doesn't mean that he isn't, or that Mato is incommunicado with Avila. They might well be in touch with each other. We do know Mato is incommunicado with Cody Stavenhagen, based on his tweeted testimony.

Every trade is putatively about making an organization better. I don't think that's in dispute. There is a difference between trading prospects for veterans, and trading veterans for prospects. The former is about winning now, which is what teams that are not rebuilding, or are done rebuilding, try to do. The latter is punting on winning now to set themselves up to win at some point in the future, which is something rebuilding teams do.

Here are some things I found interesting about Eduardo Rodriguez's agent just by googling around some, FWIW. His agent is Gene Mato, who heads up a company called Mato Sports Management in Miami. The company has no website, and the man himself has no Twitter or Facebook presence. He does have an Instagram page, though, with 477 followers, give or take. Rodriguez signed with Mato last September. The news was broke by John Heyman, who also broke news of Julio Teheran, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Maikel Franco signing with Mato. According to MLB Trade Rumors, Mato currently has eight clients: Rodriguez, Teheran, Asdrubal Cabrera, Emilio Bonifacio, Avisail Garcia, Cameron Maybin, Anibal Sanchez, and Danny Santana. Franco is not listed as a current client of Mato's on MLBTR, although his B-Ref page does say he is. A variety of tweets and googled stories reveal that additional past MLB clients include Omar Infante, Angel Nesbitt, Manny Acosta, Manny Ramirez, and Junior Lake. Of the 14 players listed, seven are either on now or have passed through the Tigers organization. I'm guessing Mato and Al Avila know each other from Miami. This may all mean nothing in the big scheme of things, other then to confirm to me that a lot of what happens in baseball depends in part on relationships, versus spreadsheet analysis or Xs and Os. But my $64 question is, if Mato and Avila know each other so well, as would be the case from doing business together a lot, including recently, why would Avila be so in the dark about the status of Mato's client Eduardo Rodriguez? That doesn't make much sense to me.

Since as how the source of the martial trouble story is MLB lapdog Jon Hack-man, a story I haven't seen even addressed by either Avila or Hinch, I think it's at best 50-50 that it's the real story, and even that might be generous, since his agent is also avoiding calls. Wouldn't one think that even of Rodriguez himself is embroiled in personal difficulties that he's managing at home, his business agent would be available to provide updates to his employer?

Most current signs point to inflation abating which, while not necessarily an anti-recession sign, is nevertheless bad news for Republicans, who want to keep it high and in front of people for at least the next four months.

I know I floated the idea yesterday of voiding the contract, but pondering it some, if I were to place a bet on how they part ways, I would bet on a negotiated settlement for an undisclosed sum in exchange for non-disclosure from both sides, rather than the public ongoing drama of fighting to void of the contract. That would seem to me to be more consistent with how we've seen the tight-lipped, circumspect Ilitch empire conduct itself.

Greatest living America? Or greatest American of all time?

Plus there's a good chance that half the red hats never even see any of this in their media, and the other half that do dismiss it as a Democrat globalist elite hit job.

I wasn't talking about farmers at all—only about the phrasing the woman used.

I saw one of his last hurrahs when he hit two homers on the south side. I had also saw his three-homer game against the Mets at Tiger Stadium.

I’m interested in how what’s happening in Denmark is indicative of the communist agenda of global elites.

Tell me about it.

What the hell does she mean by “What’s the definition of a right-wing conspiracy theory? It’s just the news that’s six months early?” What’s she referring to?

Counterpoint on Paredes, for what it's worth: https://www.draysbay.com/2022/5/24/23137830/isaac-paredes-has-a-new-approach-in-tampa-bay

On the other hand, I'm trying to figure out "where the there is" for Rodriguez to leave the Tigers in the lurch. He stands a chance of forfeiting his contract if the Tigers can successfully sue to void it, and if he does that, who's going to sign him to anything close to that kind of contract again? Unless he's sick of baseball and happy with the money he's made at it, which I guess is a possibility? We know nothing about what's going on with him, which is considered his prerogative as a matter of privacy these days, but avoiding check-ins from the team to such a degree that the team is going public with that? Why? What's going on in his head? This is one of the weirder stories in baseball I've heard of.

If they do that, in effect doing rebuilding stuff after trumpeting the idea that the rebuild is 100% over, then we fans reserve the right to never believe a thing this regime tells us ever again.

I don't think the Tigers are lying about trying to contact him because they've publicly said they've tried to, and I take them at that word because the ramifications of being caught in a lie like that are pretty great. To me, this appears that the the Tigers trying to shine some blame on him. I read it as, Tigers are frustrated with Rodriguez now, and this is probably not business as usual, in any reasonable way it could have been. Of course, Rodriguez might get back to the Tigers tonight and be back with the team in a week. Who knows. Barring that, point is, if the Tigers are willing to publicly state that they tried to contact Rodriguez and he's not contacted him back, and that it is unusual, they are probably looking at his absence in a different light now than previously thought.

Not saying at all that he should no longer get that benefit, but how long do you think they have to do so?

I was wondering just a couple days ago, what are the chances the Tigers sue to void the contract? With Avila publicly pushing Rodriguez under the bus like this, seems like the chances might have increased some.

Perhaps they have already worked out some deal about what he can testify about that won’t incriminate him.

I am automatically suspicious of anyone who flings around terms like “communist agenda” and “global elites” unironically. It seems designed to fool people who are not critical thinkers that they actually know something nobody else does. I also feel as though people like this person are acting as front line troops for a different set of elites, and bonus, a lot of people probably listen to her mainly because they want to **** her.

They must have convinced him that whatever leverage they had on him was significant and damaging.

I have no idea who Eva Vlobrberagarasaflxt is, but I have no interest in hearing any more from her after this: