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In part because the guys in charge of the rebuild were not the same guys who ran the organization into the rocks in the first place.

I think you might have a laugh. As some have suggested, it’s not like Avila failed on every single thing he ever did bar none. They made some pretty good picks—they just didn’t know how to develop them into winners using the old school ways, in a game that long ago moved on to the new school. I mentioned John Schreiber just the other day as an example of having a talent in the fold that they simply didn’t know what to do with, so they let him go for nothing. But now that a new system run by new bosses and people is in place, I think we need to give them at least two years to see the fruits start to sprout. It’s so interesting how people who agree that the coaching we had up and down the system, especially on the hitting side, was horrific, yet still blame the players for failing under it. I think that’s short-sighted. I would bet a lot of those guys are going to rebound and, to your point, we’ll see signings and draftings under the Avila regime pay off more than that regime could figure out how to elicit.

He may have been right on some things—his lip service to analytics was a step forward from nothing, even if the implementation was half-assed for whatever reason—but Avila’s ideas about the type of hitting to build the organization on were frightfully wrong.

I really like her anti-anti-Jewish laser policy.

I’m down.

This is right, but Avila was the only guy left we could fire.

And more depth is coming. It's going to be a long slog, but do I think Harris will get us there, not only because he knows what he's doing, but also because he's the new boss with the blessing of the owner and without the same internal political relationships to navigate. From what I can tell, Harris is the new politics.

I said it basically for its comic value, based on the fact we both know that there are many people who've posted here over the years who hate Keith Law specifically because he's been saying for years how much the Tigers suck as an organization.

Fire up the torches and pitchforks for Keith Law if you want, but he’s right. This also serves as a reminder of how John Schreiber is yet another one we let get away.

Fun fact about that first expansion year, 1961, in which the American League went to ten teams and the National League remained at eight: home run rates from 1960 to 1961 went up, and by a lot more, in the NL (0.84 to 0.97) than in the AL (0.88 to 0.95).

Robin Yount was the first player I saw who I thought, man, he's not all that much older than I. I'm a lot closer to major league age than I thought. I was 13 at the time.

But he wasn't raided. Doesn't count. Defund Justice and the FBI.

Like an NDA? Oh,

But how else you gonna stop a bad guy with a gun? Or at least be armed as you run away?

Looks like the judge.

I totally miscommunicated this—I meant to say "Just another bunch of hacks who wouldn't pledge unquestioning loyalty", to Trump I mean, which is why he is anti-both of them.

Never-Trumpers will fall in line because they can't quit the sweet sweet tax cuts (or, more exactly, taxation and welfare shifts from the lower classes to the upper classes). Republicans never minded the fascism. It's why they've had a habit of supporting right wing dictators who were just as vicious as the left wing dictators they excoriated. It's the personal antics and behavior tics they can't stand. They want the Trumpism without the Trump.

So good on so many levels ...

I really like how the Super Bowl goes basically right up to the report date now. Only two days off between the two sports.

At least Evan Petzold has been a quick convert. Almost from jump, every article he's writing now uses the phrase "control the strike zone", and every pitching and hitting line in his articles now include strikeouts and walks.

That’s why when they do robot umpires, they’re almost certainly going to treat the plate two-dimensionally, probably the middle plane that’s 8-1/2” equidistant from front and back. That would eliminate both the yakker clipping the bottom front and bouncing in the dirt for a called strike, and the ridiculous eephus coming in over the batter’s head and scraping the top back for a called strike.

For all his fire, personality, and World Series heroics, Kirk Gibson was never on an All-Star team, although, asterisk, he did turn down two invites. Hey, it was the 80s. Tony Phillips never made one, either. He might be the guy with the highest career WAR in the All-Star Game era who didn’t make one. He also got MVP votes in only one season, for us in 1993, when he finished 16th. The curse of the super-duper utility guy. He probably played more games at more non-battery positions than any player ever. No one knew just what the hell he was. One other thing about Phillips is how late he blossomed. I drafted him for an OOTP team. I had to wait a lo-o-o-ong time for that ship to come in.

Chris McCosky still carrying a big, bright, flaming torch for Hackin' Harold. Sorry to break it straight to you, Chrissie, but boyfriend's gone, and he ain't never comin' back. 💔

Interestingly, the tease on McCosky's Google page reads in a rather more alarmist manner than the actual tweet does, although the article does run along the same alarmist lines as this: I wonder what the technical reason is behind that?

Someone is all in a dither and is clutching his pearls about the new direction ...