1984Echoes

And even though I said it was too rich a trade to believe... I ALSO believed it for a second...! "HOLY CRAP!!!" "Wait, wait a second..." "Crap. Confirmed as... crap." "Oh well". "Crap" (all in the space of less than 30 seconds...)

The only problem with considering a trade of Tork!!! right now is that we'd be selling at a low point and not get the return we would like for him... So I guess it would depend on one's viewpoint of Tork: Believe in his upside = we won't get the right asking price = so wait for his development curve to reach a higher point. DON'T believe in his upside or that he's good enough/ we could find better = the right asking price might not be much but go ahead and take it anyways. Personally, I believe he has a much higher upside than what he's shown so far. So my asking price might be higher than others and I don't think we'd get a good enough return offer to contemplate moving him at this point...

No that was definitely too good to be true, For Lorenzen & Cisnero?

Thanks much for the detailed heads U.P. !

I think that's icing, not the cake. Trump is the cake. A poisoned cake that everyone knows for 100% certainty... and to avoid like the plague. Except for MAGA. They're perfectly fine eating poisoned cake. Although I don't see how they can eat that cake and "have" it too...

But if this team is adamant about position flexibility, as you are maintaining... Then we should trade him, right? Because Torkelson is not position-flexible. At all.

How much versatility does Spencer Torkelson have again...?

The reaction times are much faster at 3B than at 2B. Must have a strong arm for 3B. Neither are required at 2B. In fact teams hide guys at 2B if they have to... guys with weak arms and also limited mobility/ reaction times but with a big bat. Range is needed less at 3B than at 2B. Just some off the cuff observations without the empirical data to support those WAG theories...

I wouldn't say it this way. Because we were moving on from Candy in 2023 no matter what, even if we didn't after 2022. He's a FA this year. He's gone. No need to invest a FA contract on him. It doesn't matter to me that they didn't have a ready-made replacement at 3B... that's just a problem to solve. To me the issues were: 1) 2B is easier to slot guys and/or test guys out at than at 3B. Much easier to flip guys like McKinstry/ Short/ Maton etc. through 2B, and some time at SS and some time at 3B, than to push one of them into a starting 3B job. Much easier to handle 2B. And if they show themselves as good enough to take over 3B... then a move could conceivably be made. Same with Malloy and Keith if they made it to MLB this year. But even if no one showed enough at 3B in 2023, we were STILL moving on from Candy during/ after 2023 so to me, that's moot point. The position still needs to be filled. I'd rather make it easier on guys though (2B), and force one of them to "push" Candy out of the 3B job. I don't consider lack of 3B replacement as a "mistake", per se, but instead, the "mistake" of valuing 2B higher than 3B, and of creating a more difficult transition path for new guys (3B instead of 2B), and also of not retaining a "push him out the door with performance" situation. 2) Schoop was a mistake to me. All winter long I assessed him as "toast". Now... what do I know? But, reiterating one of my points... what kind of performance would be required to push him out of a spot? Because it looks like to me: a guy could be the worst player in MLB this year (not counting Schoop), and that would be good enough to push Schoop out of a job. Because... Schoop is the worst piece of hot garbage in MLB, this year. 3) Opportunity Cost: dropping Candy means we lost a draft pick I believe. Why would we do that? Aside from getting guys back in a deadline trade, which may or may not have more value than the draft pick... why are we tossing easy money (draft pick/ traded-for players) out the door? That's a lost opportunity cost, which I think is a mistake. 4) Candy 2023 > Schoop 2023. Any decision otherwise was a mistake. And this was known in October, 2022. At least by those who have some Nostradamus in their DNA. Like me. And Chas. And I think Lee too IIRC...

This is Motown Sports Forums. I've had 50 years of hand-wringing (I'm older than that but not counting when too young to know to hand-wring over anything...). I consider myself a professional now. Hand-Wringing Engineer. First Class.

Inflation? WHAT INFLATION? We talkin' 'bout inflation? Don't know what you talkin' 'bout. WHAT INFLATION? I think it's just your 'magination... Says the Temptations.

If Trump is on the ballot... It's a high turnout. If Trump is NOT on the ballot... then turnout will be much, much more up-in-the-air, depending on multitudes of factors. But Trump on the ballot = HUGE turnout. Book it.

The Anti-Trump Angst is NOT going to die out quickly. If he's on the ballot, Dems will come out in DROVES to vote against him, as will moderate Independents. So yes... 99%

I think this is Harris's first mistake. Aside from the money... and the payroll is too low (IMO) to quibble over spending some extra cash on Candy... The first decisions was - EASILY IMO - to jettison Schoop and tender Candy. Schoo was done, last season, and 0 chance (again, IMO) of any recovery, whilst Candy had a high degree (IMO) of getting back to a 3 WAR-ish level. Harris could have just as easily cleared 2B for the future as 3B. And it's harder to find a good player at 3B than at 2B (the lowest and easiest to cover position out of 2B-SS-3B) because a player needs the arm for 3B, as well as the cat-like movements to field the position. The EASY choice, IMO, was to dump Schoop and try new guys out there, rather than non-tender Candy. Bad decision. IMO. This, I agree with. He sucked in 2022 which was a key component leading to... Harris's decision.

The flipside to that is: I think Al kept chasing after similar players... Dawel Lugo, Jose King, Sergio Alcantara, Willi Castro, Harold Castro, Javier Betancourt, Jeimer Candelario, Isaac Paredes... And I'm not even speaking to the fact they're all Hispanic... I just think he heavily went after IF'ers, falling in love with them. Or maybe he was more comfortable going after Hispanic IF'ers...? I don't know, and don't think that matters... But I think the key thing, to Avila... was that he fell in love with the guys he was trading for... which ALSO was a component of the JD trade, including that he did it early. Got offered 3 guys he wanted and he said YEAH! That he was a **** evaluator of other teams' prospects factors heavily into his terrible trading track record.

PS: I don't think I ever said 100% "can't win" because I don't believe in absolutes where only gray reigns... But I think the likelihood of a Dem (ANY Dem, Biden or otherwise) beating Donald MF'ing Trump is about 99.9%. But not 100%.

No coffee (don't drink it). But 6 Dr. Peppers will do nicely...

A couple of things: 1) If we had tendered him and kept him... I believe our choice would have been a draft pick or whatever trade value we could get at the deadline... So worst would have been another draft pick. We got... nothing for letting him walk. 2) Who says Harris couldn't have gotten a better return? Maybe he gets worse players... but I'd rather he have that shot then... nothing. 3) Funny, the two prospects the Nationals got from the Cubs were ranked by MLB as the Cubs 14th and 16th best prospects, preseason. Made is a excellent glove/field/arm/ OK bat SS, but maybe the bat develops, most likely profiles as a bench glove... DJ Herz has an excellent FB-changeup mix but terrible control... What is funny as the NEXT two Cubs prospects (pre-season 15 and 17 by MLB) sound more like Harris type prospects: Jefferson Rojas, SS, excellent glove/field/arm/ SS (but not as good as Made) with an advanced hit tool/ plate approach and some (projectable) power. 18 and in low-A ball. And RHP Caleb Killian, big FB/ CB combination with excellent control. But needs a changeup to handle lefties, or he struggles. Now.. nothing earth-shattering... but I would have been pleased with getting a Rojas-Killian combination into the Org if Harris would have pulled that off, and maybe a 3rd lotto-type prospect if he's that kind of good (trader) rather than... nothing. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop? The world may never know. (Or... Three. depends on ones viewpoint...)

I'd rather vote for a dead Joe Biden than a living Republican.

Whoop whoop!!! A MONSTER in the Middle...! Looking forward to seeing what kind of impact Martin can make...

Never let them forget what they said...? Man, I have a LOOOOONG list of contemptible statements by Fascist ****ing Republicans, by any of the Scumbag Trump's (not just one), by Benedict Arnold MAGA, by White Trash Bigots, by 50 years of in-your-face lies by Republicans... This thread would be dominated by a huge series of posts/ reprehensible quotes from right wing scumbags... It would turn into a 1,200 page novel... And that's just the first one out of a series of tomes.

Torture is even better...

I want wind speed, wind direction, humidity, temperature... etc.

Those are simply players that Harris has zero interest in. He's looking for a different "type" of player... both pitchers and position players who dominate the strike zone. That means he would be interested in Marte/ Collier/ Petty/ Stoudt/ Aguiar... And none of the guys you listed. And with both Eduardo and Lorenzen... I think the trade price starts with Collier/ Petty/ Aguiar... Just my 2 cents...

I offer to add to their playlist: Dead Man Walking - Bruce Springsteen Little Electric Chair - Iggy Pop Death by Electric Chair - Corroded Deth Renegade - Styx ("Hangman is coming down from the gallows, And I don't have very long... The _____ who had it made Retrieved for a bounty... And had a high price on my head Lawman said, "Get him dead or alive" Now it's for sure he'll see me dead... Nevermore to go astray This will be the end today of the wanted man...") Send me to the 'Lectric Chair - Bessie Smith (One can dream... right?)