1984Echoes

That's not going to sink into their cement heads. But I don't see how he can get any more truthful. He doesn't give a rat's ass about them. He does care about getting that tax package passed (already done) that lines his pockets and all the other 1%'ers with gold. If he has to jack up middle class taxes in order to pay for all his deficit spending (I know pandemic... but ALSO $1 trillion annually from those tax cuts so he can line his pockets)... he will. If he has to **** all over Social Security & Medicare in order to keep his pockets lined with those tax cuts... he will. He's a criminal. A con-artist. A house of cards. And he knows it. He wants the Presidency specifically to avoid prison. He doesn't want to President. He wants to save his ass. "You grotesque ****ing brainless MAGATS... please save my ass." After that... He can **** everybody out of their civil liberties, freedoms, pack ALL the courts and governmental agencies with boot-licking political hack sycophants, and complete the destruction of the United States and its Rule of Law and its Constitutional government and voting. No more voting. Just a simple fascist dictatorship. "I don't give a **** about you." "I just want all the money and to not go to prison while I rape this country some more." "Thank you very much for voting for me, you imbeciles."

This looks promising ( I guess I should add in Lee too...): Player April OPS May OPS June (SSS) Campos .662 OPS .942 OPS 1.086 OPS Dingler .725 OPS .980 OPS 1.189 OPS Jung .828 OPS .878 OPS 1.171 OPS HY Lee .719 OPS .833 OPS 1.333 OPS These guys also look good overall... but still working out some kinks: Player April OPS May OPS June (SSS) Clark .722 OPS .780 OPS .680 OPS Gold .922 OPS .800 OPS .547 OPS McGonigle 1.127 OPS .902 OPS .782 OPS Meadows .443 (Det) .924 OPS .814 OPS

Exports of refined oil products will sky rocket... And will also change from gasoline-dominant to lubricant and other miscellaneous oil-derivative products So... I'm not certain how much risk/ exposure there actually is in this area... but I think it's a little bit less than 100%.

That is not correct. My standards are not too low. This is the correct way to put it: My standards are "all-encompassing." I love the Miggy Cabreras and JV's and Scherzer's and Skubal's and (hopefully) Riley Greene's as much as the next guy. But I also know that there is no one that can construct an ENTIRE TEAM consisting of all-stars from top to bottom. That's just not realistic. So I embrace the top-level players and hope Harris can construct a team with enough of them to make us a real contender. But I ALSO embrace the bottom 10-15 players on a roster because if they are total crap then a top heavy team won't survive the entire season, won't survive injuries, and has a serious chance of not making the playoffs... because... baseball. So yes... I embrace the 4th OF'ers and the "glue guys" and the middle relievers and others that ALSO are a required part of any real, serious, contender. Why is this such a problem for everyone? Vierling is not the problem. Baez is. Tork is. Etc. So my standards are perfectly fine. I recognize what Vierling, Malloy, Lee and Canha are. And their limitations. Or their correct spot on any contending team. Unless you're telling me that Clark and McGonigle are garbage prospects and therefore my standards are too low...?

Let me restate one thing... where I'm talking about "useful hitters": Harris has to identify the superstars for the next Tigers playoff team. Whether that's Greene, Clark, Jobe, Skubal... whomever. I don't think a team has a real chance if they are entirely built of platoon players. So yes... some amazing pitchers and hitters. But also, the entire team won't consist of amazing pitchers and hitters, from top to bottom because... well, that's just a little bit hard to do. So, outside of whatever stars we can add to this team... Harris will ALSO need to be able to find all the: "Useful hitters" and "useful pitchers" that flesh out a complete team. They are needed. I don't get the badmouthing of Vierling because he's a 4th OF'er. That is still needed on a playoff contending team. So why say anything about Vierling... except that he's a useful player/ useful bat. He's not the problem. He's doing his job and he's doing a fine job. It's the OTHER problems on this team, the "weak links", that need to be rectified. IMO.

Show me where I said "amazing hitters". The question was: Can Harris identify (or not) hitters? I believe they qualify as hitters. At least adequate. No one said anything about amazing. But if you're looking for amazing, that's going to take a long time because Clark and McGonigle were just drafted, and are still 19. All of the others are just "useful bats" plus or minus. But then... A team could use "useful bats" just as much as amazing hitters, especially when that team is the current version of the Detroit Tigers. And since this is a transition year... it doesn't matter that Malloy has 2 MLB games and Lee 0... It's can they succeed in MLB? It's the only question that matters this year. And that's true not for just Malloy & Vierling, but also Spencer Torkelson, Colt Keith, Parker Meadows, Matt Manning, Casey Mize, Alex Lange, Wenceel Perez, Dillon Dingler, Riley Greene, etc... Every one of these guys (not just the hitters either, pitchers too) have to prove that they can stick in MLB (I put Dingler in there because I think he will get his chances this year); and not just stick, but thrive to an adequate or even better level. I even put Greene in there because I expect MUCH more from him than what I've been seeing this year... You can yap all you want about "Malloy's 2 games"... I don't give a crap about that. The only thing I care about is can he cut it, or not? And that's yet to be determined. But he proved himself a good hitter in the minors, so I am ALLOWED to hold onto that, until he proves otherwise in MLB.

You don't trade a guy with 2+ years at a trade deadline. You trade him in the offseason because there will be better offers and more teams offering. So you are incorrect here. If Harris doesn't extend Flaherty before the deadline and trades him (THAT's the guy who will be a trade deadline guy...); and then trades Skubal in the offseason... Then I would say you are correct. Although I would go with 2026 as Harris's target to open up a contending window...

Vierling, Canha, Malloy, and Hao Yu Lee would like a word with you. And if you're talking about minor leaguers and not just trade acquisitions: McGonigle and Clark would also like a word. 😉

Looking like a prospect with some upside there...

I don't watch an episode every month. But I've binged it 6 times. It's too hard for me to pick out any favorite episode. Or even 3. I love the 1st. I love the last, "Le Voyage Dans La Lune". I love the 3 you mentioned. I love the 3rd where they're taking so much care to inspect & double-check after the disastrous fire. I love 1968: "You saved 1968!" I find it impossible to choose...

Yeah... thanks... I checked their podcast out on that...

Another 10 days + or so... That works for me. I hope Briceno is healed up by then. If I had to hazard a guess, McGonigle would be moved up right away but would Briceno (needs to get back into the swing after a couple of weeks out...) and Clark (struggling so far in June at .150/ .410 OPS) need to get a little hot streak so they move them up on an upswing? I'd prefer McGonigle make the jump sooner rather than later. When is that, July 14th? If the other two need to wait until then... I won't protest. If McGonigle moves up, maybe they can call up FRANYERBER Montilla to take his place...?

I concur.

I'm not rushing his development. If he needs to work on some things, that's fine. But at least at-the-bat... he's looking sort of ready... I don't know what they are working on in the field but that would seem to be something that could be done just as easily at WM as at Lakeland. .1500? No. But he's batting .355 with a .938 OPS. At face value... I'd call that looking like he's ready to face/ be challenged by a higher grade of pitching. So I'm fine wondering when he may be getting the boost to A+. YMMV.

ISRAELI HOSTAGES held in... Civilian. Homes.

Fargo & Chernobyl were brilliant! Have you seen Shogun, A Small Light, or White House Plumbers? More brilliance! Also: Andor... if you're into Star Wars. And if you like the Beatles: Get Back and If These Walls Could Sing... (not series but 1-show doc's).

I'm waiting for the answer to that one too...

I think Harris has already made a couple good trades. But when push comes to shove... and we need that "one guy" and he's not in our system, we'll see if Harris can come up with the right answer, by trade or by FA signing. I'm not really worried about that part yet... because we are certainly not yet in that position. That's for the future. For now it's just sift through all these kids and try to find out who is part of a "foundation" and who isn't. And from there... what holes remain...? Can this team get better and start pushing for the playoffs with our "foundation"? Or not? Again... we're not there yet. .500 is a good step forward... need a few more steps.

On board with this 100%. In fact, I have a friend in real estate (residential) and told her when the pandemic hit and all the offices were closing... That commercial real estate would be permanently damaged. I told her she should be glad she's in residential. Everyone was going to find out that there is/(were) zero, or close to zero problems with working at home, if someone is back office. VPN's work perfectly fine for accounting, etc... Not so much for the manufacturing guys... they actually have to use their hands to create... But almost every business was going to find out that they didn't need all that expensive office space... and commercial real estate will never be the same. However much it is able to recover.. it will NOT be the same as pre-pandemic. Other than that.. the economy is AWESOME... IMO. But I will be happy when Wall Street quits stressing about the Fed. They're missing the point... just look at Corp profits which are up, up, and up... If/when they decide to drop a quarter point - September maybe - who cares? Again, don't miss the point... profits are way up. As is employment, wages, inflation is getting tamed... What else do they freaking want?

Don't forget the difference between banking and Wall Street: WS is squirrelly. Layoffs = GOOD! and Big New Employment numbers = BAD!!!

But would he be better than Baez? We do have a pretty low bar at SS... at the moment. PS: even if he ends up as a stopgap until something better can be obtained... As long as he's better than Baez...

Dude... You're talking to the wrong dude. I'm not playing a video game. I don't have any immediate timeframe. I'm not bitching about what did or did not happen this past offseason. I never expected anything but a .500 team this year and lots of sifting through kids to see what sticks and what doesn't. I'm certainly not acting like it's the 2003 Tigers. Did you forget I'm the annoyingly optimistic one...? I think you have me confused with someone else.

I don't want Bichette. I'll take the AAA guy that is blocked by Bo Bichette.

I am NOT criticizing Harris... AT ALL. Is that how you are taking it? Maybe some others are criticizing him... I am NOT. I'm just saying that in order to build a contending team, he will have to make trades or sign FA's to fill holes. I have, personally, said nothing more than that. No criticism whatsoever. It's simply a part of his job description. Why are you taking that as some sort of criticism of Harris? Also... I do NOT think Alex is criticizing him either. He is just saying that that is part of the job. Which is a true statement. I see nothing inflammatory or critical in that statement whatsoever.

Or maybe some possible trades are... Yet to come?