Tiger337

The worst numbers for measuring economic health are the probably market indexes. They are measuring something in which the majority of American are unable to participate. Why would someone who has no money to invest care about the S&P 500?

ZeroHedge is a conservative darling but he's just the messenger. I don't think these numbers are fake. They will be adjusted later, but that's not the same as being fake.

People are fighting against the authoritarianism and the protests seem to be working a little bit. Good for them.

He was good in the playoffs, but his second half performance was one of the reasons they almost did not make the playoffs. He was horrible in 2023-2024. Maybe that was because of his injury. I don't know, but I don't consider him a reliable offensive player.

Yes they are and that is a problem.

Who is Mike Smith? Edit: just looked him up. I emember you mentioning him before. I've been following him since then, but haven't been on twitter regularly.

Becoming a consistent playoff team is a process. Getting deeper into the playoffs is not a linear thing though. Having a better team doesn't necessarily mean you'll do better in the playoffs. Even Verlander admitted yesterday that the playoffs are largely a crapshoot. The key is to get there as as often as possible and have more opportunities to win. Having a lot of pitching gives you a better chance, but's is still not a guarantee as exhibited by the Dombrowski era Tigers.

My thought was that they were not being aggressive enough. Now, I have a l lot more confidence in their willingness to do what it takes to win.

I agree. It's always been a problem, but it's more widespread because it's so easy and acceptable now. It is now widely promoted as a fun, entertaining activity and it's going to get worse.

I already said "ever" was the wrong word. You made it very clear that you didn't think the Tigers would be able to sign a major free agent this off-season.

Yes, he is very accessible and not condescending like some writers. He also seems to genuinely like baseball and that's another thing I don't get from all baseball writers. I am not going to pay for his newsletter or whatever it's called, but I don't dislike him.

Not "ever" but this off-season. Every time somebody talked about the Tigers signing a good free agent, you said that none of them would sign with the Tigers because they didnt see the Tigers as a winning organization and they'd rather play for big market teams.

I didn't really pay attention back then, but Perot came across as a lot smarter than Trump (the bar is low). Listening to him talk didn't make me want to puke, but again I wasn't paying a lot of attention.

And some people said nobody good would ever even want to sign with the Tigers!

I think you are right. You can't measure it in deaths like you can with opioids but it destroys lives and families.

Right, I think the bigger concern with him is staying healthy. I hope he doesn't share his brother's health genes.

I'm not confident Baez will hit any better than Meadows. In fact, looking over the last three years makes me think Meadows will outhit him.

It will be our next big addiction epidemic if it isn't one already.

I thought about it, but I am not paying $70 to read Lynn Henning.

Perhaps, it is the hope that they can start some kind of momentum. Ross Perot got 19% of the vote in 1992. That's a lot votes. It didn't go anywhere, but perhaps the right person in the right time could change that.

That is the most probable outcome. It sounds like he has a high floor and I think think there is a good chance he makes the opening day roster, but I would expect some troubles initially.

A real example of what I think PFife is talking about (I think): There are a LOT of people (including very smarts ones) who think that we are screwed whether we have a democracy, a dictatorship or something in between because of global warming. They think that neither party comes close to addressing the issue in a meaningful way. Why should they vote for either party? I'm not really with them because I don't know enough about it to know how bad it's going to get or how, so I vote for a democracy. However, if I shared their dire views, I sure wouldn't worry about our form of government over the world surviving.

18-1 as a reliever in 1959. Relief pitcher w/l record is one the most meaningless stats, but I still get a big kick out of that.

That is a real possibility. If so, it will make a big difference.

Or maybe a weak offense played over their heads in the first half. I think it's somewhere in between. I don't believe they have the 7th best offense in baseball, nor do I believe they have a terrible offense.