Jason_R

If some guy is following some other guy’s mother around a bar calling her a whore, well, a punch in the mouth is on the table. Don’t know if that is what happened, of course, but if that is what happened, it wouldn't result in any new concerns for me about having a guy like that on my hockey team.

If true, McKenna is a good boy.

God bless him but he’s going to need a medical miracle to avoid getting cut. I think they have to draft someone to replace him and use the cost savings to sign a center.

It has already seemed likely that this would be Skubal’s last year in Detroit. I don’t think this signing changes things one way or the other. And I think Harris has set the team up as well as possible for whatever scenario. He has secured a top of the rotation starter who will help the team remain competitive this season with Skubal, and in the future if Skubal leaves. He has demonstrated to Skubal and everyone else that the franchise is not afraid to spend money (even if they are wary of spending term). The team can still negotiate with Skubal. If they happen to come to an agreement, Valdez is eminently tradeable, not for the haul they are seeking for Skubal but for a solid return. Skubal was going to market one way or another. As far as I can tell, Harris is playing this hand as well as possible.

Boras is doing his job. I don't begrudge Skubal trying to get the bag. It does seem pretty clear that Skubal likes it in Detroit, and it seems pretty clear Detroit likes Skubal. Ilitch has demonstrated he will pay a pitcher ~$40 million a year. He hasn't demonstrated he will do it for ten years. Maybe a new CBA would change his calculations. But I understand not wanting to issue a contract that breaks records for dollars or term in the last year of the CBA when the owners are banging the drum for a salary cap.

Nobody knows what is happening with the CBA. The Tigers demonstrated they are willing to pay a pitcher $38 million a year. But he is not going to get caught with six or eight or ten years of term, at $38 million a year, under a new CBA ten months from now that may totally reset the league's payroll structure. I think it is safe to assume that if they were willing to pay Valdez 3/$115 million, they would have paid Skubal that or more. 3/$120? Probably. 4/$155? Possibly. 5/$200? Hmmm... there might be a chance. 10/$400? No, sorry. And I get that. It doesn't mean that Ilitch is cheap because he doesn't want to play by the rules set by the Dodgers and Scott Boras... rules that will change in some way, and maybe in some major way, at the end of the season.

Also available: their GM.

https://ravenswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/ravens/2025/04/30/ravens-tyler-linderbaum-fifth-year-option-decline/83368508007/ Yes, the fifth year option was going to cost them about $24 million. They want him back but for something more like what Ragnow was getting paid.

The articles I’ve read seemed to point to Baltimore keeping Linderbaum. Declining his fifth year option was not because they don’t want him but because they intend to renegotiate.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/bill-polian-tells-espn-he-cant-recall-with-100-percent-certainty-whether-he-voted-for-belichick 😂

I saw that. It is probably true that Polian voted for Belichick, but could also be true that he planted the "wait a year" seed.

Cold

Yeah they shoulda gone for two. Stepping back, I guess I’ll vote for the Pats to win. Vrabel was the coach I wanted for Detroit when they hired that lard Patricia and I’m reminded now that I was right.

This Super Bowl is about as bad as it gets.

Riq Woolen just gets penalized for taunting on a play that would have required LA to punt but instead gave up an automatic first down. Then Stafford beat Woolen on a TD pass to Nacua. Life happens fast.

We’re on to hockey season.

You get the feeling that some ownership groups want to win the owners meetings.

We’re done with Harbaugh. But we need someone Harbaugh-adjacent.

So long, Skip. 🫡

Speaking of Hooker, he was drafted right before Tank Dell. Martin was drafted right after Jordan Battle. This franchise looks a lot different if, instead of those two, Brad had picked, say Byron Young or Kobie Turner.

I agree that Hooker was his worst decision. Made no sense at the time. Even less in retrospect.

This is a legitimate complaint about Holmes. It is the downside of his smartest-guy-in-the-room tendency to identify the guys he thinks will be difference makers and to find a way to get them. Maybe he will learn from this, or maybe this will be his Achilles heel, like Dan being overly aggressive on 4th down The trade deadline stuff is a sideshow. There are relatively few players available at any given trade deadline. Often the marginal difference between players available by trade versus players in practice squads who already know your coaches, system, and personnel, is not significant.

18 games is inevitable. I don’t like it but the owners didn’t ask me. They would have to add a second bye week, and probably increase roster size.

Morton was a different situation though. Whether through wishful thinking or laziness they seemed to think they could plug in a guy who had been in the building and maintain continuity. He had never called plays so there was no independent track record to evaluate him on. At least this time they did enough due diligence to decide that Petzing was a better candidate than the consensus best OC candidate on the market.

Arizona never put up 70 points.