gehringer_2

Maybe Cade isn't really back to being Cade yet? That was always the possibility

that kind of change at that age is pretty unusual. Among possibilities could be: unusually long streak of BaBIP luck He shortened his approach enough to give himself more time and made it work He got stronger and his bat speed increased and that's given him more time or he just has more ability to put the bat where he wants it. combinaton of 2 & 3 Combination of 1, 2 & 3. He's gotten somewhat better but not as good as he looks now.

one point that might be worth making is that to go back to the parallels with other RW or strong man movements, in 30's Germany, there was a real external 'enemy' that was a uniting force for German's against the status quo - namely the terms of the Treaty of Versailles - the Great War was over but they were still in fundamental opposition to the rest of Europe.. In Venezuela, there was the imperialist north, if you want to count Berlusconi a lightweight RW movement in Italy you can take him as a reaction to the onerous debt management terms that the norther EU countries were imposing on the Southern. The point being that there is usually at least a grain of truth in the idea that there is some external force that the country had to unite around the strong man to break free. In the US, the the RW can only run against the US LW; whatever ills they claim are damaging the US are all self-imposed. There is China as the boogie man of de-industrialization, but that isn't even at the top of MAGAs list, which are mostly cultural. So your difference is that MAGA cannot unite the country around its project, because its complaint is fundamentally against the other half of the voting public. That strikes me as difference in kind that has some level of relevance.

it's around 3/4 million population per rep district. (340 million/435 seats)

This. Over the years I've watched various GMs build or fail to build our teams, and to me that's the difference that stands out - the difference between just trying to collect talent, and trying to collect talent that fits together into a team that can be more than the sum of its parts. And right now, it feels like that is where the Wings are failing. Yzerman has brought in players with some talent, but they don't fill the team's most severe weaknesses. Along those lines that's why I was hoping they would let Kane go. Sure there are things he still does well, but they are not the Wings' glaring needs (i.e. puck possession and forechecking) - etc, etc. When you are bad you have to use your limited resources plug your most sever deficiencies with players that bring those particular skills, not just collect bodies that succeeded somewhere else under different conditions.

they've been working him all around the IF this season but no OF. In prior seasons he's collected a total of about 60 games in the OF across all three spots - so not much

And that's only the acuity or spatial resolution measure, there is the other aspect of time resolution or 'frame rate' which must also vary but isn't measured at all in conventional vision testing. I would think that plays into things like spin detection as much as acuity does.

Good win

I think it's going to take a while for everyone to get the recalibration created by ABS figured out. And I think there will be some roll over in pitching staffs. The #1's, guys that already have great command like Skubal, aren't that affected, but I think at the other end of pitching staffs, some guys who maybe throw hard but are only 'around' the K zone and were living off catchers stealing strikes and umpires' allowances to the outside, are going to end up dropped in favor of guys who maybe give up a few more hits but can throw strikes into the ABS zone. So maybe we see this initial rise in walk rate fall back a little, but a few more balls in play before all is said and done.

Because he is a HR hitter, I think people tend to overestimate Torkeson as a hitter somewhat. His OBP so far this year is higher than any year in his career, but probably because he came out of the gate slow the 1st week I bet most fans would be surprised by that. He's always been limited as a hitter beyond the HRs. If he could hold a 350 OBP for a season it would be a breakthrough for him.

There is no reason to think Hinch wants to go anywhere, but the truth is that if he did, it wouldn't do much good to try to hold him to his contract and have him sit around without his heart in his job. Contracts on that kind of talent - artistic talent if you will, are of pretty limited value if they really want out. Another game would be the Sox (e.g.) could offer a title bump - "manager/GM" for example, for which there is probably an out in most managerial contracts - didn't we get Harris that way in fact?

trick question: If you had to offer Hinch Harris' job to keep him, would you?

The big issue is BB. nobody stays in the majors long at a rate of 22 BB in 25 IP. He either gets that under control quickly or the Tigers have a very expensive water boy on the staff - or of course more likely on some excuse to the DL.

yeah - he misses too much, but he still has a beautiful classic swing. And he swung at the 1st pitch - which I've always though he should do more of.

Not a lot of options are there? if they don't come back today they will have lost 4 of Jack's 6 starts.

so jack was giving up too many walks but not so much hard contact, now he's still at 1BB/IP and 3 long balls in 2 IP. So for his next start we get what?: walks, HRs and maybe wild pitches too? 🤷‍♂️

someone up thread said they miss Meadows - but they played most of last season without him - maybe they are missing McKinstry as much as anyone. Of course pitchers' errors are another problem. Hinch's rep is that they work this stuff hard, but I guess it's not taking.

I always hate to see my team sign old pitchers. The probability of fall off or injury is always higher. We've already had one and can only hope last night is not a sign of the other.

don't underestimate the smaller K zone. Walks are up all across the league, and the Tiger pitchers are actually about average overall. Of course given that Skubal is WAY below average that means everyone else is a bit above, but as a team they are not an outlier (yet?). These guys all need to pitch to the smaller zone - and I don't think anybody should expect to see last yrs ERAs. That said, the converse is that the offense has to better than last year as well because everyone else's will be.

Unfortunately, if looks as if this team is not going to do anything this season unless a couple of pluses do appear.

the natural consequence of the overall lack of talent on the team.

right - that sort of has to be the case for the rule to work, but you can ask why that should be true when a ball that hits but bounces off a uni is not a dead ball - in that case the uni is considered completely in play. I suppose you can get to the rule by making the logical distinction that the outside surface of uni is in play and the inside surface is not! 🤔

If you look at what Holmes does in FA, he tries to patch at least enough so his needs don't totally dictate his draft. He tries to keep open the option for taking a player that is really high on his board if he falls to them even if it's not his *number one* need, because he tries not to have a desperate *number one* need by the time FA signings are done. That doesn't mean he's not going to draft for need, just that if there is a BPA head and shoulders above a higher need position, he wants to give himself the option of taking a great talent. That's what signing Borom was - it gave him the option of not taking an OT if it meant passing a player way higher on his board than the best remaining OT. In this case, he didn't need/want to use the option.

good for Tom Tillis

The other question is how long does Ausar's extreme athleticism last? Rodman's did for a long time, but it's never a given that a player won't grow or be injured out that athleticism sooner rather than later, and if there is no corresponding increase in skill level to compensate, you have a declining asset. No choices are risk free.