gehringer_2

If he gets off to a start like he did last season they'll make a path! That's the thing, you just don't know about this stuff until it happens. I don't think he'll do what he did last season, but I can't say I know he won't. In the end, that's really the whole point of having all these multiple position capabilities, it's to be able to put the bats that are hitting into the lineup and still cover all the positions. Or conversely, it means you don't need to stay with a guy who is not hitting because you don't have another player at his position.

Javy sat against a fair number of RHP last season so that's more or less a given, it's just a matter of how much.

the other question is how Hinch manages McGonigle. There is a fair amount of opinion here that you don't want to move the rookie around. OTOH, IMO it is the very fact he can play both SS and 3B that helped make his call-up happen in the end. So we don't know what Hinch and McGonigle think and that makes a big difference in how it goes. And if they don't want to move him around, do you start him at 3b or SS? You already have Baez and McKinstry, both of whom they they like at SS, while they have no proven 3Bs. Seem that leans the decision to putting him at 3b where he has been through a lot of ST. But we'll see.

the other wild card is McKinstry. Seems unlikely his bat is as productive as it was last year, but if he does earn starting playing time a lot it would be on the left side of the IF. Good problems to have but also a ton of variables in the mix. I think the difference with Javy is that regular playing time is his to lose. He may well lose it, but I think it's his to start just because they are paying him and he will catch the ball where ever they put him.

looks like most of the injured guys not already on the 60 are too close ready to play to put there - Lee, Horn, Sweeney.What's the deal with Jake Miller?

and the bottom line is that if you hit you are going to play and we can only guess who is going to hit. Green, Torres and Dingler are probably the only guys on the team guaranteed to get really long runways if they don't hit, every one else is going to have to earn their keep from pretty early on.

Bingo - the wings have gotten themselves trapped in no man's land of team construction. Yup - the lack of speed, or in particular, quickness, shows up in their inability to close on guys to get take aways in the their defensive zone. They have to hang back because they know if they try to pressure they will get left behind. Virtually every team we play can put pressure on an offense in their defensive zone better than the Wings can. And it hasn't changed in 7 yrs. The big D men have helped a lot down low but the pressure they continue to lack is from their forwards above the half board. And of course it plays both ways, lack of quickness means they can't break a good forecheck and they don't have the power players to push through it. In my book McLellan is some kind of genius for getting this team as fars as he does.

In Sweeney's case, he can be optioned without being 'outrighted' correct? But that doesn't get him off the 40, which is I think where the discussion started. I suppose if they are still happy to keep him as the "backup.backup" shortstop then they can find someone else to boot off the 40.

Is Peck going to Toledo, or Erie? He only got in ~100 PA at AA. I suppose Sweeney had his shot and didn't do enough with it.

Ecuadoran Army staged show raids? Blow some stuff up where there is no actual risk up of being fired back on and get lots of film to show the Americans what a great job you are doing - they're smart enough to figure out it's the kind thing Trump loves.

I listened to it. He did say they used their FA resources for the OLine first (i.e. they needed tackle(s)) it was the number one priority for the team - he was clear about that. But he also said they liked the degree to which they filled that need. He also again pushed back about not drafting pass rushers with the idea that in the Lion's scheme guys a guy has to be able to set the edge first. Pass rush specialists have limited appeal to him. And then he stressed over and over again, repeatedly ad nauseum, that whatever the need he won't draft for need because it's too big a waste of talent not to take the best player on your board. Over the course of that player's career, need is too variable to give up taking the very best players. He cited Jack Campbell as the way it works out that maybe you don't need the guy when you take him, then when you find that when you do you have top talent. So I would say anyone listening to that total exchange as a means of trying to counter strategize the Lion's draft wasn't going to take much more from it than their own projection of what they think he is going to do anyway.

Yost and Ranier are still a ways from AAA so I'd think there is room and reason for them to want Sweeney there. I don't think they care about saving AB for Workman.

Kasper - 1 shot: Raymond - 1 shot: VanRiemsdyk - 0 shots: Copp - 0 shots. Sider - 7 shots: Edvinsson - 3 shots Notice anything wrong with this picture? You can't score if you aren't even shooting. If you aren't shooting you are either passing up chances or not skilled enough or skating enough to get to open ice.

'Overrated' depends on compared to what. However, in '25, Tork and Riley were the two team leaders in OPS+, wOBA, and wRC+ Detroit fans alway love greener grass.

so watching inter-inning ad on the cartoon and the graphics is line being chalked - makes me think of a question I have wondered about off and on over the years: If they rechalk the baselines 81 times a year, why aren't the baselines just completely all white by the end of the season? Do thy periodically vacuum up the top layer or does chalk fade by itself or do they use a special fading composition?

Out of the pool of 4 positions Colt can play - 1b,2b, 3b, DH, it's at least 50/50 one player at those positions will be down at any point in the season to an injury or slump. Or you just give 6 guys 500 AB instead of 5 guys 600 AB. Finding AB for one extra player isn't much of a struggle in 26 man roster. Now if McKinstry were to hit so well again that they wanted to get him another 450 AB, then it can start getting a little crowded.

well see 84. I'm going to put my money the other way. I like what I've seen from McG at 3b a lot, and Javy can still pick it at SS.

this, all the way.

I think McG is going to his main time at 3b. He has played the position well, has a good arm. Against a tough RHP, Javy sits, McG goes to short, Keith to 3rd, or they sit Tork and Keith goes to 1st. Colt is pretty much the only other guy on the team now who plays 1st at all. Or they sit Tork and and Javy and go with Colt, , Gleyber, McK, McG, And everybody rotates through DH. With Vierling healthy, when they sit Parker against LHP matt probably gets those PA and Javy stays at short.

they have very vital interest though because East Asia is where the majority of Persian Gulf exports go. I'm a lot less confident the US could sanitize the entire gulf from Shaheeds. Iran has tens of thousands of sq miles of territory they can launch drones from that can range the gulf in minutes. It would be an exhausting task for a navy that is already seriously over extended. The Bush has already had its tour extended from the normal 6mo out to a year. They are at a point where both human and machine fatigue are at their breaking point - as evidenced by the ridiculous 30 hr laundry fire. Never would have happened if the ship had be been back for maintenance on schedule. And that doesn't even count that there are several hundred miles of coastline from which Iran can simply float mines out into the Gulf. How are you going to control that without 5-6 figure commitment of boots on the ground? Who would then be sitting ducks for Iranian attack, trapped between the highlands and the sea. There is a reason that in 40 yrs no American government has been stupid enough to attack Iran outright. These strategic realities have always been known, but the Idiot and the Drunkard just decided they knew better.

I think someone has to tell Kasper he is better than he thinks he is. Guy seems to have a lot of tools but aside from being a strong checker he's playing to much of a "don't make mistakes game" instead of a 'lets win the game' game. I guess you might say the same about Ras, but Kasper is already stronger on his skates and plays a more physical game than Ras ever has. In fact maybe they need to tell Marco "we don't need you to lead the team in hits, make more plays."

and think of the birds. Won't somebody please think of the birds?

I think the goaltending improved more than the team D, but I think they finally do look better with Faulk. Apart from the injury callups, they still have too many place holders - Rasmussen, Copp would be a good 3rd or 4th line center but you need more than 9 goals from your #2 center. Kasper makes his presence felt on the ice in some ways, but he's not contributing enough to putting pucks in the net. Kane still makes the occasional 'only Kane can do that' play, but in general is no longer a dominant presence on the ice at all. van Riemsdyk seems to have faded away. They basically have Larkin, Cat and Raymond as forwards who make you notice when they are on the ice - that's about it. But even more than a 'star', they need three more guys at least at a Copp level. Maybe Danielson Kasper, and MBN will get there but it would be nice if they would hurry.

but he's remade himself, doncha know?

And can he keep playing 40min/game?