gehringer_2

guys with good bats and gloves are just rare - but I'd also guess that part of it is that the Tigers have done a poor job in Latin America - which is a where a lot of the best two way players originate. I think kids in the US who show hitting ability early often don't get pushed hard to become better fielders when they are still young enough for it to happen.

In his last season, at age 40, in 485 AB he finished the season only one point below his career OPS+ (109). Pretty rare.

This make organizational sense - the question is does it work for recruiting where the one one one between player/coach and/or player position coach is a big part of closing the deal. Then again, if and as the sport becomes more professionalized, that part of it may well fade in significance.

agree completely. People, and especially parents themselves, who think they have anything like a complete idea of what their kids are doing are deluding themselves and have apparently forgotten their own childhoods!

Lots of different cultures out there. Also don't forget - a larger % of UM alumni base went there for graduate school than most other major sports universities. Plus nearly half the undergrad came from out of state and may have rooting interests for college teams they grew up rooting for. The graduate group in particular who are many of the highest income cohort, don't have nearly the kind of emotional attachment to things like varsity sports, and in fact may have whatever sports loyalty/interest they carry still with their undergrad school. I mean it's not some kind of cosmic accident that UM is not OSU. There are lots of real reasons they are different.

that may be true but most of them didn't get that way by spending their money on things like the salaries of college athletes that should/could be getting paid out of the games rights income they already generate. As an alum, if I make a gift, I want it to be something with a legacy. NIL has zero attraction in that direction. You are basically asking your individual donors to just light their money on fire for all the long term value the contribution has. I think you have a better sell to the business community that can get something back from the athletes by actually making promotional use of the NIL they buy. That and the unicorn individual mega rich goof balls with peculiar obsessions like Ishbia or Knight at Oregon. A&M had a huge donor along that line as well but I've forgotten who it was. Not to forget Ross at UM but he seems to be as much a brick and mortar guy.

Changelis story about NIL at UM https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/2024/02/08/michigan-wolverines-nil-efforts-get-boost-from-university/72242043007/ She reports UM has raised $6M, and think they need $10M. I think they'll be pretty lucky to get there. $15M is probably a more reasonably competitive number at your average top 10 school, so they are at the bottom of the hill looking up. I'm a broken record on this but I just can't see there are many schools - maybe ND, OSU, A&M, USC and a couple in the SEC, where that level of annual outside fundraising can possibly be sustainable. But even if the rest of the schools who don't want to play that game get together can create a controlled direct pay scheme, the court has basically put NIL outside their control so it probably couldn't stop an OSU from raising another $15M over whatever direct pay schedule that might be formatted. Direct pay would be a boon for most of the athletes, but by itself wouldn't end the arms race. As Buddha has noted - the only way to legally limit outside money may be via a collective bargaining agreement, and even then you would need an effective policing/enforcement architecture for it work. The current NCAA is not up to the task.

I thought maybe he whole league was taking a long break but apparently the Wings' is days longer than anyone else's.

Hasn't the GRE been electronic for 30yrs?

"Weaver on Bogey: "We had better offers last year at the deadline. You can say that. This is where we are now and I like what we got in return for those guys" Trans: "Yeah, I blew it. But it be cool."

"if you’re a guard in this league you have to make shots" I mean like really, man - Who knew?

The thing that most depresses me however is that no system can work with a populace that has lost the collective common sense to self-govern. In the ME we see this in populations where religious loyalties make democratic governance impossible. And in the US we are beginning to see a population descend into a level of plain ignorance - inability to process facts and reality - that if it leads as far as Trump's re-election, will pretty much prove that the US is no longer a fit population for democracy. So if Trump II ends up being the end of democracy as we have known it, it will just be the inevitable having come to pass.

I'd argue it's not even the EC per se, but the population imbalance of the states - which creates an impact in the Senate at least as serious as the presidential elections. But even that is something that can be mitigated within the current Constitution. Admit DC as a state and increase the HOR to 500 and you'd mitigate something like half the current EC imbalance.

The one thing out there sort of on the horizon is ranked choice non-party primaries. It's a system that CA is the test case for. If that caught on it would change the dynamic a lot. But the biggest thing we could do in the US to change things is publicly fund elections. In both these cases it's not even the basic constitution that is failing*, is the accessories that have accumulated around it that we have no good reason to be so attached to. *I reject that we can blame the founders or any text actually in the Constitution for the asinine view of 5 SCOTUS appointments that money=speech.

LOL -if Biden wins, it's a good chance (~20%) Harris would be running as the incumbent...... ..just sayin' ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I thought in the end the GOP was going to be short more than just Scalise anyway? - he may to find another vote or two if the timing is even going to matter.

Yeah - I think Newsome would be strong contender. Maybe he has weaknesses to be exposed but I think he could take Harris out of the nomination. It's hard to evaluate the party division issue because party ID is so much stronger than used to be. Certainly in '68 when LBJ dropped out the divisions in the Dem party gave Nixon a huge leg up. But the difference between then and now is that in this world not many voters are going to change parties no matter who either party nominates. All that matters in recent elections is each side getting their people to the polls, and I think a Newsome would attract as many or turn off as few as Harris.

Also - Isiah had 4 yrs in the league playing losing parks and recreation style ball with Tripucka before Joe joined the team, so he knew the league and he was ready to learn a new set of tricks that could win more games. Ivey and Cade have have each played one season and only 1/2 a season together. Which is why Wiliams needs to have them out there together learning how to play off each other as much as is reasonable.

Petzold with piece on JHM today. Greatest thing since sliced bread etc., etc. Even ignoring whether he has turned himself into a passable OF over the off-season, IMO there are two large grains of salt to take JHM. He had a high OPS but wasn't a great average hitter last season (277) because a big piece of his OPS last season was walks. Plate discipline is great of course, but MLB pitchers simply are not likely to walk him at near the rate MiLB pitchers did. And ironically maybe, the fact that his eye at the plate is apparently very good is going to work against him going from AAA last season to the minors. Last season he was able to challenge and win enough strike calls he didn't agree with to impress his teammates and manager, but good luck for a rookie against MLB umpires he disagrees with.

If Weaver's been kneecapped then hanging onto him seems dumb. I suppose it could just be because they don't want to make a mid-season move. I guess the answer to that question should be clear about April 15.

1st back to back wins since game 2/3 of the season.

Part of it is poor coaching, part of it is players who get to the NBA without ever having learned much about playing the game, but you wouldn't think in a league with so much money and resource that just getting a team to where it can play the game with some intelligence and awareness would be such a hard thing.

Sounds like Putin even had Tucker scratching his head... https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/08/tucker-carlson-putin-interview-released/

Speaking of Kershaw,, not expected to pitch for LA before July or August. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39486404/dodgers-clayton-kershaw-happy-offseason-decisions-eyes-july-return