gehringer_2

maybe the difference is that from all reports, Max is a very likeable kid, that it's more a matter of him trying to have fun with it than the kind of ego trip Kapler was. But time will tell. I am a lot more concerned about his bat stalling out than that his personality is going to hurt him

I'd take if from a different angle. In the NFL, you have a negotiated revenue split. It's not really a 'cap' in the sense of a number that protects owners from overspending or limits what any player can be paid- every NFL team must spend the same total on players. If a team's contracts don't total the cap (within 95%) in a given year, all the players on that team get a % surcharge adjustment. If they are over they have to cut players or move spending commitments into the future. It doesn't favor any team, its just the budget number that represents each team's players right to their percentage of league revenues. If some teams do a better job of managing contracts within those rules than others, what else is new?

They are also 'normalizing' the 2.5 number by calling it 'expected' when the target is 2.0 or less. That you are expecting not to make progress doesn't really excuse not making progress.

Notice, it's not a tanker. If I can send a message without creating an environmental disaster on my coast, that might be what I do.

I don't see why people think that because contracts can be restructured, the CAP is fake. If anything, it proves that it's real. The bill still comes due on all those deferrals. If there is a complaint it would be that the CAP keeps going up, which makes deferrals less painful. But that's just because the league keeps making more money (and inflation). But if the league makes more money and today's players that are building that success get to reap some of that benefit, I don't see a problem with that either.

Crap. I thought I heard Daniels say something about that but then I couldn't find anything about it after the game.

I didn't say he didn't have issues as a player, but helping gain possession was not one of them. If he went to the boards with someone he could get a puck. Whatever, he's water under the bridge. The funny thing is, while I agree they are too small overall, Cat has more heart challenging for pucks and getting takeaways than the rest of them put together And there may be hope for Kasper. I don't know where he was earlier in the season but he has played a lot better recently. Another example was the 1st goal. Copp just sagged off his man for no apparent reason instead of following through and tying him up and challenging for poseesion. It's not even a matter of hitting people. He didn't have to body check him, he was in position to just ride him into the corner and he couldn't have taken the shot that scored.

But Elmer who - whatever his other faults were, did always help generate takeaways with his size and reach, wasn't good enough to stay in the lineup.

The last goal was a screwup, but on the third? I just don't get how it is the same issue year after year after year. Most teams find different ways to be not good enough, maybe no scoring, or a lot of puck mishandling, or a poor power play, or too many penalties- whatever. But with the Wings, the lack of enough speed/quickness to challenge possession on defense and break sustained pressure is like it's now baked into Winged Wheel contract forms - or like it's like its an "unskill" they draft for. With Blashill I used to think he just coached too conservatively, that he was so averse to the possibility of a mistake that he coached a passive D, but we are now two coaches down the road and they look exactly the same under pressure. Go get the damn puck once in a while.

Unreal the way this team folds under pressure, and it's the same thing it has been for 6-7 yrs. Players come and go but it never changes. They cannot effectively pressure the puck in their own end. All they do is fall back hoping for a pass deflection or the goalie to freeze the puck and hope to win the next faceoff.

Wings with a power play, Panthers are all over them - Wings slow, passing not crisp enough. 1st period ends down 0-1

Panthers score 10 min in. Copp: "I think I'll just sort of back off here a little so this guy has enough room to shoot....." 😡

Brieske threw in his sim game today. SGL threw a BP. Depth is good.

I listened to Yzerman's presser after the deadline and it was interesting to hear him talk about the Wings needing to keep playing offense with a lead. You can't argue with the better success they are having under McLellan, but Mac still hasn't quite gotten this team to understand the balance between not playing stupid and playing too passive.

and they were pretty terrible. Their run down on the Blue Jays was about the only thing of any value they offered.

Ward is so fast you put the guy on in front of him so he can't go anywhere. 😱

Jung with 99 mph EV to CF against a LHP.

We've got both Perez and Meadows nervous - they've both been on base so far today.

they missed Larkin on the PP last night.

you can be sure that Hinch has looked at exactly how many LHP the Tigers are going to face in the 1st few weeks and that that is going to figure into the decision on keeping another RH bat. That could be what Wenceel has going for him - or not.

Sweeney has been optioned to Toledo, would they have to recall him to move him to the 60? I guess it may not make any difference roster wise to the Tigers but it could to his paycheck. EDIT: Just saw on Tigers MLB page that Brieske is scheduled to throw a sim game today.

Wasn't Brieske was supposed to throw a BP on Sunday? Was it bad news?

This is stupidly ignorant, broad and definitionally wrong. Pluralism is not the issue. But liberal rhetoric about 'multi-culturalism' can be just as vapid even if it is an attempt to be less bigoted. All cultures are not equivalent. A culture is not just a set of anthropological observations, it is also set of moral and value judgements, which means that not all cultures are compatible. Since we are in the middle of fight with Iran we can use that example. The aspect of Islamic culture underpinning the Iranian revolution holds that ultimate political authority must be ceded to religious authority. That is a cultural value that is incompatible with US Constitutional order. It just is, you can't square that circle. If a Muslim from that part of Islam wants to fully join American culture that is a value, a piece of the culture he left, that he either didn't care about to begin with or must leave behind to embrace citizenship in the US. But that is not an issue for Muslims in general because Islam is broader than any of the many cultures that exist within it. And FTM, the fact that they may already be citizens by birth doesn't change the fact the some on the American Christian right are acting just as subversively and incompatibly with their citizenship in the Constitutional order.

Parker is 2 for 22 and one of the two was a come-backer to the pitcher that he muffed. Wenceel is 1 for 17. Here's a thought: Parker and Wenceel both start at Toledo and Jace Jung makes the team with McGonigle. You don't need to keep another pure OF with Javy and Vierling available - heck even McK can play OF.