gehringer_2

LOL, Jordan increased his vote by 11 over Scalise. So at this rate in another 10 sessions he might get to 217.

Why do get this constantly sinking feeling about Cade....

Yeah - fixed that - I thought he had gone back to the OF but that was wrong also - he came back at 1b.

I think Harper is a somewhat comparable case. He had TJ on his at the end of last Nov was back in the field in June of this season but at 1b

QFT

this is always the amusing part. But it's part of the myth structure. Humans crave determinism in a Universe that is stochastic right down to the atomic level and they will just invent it anywhere they can't find it really exists.

Have you traded Greene? I guess I could see Greene and Malloy at DH and LF as the season opens but as Riley rehabs he's going to bump Malloy out of left probably by mid-season.

I'd put it that the fact that the outcome of an unbiased playoff would be random means exactly that what you do with the format does matter because the format can change an unbiased result to a biased one. So you want to be intentional in designing formats to either avoid bias or at least get the biases you want and avoid ones you don't. For example, leaving aside the question of whether it actually does or doesn't, if we assume just for the sake of argument that layoffs hurt teams and that could eventually be shown, then you certainly did not want to disadvantage the best teams by "giving" them a bye. Home field is the other obvious candidate bias , as most teams do have higher winning percentages at home, though without looking it up I believe that in all sports home-field advantage has been shrinking since replay arrived. I'd guess it could disappear nearly completely in baseball if pitch calling is automated.....

Bigbie with a 483 OBP in 7 AFL games. https://www.mlb.com/tigers/news/arizona-fall-league-roundup-for-october-11

TBF, you can get a Parliamentary system's panties in a bunch as well spending weeks trying to form coalition governments when no outright majority prevails. But Ronz is more correct than not, the mess in Washington is just a symptom of a generalized decay of the fundamental social contract in the US. Enough people today believe the system is broken enough that they've stopping caring if it's cared for. Their problem is their lack of imagination about how much worse their lives will get once they decide that expending the effort to fix what they have isn't worth their time to them.

Jeffries' opening position should be "you want my votes, join my party"

Building a team for COPA is a little tricky. On average you're going to end up with OF with less bat because it's a harder OF to hide a bad fielder. In turn that means you are probably prone to taking chances on IFs with more offensive potential but whose gloves may end up not playing (W. Castro.....). I always though Avila knew what he wanted, but it was like he always underestimated how hard it would be to replace the players he was willing to let go when they were not ideal.

I know it will never happen but the more we've kicked this idea around the more I like it.

Indeed. The irony of letting Nick and JD go, both at least in part over dissatisfaction with their defense, was the team defense did not improve. It's begun to improve now several years later, but certainly not as any consequence of moving those two guys.

Indeed, and the other truth is that over a 6 month season, with injuries, trades, promotions, often the team that finishes in September is quite a different team than the one that accumulated its record. So there is always some lesser or greater degree to which a record doesn't even belong to that current team. But take it from a different tack: Since in truth we know that the outcome probability of any short series between two baseball teams with between 500 and 600 records is so close to even that neither team should have any expectation of being favored, do you *want* to bias the outcome to the advantage of the team that did better through the regular season exactly as the reward for that performance? That is a philosophical question, not a mathematical one.

If "lipstick on a pig" was ever appropriate, it would have to apply to any attempt to repackage Jordan. 🐽

Jordan has apparently been running a charm offensive to moderates saying that as a leader he will take on the mantle of representing the interests of the whole party. IMHO, they will believe that to their peril.

At some point when frustration is hitting defcon 5, Biden and the Dems need to figure out how to make the perfectly pitched play to flip 5 blue district GOP reps. It really the only way this can end well. Doubtful the leadership is up to it though.

FIFY

The 6 day and Yom Kippur Wars were Israel against other state actors which were more or less Geneva Convention affairs. Not what is happening here.

Even with DeBrincat, I sort of doubt the players Yzerman brought in are enough to get the Wings into the playoffs. If they make it, it will be development of their homegrown players providing the increment - either the light turns on for guys like Veleno, or Raymond, or a couple of guys from GR prove they are better than what's here and force their way into the line-up. Add some of that to the off season moves and we could passs some teams. But if we don't see some of the next gen players break through this season is going to look pretty much lake last season.

From David French: A sobering look at what Israel and the Palestinian civilians of Gaza are facing. Some excerpts: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/opinion/israel-hamas-isis-gaza.html

IIRC I heard Kane doing PBP on something - don't remember what though. My recollection was he was better when he had a specific task in front of him than when trying to wing it and invent fill time with some rookie's family.

I can go either way on the spindles. I like the look you have there. I might have left the spindles in natural wood if you had gone with a light stain - or say a natural oak. But with the dark stain I think the tie from the woodwork through the spindles is fine. Did you brush the spindles or spray them? That the biggest reason I'd probably not paint them - too hard to do! A clear acrylic is a lot easier to apply well to a shape like that than paint!

I think the bottom line is that Bally is responsible to do all the leg work but the team can blackball any name they put forward. I would guess that means the Bally people will keep pretty close counsel with Harris from the beginning to avoid wasting their time chasing down someone he's going to veto.