gehringer_2

FIFY! 😉

Maybe. There seems to be a fair amount of reporting that word around the league is that he was too off the wall in the Vikings interview - that could put him off the table for some ownerships.

I believe J.U. Bacon has reported that Ross "would not be responsible for Harbaugh leaving UM." I think what that means is that Ross will not initiate an offer to Harbaugh to come to the NFL, but if Miami were looking for a coach at the time and another team had already made Harbaugh an offer, Ross would feel free to make a counter offer.

agree on relievers. Regardless of the inning or game situation it's the same batters with the same bats and you are going to get them out (or not!) the same way.

It's also such a soft target. G. Will wrote a column about a Princeton movement to take down a stature of an early founder which, if Will has his facts correct, is a pretty clear case of reinterpreting the past through a completely inappropriate lens of the present. Likewise U Wisconsin recently had it panties in a bunch over the contributions Frederic March (a progressive for his day) made to their drama program because of some sin in his early life. This kind of stuff fails the smell test with most people who have gained some wider perspective on human existence. I think even within a University community, I'm not sure how many people are out in the wokeness vanguard, I'd guess the majority take a more 'this too shall pass' attitude toward activist excess. But while that lenience is probably good pedagogy in terms of students working out what they believe for themselves, it's clearly not the best national politics for liberals to leave the rational middle on some of these things wide open for critics on the right to occupy. Luckily, so far at UM the historical targets for erasure actually were pretty bad guys and so not very controversial.

I think that skill wise, it's certainly possible to move people around more than teams do, but I think the reason they don't is that skill is not the only factor - familiarity with who you are playing with on a baseball diamond matters. You are more effective when the tendencies, preferences and capabilities of the guys next to are second nature to you. There is an irreducible overall defensive advantage to good defensive players playing in consistent line-ups.

more reporting today on the Ticket that Harbaugh now has an interview with the Broncos. You have to assume he wants to get out of Dodge in a pretty serious way to want into that train wreck. Additional reportage that he also tried to talk to the Panthers but they weren't interested.

Franz turned out to be a good pick. Third most win-shares from his draft.

He still hasn't played that much NBA basketball, there is still plenty of opportunity for him the become the franchise player we hope for. But with Cade MIA and given Mobley's impact, esp given the conversation up-thread about defense, it's easy to be a bit frustrated.

If you don't earn you keep with assists you need to able to shoot - today that means treys. That's the Piston's problem in a nutshell, whoever goes off the ball has to be more threat as a shooter (e.g Dumars in your example) and none of Ivey, Killian or really even Cade, has shown they consistently can be. Maybe they get there, but it's an open question.

I think Schoop is going to be on a short leash. Maybe he'll produce better under pressure.

Meh - I doubt there is a locking or unlocking to be done. He has to throw his breaking ball for srtikes. A breaking ball he already knows perfectly well how to throw and that he has had success with in the past. Soto's problem isn't advice, it's pure execution. He may or may not straighten himself out, and some coach may claim credit, but it will just be resume luck.

Kimbrel is 35. That is so DD.

Then he tried to hand stuff to the equipment guy, but he had walked off.

Every study I have seen of this says that home field advantage is the result of officiating. Last time I looked, home field advantage had been generally declining in baseball and football - almost certainly as the result of instant replay. It would probably disappear completely if more calls were reviewable, though I wouldn't want to see more delays just for that purpose. I tend to believe that this is a big reason that Major League Baseball has been so reluctant to use an automated strike zone - home field advantage is good for ticket sales, and in baseball a computerized K zone would remove the last big factor contributing to it.

a fair number of Constitutional interpreters say it's a pointless and unnecessary exercise anyway. Congress already appropriated the money. No where does it say there is any need for the Congress to expressly re-authortize appropriated money to be spent. It's a habit now and no admin wants to force the court challenge because it would make them look like 'spenders'.

Though more true for Jimenez than Soto. Willingness to move Soto makes me think they probably did offer him to Atlanta, which I wondered about at the time.

well, one thing we can say, Harris may like to take more risk, but he has little taste for risky relievers like Soto and Jimenez. 😱

also interesting that in the highlight reel he has two different stances - at some point in the season he either opened or closed his stance.

true. Vierling is a good fit so as long as some other arms hold up the pen it should be plus trade on balance.

correct. This deal is pretty much a nothing burger. Deck chair re-arrange on the Titanic as we used to say.

they are all too old to have much unrealized upside.

Maybe not, but do you call him a major leaguer with a 648 OPS and negative WAR? I doubt I'm going to mourn Soto's loss but I'm having trouble seeing how any of these guys do much for us either.

If DD ever had a weakness, it was for questionable RPs!

Oh Lord - I don't think so. I don't like giving up any major leaguer for a bunch of middle aged minor leaguers.