gehringer_2

Because unless the guy has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom, you would not think he would be doing so much to torpedo any chance he has of being offered the chance to get paid in the majors in the future. It may an assumption, but it’s a pretty decent one. There just aren’t that many possible circumstances that would preclude him at least communicating. And the league has established diversion channels for things like substance abuse. So I’m guessing this does have to be either something really weird, which is what makes it interesting (possibly), or he just doesn’t want to play for Det., which would be irritating. And might also reflect back on FO incompetence for not having done adequate homework.

according to WaPo, Yamagami's mother sold two homes and signed the proceeds over to the Unification Church. Easy to see the source of his anger against the UC. But the media pretty much avoiding running down the connections between the UC and Abe or the Japanese political establishment. .......Very interesting. A few years ago a grad student I worked with went to Korea over summer break to be married in one of the Moonie mass ceremonies - thousands of couples. No lack of weird religious stuff out there.

so I'm beginning to suspect that the Tiger brain trust has come up with a 'system' for hitters in Detroit - maybe around the way scouting reports are presented or the advice for hitters on approach, or the nature of the film work being done or BP is conducted - or some combination of all of it that they are committed to but which simply doesn't work for a number of their hitters. I really can't think of any good reason that no-one on the staff is being held accountable for the horrible approaches other than that the players are actually trying to work inside the system they are being given, that the system is crap, and the Tigers won't move off it.

Right. I mean theoretically I suppose the Tigers could sue him to demand he perform the contract - i.e. come back and play. But even though that might be legally supportable, the reality is that the law can't enforce that a player play a high skill game well so that kind of legal strategy is generally worthless. It's not quite like suing a contractor who is late to demand he finish building your house!

Sadly it still matters because american media, which is also economically illiterate, still fixates on GDP, and that fixation will drive political outcomes.

Yahoo seldom has much on it's finance page that's interesting, but this is a nice recap on why GDP, it's rise and fall, and thus what are technically called economic growth and recession, are nearly completely uncoupled from the population's real economic well-being. For years, GDP went up and we called it growth even though the average worker continued to lose ground and all the income went to investors. Today, GDP is slumping but it's largely investors that are taking losses in the market while conversely the average wage earner's outlook is improving by better measures of the general population's economic well-being than GDP. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/millions-get-jobs-as-gdp-falls-155824972.html

Bingo. But the truth is that on that there has always been a certain kind of convergence between the radicals on the left and right when it comes to short cutting process in favor of coercive power. Just look at how the left and right in the middle 20th century both ended up with concentration camps as prime parts of their political program.

Biden is trapped by his quaint belief that reality matters in US politics today.

The luster is wearing off Hinch pretty rapidly for me - as much for not dumping Coolbaugh as anything. You can't just keep on keepin' on when you have half a dozen of your bats swirling down the toilet. I don't even care if he doesn't fire him but bring in another voice and set of eyes to work with this offense. It's been total management malfeasance to have just coasted along with this this offensive train wreck close onto 80 games.

right. In fact if the 2008 Obama voters had shown up in each successive election the Dems hold the whole gov. The Dems have numbers but the swing Dem voter understands nothing about how the US gov actually works. They think all they have to do is show up to vote for President and then daddy makes it all better, and when he can't they go pout. The R'Pubs want to strangle the Constitutional Republic, but they've made a fair study of exactly how it works.

Anyway- it’s uncommon enough to generate a lot of head scratching

What an AB by Greene. Clarke threw him great pitches on 3 corners of the zone and he stayed alive to put one in play.

just because a lot of odd things seem to be happening to him subsequent to COVID. There doesn't seem to be any limit to the odd ball things it has done to some folks.

Luck I would count. The two Lions weren't quite the same as both had good careers in the books already and they were at the point of deciding how far to push it - and you could certainly add Robert Smith in the list. But a football player late in a career faces a lot more permanent injury risk to keep going than a baseball player normally does. (And anyway you can't count any situation as normal with the Lions!) Does anyone know if ERod had a history of being a guy who pitches with a lot of pain? That can certainly take the edge off your enthusiasm. I think it was Mike Mussina wrote an story after he retired about what he went through to keep pitching - didn't sound like much fun.

How much longer does Candelario get to prove his good season wasn't the fluke? BTW- I've lost track of what is going on with Kreidler - I see he hasn't played for Toledo in a couple of weeks but there is no transaction listed for him on the Mudhen site since his reinstatement.

BTW - any chance we get Al to revise that 'Tiger Way' handbook to drop the thing where Tiger relievers have to walk the first man they face?

It's just so out of left field because the number of people with the drive and competitiveness who will work hard enough for years to become a professional athlete and then just walk away for any reason, is just about zero - in fact in my experience this is close to number one if that is what is happening. I guess Greinke came pretty close to walking away didn't he? But he was still quite young then when emotions run higher.....

He's starting to sound like a possible long COVID case.....

I bet there are a few more valid ones there than our erstwhile 2022 GOP candidates turned in for their nominations.

Still don't understand how Scott Coolbaugh can still be employed by the Tigers. This year is making Lendary Lloyd look like Charlie Lau in retrospect.

that may even be a little more complex than it seems. After all, no pro team wants to set a precedent of letting a guy out of his contract just because he is unhappy with the team's performance and walks away claiming 'personal issues'. ---- well at least no team not in the NBA. So maybe they just leave him on the restricted list and retain his rights until he either performs his end or they find a trade to salvage whatever value they can.

If I read the MiLB logs correctly, Carpenter has 5K in his last 41 against AAA pitching. If Ks were what was holding him back, what's holding in him now?

people are drawn to research triangle. But of course academics are sort of transient. They come in but they they also leave pretty regularly.

Just passing through

Having lived in MI with a similar flat tax (4.25%) and Minnesota with a higher graduated one, I’d rather pay MNs taxes and have their Ed and services than save a couple % in April. You get what you pay for. Americans have been conned about taxes by the rich. The trick is not low taxes, it’s properly spent taxes. The right won’t even try to help do government better because it violates their theory that gov can’t work. But that is just a 1%er /corporate con.