gehringer_2

Dan&Dan talking about Jobe getting hit hard in his last outing - a simulated game.

Malloy has hit better this Spring than I expected - enough the make sending him back to Toledo less of a slam-dunk than I expected. If they had any certainty about Baez - particularly playing 3d, then I could see Ibanez being on thin ice, and if Baez hits and plays 3b, Ibanez will still probably be the eventual casualty - but not for now I don't think. I could see them just carrying the extra hitter early in the schedule and waiting to see who gets hurt or plays themselves out of a job.

assume Torres is gone next season, then 1st base is going to shake out based on the relative value of Keith vs Torkelson as hitters - IOW it's up in the air. If Torkelson hits another 30+ and Keith continues as a high average low ISO hitter, we are going to see Torkelson back at 1st. If Torks crashes (again) and/or Keith finds starts finding the seats more often, Torkelson has either become a decent RF or is playing in a different jersey. I don't mind that uncertainty - as long as the team maintains the flexibility to go with whichever happens. And I wouldn't completely exclude the possibility Torres plays some 3rd this season. If the team lets it be his decision done on his terms, they might get a different response than the Yankees got by just trying to drop it on him. In recent years around the league 3B has gotten to be a higher premium position than 2b. If Gleyber is trying to build his FA bona fides, that fact may eventually penetrate his perspective to the Tigers' benefit.

this one will be interesting to watch. So far Keith has not shown as much flexibility on stretches as Tork. Spencer was getting to where he could do a respectable split.

I don't get this one - seems like daylight madness, especially given that it's one of Trump's best demographics.

The expedition time to Mars and back compares to Magellan's expedition. Note that Magellan started with 5 ships, only one completed the trip and that was without Magellan himself. Not to mention that Magellan had an infinite supply of fuel (the wind) a pretty good chance of finding food anywhere he found land or shallow water (also hostile natives of course). What would you even do if someone died on the trip? You'd pretty much have to dump the body in space.

It's not the Latin of course, it's that Vatican II was first stirring of reform of the absolutism (and patriarchy) the RCC. A tragically large % of the human race finds that being read rules is more comforting than having to make decisions for themselves.

but if you ask them if they approve of Trump reducing government you will get an equally if not more lopsided 'approve' so there is a built-in paradox around any question like that. Which ends up winning the day for the voter, the specific or the general? I tend to believe that the approval on the second proposition weighs more heavily than the disapproval on the first. Not to even ask how many people polled thought the question was about Trump cutting their local school board? To me the abuse of process is the bigger issue here, but Americans seem to understand so little about their government that those concerned with process are probably the minority. The MAGA certainly don't care about process. I certainly hope it's true that the moves at Education are unpopular enough to hurt him with his own supporters, but I'm not going to bank on it yet....

but some of what he is doing is going to play well. Outside hard liberal circles - which is to say maybe 70% of the population - no-one is going to miss the department of education - people sense it's not a core function in a federal system and objectively the country's K-12 education has not done any better for its existence. This is the kind of thing where it's fine for the Dems to say they disagree but going into end-of-the-world histrionics about it when most of the public either doesn't care or disagrees isn't the best way to show the public you care about what they do.

yup

LOL - My parents ended up eloping because of friction between the two local sects of the Armenian Orthodox Church. When it comes to religion, every sect with two or more members is ripe for schism. Most recently in the US you have friction within the RCC from people who want to go back to the Latin mass, divisions inside the Baptist church over politics, the Methodist Church in the US just split itself up over LGBTQ rights and for a long time the Lutherans have had various synods in the US that don't agree on things. Judaism is thoroughly subdivided. Sunni and Shia cheer each other's deaths thoughout the ME. Within about ten minutes of any religious group deciding to form a new community, someone decides they have to start making rules for everyone else - and the same wheel turns 'round again.

Holland looks like he has the physical tools to be a great defender if he's willing.

lets hope once bitten twice shy.

hard to argue the signing have been the downfall, but even if the players on their way up through the system will improve them, they will still have trouble winning long term if the FO doesn't do a better job in the trade and FA areas. It's a three legged stool, draft/FA/Trades. The better you do at all three the better overall.

Powell did come out and say Tariffs were inflationary - though with a lot of hedging. So that much is on the record. What he didn't say is whether the FED will go ahead with cuts and allow Tariff inflation, or try to counter act Tariff inflation by tightening, increasing the likelihood of a slowdown/recession. What they decide is going to have a big impact on whether Trump-o-nomics is regarded as a success or failure, and no-one knows what they are going to decide.

Mize threw well again today - I don't know how he doesn't make the rotation. Javy with two hard hit balls, Tork on base 3 times, Jake with a hit and a walk, Torres still punishing the ball. The lineup is looking a lot better from the batters box on the left side. Sweeney is a guy who needs to get going though. Defensively I like the idea of he and Baez on the left side.

About all you can say about hitting well in ST is that it's better than hitting badly in ST. Seriously though, as much as ST results are denigrated, even if the outcomes don't much batter, they are directing his AB - what's he swinging at, what is he taking, who is he facing etc - so I think there is still useful info being gained there.

My thought also - another thing to get people all riled up where they can come back and say "see you were wrong, we didn't change anything." Still, there is a certain level of symbolism to leaving stuff like that in place - it's still an erasure of history in a way.

Hinch said afterward that pulling him because of the dive was a jest - he was coming out anyway, but sure - there was barb even in the joke.

Agree this was an issue. - I guess he was trying to use a gravelier "announcing voice" in the TV both because when he was on the radio it wasn't nearly as bad.

so we've mostly been traveling - and I don't watch much TV anyway - but what's with the story I'm hearing that CBS helped put together a concert by minority candidates and retirees from the Marine Corp band after Trump spiked the program that had recruited them to give a concert with USMC band? Do we have one network left that isn't rolling over for Trump? NBC and ABC have been pretty useless.

exactly. The first thing to understand when dealing with an unprincipled opponent is that you are dealing with an unprincipled opponent. You wouldn't think that would be a hard understanding to achieve at this point, would you?

whichever way he went, he should not have changed course. I think the right thing to have done was make no *public* commitment at all while the CR was in the House. All Jeffries needed was the threat/uncertainty to get whatever he was going to get (which in the end was nothing) - I really doubt Schumer making the public commitment made any difference in the House at all. That was the real tactical error. He could have done all the under the table/cloak room signalling he wanted to help Jeffries, then once the CR got to the Senate announced that a shutdown only served Trump and I think he's fine. But you don't get the troops all lined up just to retreat. That fact that he didn't game those scenarios out to the obviously necessary course of action doesn't say much for his ability to be a tactically effective leader. If he can't see around the 1st corner he's going to lose every time.

If Javy doesn't work out there, I wouldn't be surprised if things move in that direction - of course assuming Tork is actually fixed. And I suppose that's probably the key. They aren't going to approach Torres until they are sure about Tork and Gleyber can see the advantage to the team himself (much like they weren't going to bother asking Tork to practice in RF until they saw if he had accomplished something on the hitting side). From what I read about the episode with the Yankees, it may not even have been the idea of playing third as much as they wanted him to do it with zero notice and no prep/practice - so we'll see.

Indeed - Maybe he was fine with it, but I don't think it was working as game coverage. Sort of TMI