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Oh, that's got to be the one and only job held by dozens of people in that regime.

Frank was the one I rued letting go, although it's well known that Francisco Cordero was certainly the best piece we let go. But what's little noted nor long remembered from that trade—the biggest swing and miss by the Tigers on it—was that the best subsequent career anyone in the trade ended up having was Gregg Zaun, whom we shipped off to the Royals before he ever stepped on the field for us, and who had five solid years with the Jays during the mid-2000s. Lemondae out of lemons, though: had we kept Zaun through all those years, we may never have signed Pudge Rodriguez befpore the 2004 season. Here's Claude's overview of the trade: The Trade — November 2, 1999 Detroit sent to Texas: Francisco Cordero, Bill Haselman, Gabe Kapler, Justin Thompson, Frank Catalanotto, Alan Webb (minors) Texas sent to Detroit: Juan González, Danny Patterson, Gregg Zaun WAR Delivered Directly to Each Trade Partner Detroit received (WAR accrued while on DET): Player DET WAR Seasons Juan González 1.7 2000 only Danny Patterson 1.3 2000–2004 Gregg Zaun 0.0 Never played for DET Total 3.0 Texas received (WAR accrued while on TEX): Player TEX WAR Seasons Francisco Cordero 7.9 2000–2006 Frank Catalanotto 5.5 2000–2002, 2007–2008 Gabe Kapler 1.5 2000–2002 Bill Haselman 1.2 2000–2002 Justin Thompson -0.2 2005 only Total 16.0 Texas won the direct exchange by more than 5-to-1 (16.0 WAR vs. 3.0). Zaun — arguably Detroit's best return — never wore a Tigers uniform; he went straight to Kansas City. Total Post-Trade Career WAR by Player (All Teams) Detroit's haul: Player Total WAR Teams Gregg Zaun 14.0 KCR, HOU, COL, TOR, BAL, TBR, MIL Juan González 8.0 DET, CLE, TEX, KCR Danny Patterson 1.3 DET Total 23.2 Texas's haul: Player Total WAR Teams Francisco Cordero 12.3 TEX, MIL, CIN, TOR, HOU Frank Catalanotto 11.4 TEX, TOR, MIL, NYM Gabe Kapler 3.7 TEX, COL, BOS, MIL, TBR Bill Haselman 1.1 TEX, BOS Justin Thompson -0.2 TEX Total 28.4 WAR That Flowed to Third Parties From Detroit's players: Player Team WAR Gregg Zaun KCR 1.9 Gregg Zaun HOU -1.1 Gregg Zaun COL 0.1 Gregg Zaun TOR 8.1 Gregg Zaun BAL 2.4 Gregg Zaun TBR 1.2 Gregg Zaun MIL 1.3 Juan González CLE 4.3 Juan González TEX 2.4 Juan González KCR -0.5 From Texas's players: Player Team WAR Frank Catalanotto TOR 6.1 Frank Catalanotto MIL 0.1 Frank Catalanotto NYM -0.3 Francisco Cordero MIL 2.8 Francisco Cordero CIN 2.4 Francisco Cordero TOR -0.5 Francisco Cordero HOU -0.4 Gabe Kapler COL -0.5 Gabe Kapler BOS 0.7 Gabe Kapler MIL 1.7 Gabe Kapler TBR 0.3 Bill Haselman BOS -0.1 The single biggest beneficiary of this entire trade was Toronto, which collected 8.1 WAR from Zaun (2004–2008) and 6.1 WAR from Catalanotto (2003–2006) — 14.2 WAR total, more than either trade partner received directly. Cleveland's haul of González (4.3 WAR in 2001 alone) was more than Detroit ever got from him.

The innate hotness that epitomized Marisa Tomei c. 1992 can hardly be denied, but it would be hard for the New York Times to come up with a more unflattering picture of her from this movie. I mean, yikes.

You're 70% right.

From the moment this guy came up, you could tell from the way he torqued his body during his delivery that he was an injury away from ending his career. That said, he did get a couple really good years out of his body.

He’s fine as emergency depth, and we are definitely in an emergency at short. I would guess he mostly stays at AAA until absolutely necessary, since he is such a sinkhole at the plate.

Or they’re going to settle down and be either good or bad. One or the other or the other. In any event …

Yes, that’s great to experience. Also, when the Cubbies win, it’s easier to get out of there faster because as soon as the last out is made, you take off and make good progress toward the exit while everyone is standing around singing. I froze my toes off at the game yesterday. March/April/May at Wrigley can suck really bad. But when the weather is good, brother, it’s the best.

Down by 24, win by 14. That’s the kind of game seen as a watershed by championship teams.

Ah phooey

Do red hats really believe passing a cognitive test apparently designed to diagnose senility is a major flex?

Holy crap, nice snag by Kevin. He used every inch of his 5’10” to get to that.

Twenty-three percent of Democrats think so is itself concerning. That number should be single digits in a normal year.

Man, Tyler Alexander is getting away by the skin of his teeth so far.

Man, even McGonigle’s outs look really good.

I just went back to the radio overlay and somehow the separation between video and audio is even worse than early in the game. Ah well, good thing there are no basketball players in the booth.

I know we still got the out, but man, what a bad look for Flaherty to drop that ball. It makes it look like he just doesn’t give a **** anymore.

I would rather suffer the two-second separation between the video and the audio on radio overlay than have to listen to two innings of chatting up some basketball player in the booth.

I think he'd rather have a pliant Republican Congressional majority than a noisy oppositional Democratic majority, especially if they keep impeachment on the table for the ensuing two years. BTW, I do think within the range of outcomes is that Democrats take the House and Senate and, assuming they get seated, by the time the 2028 election is nigh, bring enough Republican senators on board for a successful impeachment of Trump. By that time they will have drained as much money as they're gonna get out of a Trump regime anyway, and they will finally be legitimately fatigued by the constant mayhem, so that might be the time they will want to flush MAGA control of the part ydown the toilet, especially to save their own electoral chances. It might even be the surprise October Surprise.

Typical MAGA musclehead bully move.

I hadn't been thinking this would happen, but the deeper this civic war of mid-decade redistricting gets, the more likely Trump declares some sort of national emergency pertaining specifically to Democrats engaging in gerrymandering to criminal levels, or something along those lines. After all, how on-brand it would be for him to demand the arrest and detention of Democrat lawmakers for doing the very same things Republicans are doing, even in forced retaliation?

This is like asking a bear to de-escalate wanting to eat you in the woods. At the risk of yet again being accused of hailing Trump as an evil genius, I'm pretty sure he is accomplishing pretty much what we wants to, which is making a lot of money for himself and his allies from the chaos and disorder, and he's enjoying the results so far. I think we're well beyond seriously ascribing to him any statesman-like intentions such as seeking to contain global conflict.

😕 Why are you glad I don't vote in Maine?