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We always have hopes for any player we see, even Gage Workman. When it comes to some level of expectation, I think of Max Clark as a universally-regarded position-player top prospect with no history of injuries, so I do expect positive contribution out of him. Is that a guarantee? No, but I don’t think it’s a crapshoot, either. I think the chances we get something out of Max are far higher than the chances we get nothing out of him. Will he be an 8-win superstar? That’s rare, but it’s within a reasonable range of outcomes for him specifically. A 5-win All-Star? I think that’s fairly probable at some point, if not perennially. Will he be a consistent 2-win everyday guy? I think he should be at least that, although I’d be disappointed if that’s where he topped out. Will he be a complete sub-replacement bust? I think the chances of that are very low, and I would be shocked if stayed healthy, played as hard as he could and up to his capabilities, and he were to crap out like that. I think something dramatic would have to happen, like a terrible freak injury, a series of Parker Meadows injuries, or even a serious diagnosed illness, for us to get nothing out of him. That pretty much sums up how I view Max Clark, which is very different from how I view Reese Olsen or Jackson Jobe.

So, you're not counting on them to ever contribute to the Tigers ever again, but also, you're not counting them out for their entire careers? In other words, out of sight, out of mind? is that fair?

Also a touch of bad luck: we are at 19-23, and pythag says we should be 21-21.

I think a lot of people thought all winter that we would get something out of Olson this year. I was myself hoping to. You probably knew something we didn't, but It wasn't until February when he went under the knife and was declared out for the year. I also think some people expected (still expect) something out of Jobe, but again, even if he does come back in August, he won't be going full bore until next spring. If you don't bake players into your projections because of injuries sustained during previous years, does that mean you regard Olson and Jobe as being done done for their careers?

It's true, I do have a Stathead subscription.

💯 There is no urgency here because we are just so decimated right now. Yes, I know it's early and we should recenter our focus on winning now, but that's just it: it's early, and we have a weak division. We do have a good deal of time yet, so rushing guys back, or rushing guys up, smacks of the kind of desperation that's not warranted just yet.

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Also, Reese Olson and Jackson Jobe, both of whom we'd hoped to get positive contributions from this year. Olson is gone for good this year; Jobe might be back in August, or might not, and will be on training wheels if/when he does come back. Torres has been out, and now Carpenter. I'll mention Verlander because some fans were really counting on him to be his old self this year, although I myself and a lot of other fans never did expect much from him.

As for the Tigers' home jersey situation, I dislike that the addition of the orange tops and moving the City Connects to Mondays means more games at home during which they are not in the traditional home whites. If there's any lemonade for me here, I do dislike the oranges less than the City Connects, so at least they're wearing the City Connects on the day of the week the Tigers will be playing fewer home games on.

When I see both teams in colored jerseys, my gut reaction is that I put on the wrong game.

Paying attention is exactly the point. You're reading a governing trend from the noisiest data points: aldermanic social media posts, a primary race in a single Illinois district, candidates distancing themselves from AIPAC. That's real political pressure, and I don't dismiss it. But political pressure from a vocal constituency is not the same as ideological capture of a governing party. The Democratic mainstream haven't abandoned Israel, but while they have complicated their relationship with the current Israeli government, that's not the same thing, and besides, it's what Israeli opposition figures and mass protest movements have done as well. The distinction that actually matters is the one between policy-driven anti-Israel sentiment (even when it's overwrought, and even when it edges into troubling territory) and the kind of ethno-nationalist, eliminationist antisemitism that has historically seized control of parties and governments, and is doing so again on the right in real time. The former is a problem that bears close watching. The latter is the thing that has historically gotten people killed. Conflating them because they share some surface rhetoric muddles, not sharpens, the analysis, and lets the genuinely dangerous version off the hook by treating it as merely one data point along a bipartisan spectrum.

I don’t know the details of Virginia Giufree’s death, just the description of it as “taking her own life”. It seemed to occur while she was still active in her campaign to out the most powerful men in the world as principals in an international sex trafficking ring, and in public at least, she seemed energized to be doing so.

Jahmai Jones takes the borderline called third and leaves one challenge on the board.

This team is a walking dead worst-case scenario.

I know he won't address it, because it's a checkmate question. If he were to reply at all, I would guess it would be with a whataboutism.

Christ Almighty, you red hats, what else do you need to hear!

LaceyLou, you are FIRE! The 1850s would actually be perfect for him: slavery still in force, nation divided and ripe for the pickings ...

Sorry, out of reactions: 😂

I suggested some time ago in one of these threads that the league should announce a year in advance that they're changing the ball the following season, then as soon as the season is over, give a few dozen of the new baseballs to every player who requests them so they can get used to them over the winter, and they can come into camp familiar with it if they want to make themselves so. Maybe I should suggest that to the commissioner. rmanfred@mlb.com—that should get there.

I can't add any more reactions today, but 😂

My Mets friend is salivating a bit because he knows the Tigers are struggling through injuries and losing, and the Mets are a heady 5-5 in their last 10, so yeah, I would like the Tigers to stick it up his butt. 😁

I have to admit my thinking on colored uniforms was shaped by my eleven-year-old self. I loved the green, gold, and white A's uniforms, and I still do, but I don't like them on just about any other team.

Maybe some of them want to go back to the '50s, but Trump and his inner circle are explicitly trying to force the country back into the Gilded Age.