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Because they think it gives them cover to be dicks, because, you know, that's what Jesus would do.

And his vote counts for just as much as any of ours do.

The wild card here, do Republicans get primaried for voting to confirm her?

A reminder that it really is about class and caste. Skin color just happens to be one of the proxy shortcuts for many, but white people can signal their own status through behavior and appearance and get hammered if it's the wrong type of either.

Already do! 👍🏼

This is a funny post, but it is seriously a bad look for him and the league. If Rob Manfred truly can't help himself, he should not be facing the public.

In all the glee to complete destroy the Russian economy, I worry that it will feed right into Putin's long-time declarations that the West is out to destroy Russia, and that mass privation forced on them from outside will radicalize the next several generations of Russians against the West in ways we have not seen in a century, with dire consequences. If we succeed in doing this, I don't see how the Russian people blame Putin for it, because when it comes to that Putin has the people's ear, and we don't. As good as his SOTU was, one thing I wish Biden had done was a better job at reaching out directly to the Russian people. He mentioned them kind of in passing, but did not address directly that I remember. It could have been something like, "To the Russian people: we are not your enemy. We want peace with you, but your leaders do not want peace. We know sanctions against your leaders will hurt you too, and we grieve for that, but it must be done to send the message that countries cannot invade their free, sovereign, democratic neighbors whenever they choose. We look forward to the day when Russia has new leaders, and your Motherland can be welcomed back into the community of peaceful nations." Something along those lines. I think not leaning into that was a missed timely opportunity.

They want to be on the right side when Putin marches on the United States after conquering Europe.

Politicians typically use political leverage for political gain, is all I'm saying here. I don't know if that circumstance clear and present in this particular case, which is why I am speculating rather than declaring. But the potentially-contentious confirmation of a Supreme Court justice strikes me as a perfect opportunity to horse-trade.

A smart public-facing executive would know when to smile publicly and when not to, and would certainly know that a press conference announcing the cancellation of games is clearly a time not to publicly smile. Out of context or not, Manfred is rightfully taking a big hit for it.

It's not just Players who think a raised CBT will drag salaries up across the board. Baseball thinks it wil, too. That's why they are fighting it tooth and nail. It's true that teams have used analytics to be smarter about signing cheap young players who project to be just as good as expensive experienced players, but if that were the main reason they wouldn't feel they have to fight to maintain CBT where it is.

Any word yet from Republicans on how the Democrat Party’s illegitimate committee is using this announcement on Donald Trump to distract the country from how badly Biden is botching the Russo-Ukrainian crisis and much big, strong, manly Putin is pwning him?

It’s a huge deal for an entity with actionable power to officially link the word “criminal” with the words “Donald Trump”. This is the first time that’s happened, so that’s a definite step forward. But I’m also with you: I’ll believe it when I see it. They thrown their own gauntlet in front of themselves. The whole country is watching now.

It’s true that most teams won’t come close to sniffing the CBT payroll limits. The CBT isn’t there to constrain them. They’re already in the fold. The point is to constrain everyone so that the big billionaires do not end up dragging the whole market for players upward, even for the little billionaires. It’s the old “stop me before I spend again” gambit. Baseball will move on literally every other point before they cave on the lux tax. It’s the Players’ white whale, and for good reason. It sets the entire market up and down the scale, and it is the biggest reason overall player comp immediately became suppressed with the last CBA. I’d like to think a salary cap coupled with a floor would be a good solution, but the Pittsburghs and Clevelands and Baltimores of the Game will never go for it because that might force them to double or triple their current payroll, depending on what number they might land on. They want nothing to do with that, and their vote counts just as much as the Yankees and Dodgers and Mets.

Smilin’ Rob is having a good time with all this. Aren’t you?

I think they’re throwing stuff out to see what sticks. Who knows what outlandish claim will grow legs?

Well, they better fucking make it stick, or god help us all.

OK, now we’re getting somewhere.

LSAT score, huh?

Deadening the ball to 1980s levels would speed up the game. I'm starting to think Baseball will never seriously speed up the game. Manfred gave away the whole game when he relayed the comment Adam Silver made to him, about gamblers using down time to place their bets. More downtime, more bets, more revenue for Baseball, and especially sweet because the players can't touch it.

Because it's a de facto salary cap, CBT is the key to future player earnings for the whole sport.

We'll see how locked down Putin has that circle of his. There has to be dissension. If you're one of them, how do you suss out the other guys for support?

Maybe some disgruntled oligarch in Putin’s inner circle can get his hands on a rogue batch of Novichok.

Maybe they could tell that that particular president was neither strong nor respected.

If a person is naturally conservative and came to vote for Trump in 2016 because of that, not really knowing much else about the guy outside his TV show, I can understand that. If they observed everything Trump did during his four years and they still vote for him because they really like the cut of his jib, that's something else again.