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I immediately became a big fan of the song Over and Over because of his SNL appearance.

Conforto just had his worst season in five years, although he’s young enough to have a decent chance of recovering to his last few years’ level, plus the Giants were desperate to make a move that didn’t end up publicly blowing up in their faces.

I’ve read enough about him to hypothesize that optimizing every ounce of his ability and putting it into practice in a game is his favorite way of enjoying life. Or at least his favorite way that doesn’t get him suspended.

I love their ruthlessness in roster management, too. I can also see why their fans might get frustrated if they can’t feel like they can fall in love with any of the players because they’ll just be gone practically tomorrow.

Yet another contract that would have been for one year any year before this.

You would not make a good red hat.

The later stuff, too ...

What the Beatles were by far the best at was writing a huge volume of songs reflecting elite musicality with irresistible hooks. Regardless of which era you point to, they knew the exact zeitgeist to tap into with the songs they were creating. Especially Lennon and McCartney, who were great from practically day one. They were so good that a motivated George Harrison, who was at best a meh songwriter in 1964, elevated himself to become their equal by 1969 specifically because he spent those five years learning at their feet. They have several dozen songs that even 50+ years later hold up as among the greatest pop songs in history, and I’m not even including their solo work, of which there are perhaps a couple dozen more you could add to their group canon. No other individual or act comes close.

I’m late to the game to White Stripes right now. I’m listening through their catalog of albums for really the first time.

The one I had several years ago was by a doctor who must have been in a hurry. I remember them asking me to count backwards from 100, and I remember going “100 … 99 … 98 … oww …”

I’m in the camp that years are more likely to mark a contract as bad than dollars are. we don’t know yet if this qualifies as bad, of course, but raise your hand if you thought Tucker would get a two-year deal including a player option this winter. Now bring your hand back down, because you’re lying.

How’s this for Exhibit A as to how the market has changed: A guy who was let go after a below-replacement-level year gets two years, the second one being his option.

There will be no promotion and relegation. However—if there could be—the major leagues could be dramatically expanded, to maybe 40 or more teams. There could be four levels of ten, or five levels of eight. With that number of teams, could be tables instead of divisions, with a truly balanced schedule. One downside of this system is that, if done as in Europe, you might never see the best teams in baseball come to town if you are in a lower division. Well, how about this: Adopt a point system, three points for a win against your own division. Play at least one series against every team in every other division. If you beat a team above your division you get an extra point per level for each of those wins added to your season total. Beat a team below your division, you get one fewer point per level. So, say it’s a five-level system of eight teams each. You’re in level three. You get three pints for a win against your level. If you beat a level one (Premier League?) team, you get five points; level two, four; level four, two, and level five, one point. This way, playing a team from another division would not be a “friendly”, sort of like in English football, but there would be a practical concession to the different levels of team ability. I love noodling this kind of stuff.

Another thing about the relegation system is that it creates a whole new degree of interest in bad teams trying to avoid relegation. Some European leagues have (or have had in the past) actual relegation playoffs that draw a low of fans and TV viewership. There are a lot of downsides to the P/R setup, but interest in the fate of bad teams at the end of a season would be a new and intriguing add.

Or until we are in a position to need one or two final pieces to seriously contend for a ring.

I think Drury could have fit pretty well on the Tigers, defense notwithstanding, and I think the Tigers might have liked him for a year. But maybe not for two.

"Nanny socialism for me; dog-eat-dog capitalism for thee ..."

A successful team builds from a solid foundation of homegrown players and trades, and complements them with the right free agent signings that plug the holes that need to be plugged. I would expect the Harris Tigers to do the same. It's what Avila tried to do when he and ownership were bamboozled by the fool's gold that was the post-May 8 2021 Tigers. They thought the homegrowns were done cooking and the long-term free agents would then come in and lead us to the promised land. Wrong on both counts. One of the interesting things I'm going to watch for is whether the overperformances of 2021 or the underperformances of 2022 are closer to reality for certain Tigers who were on those teams. Erik Haase was practically the only guy who took a step up last year versus prior; just about everyone else went splat.

That’s true as things stand now, although he’s also been a hot topic since the end of the season.

Sure, and if they prove to be solid starters this year, we might get something decent for them at the deadline. I don’t think either of them fits into the current vision of the rotation of the future, and I don’t know how well they would have to do to force themselves into that conversation.

Brandon Belt and A.J. Pollock are Excel clients. Both of them would technically fill a need expressed by Harris. 1/12 would be an overpay for either of those guys. I would not recommend either.

We really don’t have a line on decent free agents. Boyd and Lorenzen are the kind of one-year guys we can hope to flip in July, which is fine because, fast ending to 2021 notwithstanding, that’s the stage we’re in at the moment. It’s going to take a bit of time and some proof of concept to get a decent guy who wants to come here to help us win for a few years.

I don’t know, a lot of people were breathing fire here about how terrible he is and how we had to dump him.

People feel very strongly about him. He was by far the most interesting non-tender.

Not many I can think of. I would never suggest they do.