chasfh

Oh, I think that’s pretty right. It wouldn’t shock me to see us get swept by the Rangers. We’re probably going to have a 10-20 run at some point. We’re nota good team yet. We’re punching above our weight right now. That’s why I still say 75 wins. But, damn it, I’m having a great time watching this team. 😎

Well, if we don’t trade him, I bet we don’t release him. Ride or die.

Pythagoras was obtuse.

That’s what allowed the walk off to happen. I don’t care if these guys are going to win only 75 games. I am super charged up, if not for this team exactly, then for what direction this organization is going. We have a team of players with slight talent and we’re winning games with them, sometimes against good teams, sometimes against the White Sox, with a fresh approach that optimizes guys’ talent. Some of the approaches we all agree on (e.g., taking more walks is better than taking fewer walks), some of which are controversial here (e.g., free-wheeling substitutions, players playing multiple positions). Love them all or love only some, it’s hard to deny that it’s working and winning us games. We are currently in second place, one game back. Even more impressively, we are now 23-17 in our last forty. That’s a 93-win pace!

Agree, there are a lot of different circumstances that could affect return

Nobody wanted who? Not sure I'm following.

I forgot to mention where we ranked in strikeouts during May.

Remember who the general manager was when we got that “big haul” for Grossman?

Not necessarily you here, but let’s not fall into an all-or-nothing trap where the discussion is limited to either Schoop nets us a huge prospect haul, or Schoop nets us nothing. There are a lot of variations in between: Schoop could get us a lottery ticket from someone, or Schoop could be packaged with a pitcher to improve a return. Let’s also not get into the trap of believing what Schoop is right now is exactly what we will be able to deal him off of in July. That’s two months from now; a lot can and will happen by then. Seeing how nobody cared to ask, here’s my exact take on Schoop: there’s no chance he will net us a top 100 prospect, and there’s some chance that no matter how well he does between now and end of July, he will still draw zero interest. That having been stipulated upfront, I think the most reasonably optimistic thing that could happen is Schoop packaged with somebody like Lange or Foley to get us the type of potentially-high-reward, advanced-enough position player prospect(s) that have the skills this front office is remaking the entire organization in order to exploit. Again, that may not happen even if Schoop is born again hard for the entire next two months. I’m thinking it’s probably the top end return we could hope for, if things break the right. What team in its right mind would see Schoop as even a minimal asset that would make their quest for the postseason more possible? Offhand, I’d say any contender that has trouble hitting LHPs in general, such as the Brewers. Schoop could be the 13th player off that bench to pinch-hit against tough lefties late in the game, something they don’t have right now. Not sure if they will be in that same boat in two months, but if they are, that might be where picking up someone like Schoop for a very specialized purpose could make sense for them. Also, not for nothing, the Brewers could use help in their bullpen as well.

Meaning the team is too patient in general? I don’t believe so. Here are key Tigers hitting results by month so far (from FanGraphs): For context, the Tigers’ walk rate in March/April ranked 22nd in baseball; in May as of this morning, it ranks sixth. As we can see, walk rate is up and strikeout rate is also down, so they are “controlling the strike zone” much more effectively this month. On base is up with the walk rate, of course, and ISO is also up substantially, with homers ticking up by +35% per game. Stolen bases and baserunning runs are roughly the same—not much difference there. Otherwise, two things jump out at me: AVG and SLG are both up despite the drop in BABIP. That’s one result of putting the ball in play more by striking out less. This is also resulting in more homers. Runs per game are up by more than a full run per game. I think increased walk rate had something to do with all this. By taking more pitches and not chasing outside the zone, it’s forcing pitchers to come into the zone to try to get outs. They can’t rely on Tiger hitters getting themselves out at the plate as much. They have to hope our guys get themselves out by hitting the ball to fielders. That is happening more—at the expense of allowing the Tigers to score more runs. This looks like exactly like the Harris plan showing signs of coming to fruition. Imagine how good this offense could be if we had actual talented hitters.

Assuming he does not become chronically injured, I believe he will reach .240/20/75 more than once before it is all over.

😄

This is in suburban Virginia, right? How does this work? Do they just come around and stick flags at the end of your driveway without asking? Do they deliver flags to you with a clear expectation that you will display them? What if you decide not to? Is there any fallout for you if you don’t?

I don’t think .240/20/75 will be TORK!’s ceiling.

A homer and a double in today’s (27th) game. That’s what I mean by getting it in gear.

I read “Greene” and I thought Shane Greene and I went gaaahh …

Can Zack also throw a baseball 95 miles per hour 400 feet in the air?

Oh, boy ...

Lorenzen gets out of it. And that's why Hinch is the grandmaster. 😁

First two runners on. I think it's time, but it's Fetter coming out instead of Hinch.

That's 15. Where the heck is everyone??

Don't look now, but Jonathan Schoop is hitting .375 (6-for-16) in his last nine days, including today, back to May 12. Stretch it out to just over a full month (since April 23), and he's hitting .267 (12/45) with an on base over .300. Keep it going, Schoopy.

I don't see why Trump wouldn't have that constituency still available to him. Not only is he the leading candidate by a country mile to win the Republican nomination, he has also become the north star of his party, and every politician dovetails their efforts into appearing to be with him and on his team. But it's also a symbiotic relationship. It's not only that Trump's blessing gives those lesser pols legitimacy—it's also that their very fealty gives Trump his legitimacy as well. Everyone comes of as being on the same page, and constituents respond positively to that kind of unity at the top of their preferred structure. I would bet that if R politicians could manage to peel off from Trump en masse, preferably maintaining the Trumpy populist appeal, Trump himself would be finished. That's a tricky task, because as we have seen recently from DeSantis, nobody can Trump like Trump. It's not just his cruel policies or his middle-school-level nastiness—it's also the Trump charm, such as it is. No one has been able to come close to replicating whatever that thing Trump has that charms his fans so. As a result, no one lesser light can effectively be the one to lead that defection, and every one who has tried over the past several years has failed, for reasons. That's why Republicans keep rooting for someone else to magically break Trump's spell, finally, because they can't do it themselves. They know all that red meat is bad for them, but they just can't stop eating it. In order to survive, they need someone to force them to stop. Who going to be the one to do that?

After everything we have seen from Trump—not only how he attempted to overthrow America, and still does, but going back into his various personal and business dealings for the past 40-plus years—if you still vote for him, you’re a fan of his, full stop. All the things he wants to do to America is what you want done to America, too. If you still support Trump being president after all that, you can no longer separate your own ethics, morals, and values from his.

So ... checkers tonight? 😁