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I've suggested here before that after a couple years maybe Avila peter-principles his way into the President's job, Hinch gets the GM job, and George Lombard gets the manager's job.

It might be too early to pull the trigger on a trade involving Mize or Manning, since you generally don’t want to sell low on a struggling green asset, but it’s probably not too early to hypothesize that Tairik Skubal might have established himself as the best and most dominating of the three young pitchers.

I totally agree that Mays had much better baseball skills than Obama had presidential skills. I would also say that Mays was more than just a big ball of instincts, and characterizing him as such, which was very common while he was playing, is insulting to his skills.

I think it's about providing praise that is appropriately commensurate with the skill level and expectations at hand. It is of course true that Obama is both well-spoken and articulate, but to just say so and leave it at that suggests that it is all that is expected from him. But someone at his level is supposed to be well-spoken and articulate already—it's basically a minimum requirement, so praising him for meeting that minimum comes off as patronizing and condescending. IOW, it reflects a soft bigotry of low expectations. (This phrase actually does apply here!) As G2 suggested, upping the praise to something like "finest orator to have held the office since JFK" addresses the idea at the appropriate and expected level. Going back to the Willie Mays example: it's not enough to say that Willie was an "instinctual ballplayer" and leave it at that, which makes it sound like he some child-like creature who could just step onto the field, do nothing more than instincts told him to, and magically insert himself into the conversation of greatest players of all time. That's why such praise of Willie was recognized decades ago as being insufficient, because he was so much more than instinctual, and he worked really hard to get great and obtain a deep understanding of the game.

Except it won’t be considered dirt by his supporters.

This is not some rule I’m coming up with at this moment. To my understanding, black people are very sensitive to white people being patronizing of them, and are annoyed when white people give them compliments that can fairly be considered slight. It suggests a lack of equality between the two, in which the recognition by a “superior” party of a slight accomplishment is the best that can be expected of the “inferior” party. To say that Obama, who at the very least is one of the great orators of our time, is merely well-spoken or articulate, as though that represents the height of his potential, is to give short shrift to the tremendous accomplishments he has achieved in other areas and all the hard work he put in to get there. It’s not unlike when they used to say that Willie Mays is a great ballplayer because of his uncanny instincts and his great speed. Sure, he had those, but to imply that Willie’s instincts and speed were the sum total of his greatness sets both the floor (the expectation) and the ceiling (the ultimate compliment) too low. Again, this is my understanding of it, and ironically, I may not have articulated it exactly as it could have been, but I think I’m at least pretty close. I know some people here will harshly disagree. But it makes sense to me.

Couldn’t get a guy out. That’s really a shame. what a waste. Soto will never be ready for prime time.

Wow what terribly great strike call

Soto is shaky, boy

Lol Alvarez

Wow Greggy, way to steal a quick pitch strike one!

Holy shit, Candy! You’re back, baby!

I like it when Dan works alone on the radio.

Man, what a shot by Miggy. He has really smacked the ball around tonight.

Nice “catch” by Baez. So fun to see him joking with the nearby ump about not getting the call.

I’m doing the pairing of Tigers audio and Astros video I talked about the other day, through the soundbar. Exquisite. Not a single superfluous interview in the booth or the stands.

Man, Javy almost nonchalanted that throw right past Tork.

Holy cats, the Houston broadcast shows a pitcher’s xFIP!

Damn, a rare Miggy laser finds a glove.

I consider it a sort of moral victory when Javy makes an out by hitting the ball.

And if they both die he gets a twofer!

Who are you and what have you done with Tucker Barnhart?

Oh, they'll like this one ... To be clear, to a reasonable person, there is nothing wrong with this tweet.

"Well-spoken" is what clueless old white people say when they try to compliment black people they like, e.g., Biden about Obama. Republicans will come bearing their teeth. She's going to be a socialist communist BLM Antifa social justice warrior pushing the White House's agenda to implement CRT in schools and private workplaces. Or something like that