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To be fair, I didn’t say you’ll love him, the person. I said you’ll love watching him.

OK, so maybe you won’t like him so much. But there are at least five people here who will 😁

Pure Texas.

I know people would like to use the Baez savings on another rotation piece, but I wouldn't mind seeing them pick up a premier backend bullpen arm, either instead or as well. Thinking maybe McHugh, Knebel, Tepera, or as someone mentioned earlier, maybe Chafin. Or, if we really want to make a splash, how about going to the top of that market for Raisel Iglesias? I could be talked into 3/30 for that guy. I know we have Soto and Cisnero at the back of the pen now, and they were probably good enough for a 77-win team. But are those the guys we would want to come in late in a game well into October? Especially if they're gonna walk one out of every seven or eight guys they face? I'm thinking, if we were to make a move like this to lock down the back of that pen, then I'd know that this organization is serious about 2022.

OK, now I see what you did there. Yes, I did say Javy has plus-D with good range, great instincts/intelligence, and exceptional tag skills. I didn't say anything about his pick skills, which I would characterize as being a lesser strength than those other defensive aspects. I'm not sure I would call it a weakness, exactly. Maybe lower end of average.

Do you think he does?

Yeah, that's another thing: this is not Derek Jeter we're signing, someone who's going to insist he play shortstop and nowhere else. Javy can certainly move down to 2B, perhaps if/when/once Kreidler is ready to take over SS in 2024 and Jonathan Schoop leaves. He can also play 3B if it comes to it, although his pick skills aren't exactly exceptional. He's seemingly better if he has to move to make the play.

OK, one more.

I watched this guy live and in person for seven years, so I know his warts, too. Like I say, there will be times we are frustrated with him. But when he's going good, he's as good as anyone, and there is not a player who is more fun to watch in baseball today. I would watch him play and wonder: is this what pre-Jackie Negro Leagues baseball was like?

Got 20 minutes to kill? Then enjoy.

Yes, you will be frustrated when Javier Baez sometimes swings and misses a pitch by literally two feet. You will be frustrated by his high strikeout rate and low walk rate and the occasional cold streak. You may even be frustrated by his periodic loose cannon behavior. Assuming, of course, A.J. and his college of coaches don't somehow get to him on all this. What you won't be frustrated with is Javy's defense in the most important position facing the batter. You won't be frustrated by his excellent range, by his acrobatics, by his instincts, and by his otherworldly tag skills. Remember how good a shortstop we all thought Jose Iglesias was when he was here? Well, Baez every day >>>> Iglesias on his best day. You won't be frustrated by Javy's baserunning. You've never seen a guy slide into a bag and evade a tag like Javier Baez, except when you have seen Twitter video of Baez himself making such slides. Now you will get to see them every day, and sometimes live at the ballpark. You won't be frustrated by Javy's hot streaks which, when he has them—and he will have them—makes him as good a hitter as anyone in the major leagues. How would you like a shortstop with plus-D capable of hitting .339/.372/.629 while jacking 16 bombs and swiping a dozen bags? Javier Baez has been that kind of hitter: he did it in 2018 over a stretch of seventy-three games. What? Too long ago to matter anymore? OK, how about .297/.361/.523 with 15 bombs and nine bags? Will that do? Because that's how he hit in the final 73 games of this season. But most of all, you won't be frustrated by the pure joy Javy radiates by just being on the field flashing the incredible skills he has in the service of helping the Detroit Tigers—that team we all grew up loving through thick and thin and thin and thin—win ballgames. Javy is going to put at least one involuntary broad smile on your face just about every game he plays for the Tigers, starting this year. I said it before, and I'm going to say it again: You're gonna love watching Javier Baez, Detroit Tiger. I guarantee it.

I concluded that years ago.

Right, but is it now going to take nearly 400 Ms to get the deal done with him?

Yankees may be the best bet but not until a new CBA is in hand. Seattle looks like they're making a move. Angels are always a wild card. Mets are establishing themselves as that kind of wild card. I wouldn't rule out the Astros, either.

Corey Seager to the Rangers for 10/325. Correa is going to beat Lindor, isn't he? Inflation everywhere.

Y'know, every time I see your handle, I think of this.

I can't imagine what it would take for me to give her credit for being an honest actor in Congress, meaning, someone who wants to do a good job legislating on behalf of the American people. She is nearly the complete opposite of that.

Is that what Italians look like?

Especially since there’s no way to know which of those three could be Porcello or even Verlander, and which of them will be Kyle Sleeth or Kenny Baugh.

It never fails to get a good laugh out of me when I see slappy fans dramatically overrate players within their own teams and systems. As if a mid- to back-of-rotation starter fresh off of his underwhelming rookie season could pry the #1 major-league-ready shortstop prospect from a loaded farm system, straight up.

As is a well-placed expletive. It's all about just the right context.

This is exactly what trolls do.

I might go so far as to say this is all of it, unless you believe there is a genetic basis for women being less selfish than men?