I realize that thinking before you post on the internet is something that died a long time ago, if it ever existed.
But Internet, you've truly outdone yourselves this week.
Now, I don't typically get into the whole gun control debate all of ever anymore, mostly because you can't even suggest the idea of stronger background checks without somebody accusing you of personally helping President Obama go door-to-door and round up everybody's guns. (And if he is, he'd better get on it; he's only got another year or so!) You almost have to be impressed with the sheer number of people the NRA has convinced to buy into that line of garbage. But at this point, it's gone far beyond that for some people.
Case in point: the on-air murder of a television reporter and cameraman in Roanoke Virginia earlier this week. As you can imagine, that has provoked this particular debate anew, but not entirely for the reason you might think: There are actually people who believe that said shooting was a hoax, a "false flag" if you will, somehow set up by the government, as part of a pretense to curtail your Second Amendment right to own as many automatic rifles as you can get your hands on, because Barack Hussein Obama's gonna come take 'em away and suspend the Constitution! Jade Helm! Agenda 21! And if you're the kind of person that believes that the government somehow infiltrated the newsroom of a TV station , found an ex-employee with legitimate anger issues, and set up the fake murder of two people live on the morning news so they could take your guns away, then you probably need to have your guns taken away.
Nothing about this theory makes any sense. "She didn't react and bleed when he fired the first shot!" Apparently, everyone who's ever seen an episode of "CSI" now fancies themselves a forensics expert.Well, he was also shooting with his camera in the other hand... is it possible that maybe he missed while trying to record his shot? I'm guessing most TV news personalities aren't trained marksmen. "They didn't even notice he was standing there!" Ever been on live television? Any journalist worth a damn is trained to focus only on the camera and the interview subject when doing a live remote. "Why aren't there any witnesses?" Uh... it was 6:30 in the fucking morning? And what about the police chase? The suspect was somehow paid off to shoot and kill himself? The interviewee in the hospital with bullet wounds? Hell, the hospital staff? The anchor back in the studio? I'm expected to believe that all of these people were paid off and kept quiet so Obama would have an excuse to take your guns and declare martial law? The tinfoil hat brigade is really asking me to suspend a whole lot of disbelief here, and I'm a firm believer that the most obvious explanation is usually the correct one. And the most obvious explanation here doesn't involve hundreds of people being paid off by the federal government.
Look, I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy. (Hell, I'm a Detroit sports fan; by very definition, we believe the fix is perpetually in against us by the media, referees, sports leagues, etc.) And I can understand why people are cynical and distrusting at times. But for god's sake, these are real people, with real families, that were just torn apart by some deranged wackjob with a score to settle against some former co-workers, and white people in general, evidently. And you're going to insult these people's families and argue that no, they didn't just lose a son, a daughter, a co-worker, a fiancee? Tell them that they're not expressing their grief properly because the reporter's father went on CNN and mentioned his support for gun control?
Yes, just in case they might still have any remaining shred of faith in humanity, their co-workers and significant others have been harassed on social media by the 'truther' crowd, and those are truly the lowest kind of scum on this planet. The same people that came out of the woodwork around the time of the Sandy Hook shooting and called that a fake as well. It's almost expected anymore that after any major tragedy in this country, there'll be that contingent of Alex Jones worshipers that show up claiming how it was all just a false flag planted by the Freemasons, or Bilderbergs, or whatever-the-NWO-bogeyman-of-the-day-is. And these people have the audacity to tell the friends and family of those whose lives were taken that they are the delusional ones.
Apparently human decency isn't that damned human anymore.
Do you seriously need to see a dead body to believe what you saw? Hell, would that even be enough to convince you? Are you that paranoid that you can't take events like these at face value, that you insist in the face of video evidence that no, the government must have staged this?
If so... then they've probably got the right idea not wanting people like you to have access to guns.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Tigers Position Themselves Well For 2016... And Other News.
It was a tough decision, but the right one.
Not an hour after I posted Wednesday's column, Dave Dombrowski admitted what many in this team's fanbase saw coming for a while: the Tigers are officially sellers at the trade deadline. And Thursday morning, the first domino fell: David Price is now a Toronto Blue Jay.
And despite naysayers who claimed the return on a two-month rental wouldn't add up to much, what the Tigers ended up with might just make up 2/5 of their starting rotation next year. Daniel Norris is ranked by ESPN's Keith Law as the 15th best prospect in the game, though his numbers this year don't inspire much confidence; in 10 games for the Blue Jays, six as a starter, the 22-year old Norris has posted a 4.20 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. At Triple-A Buffalo, he's fared little better, mostly due to command issues which have seen him walk four batters per nine innings. But the potential is there; he's got three plus pitches (fastball, slider, curveball), and the fourth (a changeup) has generated more swinging strikes than the other three. He can get major league hitters out, but he may have mechanical issues that need to be ironed out before he can do so regularly and efficiently. Besides, the man lives in a van (presumably down by the river) and shaves with an axe, people. This really cannot be understated.
Then you've got 24-year old Matt Boyd, who's put together quite the season in Double-A New Hampshire, winning 6 of his 12 starts there with a 1.10 ERA and 0.77 WHIP, earning him a promotion to Buffalo, where he has continued to dominate. This is quite the leap over last year (6.96 ERA in Double-A in 2014), due in large part to a jump in velocity on his fastball (average 91-94 mph, tops out at 96), and a 6.17 strikeout-to-walk ratio this year. He's somewhat a fly-ball pitcher, but Comerica Park tends to negate the impact there. Given the numbers and command of his pitches, it wouldn't be surprising to see him starting in Detroit next season. He debuted tonight in Toledo, pitching two innings with no runs, no hits, three walks and a strikeout.
The final piece of that deal is Jairo Lebourt, currently pitching in Single-A. He's got the velocity already at 21, but lacks command or consistency in his delivery. In other words, the kind of pitching prospect Dave Dombrowski goes crazy for. Lots of potential, but he's a few years away yet. And true to form, he walked four and struck out five in his debut for Lakeland on Friday, giving up four earned runs off seven hits.
Later that night, the Tigers flipped Joakim Soria to the Pirates, meaning that if you thought the bullpen was brutal before... you might just wanna start tuning out after the 5th inning, though Alex Wilson did an admirable job in his first night in the role, with a 5-out save after the rest of the bullpen melted down Thursday night. In exchange, the Tigers pick up JaCoby Jones, a shortstop prospect who might not actually stick at shortstop. So far this year he's hitting .277/.336/.455. He's got a decent amount of pop in his bat and walks a bit, but strikes out even more. What's also interesting here is the potential versatility; he's a shortstop by trade, but can play any infield position and center field as well. And I don't know about anyone else, but the prospect of a Zobrist-type utility guy is a rather exciting prospect to me.
Finally on Friday, Yoenis Cespedes was shipped off to the Mets for two pitching prospects, sadly not named Matz or Wheeler. Michael Fullmer is the top pitching prospect in that system not currently in the major leagues, and has had a breakout year after being plagued by injury in past seasons; for Double-A Birmingham this year, Fullmer has a 1.88 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and 83 strikeouts in 86 innings. He's got two plus pitches (a fastball and slider), and a potential third (changeup), and projects as a mid-rotation guy if he can stay healthy. Luis Cessa, the other piece in the deal, looks to be a reliever with some upside. He's only been pitching for 4 years (he was originally a third baseman), and has a mid 90's fastball with a few secondary pitches (a slider and changeup) that are inconsistent at times and need to be refined, but already show flashes of brilliance.
It's hard to argue that the Tigers aren't in a much better position for the future now than they were 48 hours ago, especially with the haul they managed to pull for three guys who will all be free agents in two months. Add to that the fact that Cespedes has indicated that he wants to re-sign here in the offseason, though he told ESPN he didn't think the Tigers should have thrown in the towel on this year, and it's not hard to see this team adding some pitching in the offseason and making a playoff run next year.
Just try and remember that while watching (or not) the Tigers' pitching implosion for the rest of this year.
Not an hour after I posted Wednesday's column, Dave Dombrowski admitted what many in this team's fanbase saw coming for a while: the Tigers are officially sellers at the trade deadline. And Thursday morning, the first domino fell: David Price is now a Toronto Blue Jay.
And despite naysayers who claimed the return on a two-month rental wouldn't add up to much, what the Tigers ended up with might just make up 2/5 of their starting rotation next year. Daniel Norris is ranked by ESPN's Keith Law as the 15th best prospect in the game, though his numbers this year don't inspire much confidence; in 10 games for the Blue Jays, six as a starter, the 22-year old Norris has posted a 4.20 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. At Triple-A Buffalo, he's fared little better, mostly due to command issues which have seen him walk four batters per nine innings. But the potential is there; he's got three plus pitches (fastball, slider, curveball), and the fourth (a changeup) has generated more swinging strikes than the other three. He can get major league hitters out, but he may have mechanical issues that need to be ironed out before he can do so regularly and efficiently. Besides, the man lives in a van (presumably down by the river) and shaves with an axe, people. This really cannot be understated.
Then you've got 24-year old Matt Boyd, who's put together quite the season in Double-A New Hampshire, winning 6 of his 12 starts there with a 1.10 ERA and 0.77 WHIP, earning him a promotion to Buffalo, where he has continued to dominate. This is quite the leap over last year (6.96 ERA in Double-A in 2014), due in large part to a jump in velocity on his fastball (average 91-94 mph, tops out at 96), and a 6.17 strikeout-to-walk ratio this year. He's somewhat a fly-ball pitcher, but Comerica Park tends to negate the impact there. Given the numbers and command of his pitches, it wouldn't be surprising to see him starting in Detroit next season. He debuted tonight in Toledo, pitching two innings with no runs, no hits, three walks and a strikeout.
The final piece of that deal is Jairo Lebourt, currently pitching in Single-A. He's got the velocity already at 21, but lacks command or consistency in his delivery. In other words, the kind of pitching prospect Dave Dombrowski goes crazy for. Lots of potential, but he's a few years away yet. And true to form, he walked four and struck out five in his debut for Lakeland on Friday, giving up four earned runs off seven hits.
Later that night, the Tigers flipped Joakim Soria to the Pirates, meaning that if you thought the bullpen was brutal before... you might just wanna start tuning out after the 5th inning, though Alex Wilson did an admirable job in his first night in the role, with a 5-out save after the rest of the bullpen melted down Thursday night. In exchange, the Tigers pick up JaCoby Jones, a shortstop prospect who might not actually stick at shortstop. So far this year he's hitting .277/.336/.455. He's got a decent amount of pop in his bat and walks a bit, but strikes out even more. What's also interesting here is the potential versatility; he's a shortstop by trade, but can play any infield position and center field as well. And I don't know about anyone else, but the prospect of a Zobrist-type utility guy is a rather exciting prospect to me.
Finally on Friday, Yoenis Cespedes was shipped off to the Mets for two pitching prospects, sadly not named Matz or Wheeler. Michael Fullmer is the top pitching prospect in that system not currently in the major leagues, and has had a breakout year after being plagued by injury in past seasons; for Double-A Birmingham this year, Fullmer has a 1.88 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and 83 strikeouts in 86 innings. He's got two plus pitches (a fastball and slider), and a potential third (changeup), and projects as a mid-rotation guy if he can stay healthy. Luis Cessa, the other piece in the deal, looks to be a reliever with some upside. He's only been pitching for 4 years (he was originally a third baseman), and has a mid 90's fastball with a few secondary pitches (a slider and changeup) that are inconsistent at times and need to be refined, but already show flashes of brilliance.
It's hard to argue that the Tigers aren't in a much better position for the future now than they were 48 hours ago, especially with the haul they managed to pull for three guys who will all be free agents in two months. Add to that the fact that Cespedes has indicated that he wants to re-sign here in the offseason, though he told ESPN he didn't think the Tigers should have thrown in the towel on this year, and it's not hard to see this team adding some pitching in the offseason and making a playoff run next year.
Just try and remember that while watching (or not) the Tigers' pitching implosion for the rest of this year.
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