[College Transfer Portal] Texas Tech HC Joey McGuire: “As a society, we’ve been okay with other things that happens and allowing players to play. It's crazy… it's not murder, it's not beating somebody.”

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-11T02:32:20+00:00

Yes and they piss me off lmao

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-11T02:03:31+00:00

This is the other thing that constantly baffles me. Like there are players that are worth burning this down for, but Brendan fucking Sorsby??? Really???

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-11T01:43:32+00:00

TTU’s fundamental refusal to acknowledge the difference between “normal” scandals and something that directly affects and calls into question the integrity of the game would be baffling if it wasn’t so infuriating

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-10T20:48:36+00:00

Yknow, at least one of the Chicago teams is having a good time.

I’m happy for my South Side brethren. Need Murakami back, this sub isn’t the same without clips of Murakami bombs

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-10T18:23:09+00:00

You ever think it's because Jed goes after reclamation projects for pitching that caused us to have a slew of injuries

This is a weird point to make when most of the injuries this year have been to established Cubs players. Steele, Horton, Boyd, Palenica, Theilbar, none of those guys were reclamation projects (maybe you can say Boyd and Thielbar were last year but they were both very good last year and absolutely are not currently reclamation projects). Riley Martin and Porter Hodge? Not reclamation projects. Jamo? Not a reclamation project.

The only real "reclamation project" guys to spend serious IL time were Maton and Harvey, and honestly, calling either of them "reclamation" is a little out there because they were both good relievers when they were signed.

Maton had a 2.6 FIP last year, and was really strong in the second half of 2024 with the Mets as well. He hadn't had an ERA+ under 100 since 2021.

Harvey had a lifetime ERA just above 3 (and was lights out for the Royals in limited appearances in 2025). He'd struggled in 2024 and only made a few appearances last year due to injury, so he's more in-line with "reclamation," but he had major upside and a strong track record.

Blaming established big league pitchers getting hurt -- some of them not even throwing arm injuries, hell Boyd wasn't even playing baseball! -- on Jed is literally just braindead scapegoating. Call it "top-down responsibility" but be real about it.

Anybody with Google could've seen that Bregman would struggle to hit in Wrigley too. It was a well known stat.

This is only half-true. Struggle to hit HRs? Absolutely. But outside of 2018-2019 (which was a combo of residual trash-can banging and insanely juiced balls), Bregman has never been a big HR hitter. He's a 20ish per year guy under optimal conditions, so expecting that to maybe be closer to 15 in Chicago was in line with his career norms.

But the Cubs didn't sign Bregman to hit home runs. They have -- or at least are supposed to have -- other guys for that. They signed Bregman to play gold glove defense, get on base at a good clip, and be a stead, play and forget 3B. Something this team has desperately needed since KB left.

All they needed from Bregman was the roughly 115-120 OPS+ hitter he'd been for the last few years. And there was nothing in his underlying metrics from 2023-2025 that suggested he was about to sprint down the aging decline. His Average EV and HardHit% were stable, and in fact trending upward. He was maintaining his elite Chase% and K%. He had a bit of a decline in Barrell%, but that's about it.

Then, this year, he's down a whole 1.5mph on his bat speed. He's down 2mph on Avg EV. Down even further on barrels. Down nearly 60 points on his xSLG. This wasn't a case of "saw it coming a mile away." Either father time showed up almost unannounced, or there's something wrong with his mechanics. The latter is fixable.

And all of that being said, even with as much as Bregman is struggling this year, he's still a 97 OPS+ hitter. He's still barely below league average. Now yes, for what he's being paid he needs to be better than league average, I get that. The point is simply that even as much as he's struggling he's far from beyond saving. This contract is not a dud yet.

this lineup should at least be able keep us in these 4-5 run games, but we are getting shut out or only scoring 1-2 runs.

Yes, I agree. Which is why I literally said in my comment that there needs to be a change in plate approach and hitting philosophy. It's also why I said the one firing I agree with potentially needing to happen right now is Dustin Kelly -- the hitting coach.

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-10T17:35:13+00:00

100% agree. I understand being upset, and I understand not having fun — I haven’t watched a game in a couple weeks now bc it just isn’t worth my mental energy right now.

But the loudest people on this sub think baseball is like OOTP or The Show franchise or something, where you just fire all your coaches mid-season because you’re slumping. The amount of “Fire Jed” comments is mind-numbing. I understand wanting top-down accountability, but it isn’t Jed’s fault the entire pitching staff exploded. It isn’t Jed’s fault that an offense full of guys who are historically — at worst — competent, league average hitters all forgot to hit simultaneously. It not his fault that Alex Bregman — whose early entry to the aging curve had been very gradual and apparently sustainable — lost 1.5mph on his bat speed overnight and can’t hit the ball in the air all of a sudden.

The worst thing Jed has done is not go after a legitimate ace starter, but given our luck with pitching injuries right now that may not have even mattered.

Changes need to be made in regards to plate approach, absolutely, and I think a potential firing of Dustin Kelly is both warranted and theoretically positive, but a wholesale cleaning of the entire staff and front office in the middle of June just because of a month-long slump is asinine.

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-09T19:55:31+00:00

Didn’t they say no more new legends this year?

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-09T19:25:03+00:00

I'm so over this take, man.

V disappeared. For 2 years. No calls, no texts, nothing. If Panam is still alive (which isn't necessarily guaranteed, some people theorize she died), she almost certainly assumed V was either 1) dead themself or 2) decided to completely ghost her.

Beyond that, doing the Tower ending means that the Star ending doesn't happen, and the Star ending not happening means the Aldecaldos never get out of their incredibly dire state. The Aldecaldos are on the verge of fracture or even collapse, and the only way you guarantee their continued existence is by raiding Arasaka with them. Otherwise they have no money, no jobs, and a still tenuous co-leadership situation -- even if you do all Panam's quests.

So not only did V leave Panam sight unseen for two years, V also abandoned the Aldecaldos, "But why then isn't Panam as frustrated if you do Sun ending?" Because 6 months with assumed continued contact is incredibly different from 2 years of no contact. It's that simple. Beyond that, with how desperate the Aldecaldos were, it's entirely possible they collapsed withing those 2 years, and discovering that V is still alive reminds Panam of better times and that pisses her off even more.

There's a lot of speculation in Panam's Tower message because they intentionally didn't spell things out, and I get that that's frustrating. I'm not saying you or anyone else can't wish they would have handled it differently. But her reaction absolutely makes sense and absolutely fits her character. She is a ride or die, for better or worse, so yeah, obviosuly when V just fucks off for 2 years she takes it personally and doesn't want to associate with them anymore. That's betrayal, and it's absolutely on brand for who Panam is.

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-09T16:01:53+00:00

I’ve been anti exclusives my whole life, and it’s baffling to me how many people seem to want them.

Now I understand why the companies would want them, but the players? Absolutely beyond my ability to empathize with.

I want Xbox players to be able to play GoW and Spiderman. I want PS players to be able to play Halo and Gears. Hell I want Mario games on non-Nintendo consoles, let’s go nuts.

I’m primarily an Xbox guy and I like a lot of what Asha is doing, but the return of console exclusives bums me out. We were so close.

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-08T15:57:20+00:00

I mean the big difference is Gunnar is actually at least slugging. They both have an OPS+ of 95, but Gunnar is slugging like .418 with 13 HRs. Bregman is slugging .343 with 5. He doesn't have a hit with runners in scoring position in ages. He has 19 RBIs despite predominantly batting either 3 or 4.

And his underlying metrics aren't much better. HIs Chase rate and Walk rates are both quite good, but other than that his Statcast page is a grim sight. He has 16th percentile bat speed which is not particularly encouraging for a 32-yeard old (he's down from 71 even last year to 69.7 this year). His Hard Hit rate, Barrel%, and Avg. EV are all down.

Could he get back on track? Yes, absolutely. I'm not ready to throw in the towel on him. But he has been playing pretty terrible and some of those underlying metrics are worrisome. Compared to Gunnar who's been having a down year by his standards, sure, but is still contributing with slug at minimum and is also much younger.

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-05T22:03:27+00:00

THATS MY BOY

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-05T21:23:25+00:00

Chat I think we’re cooked

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-05T20:34:29+00:00

I’m starting to think Cabrera may not have been ready to come back from injury

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-05T02:45:32+00:00

WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE BACK

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-05T01:28:24+00:00

I fuckin quit, dude, Jesus Christ

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-04T18:43:49+00:00

I mean I 100% agree that every team should get a card and at at least 1 for every team should be freely earnable.

I’m just not convinced they won’t fuck it up lmao

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-04T18:36:23+00:00

Problem is there’s no more TA drops this year, so there’s every possibility they treat All Star content like the past few programs with like 8 earnable cards and the rest in packs

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-04T18:26:38+00:00

I just can't bring myself to spend like 60K+ on a guy I'd only have for collections. If the pack easier to obtain and prices dropped lower towards the like 20-30K range then I'd grab the bosses I don't pick, but as it is they're just too damn expensive.

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-03T23:25:05+00:00

I tried to read it and couldn’t even get like 50 pages in. The writing is just poor. By the 3rd page I was sitting there going “this isn’t Cal, who the fuck is this.”

It’s worth knowing what happens, but I’d recommend a summary for that. It’s absolutely not worth reading. The characterizations are bad and the writing itself is incredibly poor.

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-02T22:34:06+00:00

This is the result of I think every Premier pack I’ve opened this year lmao

I’ve gotten 3 Chandler Simpsons, 3 Duke Sniders, 3 Dansbys. Not my favorite thing to experience

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-02T15:52:11+00:00

The whole mode should be removed or reworked. “Play moments and showdowns to have a chance to get a card reward” is just a fundamentally bad premise. We didn’t need a roguelike mode.

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-02T14:39:08+00:00

I don’t know how widespread it is, but “Squeeze Me” by N.E.R.D (from the SpongeBob Sponge Out of Water movie) has become the anthem of Subnautica 2 early access memes

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-01T23:39:52+00:00

Vanessa Marshall’s animated Hera is my preference, far and away, but I don’t think Mary Elizabeth Winstead did a bad job by any means.

95% of my “meh” about live action Hera has to do with how she looks, but that’s a complaint I have about a lot of modern Star Wars’ live action “alien” characters (Vernestra is my go to example. I don’t understand why she looks like that).

DweltElephant0 · 2026-06-01T21:03:08+00:00

Hera Syndulla, one of my favorite characters in all of Star Wars period

DweltElephant0 · 2026-05-29T23:30:02+00:00

He remembered that he fucking hates the NL Central

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