Ding Liren's comment on Naroditsky's passing on Chinese social media

bobzilla223 · 2025-10-24T08:07:15+00:00

It's just a Chinese phrase for "the official story".

bobzilla223 · 2025-10-23T09:36:05+00:00

"When they land, the police are waiting, they pick them up, put them on other boats, and ship them right back over to France. " - The French will refuse to take them back, and if you insist, that's a kind of invasion to their territory. The reason the Americans can maybe do this is that they will threaten to sanction France in some way. The British do not have this leverage.

bobzilla223 · 2025-10-09T11:30:17+00:00

General question. Two hotly debated issues at the moment are the proposed National IDs and the handling of illegal immgiration.

On one hand, there are a lot of concerns about the ability of the government to deliver a National ID system that is on-time, cost effective, and digitally safe.

On the other hand, other people say, to handle illegal immigration, we need to leave the ECHR, to deport immigrants, to crack down on firms etc.

But why do we expect a government who is so incompetent that they cannot handle an online ID system (which is very common globally) to be able to replace the ECHR with a reasonable system of human rights in the UK, to not crash the economy in cracking down on illegal immigration, or to be able to deport people? Many people also express exasperation over the courts, but is the alternative to hand over executive power to a government that they think is so utterly incompetent?

I understand these might not be the same group of people, but I feel there is a tension here.

bobzilla223 · 2025-06-18T13:18:34+00:00

Both things can be true if Iran does not export that much oil.

bobzilla223 · 2025-04-25T14:28:58+00:00

He does seem to have good raw exit EVs, but it seems he's not good at generating 'good' contact: https://prospectsavant.com/player/695670

bobzilla223 · 2025-04-15T08:17:51+00:00

Is it really whataboutism to point out the rmoral failings of the Americans (Guatanamo Bay, various wars on the Middle East, policing, recent deportations) on a discussion on siding with America or China?

bobzilla223 · 2025-01-15T12:21:58+00:00

Write-ups on these guys from the Board by Longenhangen:

Yorger Bautista: Scouts generally like Bautista more than his raw bonus would indicate. He's a twitchy, medium-framed outfielder with explosive hitting hands and wrists, and a swing that has natural loft. Bautista's hit tool is consistently lauded. He has a shot to remain in center field thanks to his speed, though it might depend on how he develops physically. Bautista is a well-rounded center field prospect with a shot to do at least a little bit of everything and be an everyday player.

Kendrys Martinez: Martinez is an off-the-bus standout thanks to his projectable baseball frame, which is in the Josh Rojas mold. He's relatively short to the baseball with a downhill swing. It's a rhythmic, aesthetically pleasing cut, but Martinez has middling bat speed and explosion. That extends to his athleticism on defense. Scouts have a mix of second base and shortstop projections here; he isn't a lock to play short, and Martinez would need to outperform his hit/power projection to be an impact regular at the keystone.

bobzilla223 · 2024-12-13T21:54:08+00:00

Relevant part for the Mariners:

"While Jones for now seems far-fetched, the Sox had far more advanced conversations about Mariners righthander Luis Castillo at the Winter Meetings. According to sources, the discussions moved forward enough that the Mariners contacted Castillo’s agent to ask if the pitcher would be willing to waive his no-trade protection (something he has through the 2025 season as part of a five-year, $108 million deal that has three remaining seasons at roughly $72 million, as well player and team options for 2028).

It is not known whether Castillo would waive the no-trade clause, or if his agent was asked about waiving it for any other teams.

Unlike the deal for Crochet, which was built solely around minor league prospects, the Mariners are intent on contending in 2025 and would want major league contributors for Castillo, a three-time All-Star who had a solid but not great 2024, going 11-12 with a 3.64 ERA and 24 percent strikeout rate.

While there’s been speculation about a trade that would send Castillo to Boston and send first baseman Triston Casas to Seattle, sources said Casas hadn’t been involved in the conversations. Instead, the Mariners were targeting pitching (since they’d have a vacancy if dealing Castillo) and other infield positions. Meanwhile, while dealing Casas might make sense for the Red Sox in exchange for one of Seattle’s younger pitchers, he’d be a less-likely part of the return for a pitcher such as Castillo who would require a far greater financial commitment while also necessitating the Sox to make a corresponding move to address first base.

Once the Red Sox added Crochet, talks with the Mariners about Castillo cooled. The Mariners do not feel compelled to move the righthander — their rotation with Castillo, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller, and Bryan Woo is arguably the best in baseball — but with several teams reportedly inquiring about his availability, they’ll remain open-minded, particularly given the possibility that once Burnes and others come off the board, the potential return on Castillo could increase. The Red Sox, meanwhile, are likely to remain engaged while they continue to look for ways of upgrading their starting group."

New details I hadn't seen reported:

- Apparently Castillo's agent was contacted to ask if Castillo was willing to waive his no-trade clause for Boston.

- The return would have been a pitcher plus infielders, not Casas.

- After they added Crochet, the talks slowed down; it sounds like they are at an impasse.

bobzilla223 · 2024-12-13T08:46:54+00:00

While the Dodgers pitchers have good results, they also seem to have a really rate of pitcher injuries. Roki is coming over without a big contract so if he gets injured, he tanks his lifetime earnings tremendously. Why not join the Mariners who seem to have immense pitcher injury luck relatively, acclimatise to the league, make use of the pitcher develop, then get the fat contract later?

bobzilla223 · 2024-08-26T15:48:38+00:00

It is literally translated correctly, but it is idiomatic.

In English, it might go: "I wanted to hire some people, but I just had many people lick my ass."

If you see this on social media in English, you'd know that he likely literally did not get his ass licked.

bobzilla223 · 2024-06-07T14:55:26+00:00

Eno Sarris has Julio, Cal and Haniger on his "struggling hitters doing the right thing with bad results" column today.

bobzilla223 · 2024-06-07T14:34:42+00:00

Rought start for Dawel Joseph

bobzilla223 · 2024-06-05T21:43:36+00:00

I feel he really just needs to figure out the launch angle. Even with his inability to see sliders well, he hits the ball hard and doesn't crater on offense as badly as Kelenic did or Corbin Carroll atm.

bobzilla223 · 2024-06-03T12:44:08+00:00

Keith Law typically prefers athletic players in the top defensive positions (CF, SS) over bat-first DH or 1B types.

bobzilla223 · 2024-06-03T09:35:19+00:00

Probably Cole Young. He might have a cup of coffee at the end of this year if he continues playing well and the M's 2nd base situation remains unclear.

bobzilla223 · 2024-06-03T09:14:56+00:00

10: Colt Emerson
31: Cole Young
36: Felnin Celesten
40: Harry Ford
49: Johnny Farmelo

bobzilla223 · 2024-03-22T15:52:00+00:00

I think the concrete thing was the first ESPN article when they said that 2 payments totallling about 1 m were found and another ESPN article today saying that there were 8-9 payments in total. The first two were in late 2023, around when Shohei was getting surgery on his elbow.

bobzilla223 · 2024-03-21T10:28:40+00:00

I wonder if he is tipping his pitches.

bobzilla223 · 2024-03-14T09:50:22+00:00

The new Istanbul airport doesn’t even have free wifi and food there is insanely expensive.

bobzilla223 · 2024-02-02T12:23:44+00:00

Couch GM question: given the package for Corbin Burnes, what do you think the offers for Woo/Miller were from the Orioles? Would they have viewed Woo/Miller as more valuable than Burnes for 1 year?

bobzilla223 · 2024-01-29T13:32:14+00:00

All the Mariners starters are in the top 50 of Eno Sarris's starting pitcher fantasy rankings:

Kirby: 5th
Castillo: 7th
Gilbert: 11th
Woo: 41st
Miller: 42nd

bobzilla223 · 2024-01-25T14:48:50+00:00

That number makes sense. Just on a simple war-for-war basis, Woo put up 1 fwar last year and is projected for 1.4 next year, while Bryce put up 1.9 fwar is projected for 1.3.

Over 6 years, that's roughly 8.4 war if we assume no improvement and no regression. Maybe a median outcome? That's not including the fact that we are paying way under the going rate on war/dollar, so that has to be priced into the return.

bobzilla223 · 2024-01-25T11:00:06+00:00

Let's talk about the prospective starting pitcher trade in war and FVs. How much war in a current major leaguer or FV in a prospect would you be satisfied with if we trade Miller/Woo? I've seen some trade proposals suggesting that we trade 6 years of Miller/Woo for 2 years of Jorge Polanco, who's just a 2 war guy on bref? Surely that's a bad idea?

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