SocraticGadfly: 5/9/21 - 5/16/21

May 15, 2021

Robert Horry aka Big Shot Rob? NOT a HOFer

I don't care if Rudy Tomjanovich called for it tonight.

I don't care if Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon and Kobe Bryant called for it in the past.

I don't care if he won seven rings, as there's at least one Bill Russell era Celtics who did the same, Jungle Jim, Jim Loscutoff.

Robert Horry has less than 70 Win Shares, less than 8,000 points, and playoff luck aside, actually couldn't shoot worth shit with a career FG percentage of under 43 percent. (Because I forgot to originally link him, and I don't know if Basketball-Reference does a recrawl, it may not show up on his page!

That paltry Win Shares was over 15 years, too. Just 7 points a game. Clyde Lovellette, to go to Russell-era Celtics, had more Win Shares in only 10 years.

More of why Horry ain't fit for Springfield?

NEVER an All-Star.

NOT a HOFer.

And, sorry, that's the right level of respect; you don't deserve more.

And Rudy is becoming the Tony La Russa of the NBA, with Horry his Harold Baines, or Jack Morris, if he claims Horry is a HOFer.

In turn, this leads to questions of what's a good cutoff for a HOFer? In MLB, I have long said that for batting first positions, it should be 110 career OPS+. Baines did make that. For fielding-first positions, ranking in the top 20 in major fielding issues, I guess. For pitchers, I have two criteria: 110 career ERA+ (shut up about FIP, it's not as good as some think) AND a WHIP below 1.25. Morris wasn't close. For any position outside catcher and relievers, 60 career WAR a minimum. Outside of SS and maybe 2B, 65 minimum. Preferably your WAA should be half your WAR or more.

On hoops? Looking at Rudy T? His PER of 16 sounds like a reasonable minimum. WS/48 minutes? Let's say .125. 

Finally, Horry was not a regular starter after his fourth year in the league. Know what? Manu wasn't a starter either, and kicks Horry's ass in all of the above.

Pujols to Dodgers!? Some untold story in Anaheim, or Phat Albert's revenge porn signing?

I did NOT NOT NOT have the Los Angeles Dodgers on my Albert Pujols bingo/dance card, but reportedly, that is exactly what is happening.

And, that's the subject of this post, per this header.

The Angels released Phat Albert because he wanted more playing time and they wouldn't guarantee it. It boiled down to whether they're better with Taylor Ward in RF and Jared Walsh at 1B rather than Walsh playing halfway out of position in right and Pujols at first. And, the answer is likely the former, and Pujols doesn't want to ride pine, with Shohei Ohtani ahead of him at DH, too, he would ride plenty of pine. Neither did Alex Rodriguez at the end of his career, so one could say "can't blame Pujols."

One CAN question how well he can be self-honest when he told the Haloes he thought he could play every day AT FIRST. That story notes that he wouldn't have been playing there at all had Dexter Fowler not had a season-ending injury.

(Update, June 15: One month in, and small sample size caveats, plus platooning caveats, and all? Phat Albert's Dodgertown time shows him having his best batting since his first year with the Haloes.)

BUT?

The Dodgers have made CLEAR he's coming off the bench.

Red Satan says Max Muncy can slide over to second or third base at times. That, in turn, would let them supposedly rest Justin Turner and/or keep him at third and play Gavin Lux less.

But, that ain't happening THAT much.

Red Satan also ignores the Blue also has Matt Beaty to play first.

And, it ignores in passing that the Dodgers are an NL team with no DH except in interleague play.

So, what gives?

Per the rest of the header, some sort of revenge signing? I mean, this IS a cross-town issue.

If Albert were honest and said "I hate losing and I'm ditching this Coke stand," some people might say, OK. But, he said (per the Angels and he's not denied it) that he wants to play more, and that ain't happening.

And, the Dodgers do NOT need a "veteran presence." They've got plenty of that in the field and on the mound both, with Mookie Betts, Trevor Bauer, Clayton Kershaw, David Price et al. And, shit, they won the World Series last year!

So now, The Machine actually looks worse than A-Rod in the twilight of his career. Now, there could be some unknown story in Anaheim. Maybe, like Aaron Rodgers seeing the Pack draft his replacement Jordan Love and being pissed, he thinks it could have been handled better. (If that's the case, Albert: here's the handwriting on the wall; please read.) 

And, at least he's lucky he just plays 1B. I am old enough to remember Willie Mays, whom Albert passed last year on the HR race, falling down rounding second in the 1973 World Series. It was a sad moment.

Oh, and Albert? Your range factor per game and per 9 innings? WORSE than Miguel Cabrera, for doorknob's sake. You've arguably been about as bad as him for 3-4 years.

Per my notes above, whether this is revenge porn over Haloes issues or just self-delusion? Either case, it's sad. I mean, as I said in my tribute piece last week, I'm pretty sure the man is 42, not 41, and I'm open to him being 43 years old.

===

From the Dodgers' POV, I guess it's better than promoting somebody from the minors. But, when Cody Bellinger comes back, the roster will be even more crowded. Plus, will Albert really accept not playing much, especially when Bellinger DOES come back? Yeah, the Angels talked about his mentorship and such, but ... we'll see. 

And, weirder yet? And further undercutting Pujols getting playing time? A week ago, I suggested the Rays were a good candidate for Pujols because DH Yoshi Tsutsugo sucked. Well, the Rays released him ... and the Dodgers signed him.

===

Now, a request to top baseball reporters.

1. A fairly serious grilling of Pujols on "why the Dodgers," since it contradicts his playing time claims. Since MLBTR was dumb enough to bite on rumors by Jon Heyman and Fansided, when few others were pushing the narrative of "3-4 teams are interested," get some confirmation. Off the records are accepted. (MLBTR, don't say you were "just reporting," even if you did offer a later update from Heyman. You could have had some "couching in skepticism" with the links from the start.) AND, there's no nostalgia involved, unlike this person on baseball Twitter claiming Pujols WOULD ride pine to come back to St. Louis. (And, before DeJong's injury opening playing time for Carpenter at second with Edman moving to short, that would be PLENTY of pine.) And, with all this added news, getting close to doing a new update.

2. Ditto on the Angels. Ask GM Perry Minasian and prez John Carpino (as well as off the records, all being fine) if there was some tension we've not been previously told about. As noted, had Dex not been hurt, he wouldn't have been playing that much in the first place with the Angels, unless Joe Maddon is a sentimental idiot when he makes out lineup cards.

May 13, 2021

Texas Progressives: Nuttery piles up as the Lege looks to the finish

Let's jump right in to to a full load of Roundup news not just about the Lege, but executive branch critters and more. And, trust me, there's plenty.

State-national

SocraticGadfly, good St. Louis Cardinals fan that he is, offers a hat tip to Albert Pujols at the possible end of his career, including saluting his postseason good times against the Astros and Rangers.

Ransomware attacks have hit more and more governments in Tex-ass and elsewhere, including the Cooke County Sheriff's Office in this area, and the Texas Supreme Court. Local governments, and the state supremes have both refused to pay up when affected and continued to not take proper protections when not affected. Will a ransomware attack on a major pipeline that moves gasoline and diesel from here to the East Coast get anybody (Bueller, the Texas Lege?) to wake up?

Big John Cornyn is Congress' top tweeter. Too bad most of the tweets suck.

State

Protests over "The Eyes of Texas" aren't leaving UT.

Annette Gordon-Reed has a new book out, "On Juneteenth." She talks to the Observer about it.

Scott Braddock brings us the "Old Town Road" voter suppression parody we didn't know we needed.

The Lege, gummint

If Jeebus Shot Sid Miller really wants to challenge Danny Goeb, or Strangeabbott, having his top political consultant arrested on claims he took kickbacks for Texas Ag hemp licenses ain't gonna help.

The House has cut most of the Senate's voting restrictions; who knows what will emerge from conference.

Harold Dutton ain't happy with fellow House Dems.

The House wants to bail out electric companies because the Lege is a weak-need fuck-up on weatherization, and worse, wants you and I to pay for this, while it remains a fuck-up on weatherization, especially on natural gas pipelines and facilities, and everything else named RRC.

Ken Paxton actually accepted that the freedom of petition portion of the First Amendment applies to him.

The actions on the wingnut side are just more Pander Bear, per the Observer; I noted that a week ago with my Senate Pander Bear, Drew Springer.

Via that link, a longform from the NYT Magazine notes post-election and post-Jan. 6 internecine warfare among Texas Rethugs. Names like Peter Hotze and Mucus naturally pop up. So does the Jesuitical Gov. Strangeabbott.

Metromess

If Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson really wants a seat on the national or global stage, fine. Quit, and run for another office or take another position.

Houston 

Space City Weather explains Houston's new climate normals.

Lisa Gray interviews Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo about vaccinations, voting rights, and more.

San Antone 

Dr. Angela Tarango showcases a San Antonio church that got 95% of its adult members vaccinated.

The Texas Civil Rights Project reports on the long, racist history of poll watchers.

Status Quo Joe ain't leaving Afghanistan and Liz Cheney ain't leaving the GOP

I hived this off from what was originally going to be the weekly Texas Progressives Roundup after there were no regular contributors of national news.

And, since Lizzie Cheney, after her 40 whacks with her axe failed to kill the head of Donald Trump, is now officially voted out as head of the House Republican Conference, it's good to separate it.

And, since I had originally written it in this order, am not a member of the duopoly at national political level and pretty much loathe BlueMAGA aka BlueAnon, it will stay in this order and you'll have to see new lying by Status Quo Joe Biden first.


Biden and Afghanistan

Since most of BlueMAGA doesn't regularly read Counterpunch, you can thank your stars that this member of the Texas Progressives Alliance does. And, that's the source of the header.

Turns out, per Noam Chomsky, that those 2,500 US troops Biden says he'll withdraw aren't all of them that Merika has there. There's an extra 1,000 floating around. Plus 16,000 contractors mercenaries. What happens when one of those 1,000 get killed? Are they flypaper? Or, what if actual left-of-center Congresscritters confront Status Quo Joe about those 1K and he removes them? And then, one of Erik Prince's Blackwater Xe Academi mercenaries gets killed? Flypaper?

Per Noam, human rights, if they're women's rights, will be abandoned, as will other things.

That said, Chomsky has long been a duopoly-fellating, anti-Green good Democrat, so he doesn't have a lot of room to talk.

More national-global? Status Quo Joe still hadn't abandoned Article 42, and other recent actions of his in re Ill Eagles are head fakes, gaslighting or whatever other term you prefer.

China's greenhouse gas emissions are more than the rest of the developed world combined. That said, Merika, remember that we exported a lot of that, along with other pollution.

Elizabeth Cheney and today's GOP

Although Cheney lost the vote battle, for her,  going back a full year or more, it's a battle for the future of the GOP. With her being booted, as that link makes clear, the battle's not over for her. She's still a neocon warmonger, so don't normalize her or any other Never Trumper. Within the House GOP, there's the added issue that she is not doing much in the way of fundraising for Ever Trumpers. And, more and more, Huckleberry J. Butchmeup, aka Lindsey Graham, as well as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, is willing to fellate Trumpism. Don't laugh, #BlueMAGA; most of you will fellate neoliberalism, and speaking of neocons, fellate Bibi as well.


On Cheney's side, though, she sees fellating Trump as hurting the GOP in swing districts, and says McCarthy, the RNCC and RNC have suppressed or ignored polling that supports this fact.

Adding to this? Trump seems to be taking this personally. Adding to that, some claim that it's part of a larger blood feud against GOP dynasty families.

Does Cheney regret taking a pass on the Senate, not once, but twice?
 
==
 
Now, per the top of the page, looking at the vote?
 
First, there's plenty of cowards in the House GOP. Despite requests by Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the GOP caucus conducted a voice vote, not a roll call, and won't make it public.
 
Second, beyond the post talking about Trump yakking more, and starting his new blog and RSS feed (which it didn't mention) since Feb. 3, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has become even more a squish.
 
Third, as for Dems, as well as some Never Trumper Republicans, saying, this could be dangerous vis a vis losing youth, minorities, etc.? Demographic ain't destiny. Gilberto Hinojosa and his Texas Dem honchos have been claiming a demographic-based blue tide has been coming for 15 years or more. They remain wrong, even as they have misanalyzed those demographics. 

Third, part 2? Nothing will happen to the national GOP until Trump croaks. (His sons and sons-in-law are incompetent even by his standards and won't be able to pick up his flag. Ivanka doesn't want it.)

Fourth, no, Never Trumpers are not leaving the GOP. David Jolly and Jeff Greenfield both pick this one apart. (That said, Jolly ignores that most independents are really Rethugs or Doinks in drag trying to pretend to be what they're not.) Greenfield says we've heard this all before, and notes that many of the Never Trumpers are nonetheless vote-suppressors, etc.

May 12, 2021

I LIKE the NBA's play-in playoffs; shut up, Luka and LeBron

And I hope that Adam Silver, who is NOT "the fool" or whatever it was LeBron James said about who devised this system, keeps the play-in for Nos. 7-10 around another year.

First, per ESPN's Jay Williams (with whom I agree, as I blogged here) that King James is the greatest ever, ahead of Michael Jordan, is behind Jordan in one aspect that Williams noted — and that's being vocal about his health issues. It's been blogged about and laughed at on Twitter ever since his Heat days. But, his recent comments about not being sure he'd ever be 100 percent again? Williams is right. That's an open door to opponents.

What LeBron needed to do is shut up, hope that Anthony Davis' back is unlocked and that Dennis Schröder gets a better COVID brain and they dodge Damian Lillard, Carmelo Anthony, Enes Kanter and the rest of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Likewise, Luka Doncic should also shut up about the play-in, and hope that they stay ahead of the Blazers and possibly the LakeShow as well, and also avoid it. (And that he avoids being T-ed up one more time, which he admits.) 
 
(Update, July 11, 2022: They can shut up permanently now, cuz the league is making the play-in permanent.)

Luka should also hope that the Unicorn, Kristaps Porzingis, gets himself healthy for playoff time.

That said, I would tweak one other thing. Even though the lottery odds have been flattened, there's still a lottery. Exclude the two teams from each conference that finish 7-10 but don't make the playoffs from making the lottery. In other words, ONLY the 11-15 teams in each conference get lottery bingo balls. These other four teams will draft 11-14, period.

Oh, shut up Mark Cuban too.
 
===
 
Red Satan had a piece on suggested tweaks, from a roundtable of part of their hoops staff. Two main suggestions, among the several, stood out. One was to cut it to just 8 vs 9 for the last spot. The other was, whether it was cut or not, to make it 2-of-3 instead of single game.
 
Not totally opposed to either, but not bigly favorable.
 
On the former? I don't think it devalues playoffs that much. (As if NBA and NHL playoffs aren't already devalued anyway.) On the second? Being more of a crapshoot is the whole point; look at MLB's wild card play-in game. Rather, let's make the first round of full playoffs go back to 3-of-5. That would reverse some already existing devaluation.

May 11, 2021

Curt Schilling, meet Brett Favre and vice versa; Urban Meyer, meet Ol Ball Coach Steve Spurrier

Curt Schilling has long been known for his wingnuttery in general and his anti-government rants in particular — except when it comes to milking the teat of the government of Rhode Island until leaving it high and dry.

Of course, it's probably contributed to his exclusion from Cooperstown.

Brett Favre, though not (as far as I know) specifically mentioning Colin Kaepernick, has attacked #TakeAKnee in general and much of the larger Black Lives Matter movement.

It now turns out that Favre also knows how to stiff a state government.

Sadly, ol Brett's already in Canton.



Meanwhile, over at Red Satan, Rex Ryan can laud the work ethic of Tim Tebow, also known for taking a knee, but ignore that Kaepernick also had a work ethic, even while claiming Urban Meyer will be dumb enough never to cut Tebow.

It may be that ol Urban won't get the chance; if the Jags' management gets smart enough to undo its stupid hiring decision after Urban proves himself to be at least as big an NFL coaching disaster as Ol' Ball Coach Steve Spurrier ...

Coronavirus week 57, part 2: Lagging recovery, vaccine hesitancy, Indian concern

I decided to break the rest of my weekly update away from the longer news about Swanson Tucker Carlson and Gretchen Whitmer so it wouldn't be buried.

Now that we've got that, and warnings to readers not to go duopoly tribalist, out of the way from that post, here's the rest of the week's coronavirus news roundup.

First, Olivia Messer, formerly of Daily Beast, reports on journalism stresses on covering COVID. We give her a ding, assuming she writes her own headlines, for using "okay" instead of "OK."

Second, Texas lags the nation, at least in big cities, in coronavirus recovery in terms of things like unemployment. And, especially in Helltown, there's the additional tie of rebounding oil prices having a mostly jobless recovery in the oil patch. Friend Chris Tomlinson says the Saudis will turn the spigots back on if oil pushes much higher, and agrees that between this and lack of debt financing, automation of oilfield jobs looks more and more appealing to drillers big enough they can get a head start on that. 

More on the crappy recovery, in the Metromess, at the Dallas Observer.

Third, in case you haven't noticed, the ongoing effects of the pandemic continue to disrupt supply chains. Click the link to see everything affected. (Actually, it's not all COVID; in the case of chlorine, it's last year's monstrous Hurricane Laura.)

Fourth, as Texas shows, in more and more of Merika, vaccine availability ain't the issue. Vaccine hesitancy is.

Fifth, Texas Monthly has a bio piece on living with long COVID.

Sixth, WHO says the new Indian triple mutant variant is of global concern.

Coronavirus, week 57: The antivaxxer slime called Tucker Carlson; the social distancing hypocrite called Whitmer

• Swanson Tucker Carlson, good socialist friend of Brazilian 0.1 percenter Glenn Greenwald, is good at "just asking (RHETORICAL) questions." (Glennwald ain't so bad at it himself.

On vaccinations, he's trying to get people killed. I know most of the debunking of him without even reading the debunking at the WaPost link. VAERS is indeed a self-reporting system. Can't be verified. Adverse effects can mean anything. (In addition, Twitter had trending yesterday that Carlson himself is reportedly vaccinated. If true, that makes him a Pander Bear for ratings, not an antivaxxer. Not sure which is ethically worse.)

On post-vaccination deaths? Correlation ain't necessarily causation.

And, per Aaron Blake, given that COVID has shown itself, by raw death numbers, to be 10X as deadly as the seasonal flu, comparing COVID and flu deaths ain't even apples and oranges; it's apples and bocce balls.

• Yessiree, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has joined other #BlueMAGA Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Austin Mayor Steve Adler as among coronavirus hypocrites.

This one is really fun. She visited her reportedly deathly ill dad

  • While not being vaccinated;
  • By getting Michigan big bucks businesscritters to line up a charter jet instead of going through charter rental systems;
  • And since then, won't say whether her office or personal account reimbursed them;
  • But spent twice as long in Flor-i-duh as first admitted;
  • Yet later told Michiganders not to visit Florida;
  • And saw her dad make a miracle recovery from his "chronic illness."

Oh, Deadline Detroit does NOT appear to be one of those wingnut fake newspaper/news sites. In fact, its founders have some serious journalism chops. So, shut up, BlueMAGA.

Update, May 24: Whitmer has now been busted maskless without her state-mandated social distancing at a bar and grill and of course BlueMAGA is defending her. Undercutting them? She has apologized.

May 10, 2021

Leftists myths about corporate personhood

Per a Green Party push-email, it's time to dispel some myths about corporate personhood.

The GP noted today was the anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1886 ruling in what has been celebrated by Frank Norris' "Octopus" and other things, Santa Clara vs Southern Pacific.

Several notes.

First and foremost, the extension of some degree of "corporate personhood" to corporations is exactly that  — some degree. Since then, especially from the 1960s on, in things like advertising, for example, the court has ruled that regulatory restrictions can indeed be placed on corporations that, with individuals, would be clear violations of the First Amendment.

Second, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment was only specifically referenced by a court reporter for the case. In other words, it was not cited by any justice. Hence, my "some degree" above.

Third, the Gilded Age was well established by 1886. Santa Clara may have abetted it to some degree, but no more than that.

Fourth, the undercutting of McCain-Feingold was NOT done on corporate personhood grounds. In Citizens United, the majority rather, and QUITE wrongly (and shut up Glenn Greenwald and many others) ruled that "money = speech," to put it bluntly.

Fifth and finally, per the second link above, there's many good things about corporate personhood:

Treating corporations as having legal rights allows corporations to sue and to be sued, provides a single entity for easier taxation and regulation, simplifies complex transactions that would otherwise involve, in the case of large corporations, thousands of people, and protects the individual rights of the shareholders as well as the right of association.

In addition, corporations can be criminally charged. 

Related? The Supreme Court has also specifically denied some aspects of personhood apply to corporations:

Generally, corporations are not able to claim constitutional protections that would not otherwise be available to persons acting as a group. For example, the Supreme Court has not recognized a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination for a corporation, since the right can be exercised only on an individual basis. In United States v. Sourapas and Crest Beverage Company, "[a]ppellants [suggested] the use of the word 'taxpayer' several times in the regulations requires the fifth-amendment self-incrimination warning be given to a corporation." The Court did not agree. Likewise, corporations and organizations do not have privacy rights under the Privacy Act of 1974, since the statute refers to any “individual,” which it defines as “a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.”

But, classes of leftists wanting to perpetuate easy legends don't really care.

Status Quo Joe still missing promises on Ill Eagles

President Biden still hadn't abandoned Article 42, and other recent actions of his in re Ill Eagles are head fakes, gaslighting or whatever other term you prefer.

The latest? Hiring immigration judges primarily originally hired by Team Trump. Some have zero immigration court experience.

Earlier, it was picking Ed Gonzalez to run ICE, who might hate Trump's immigration policies, but hated even more letting people out of his jail on reasonable bail.

Let's not forget the first 75 percent of Obama's tenure as president on this issue.

Let's not forget that Central American countries have become even more tumbled up since then.

All of this means that Biden isn't likely to soften up too much any time soon.

Besides, here in Texas and across La Frontera, a number of Mexican-Americans within the "Hispanic" world showed last year they want more toughness. That means, as a politician, Biden is trapped between that, and some Hispanic and non-Hispanic activists thinking he should loosen up.

May 09, 2021

Quo vadis Albert Pujols part two: The Rays?

With word out that the Angels will designate for assignment Albert Pujols, aka Phat Albert, aka The Machine, as I blogged at the time, likely leading to his unconditional release, what's next?

First, it WILL be his unconditional release. It's very, very unlikely that some AL team (and it will be an AL team, duh!) blows $20 million to sign him off waivers because they're afraid some other team will do the same.

That said, it's possible that he clears waivers AND some team then picks him up for the MLB minimum. But ... where might that be, especially if we take seriously his statement that he wants serious playing time, and also that he'd like to be on a contender?

The BoSox are fine at DH with J.D. Martinez, although they have a dog's breath at first with Bobby Dalbec listed as tops of the depth chart. The Yankees are loaded at DH with Giancarlo Stanton and OK at first with DJ LeMahieu there and Luke Voit about to return. The Jays are solid at both with Vlad Guerrero Jr. and George Springer. On paper, the stRangers and Astros could both use some degree of help, but I don't see either one shelling out money, certainly not the Arlingtonites.

It WOULD be weird to see him wearing RedSox togs or Rangers ones, per World Series history. Would be weird in a Stros uni, too, of course. 

And, again, it's only going to be the AL. He's not playing in the NL, where, except for interleague, he has to play first on a regular basis. Now, that said, I guess AL teams who really think he might have gas in the tank could get in a bidding war about the MLB minimum for his services. He HAS had a long reputation of starting slow, and a week ago, was around .240 on batting and over .700 on OPS.

Returning to St. Louis would be nice and sentimental, and I know Cards fans are saying, "YES" in many cases. But, he's not going ahead of Paul Goldschmidt, not when they also have Matt Carpenter as a backup 1B. So, he'd be riding as much or more pine than in Anaheim. (I'd be fine with him doing the one-day contract and retirement scenario.)

So, my guess is? He clears waivers, and Boston approaches him first, if  anybody does. 

Or maybe not.

The only reasonable place for him? AL, contender, and need? More reasonable than Boston, and where the "veteran leader" might also play?

The Rays. Austin Meadows and Yoshi Tsutsugo are both bad at DH. To be honest, Meadows is a bit better than Pujols, but he's listed as outfielder first. Tsutsugo is horrible. Horrible. Almost 140 points below the "Kozma line" named after Pete Kozma

Add in the "veteran leader" angle for a young team, and this is a possibility. (I know the Rays paid more than a Rays normal for Tsutsugo as a Japanese import. And? If he can't cut the mustard, or wasabi, you sit him down!)

Not saying it's likely. Am saying it is a possibility, even a reasonable one.

After all, old manager Tony La Russa said "no room at the inn" on Chicago's South Side. Like the ChiSox and like teams up top, the A's are also arguably loaded at DH and solid at 1B. The Mariners are weak AT FIRST. But not at DH. And, again, you'd have to be really desperate to sign him to be a primary infielder. And, they're no more weak there than the Rays are at DH.

Update:

Contra this guy, NO the Rockies are not a landing spot. Again, Pujols, even if he warmed up a modest amount, does NOT have the bat to offset his limitations at 1B on a regular basis. The Royals aren't as bad off at DH as the Rays, or as bad off as he claims. Cleveland? See Colorado.

Beyond that? Colorado's already out of it. Seriously. That loaded of a division? The Royals aren't that bad off, but they're not good. Cleveland would be, if Albert wants to play with a winner, the best of those three. I could halfway buy it as an option while still thinking Tampa's a better bet for both him and a team.

Yay-sayers of him going to a place like Cleveland, or even an NL team, may point that for 2018-21, he played more at 1B than DH. That still doesn't mean it was good. It's just that they had godawful options after trading C.J. Cron after 2017, at least bad options for 2018-19. Walsh was there, and the better option, last year, and Ohtani was of equal value at DH by OPS+.

And, to square a circle, although just placed on the IR, Cron is the Rockies' starting 1B.

Again, a GM is likely looking for a long-term boost. Certainly, Albert is. He's not looking to take the place of a Cron for 2-3 weeks and then move on again. I swear, on some baseball bloggers.
 
St. Pete 9 says in response to me on Twitter that Ji-Man Choi, coming off rehab, is "the answer." Well, Fansided has him at 1B. So, is Yandy Diaz going to then DH?

Update 2: Weirder yet? First, Albert is going to the NL's Dodgers. They have also picked up Yoshi Tsutsugo.

Quo vadis Albert Pujols: The Angels view, the Red Sox angle, the Cardinals fan view, and ONE outside possibility

With word out that the Angels will designate for assignment Albert Pujols, aka Phat Albert, aka The Machine, as I blogged at the time, likely leading to his unconditional release, what's next?

First, it WILL be his unconditional release. For anybody to seriously pick him up off waivers, it would have to be an AL team flush with money, if they can't get the Haloes to eat most the contract, and to be thin at DH, at a minimum, and maybe there and 1B both. Not happening. The BoSox are fine at DH with J.D. Martinez, although they have a dog's breath at first with Bobby Dalbec listed as tops of the depth chart. The Yankees are loaded at DH with Giancarlo Stanton and OK at first with DJ LeMahieu there and Luke Voit about to return. The Jays are solid at both with Vlad Guerrero Jr. and George Springer. On paper, the stRangers and Astros could both use some degree of help, but I don't see either one shelling out money, certainly not the Arlingtonites.

Yeah, it's possible that he clears waivers AND some team then picks him up for the MLB minimum. But ... is he going to go there, when he'll likely play no more than he would have for the Angels? 

Pujols says he still wants to play. The Angels essentially honored his desire after it being clear there's no room in the inn in Anaheim.

As for the Angels cutting him? It boiled down to whether they're better with Taylor Ward in RF and Jared Walsh at 1B rather than Walsh playing halfway out of position in right and Pujols at first. And, the answer is likely the former, and Pujols doesn't want to ride pine, with Shohei Ohtani ahead of him at DH, too, he would ride plenty. Neither did A-Rod at his end.

Per the top dogs in the AL, if he clears waivers?

It WOULD be weird to see him wearing RedSox togs or Rangers ones, per World Series history. Would be weird in a Stros uni, too, of course. 

And, it's only going to be the AL. He's not playing in the NL, where, except for interleague, he has to play first on a regular basis. Now, that said, I guess AL teams who really think he might have gas in the tank could get in a bidding war about the MLB minimum for his services. He HAS had a long reputation of starting slow, and a week ago, was around .240 on batting and over .700 on OPS.

Returning to St. Louis would be nice and sentimental, and I know Cards fans are saying, "YES" in many cases. But, he's not going ahead of Paul Goldschmidt, not when they also have Matt Carpenter as a backup 1B. So, he'd be riding as much or more pine than in Anaheim. (I'd be fine with him doing the one-day contract and retirement scenario.)

So, my guess is? He clears waivers, and Boston approaches him first, if  anybody does.

(I originally had just "Sox" in the header, but after old manager Tony La Russa said "no room at the inn" on Chicago's South Side, I thought I'd better be more specific. I don't doubt the Pony is right on Albert's desire to play; I do doubt that there's as much in the Machine's gas tank as Pujols claims or that La Russa thinks he's correct in claiming.)

Let us scratch some other ideas. Yes, Phat Albert would be better than Miguel Cabrera, but he's NOT going to Detroit, contra a poster on my original piece. I mean, Detroit is just hoping not to be relegated to AAA level. (Oh, sorry, this isn't the English Premier League.)

Contra this Fansided nuttery (Isn't all of it at Fansided?) which claims Miggy is up there with Pujols and Trout as the three best players of the last 30 years (Albert's WAA is as high as Cabrera's WAR), he's also NOT going to the Reds. Joey Votto will be back in a month and it's an NL team. Also, showing the typical Fansided posting of clickbait, he's not going to the Chisox as La Russa already said so.

The only reasonable place for him? AL, contender, and need? More reasonable than Boston, and where the "veteran leader" might also play?

The Rays. Austin Meadows and Yoshi Tsutsugo are both horrible at DH. Horrible.

Doubling down on his previous Fansided stupidity, Sean Millerick NOW thinks that Albert could sit out the rest of this year, get "recharged," be signed by some team next year AND hit 700 HRs. That's something he's not done in a single season since 2016. He otherwise repeats the stupidity of his previous post, and thereby reinforces stereotypes that baseball-knowledgeable people have about Fansided.

Contra this guy, NO the Rockies are not a landing spot. Again, Pujols, even if he warmed up a modest amount, does NOT have the bat to offset his limitations at 1B on a regular basis. The Royals aren't as bad off at DH as the Rays, or as bad off as he claims. Cleveland? See Colorado.

Beyond that? Colorado's already out of it. Seriously. That loaded of a division? The Royals aren't that bad off, but they're not good. Cleveland would be, if Albert wants to play with a winner, the best of those three. I could halfway buy it as an option while still thinking Tampa's a better bet for both him and a team.

Yay-sayers of him going to a place like Cleveland, or even an NL team, may point that for 2018-21, he played more at 1B than DH. That still doesn't mean it was good. It's just that they had godawful options after trading C.J. Cron after 2017, at least bad options for 2018-19. Walsh was there, and the better option, last year, and Ohtani was of equal value at DH by OPS+.