The Donovan trade

New Seattle Mariner Brendan Donovan

As the long offseason winds down and spring training fast approaches, Your Seattle Mariners have finally made a personnel move, trading for infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan.

I'm of two minds about this trade. First, yay, I like Brendan Donovan. He's an outstanding defensive second baseman with a great eye at the plate and offers the sort of batting profile I want to see: solid on-base skills, not especially streaky over his career (though last year there were some good and bad months), not power-focused. He's not fast, he won't steal many bags, but he should be a solid presence in a lineup that needs it. Donovan is a good get, solid target for a trade.

Second, boo, I'm not happy with with who got traded away and how that affects the depth chart. The M's sent third baseman Ben Williamson to the Tampa Bay Rays in the convoluted three-team deal, which isn't great on two fronts: Firstly, Williamson is one of the best defensive third basemen I've ever seen play, and as I place more value on defense than does the baseball world generally I'd have been far more interested in keeping him and trading one of the other high-level prospects instead; and secondly, losing Williamson means there is no incumbent third baseman, thus Donovan will likely be asked to play there instead of at his customary second base position. You may recall the M's tried this sort of thing last year with Jorge Polanco, who did not last long at third base. Donovan is a good defender wherever he plays—he owns a Gold Gove as a utility player from 2022—but he is best at the keystone. The Mariners must feel like rookie second-sacker Cole Young is actually as good as his minor-league hype even though in a brief stay with the big club last year he was quite overmatched in his way-too-early promotion; I was also unimpressed with his defense.

The Mariners also gave up prospects Tai Peete and Jurrangelo Cijntje; aside from having a great name, Peete, as an outfielder, didn't hold a lot of value for the M's, so I don't mind that, but it's sad to give up Cijntje just because of the novelty—he's that rare breed known as a switch-pitcher, who can throw 90+ with either arm with an impressive degree of accuracy. Overall, of the three teams in the trade—Mariners, Rays, and St. Louis Cardinals—the M's may have done the worst. The Rays get an elite defensive third baseman who has shown hitting chops at the Triple-A level if not the bigs and all they gave up was a low-level OF prospect and a low competitive balance draft pick; while St. Louis gets those two prospects, another minor-league outfielder from the Rays, and two competitive balance draft selections in exchange for Donovan in a classic stock-the-farm rebuilding move.

Even if Williamson didn't hit much, the team could probably carry him in the lineup as a great-glove-weak-bat type. Young, not so much. He's going to have to hit or stay in the minors. The M's do have Ryan Bliss as a 2B option, he was the opening day starter last season before going down with injury and missing most of the year. So they might be OK. But I'd still have much rather seen Young go in the trade instead of Williamson, which would have given the M's an infield of Josh Naylor, Brendan Donovan, J.P. Crawford, and Ben Williamson first-to-third, a defensive quartet to rival that of the 1999 Mets in excellence. Naylor-Young-Crawford-Donovan is good, but not elite. Plus, there is no depth at the third base position now, none of the upper prospects on the farm have much experience at the position, whereas there are several decent second basemen.

So... short-term, this helps the Mariners' lineup (but not the defense), therefore, good trade, though it seems like it could easily have been better. Longer term, well, Donovan is a free agent after the ’27 season, by which time we'll have a better idea if Young can live up to his first-round-draftee status and how much we miss (or don't) Williamson. 

Tagged Baseball, Seattle Mariners, Posted on February 4, 2026 at 7:03PM   |   Permalink   |     |  

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The quisling caucus

Who has two thumbs and likes to piss on the Constitution? This guy.

Good day, and welcome to my rant.

 

We all know that Felon47, the alleged human occupying the office of President of the United States right now, is contemptuous of the Constitution, the rule of law, the concept of truth, and basic decency. That's made clear on a daily basis, and it's equally clear that he is beyond redemption, implacably corrupt and heinous. Less understood is the nature of his enablers, the Republican caucus of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Felon47 needs these enablers. They are the only reason he remains in power—if even a handful of Congressional Republicans respected their oaths of office, both Felon47 and Reichsleiter Vance would have been removed from power long before now. He retains his office at their collective will. So why do they kowtow to him when they have the real power?

Sure, brand loyalty accounts for some of it, but that only goes so far when the guy heading the brand is a corrupt totalitarian thug. Stupidity? No doubt there are plenty that fit this bill, some mind-bogglingly so. Cowardice? This is a big one, I suspect, given how much Felon47 has always valued blackmail as a tool, how rabid the MAGA base of voters can be, and how craven a lot of these people are when it comes to proximity to power.

Then there's the third category: the True Believers.

The Republican party has operated a long con on the American public. After the disgrace of Watergate and the outrage at the lack of accountability demanded of Richard Nixon, you'd think the GOP was headed for a fallow period of disfavor. But no, the party and their Hollywood-made figurehead exploited opportunities created by (a) lingering effects of their own economic policies from the Nixon/Ford years and (b) an Iranian regime willing to cut deals with the opponent of the sitting president to kick off a decades-long campaign to both inflame the bigotries and resentments of conservatives and fool a huge chunk of the electorate into voting against their own interests.

As cons go, it's been remarkably successful, as even Democratic administrations have supported reforms tailored to please conservatives (the Clinton welfare reforms, the "Defense of Marriage Act," tepid tax initiatives, even the Affordable Care Act was based on a Republican model) rather than lead Americans into a more progressive style of politics—which was largely pragmatic, acknowledging the limitations of what one could do when the electorate had been so expertly manipulated since 1980 (and before, really, going back to the Nixon "southern strategy"). The GOP Congressional majority of today is largely a product of the long con. Candidates who got the gigs by continuing, exploiting, and supercharging the tactics of the con started by Lee Atwater and Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich and Ed Rollins. Lauren Boebert and Clay Higgins don't get elected without that foundation.

A lot of them don't. Looking over the roster of House Republicans, I see more than 20 names—including that of the Speaker—that are true believers in the cause of shredding the Constitution in favor of totalitarianism. I see half a dozen that are known to be corrupt. I see one that has a modicum of integrity.

One (Massey).

Granted, there are a lot of names on that list that I have no specific familiarity with, so there may in fact be more than one House Republican with a modicum of integrity, but that modicum apparently isn't enough to sway them away from being collaborators in the overthrow of our Constitutional Republic.

This all is on my mind today because I heard Speaker Mike Johnson talking about due process and how inconvenient it is and how we shouldn't have it. Talking to reporters about the House debates on measures proposed by Democrats regarding DHS/CBP/ICE, the actual, real-life SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES said this:

[Democrats] want to have a judicial warrant on top of the immigration warrant. We can't do that. ... Imagine if we had to go through the process of getting a judicial warrant to go and apprehend people who we know are here illegally. How much time would that take? ... It would take decades, probably, to do that.

Not content with that, Johnson went on to claim that Democrats don't want there to be any immigration law at all (got to get those incendiary lies in) and then this:

We've got to apply reason, we do have to apply the Constitution, we have to respect it, and those parameters need to be determined. But we are never going to go along with ... judicial warrants. It cannot be done and it should not be done.

So: Fuck due process, it's a nuisance. It can't and shouldn't be done.

Here's the thing, though: it can and has been done. For many, many years. The Obama administration deported an average of 340,000 undocumented migrants per year. The Biden administration deported 150,000. None were done without due process.

Further, Speaker Johnson, you don't have a choice in the matter. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution says so. It lays out parameters that in no way need to be determined because they're right there, in place for 250 years.

Johnson is claiming that administrative warrants issued by agencies that have demonstrated themselves to be wholly lawless and ethically bankrupt are somehow just as good as a court order (they may as well be signed "Epstein's mother"). He's making the case that it has to be that way because otherwise it's just too hard. And we'll never go along with it.

Just to drive the point home: The Speaker of the House said, on television, recorded for all to see and hear, that he and by extension his caucus in the House of Representatives, will never go along with what's in the United States Constitution.

That alone should be grounds for expulsion from Congress, and that's just on this one issue; there are countless others that Johnson and his caucus of quislings betray their oaths on. The First Amendment in particular has been treated like so much toilet paper by this Republican party. The emoluments clause is violated routinely. Article IV (section 4) even guarantees protection against "domestic violence," meaning violence perpetrated by domestic forces, something now happening every day in Minnesota and elsewhere. In a reality where the public is aware and engaged, anyone behaving like Johnson and his caucus do would face extreme pressure to resign and the ethics committee would be under extreme pressure to expel them.

Article III Section 3 defines treason as "levying War against [the United States], or in adhering to [the nation's] Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." Eventually, this president will be recognized by authorities as an enemy of the United States, possibly as having levied war against it depending on how we're defining terms, and Mike Johnson along with each and every Republican in Congress that supports him will be properly labeled as treasonous.

Tagged Politics, Republicans, Posted on February 3, 2026 at 11:11PM   |   Permalink   |     |  

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Umpire diary

Tonight was my first shift back on the field after Monday's very weird experience with bad management from the league. You know me, I was mildly obsessing about that encounter all week and was curious to confer with a fellow ump about it, so before taking over from the guy who had the early games today I mentioned it to gauge his reaction to being policed; we agreed it was weird, negative, and had to be based in some context we are not aware of.

The more I process it the more I think this is two people from the office not talking to each other very well resulting in either correctly-understood bad and counterproductive instruction or misunderstood intentions being relayed in an unintentionally misleading way. Knowing the personalities involved it could really be either one.

I have been and still am considering writing something to the office with detail that expresses just how petty and disrespectful this instruction turned out to be for both us the officials and for the messenger, but I'm also reluctant because even though I can see how such feedback would be useful and help to repair the alienation they've managed to create with staff, and how a couple of others would also see it, I don't think the person who really needs to hear it would accept it in the manner intended. I may try to bring it up with someone in particular next weekend at an event, we'll see. But I don't think I'll put it in writing as it might make things worse for the messenger, who is already being treated poorly. At least, it seems that way. Again, context would help, as this remains a big fat WTF? mystery.

Onward. My games tonight were rather unremarkable save for three calls that I may or may not have gotten wrong. Two I did not see, one was just super-close (tag play at third base). The ones I didn't see are just the way of things when there's only one ump and lots of possible plays on the diamond; I get set in position for what I think is the most likely play to be made and then the team goes and tries for a different play and I'm suddenly at a terrible angle to see it. The questionable calls went one against each side and I got some pushback on just one, from the losing team (the other team cut me slack for only having one set of eyes), who insisted that a runner not be allowed to score because she missed third base; I did not see her round the bag as I was watching other runners, but her team insisted she did tag it and really one run wasn't going to make a difference here. But the defensive player insisted that she couldn't have touched the bag because he'd been standing right on it.

"You sure you want to go with that argument?" I asked. He looked blankly, so I elaborated. "In that circumstance she'd be awarded home because you obstructed the basepath by standing on the base without possession of the ball." He threw up his hands and retreated to his dugout, unsatisfied. Oh, well.

It wasn't anything that festered beyond the moment and we moved on and all was well. A few of the players were also present for the game on Monday that had The Incident, and one of them made sure to greet me and say, "hey, I'm glad you didn't quit after whatever that was Monday."

Though the league may or may not respect and value me, the players do. For now, that's enough. I'll take it.

No BINGO again tonight.

 

Tagged Umping, Softball, Posted on February 1, 2026 at 10:53PM   |   Permalink   |     |  

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When is a lie not a lie?

Felon47 was doing one of his fun little press gaggles in his temporary office the other day, responding to a question about "crime" by talking about the illegal DHS/ICE/CBP terrorism he's perpetrating in Minnesota (only he didn't characterize it that way, because that would be factual and he don't do factual). Of Minneapolis, he said:

We have crime down there [meaning: the rate of crime is down] because we took out thousands of people despite all the mess and everything else. But do these people really want to have rapists and they really want to have drug dealers and people from prisons and murderers, do they really want to have them in the community? It's really insurrectionists and agitators, and they're paid. And you can tell, a lot of reasons, one, they're professionals, you know, with their mouth, but they're also—you look at the signs, the signs are all professionally made. They have signs that are gorgeous, in fact, I want to get the sign—I need a lot of signs for different things and I want to find out whoever does their signs, they do a beautiful job. You know, everybody has this beautiful sign, you know, with brand-new wood. It's like, uh, leather panels, leather handle on the bot—these are not people that—these are people that are handed signs and we know, pretty much, we're getting very close to it, but we know pretty much who's funding this stuff. These are paid insurrectionists, paid troublemakers.

So much what-the-actual-frak with this quote. So, so much. Let's parse it.

• The crime in Minneapolis is down because we took out thousands of people. Crime in general is down compared to last year in Minneapolis, but it remains one of the higher crime cities in the nation, with it placing 15th among American cities in violent crime for the most recent year with comprehensive statistics available (2024), in a tier with Houston, TX; Albuquerque, NM; and Springfield, MO. Since the operation in which Felon47 cites that "took out thousands of people," we have no official data; but since there are thousands of DHS, CBP, and ICE personnel committing crimes there every day as part of that operation it's reasonably safe to assume crime is actually spiking high, primarily because of DHS activity. So that's a lie. But: for Felon47, crime is only crime when it's committed by people he doesn't like. When his people commit crimes it doesn't count. So is it still a lie, or just evidence of the guy being completely deranged?
• Despite the mess and everything else. What a way to term the criminality, the vandalism, the kidnappings, the murders perpetrated by DHS personnel. As if it was all trivial, like it was nothing more than a fender bender, or some graffiti tags. Perhaps technically not a lie, instead a manipulatively dishonest characterization, but dishonest for sure. Of course, in Felon47’s tiny and increasingly demented mind, the "mess" refers to the good citizens of Minnesota standing up for their rights and the rule of law in the face of his brutal thugs. Lie or derangement?
• Do these people really want rapists, drug dealers, murderers in their community? No, you asshat, that's why they're protesting to get your thugs the fuck away from them. The Felon47 administration is almost exclusively staffed by rapists, drug dealers, murderers, and people that belong in prisons, most especially Felon47 himself, who is all of those things. The drug-dealing is by proxy (Ronny Jackson, pardons of numerous drug traffickers), the murder is by order (Venezuelan boat strikes and collateral damage to Maduro kidnapping, in addition to many deaths at the hands of his DHS/CBP/ICE, not to mention deaths via RFK Jr's HHS and the millions of preventable COVID deaths in his first term), the rapes were firsthand—one adjudicated in court the rest alleged with significant evidence, much of which is being covered up by the former Department of Justice. The implication that the people his thugs are "taking out" are such criminals definitely counts as a lie, but since he and all of his associates are, in fact, those types of criminals, what is he really asking?
• It's really insurrectionists and agitators. There are insurrectionists and agitators involved in the events Minnesota has been suffering, but they are all in the employ of Felon47 and the federal government. He means to call the protestors and opponents of his thuggery those things, so that's a lie. The protestors are actually the opposite of insurrectionists, fighting for the rights enshrined in the United States Constitution. But in his broken little pea-brain, he seems to really believe—or wants to convince himself—the he is himself the embodiment of the nation, and thus if you oppose him you're committing insurrection because he and the country are one and the same. Lie or deranged?
• And they're paid. Now, we all know that protesting this fascist regime is all done for free. It's a 100% volunteer effort. There are organizations that raise money to coordinate and plan stuff like the No Kings rallies (next one in March, I think?), but it's not a profit motive for anyone and no one gets money for being on the street telling ICE/CBP/DHS to fuck off. So, lie. Except: In the broken mind of Felon47, there is no ability to conceive of other people acting out of motives he himself would not act out of. He and his operation pays people to show up at his rallies, therefore his opposition must also pay people to show up. Lie or derangement?
• The signs are all professionally made. This is just cluelessness, in my opinion, not a lie or derangement, but it could be either (or both). Technology is such that anyone can take a file made in some basic home computer software to a Kinko's or similar establishment and have it printed up. If you've got a nice printer that can handle large formats, you could even do it from home. In the 1980s, the period in which Felon47’s mind is stuck in, it would have been impossible to make such signs without great expense. Now it's not.
• I want to get the sign—I need a lot of signs for different things. Again, he pays people to attend his rallies. He needs premade signs for those people to hold up on camera. He's admitting to doing what he's accusing the protestors of. This supports the deranged-over-lie option for the "and they're paid" thing.
• Brand-new wood, leather panels/handles on the bottom. How the hell would he know if the wood is new or not, and who cares one way or the other? A new stick of wood like that costs a little over a dollar at Lowe's and is big enough for maybe four signs. Big deal. And leather anything on the signs? That's a lie, but he might be imagining in his dementia that a sign might have a nice leather handle on it because if he ever had to hold a sign himself he'd insist on a nice leather handle. And the stick should be gold. Lie or deranged?
• We know pretty much who's funding this stuff. I can tell you right now who's funding it: all of the individuals out there protesting. Felon47 wants to believe it's all underwritten by George Soros or something, but deep down he knows it's not; his broken, insecure egomaniacal, multiple-disorder personality just won't accept that the vast majority of Americans—and humans all over the world, frankly—readily hate his guts without monetary incentive.

It never occurred to me to wonder before now if some of the real insurrectionists on January 6, 2021 were paid agitators. There may well have been a seed population there, or just as prep, that was paid to rile things up. It would fit, considering all the campaign rallies Felon47 paid people to show up to.

Frankly, I don't know what the purpose of this post is other than to give my outrage a vehicle of expression. The guy holding the title of President of the United States is a fucking liar, a demented fool, and a cruel sociopath with the intellectual capacity of a toddler. Which makes him inconceivably dangerous and the people in power that could stop the madness at any time are refusing to do so and I need to post things as a metaphorical scream into the void to keep from literally screaming in fury every few hours.

Posted on February 1, 2026 at 12:05AM   |   Permalink   |     |  

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