Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:00 a.m. in "The City."




Yes my loyal readers, I have been taking a few days off. Once my baseball season ended, I just couldn't pay attention to what remained of the 2019 season. However, this being the time of year for speculation about what was and what might have been, I thought I'd toss in a few observations.

As anyone who has been following my daily blog might know, the Cubs and former field manager, Joe Maddon, parted ways last Sunday. So, I thought it appropriate to add fuel to the fire, so to speak.

The Cubs' brass are currently looking into managerial candidates within their own family, including David Ross, who played for the Cubs in 2016 when the team won they World Series™. While Ross has no managing experience, he was always a leader in the Cubs' clubhouse and a mentor to 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo. Many other scenarios are in play for trades, signings and plans for the 2020 season. The Cubs traded away many of their prospects in the vain hope that there was another World Series™ on the horizon. Alas, now those trades look short-sighted. We shall see. There is an outside chance that former Cubs player and former Yankees field manager, Joe Girardi are in the equation too.

As for the Tigers, field manager Ron Gardenhire will be back, as will the majority of his coaching staff. Some coaches will have new duties and the Tigers need to find a veteran hitter beyond Miguel Cabrera to bolster a lineup that is filled with young players. The Tigers traded Nick Castellanos to the Cubs this year, so a fading Cabrera is the only hitter with the perquisite major-league experience.

The Red Sox are in need of a front-office leader and plan to look outside the organization to fill that role. Plus, there are questions swirling around whether slugger J.D. Martinez will opt out of his five-year contract or whether Mookie Betts will be traded before he tests free-agency next season. Can Andrew Benintendi rebound? Can Rafael Devers improve? Will pitchers Chris Sale and David Price be healthy in 2020? Stay tuned.

As for the WhiteCaps, they are just an A level team, so their fortunes are dependent on the AA and AAA level teams as well as the needs of the Tigers.

The current temperature is 52° under rainy-skies, as we drop to the overnight low of 51°. The sun will rise today @ 7:44 a.m. and set later @ 7:23 p.m. The NWS is forecasting rain and windy conditions for this morning.

That's why there is a Small Craft  Advisory in effect from 12:00 p.m. today until 8:00 a.m. Friday. No other watches, warnings, nor advisories are in the forecast.

I am nearly done with my fall projects. It takes time for paint to dry, so patience is required. I am hopeful that the rollout will be later today or Friday.

We had a good day yesterday. After I finished in the man-cave and after I made some vegan brats,  we did some grocery shopping and then stopped at Sherwin-Williams for some wallpaper books. We are looking at a change to one wall in the flower room to serve as a backdrop to our newly acquired globe.

A stop at our favorite watering hole, the"World Famous Tip a Few Tavern" for dinner, seemed in order. It was great to stop in and find that many seats are now available in the "off-season."

Since I was downstairs earlier this morning after waking up in my media-room recliner around 1:45 a.m., I made some Coleslaw and washed some of the dishes from yesterday's activities. I have to make some vegan Italian meatballs later today, plus I have more work in the man-cave and more crossword solving to go with those aforementioned kitchen activities. Ciao.