For Whom the Mailbag Tolls: Cat and Dog Fight Edition

It’s the time of the week when people send me questions to answer. They’re usually of the highest quality. This week saw a few glaring exceptions.

And since I have a strict policy to answer every question sent my way, let me apologize in advance for what you’re about to read.

So what joke is Bunt referring to? That would be this one our manager sent from the official account of the blog.

For some reason, the Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead has become a popular meme. Why? I don’t know, but all the young whipper snappers like to use it all the time. But this is the joke to which Bunt Murphy is referring. I’m guessing he uses it because he likes it.

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume it is because he doesn’t get them.

Again, pretty sure he thinks people will get them and again, because he likes the joke.

Do y’all not have anything better to do?

I guess that answers my question.

I’m just going to start answering these questions in GIFs. Here’s a good one.

Hey look, another good GIF.

This GIF is appropriate.

JDog answered his own question, so I’ll let him explain. But stop trying to do my job JDog.

Again, JDog answered this question, but he did so in the form of a question so I’ll let it slide and get back to replying with GIFs.

They were really dedicated to this. Just like I am dedicated to answering in GIFs.

Perhaps because an unhealthy amount of our personal enjoyment comes through goofing off on Twitter? Just a thought. Also, a GIF.

This whole exchange got someone wondering if Ethan and JDog were friends. Yes, they’re the best of Twitter friends.

Now that all of that is over with, or at least I hope it is, it looks like a real question from Ethan. I think the key will be the run game. The Bulldogs have to establish the run early and pound it right at the Tigers. This means a lot more of Shumpert and a lot less of Holloway. Will it happen? I don’t really know.

I found this question odd because I didn’t remember either of us making any real predictions about Hunter Renfroe. I did remember us writing about why Renfroe had yet to receive a call up. So I went back and checked.

Here is what I wrote about Renfroe when I was still at Maroon and White Nation. It was an explanation of why Renfroe was still toiling away in the minors. But I guess you could call what I wrote at the tail end of the piece a “prediction”.

The best hope to see Hunter Renfroe on the field permanently will come next season. Jon Jay signed a two year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals prior to the 2015 season which expires at the end of 2016. Jay is making a little over $6 million this season, and unless he is willing to take a major pay cut, I don’t think the Padres will try to resign him when they have a player many think could be a superstar sitting in the wings.

Now, that was written before the Padres traded Melvin Upton and Matt Kemp. I then made one last statement about when Renfroe might get called up.

If you can’t wait that long, then you might could see Hunter Renfroe playing when September call-ups are made. Whenever it is, I expect Renfroe to make a pretty significant impact on a pretty bad team.

The point of the piece was to explain why Renfroe would still be in the minors. I didn’t foresee the Padres trading Upton and Kemp because both contracts were awful. But once they did trade Upton, Dawg Smack wrote this.

This really didn’t come across as a prediction piece. I thought it was an attempt to explain the logic of the Padres GM. The reason I thought that was because of this statement.

Padres general manager A.J. Preller indicated in comments made Tuesday that Renfroe will likely be called up in September, when the minor league seasons are complete and major league teams are allowed to carry up to 40 players on the active roster.

At the end of the piece, Dawg Smack did what I did, tried to give a timetable for when Renfroe might get called up.

Finally, if indeed Renfroe begins 2017 on the Padres opening day roster, as I believe he will, he has a much better opportunity to make a big splash and become better known by both casual fans and writers alike. For these reasons, I believe a September call up, that leads to a spot on the 2017 opening day roster is the best way for this enormously talented player to break into Major League baseball.

Dawg Smack did a great job of explaining all the reasons why the Padres decided to wait to call up Renfroe despite trading Upton and then later on Kemp. But we both said he’d get called up in September. But Dawg Smack went in more detail when he had more information. It was a very well written piece. Congrats.

But there is a lesson to be learned. Don’t ever take too much satisfaction in getting “predictions” right. Because if you do, you’ll miss just as many, if not more, than you actually get right. Kinda like this one.