Chris: You’re back!?!

Bb: M-Ro is in da house!

Meg Rowley: Friends, I am indeed returned.

Meg Rowley: I appreciate your patience with my absence, but I should be able to be back in the mostly regular swing of things from now on.

Drew: Was the “flood” of coming non-tenders perhaps overestimated? Many of the bigger question marks such as Pham, Gray and Sanchez all seem on their way to tenders, and with the exception of Rosario so far no big profile name has surprised me much

Meg Rowley: I don’t think we can really gauge it yet. Outside of Rosario, you’re right that no big names have revealed themselves yet, but given the general uptick in non-tenders over the last few pandemic free years, I don’t imagine cost conscious teams are going to be suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of payroll generosity.

Dan Szymborski: Hello peoples!

Dbo: Happy Thanksgiving! Make sure to tell your family that lasagna is in fact a casserole

Dan Szymborski: I haven’t given much thought

Dbo: Dan, what do you put the Cubs odds of getting Theo Epstein at?

Dan Szymborski: Low considering he just left!

Pedro: If you were Preller, how would you go about replacing Clevinger?

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks, and welcome to my hastily-assembled chat. With my wife on a conference call and the outdoor weather tolerable, I went out to lunch and sat down for tacos and tostadas, then realized at 1:55 PM that hey, it’s that time of the week. Anyway…

Jay Jaffe: I launched my Hall of Fame series on Monday to coincide with the BBWAA’s ballot release https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-big-questions-about-the-2021-bbwaa-hal… and posted my updated Scott Rolen profile today https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jaws-and-the-2021-hall-of-fame-ballot-scot…

Jay Jaffe: and there was also this, which, if you were among those who chimed in with kind words, thanks!  

Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: Is there a historical comp for the dumpster fire that is the La Russa hiring?

Jay Jaffe: Two come to mind. In November 2004 the Diamondbacks hired Wally Backman to manage before discovering that he had been arrested twice, once for a domestic incident with his wife, and once for a DUI; additionally, he had filed for bankruptcy. https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=1916771

Jay Jaffe: And then, of course, last fall the Mets hired Carlos Beltrán, but parted ways with him in January, before he could set foot in the dugout due to his central role in the Astros’ illegal sign-stealing scheme https://blogs.fangraphs.com/out-before-reaching-home-carlos-beltran-ex…

Jay Jaffe: Good afternoon, folks, and welcome to the first edition of my weekly chat since the end of the regular season! While the queue fills, I’ve got a bit of housekeeping….

Jay Jaffe: Here’s today’s dispatch, on the status of the universal DH and how a number of aging hitters are caught in limbo http://blogs.fangraphs.com/checking-in-on-the-status-of-the-universal-…

Jay Jaffe: Here’s yesterday’s piece on the Indians’ plans to trade Francisco Lindor and how they’re complicated by the presence of so many other alternatives on this year’s market and next http://blogs.fangraphs.com/francisco-lindor-and-the-crowd-of-available…

Jay Jaffe: And, since he’s giving his re-introductory press conference right now, here’s last Friday’s piece on the Red Sox’s rehiring of Alex Cora http://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-inevitable-return-of-alex-cora-to-bosto…

Jay Jaffe: OK. As we tell our 4-year-old daughter, the question store is open….

Marko from Tropoja: If you had to put money on it, please rank Bellinger, Buehler and Seager in terms of HOF likelihood.