JJ to the Packers? I hope not + Counsell with no clue ahead of 2021 season

I would really like to know what you think on all or some of these topics…. go ahead and leave a comment below!

Wisconsin Badgers Basketball: Badgers lose to Iowa…… not a shocker for me…. I was truly shocked that with 5 minutes left that the Badgers were still within 6 in the game but the no offense, no defense, no coaching Badgers did not let us down. It was none other than Vitale that called out the Badgers offense….. no other on-air announcer has done the same this year even though it has been blatantly obvious all season. Gard has made no change, took no action and sent no statement to get this team fire up or motivated.

Green Bay Packers: Stories have come out last week that the Packers should be one of the teams that could sign JJ Watt……. I hope not……. Granted I like JJ Watt, I liked him in the NFL…. I liked him in college but as a Packer, it just would not work out. First JJ is consistently hurt and given how much money he would want vs how much we could give….. just not worth it. Second, JJ would not fit with the Packers ….. should the Packers continue to play the ridiculous 2 defensive line scheme with this new defensive coordinator then Clark will get double teamed along with Watt…… and as before the 2 LB’s will continue to be single teamed by a OL and TE…… leaving any competent QB with little to no pressure to pass at will. This will leave Watt frustrated and angry for even coming to Green Bay. The only way this work in Green Bay for Watt is to switch to the 4-3 (the best option) or play a true 3-4 with 3 TRUE defensive lineman with Watt on one of the ends.

Milwaukee Bucks: What can I say about the Bucks……. I was right? It does not matter how much talent you have on the team….. you need proper coaching….. you need actual plays….. they need a 1 on 1 breakdown player.

Milwaukee Brewers: Another Brewers season is almost of upon us and it is time for another topic…. me ripping on Craig Counsell.

Other Thoughts:

Other Thought #1: Stories have come out this week that Phil Mickelson is talking about his transition to the broadcast booth….. this got me thinking. Why do these networks think that a top caliber player will make a top tier announcer? Back in the day where sports announcers were put through their paces at lower level lower tier games….. Even people like Pat Summerall and John Madden did lower tier games before being named to their top tier status and eventually paired together. Nowadays it seems that we get a player retired and BOOM they are top tier right away….. but what have they shown in broadcasting up to that point? Look at Romo who predicts every outcome before the play then people said he was right or Witten who was a disaster.

Badgers take it on the chin then win one. Packers win despite themselves (2021 Week 3)

I would really like to know what you think on all or some of these topics…. go ahead and leave a comment below!

Wisconsin Badgers Basketball: In the big game of the week, the Badgers failed to show up to a non-hostile environment….. Gard once again showing perplexing decisions in playing Davison over Potter….. Davison was giving it up again on defense and was 1 for 7 in the 1st half on offense…. Davison repeatedly trying to ram the ball inside. Gard is incapable of realizing that you want the BIG people to get the ball inside and the SMALL people should mainly play outside. We lack any kind of inside back outside plan….. it is either 1) Drive it inside and that is where the ball stays or 2) Pass it around the perimeter and take a three…… There is no throw it inside, kick it back outside or pass it to another inside player.

In the other game of the week, the Badgers hang on in the soul sucking arena at Rutgers….. The Badgers offense has really been plagued with no inside game with Reuvers in some kind of funk but I wonder if it is a sign of the bigger problem with the Gard offense of having big players play outside while the small players go inside?

When Potter and Reuvers are off their game then you have to turn to the offensive black hole known as Brad Davison……… 3 for 12 ……….. at what point do you ask yourself if you are Gard is Davison helping or hurting you? You have to ask how bad the Freshman that arrived in Madison have to be to not get more playing time or usurp some of the current players? Or Gard just does not want to try other concepts……… Kind of like MM cutting Taysom Hill who every Packers fan I talked with knew he was better than Brent Hundley but since Hundley was MM pick, there was nothing anybody could have done to override that decision.

Green Bay Packers: So the Packers were able to pull one out against the Rams Saturday night. The offense was moving for the most part besides the two big drops that could have made the score worse. The defense continues to be up and down…… we play this off the ball “bend don’t break” style….. but I have to ask you…. have you seen a Super Bowl winner with the “Bend don’t Break” style? No …. do you see a team win the Super Bowl with a 2 Defensive Line scheme? No……. We had this scheme in 2014 and we know how that ended up. You win by playing though, opportunistic and in your face defense. Nothing draws my ire more is when we blitz with 4, 5 or 6 but then play 10 yards off the ball across the board…… if you have faith in your defense, you should be able to play close on the WR’s because if the blitz gets home the ball will be coming out quick else the QB will have to eat it and take the sack. By playing 10 yards off, you are negating the blitz as the QB will just hit his quick/hot route.

The other possible obstacle could be the special teams….. a bad snap on the extra point from our DRAFTED long snapper…. I’m already on this player because we had to draft a long snapper when you traditionally should not have to…… not necessarily his fault this is more of the organization drafting a punter and long snapper. These are positions you don’t need to draft as you need to just find the 32nd best player in America or even THE WORLD. I can stomach it if it is a 7th round pick and all our other needs are covered.

Milwaukee Bucks: So the Bucks have won a few since the last posting but issues remain on the horizon…. the Bucks are winning on skill along which will work for about 2/3 of the league but you need actual plays to beat the top 1/3 consistently.

Milwaukee Brewers: So the Brewers for whatever reason are bringing back Hader on a 1 year / $6.6 Million….. The Brewers severely overpaid for him. This is a pitcher who pitches only a reputation and not on skill….. he only throws about 30% of his pitches in the strike zone (League Average ~50%)….. It baffles me that more teams don’t just sit there at the plate and let him walk them like the Nationals did a couple years ago in the Wild Card game or the time the Pirates did last year when he walked 5. I know that it is difficult to say “Just sit there” but that is what these hitting coaches should be telling their players until there are two strikes (if you get there)

Getting Woodruff at $3.2 Million is a STEAL for the Brewers and he is more than worth it. Woodruff can pitch and hit so 3.2 is great.

Other Thoughts:

Other Thought #1: Mike McCarthy doing what Mike McCarthy does best…….. evade to cover his own issues. Sure you can say that injuries derailed the season but since his Super Bowl victory, there has always been an excuse. Additionally it seems that when he is coaching that injuries increase to key personal go up (I have no numbers to prove that)

• 2018 – WR Cobb, LB Ryan , WR Adams, CB King
• 2017 – The long snapper….. that is right MM could not keep his LS healthy, OL Barclay, DL Adams, CB Goodson, CB King, QB Rodgers, OL Spriggs
• 2016 – RB Lacy, OL Lindsley, CB Shields, OL Tretter
• 2015 – WR Nelson, DL Boyd, LB Barrington (who was not that good but was MM lap dog along with Jarrett Bush), The long snapper (again), RB/WR Montgomery, TE Quarless
• 2014 – OL Barclay, DL Raji, LB Mulumba, LB Palmer, OL Tretter

This is only the last 5 years of MM reign in Green Bay…. if you look at 2020, the only players that got hurt that were or were going to figure David Bakhtiari who got hurt in practice ahead of the Week 17 matchup.

Mike McCarthy has his built in excuse for this year with the injuries and already has his excuse ahead of next season as he will say “It is the first year of my new defensive coordinator”. Players were already complaining early in the season that MM and staff “totally unprepared and claimed that they weren’t good at their jobs”. With Ted Thompson might have put up with this in Green Bay….. Jerry Jones will not.

Other Thoughts #2: Just a quick thought, in college football, it is time for college to implement the illegal man downfield rule for punts like the pro’s. In the last decade the number of the “rugby” style punts has increased to the point where few punts are returned anymore.

Selig causes another bench clearing brawl

Once upon a time there was a disagreement during a baseball game that led to a bench clearing brawl, how do you correct that from ever happening again? If you are Bud Selig, you don’t, and you don’t even acknowledge that there is a even a problem. That is what happened Sunday during the Brewers-Pirates contest. If you have not seen the play you can see it here.

This incident is the one of many unnecessary multi-player incidents that seem to occur weekly MLB baseball in this so called “Modern Era” of baseball. It should be of no surprise to anybody that the commissioner does absoultly nothing to address the issue nor acknowledges that there is a problem while his counterpart league have resolved their issues years or decades ago. Bud Selig sits around while the kids run the household, but this no surpise to me since he has proven before that he is weak on punishment.

I have written about this before, but it amazes me that nothing is done about a simple rule change. Suspend the players that join in from the outside and suspend anybody that comes out of the dogout/bullpen.

In this case, Gomez will get what he deserved unlike last year, he escalated a shouting match with the pitcher. This appear to be the one thing that Gomez needs to work on or he will self-destruct as everybody will try to get into his head all the time and provoke fights with him, especailly since it appears that Selig will do nothing to curtail these indicients from occuring.

The use of instant replay should used in these situations (if commistioner do nothing does nothing) to assist in ensuring who should be ejected. I would normally expect this to be an easy thing to change, but given that it took 10 years longer than it should have just to get replay, I’m not expecting any changes anything soon.

In the end, it should be of no surpise that if at the end of the season attendence is down, what is the cause of it. The lack of changes or the delay to put in much needed changes will be the downfall of MLB if drastic action to bring back the youth to the game are not implemented. There are other sports that will be more than happy to fill its spot, this incident is just one of many problems with baseball.

Thoughts for the week

It has been a while since I have published a meaningful post so here is goes. This week I would just like to do a couple of quick hitters thoughts.

• A big win for the Badgers on Sunday over Michigan State. A couple of things I noticed with the victory.
  • Traevon Jackson did come up with the big shot, but did do plenty along the way to shoot the team in the foot. When Traevon does not think about the shot is when he comes through.
  • Sam Decker comes out with another below average game. He was only 3-8 from the field with all 3 pointers along with 2 free throws. Decker, who claims that he was going to be more aggressive inside took only 3 shots inside. It appears that Decker let the NBA 1st round pick status go to his head.
  • Bo Ryan has shown that he is unable to learn from his past mistake and truly understand how good coaches play certain situations. The other night Bo did not understand that in a last shot situation with under ten seconds. You should get the ball in the front court and either take the shot or make one quick pass and then shot. Traevon hesitates and the game is lost. Tom Izzo being down 3 at the end of the game, inbounds the ball, makes one quick pass and buries the three. Only the three ball hurts you, but yet he seemed not ready to cover it.
  • Bo Ryan as has the trend to put the final play in the hands of the point guard. This is generally countered by the double team, but this did not occur Sunday. Any team that plays the Badgers should understand this and exploit it in the future.
• I have been doing a lot Olympic watching and have noticed a couple of things.
  • NBC has to be thanking the television gods for the location of this Olympics and the location in 2018. This time difference between Russia and the United States allows NBC to cut the broadcast/sport down and insert as many additional commercials. There should be no reason that NBC loses money this year. I think that is why some people do not watch, or do not watch as much as they should.
• On the lighter side of news, I was crowed 1st division champion on Saturday on Smallball.com on the football side.
• I see that the Brewers are having another go around with K-Rod, any guesses to who will he be traded to?
• Flappy Birds is a really addictive gam.

Brewers 2014 Lineup

Another Milwaukee Brewers season on the horizon and with that, I will put together to my predictions for the 25 man patchwork lineup from Doug Melvin.

Starters in Bold

Catcher: Lucroy, Maldonado
Firstbase: Reynolds. Overbay
Secondbase: Gennett
Shortstop: Segura
Thirdbase: Ramirez, Bianchi
Outfield: Khris Davis, Gomez, Braun, Schafer, Gindel

Starting Pitchers:
Gallardo
Lohse
Garza
Peralta
Estrada

Relief Pitchers:
Gorzellany
Henderson
Kintzler
Wooten
Burgos
Hand
Thornburg
Starting Lineup

1. Gomez
2. Segura
3. Braun
4. Rameriz
5. Lucroy
6. Reynolds
7. Davis
8. Gennett
9. Starting Pitcher

Dale Sveum: Another incomplete MLB manager fired

No, that is not a typo in the title of this post, I did not mean incompetent, incomplete is a much more realistic term. On Monday, the Cubs fired Dale Sveum as manager with one year left on the contract. As a former Brewer player and coach, I have a little something to say about what went down in Chicago.

Dale Sveum was always a iffy choice to head up a major league baseball club. A major league manager needs to posses the ability to manager players on both side of the ball. Sveum never showed the ability to manage a pitching staff during any of the two seasons, but the warning signs were there for the Cubs even before the first interview.

Warning Sign #1: Former power player generally don’t make good managers

Players that generally have good careers with the potential for power do not do well as managers because they are unable to identify issues with players. Managers that seem to have played little or poorly have more time to watch other  players and identify mistakes and take the needed corrections. There is always the exception to the rule, but for every Joe Girardi there are many Charlie Manuel’s

Warning Sign #2: No Pitching coach experience

Sveum entered the Cubs job with no pitching experience, not even at a basic level. If you are that one sided in baseball, it is like getting hit with a 2X4 when you have to care about the other side of the ball.

Warning Sign #3: 2008 season

This should have been the biggest reason not to hire Sveum. After Ned Yost was fired near the end of the season Sveum was named the interim manager and continued the effort of Yost to mismanage the pitching and having to overusing C.C. Sabathia. This was a sign that he was unable to manager or turn around a pitching staff. This should have raised the red flag for all teams that Sveum could not manage both side of the game.

The Cubs did not heed warning sign #3 and made the two year mistake of allowing him to manage their team. Some guys are just not cut out to be Major League managers. If he wants another shot at managing a MLB team, he should go down to a “AA” or “AAA” team to manage, learn the ropes and if it works out, it works out. In this case, Dale Sveum will make a good hitting coach and that is what he should do.

Brewers End of Season Grades

Another season is in the books for the Milwaukee Brewers and while the season was far from perfect for what fans were expected, this blogger knew it was coming. With that being said I have completed a season ending grade list.

• Jonathan Lucroy (B+) – Once of the most consistent players over the entire season minus a slow start. Made the transition to playing first base on a as needed basis. The only thing holding this grade back from a “A” was some base running blunders that occurred throughout the year along with the slow start to the year.
• Juan Francisco (F) -Too slow, Too Fat, Too many K’s. His new name should be Juan Fran-wiffo
• Rickie Weeks (D) – Once again Rickie has another slow start with a season ending injury, I almost think that is Weeks gameplan at the start of the season. He is too slow and too fat, he got away from the way he got in the major leagues, with his speed.
• Jean Segura (A) – Jean had his breakout season at the plate and in the field, a well deserved top grade.
• Aramis Ramirez (C-) – Ramirez has outlived his welcome in Milwaukee, a very streaky season for when he was healthy. He is too slow and on the DL too much to be of much use for the Brewers anymore. Time to move on.
• Ryan Braun (C) – Based solely on his play, Braun would get a “A”, but given the events of the season, I have downgraded him to a “C”. It will be long road back for Braun, and some people will never forgive him even if he cures cancer, provides world peace and finds Jimmy Hoffa.
• Carlos Gomez    (B+) – An above average season for Gomez who signed a contract extension before the season. Did recently start to cool off at the end of the season and is plagued by the injury bug.
• Norichika Aoki (B-) – The faults that did not show themselves during last season seemed to manifest themselves during this season. Seemed to not be able to slap the ball as well, plus Aoki seem to have troubles covering right field from time to time. Overall though, he did have an average year and used his speed efficiently.
• Yuniesky Betancourt (D+) – Making another trip though the Brew city did not prove any better for Yuni-B. To slow, too inconsistent.
• Logan Schafer (C-) – Too young and inconsistent. Most likely will be no better than a defensive replacement.
• Jeff Bianchi (C-) – Not enough speed, not enough power to be an every day starter. Only a utility or every fifth day starter.
• Scooter Gennett (C+) – A breath of fresh air from the play of Rickie Weeks given the defensive play that he provided this season, but it was a tough year for Scooter. His power is below average, he has trouble with lefties and drawing walks. He was able to hit righties over .300, so there is hope. He should compete for a starting job next season, but could be beat out.
• Martin Maldonado (D) – When working with pitchers from the minors, he seemed better, but struggled at the plate for most of the season. He is replaceable.
• Caleb Gindl (C) – Capable backup player, will have to see how he develops
• Khris Davis (C+) – After a slow start, Davis has been able to turn it one with the bat. Does continue to struggle from time to time in the outfield.
• Sean Halton (C) – Started the season slow, but near the end of the season started to play more consistent.
• Kyle Lohse (B) – Overall an average year for Lohse coming over from St. Louis, did have his moments without Dave Duncan to oversee him. St. Louis appeared to know what he was doing when letting him go just like with Suppan and Looper.
• Wily Peralta (C+) – Wildly inconsistent throughout the year, when he was on, he was on. Threw a complete game shutout on July 9th.
• Yovani Gallardo (C) – Most people would think I’m crazy for giving the grade I have to Yo, but given that he has now pitched about 5 1/2 years in the major leagues (1/2 of 2007, missing most of 2008) that he would learn how to pitch the complete game. He has too many pitches too soon in the game. Many times he has 25+ pitches in the first inning, but does not give up any runs. So he is only able to go 5-6 innings. With stuff that Yo has, he should be able to 7+ innings consistently. Gallardo does not always have to go for the K. Gallardo did once again present a threat at the plate this year.
• Marco Estrada (C-) – Another year of solid 5 inning starts. After that, disaster. Did fill in in the starter role again this year, but injuries once again plagued hit. Better fits a long reliever role.
• Jim Henderson (B) – Solid in most of his appearances, does not rely solely on the fastball.
• Brandon Kintzler (B) – An acceptable bounce back year lowering his ERA to career lows with a good strikeout to walk ratio, could be a good 8th inning man next year.
• Burke Badenhop (C) – Was not worth the money we paid this year, but given what we gave up, the deal was average. Might be worth a look next year if the price is right.
• John Axford (F) – I understand that Axford is no longer a Brewer, but I had to give him his grade. Does not throw anything but a fastball and that pitch can give him trouble at times. Has the tendency to overthrow the fastball which causes trouble. Please use the following guide to evaluate Axford on any given day. Pitch MPH <= 94 – Doing Good; <=96 At the limit; <= 97 All over the place; >= 98 Do not have your drink on the ledge behind the plate. Unfortunately he was at 97+.
• Mike Gonzalez (F) – I don’t know who is more to blame, Melvin for signing Gonzalez or Gonzalez not declining the offer stating he really can not pitch. Melvin of all people should know that you just don’t sign a lefty for the sake of signing the lefty. We won a division back in 2011 without a single lefty in the bullpen. Gonzalez lack any kind of control or ability to work the corners of the plate. Let this guy go and be someone else’s problem.
• Tom Gorzelanny (C) – I was always nervous with this signing. One good season generally should not be a reason to sign a guy especially given the past seasons and how he done against the Brewers. Gorzelanny was a good long reliever, but an awful starter. The Brewers should only keep him if they plan to use him as a long reliever.
• Donovan Hand (C-) – A roller coaster first season for Hand. While he shows the ability to get batters out, he is no starter, or at least right now not a starter. Should work at the middle relief.
• Tyler Thornburg (C) – I consider this a bounce back season for Thornburg. Seemed to be able to get batters out and string together good starts. My concern is that this was done against teams that were already out of playoff contention so the focus might not have been all there this year, but might have lit him up at the start of the year.
• Johnny Hellweg (D) – Wild, Wild, Wild. That is the book on this guy. Can not go more that 5 innings and goes through these painful stretches where he can not get anybody incurring large pitch counts.
• Rob Wooten (C-) – Did get use through some tough games when the Brewers were not playing their best. Does posses the ability to be a 8th inning or closer in the future, but the 7/8th is most likely his role.
• Jimmy Nelson (D+) – Only played in a couple of games this year for the Brewers, but I’m concerned with the pitches to the backstop along with the high pitch counts, but he is only 24 years old.
• Chris Narveson (I) – Another season cut short by the injury bug. One might ask if his time might be done in Milwaukee given that he will be 32 years old when he comes back and he can only give you 6 innings max a start.

Selig continues poor punishment record

Given the events of last nights altercation between the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves, I would have expected some kind of punishment to be handled down, but once again the kids are running the house with no guidelines to controlling the household.

First and foremost, I will state that I agree with the Gomez suspension for 1 game. You can not jaw with everybody around the base paths and not expect something to occur. I also agree with the suspension of Reed Johnson, though I like how he then hid behind his coach after getting his shots.

Like one of my previous posts , how does McCann not get anything out of this, just like Matt Kemp earlier this year? How can not punish the secondary and third party offenders who commit equal or greater offenses than the people caused the initial starters. McCann ignited the fight, yet he gets nothing. This can no longer occur now or with the new commissioner in a couple of years.

You can not have these major brawls night after night in baseball. People might say that it is going to occur over a 162 game season with 30 teams, but honestly how is it even remotely acceptable in baseball, but in any other job where you work 3 times the hours a night for double the number of nights a year? If you start a fight at a normal job, you are out of a job, but in baseball you might not even get a fine.

This needs to change now, any person who does joins a fight should get ejected and suspended for future games. Period!

Selig allows fights to continue in MLB

If you have not heard by now, during the 4-0 victory for the Brewers over the Braves during Wednesday’s game, there was a little scuffle between Carlos Gomez and the rest of the Braves after his home run which ignited a beach clearing brawl. In this post, I could take the high level perspective on this and talk about the unwritten rules, but I want to have a different take on the events that occurred.

Bud Selig has lost control of the ship or at least lost control of the ability to right the ship when events occur that require a review and change in the rules. Even before I started this blog I knew the rules had to change, I even mentioned some of these rule changes within a previous post.

This is a simple rule change, simple! Any player who joins a fight outside of the original parties are ejected and hit with a suspension. This fact eludes Bud Selig that the rules have to change or at least he has to make the attempt to change the rules, even if the players union might reject them, then it is not on Bud.

Some will say that fighting is part of the game and that these “unwritten” rules are part of the baseball tradition. This complete bull, traditions are meant to be broken(or else there would still be gladiator fights at the Colosseum) and the rules should be changed. Baseball has been stuck behind this “unwritten” rules for too longer and something has to change, the first being the way we police the game.

One additional question I have out of the game today, how does Brian McCann not get ejected from the game? He escalates a volatile situation by standing in front of the plate and then gets in the face of Gomez. This is another problem with the MLB umpiring today, the inability to get the call right when large scale situation occur. Like in the NBA and NCAA basketball, the use of replay could have led to additional player being dealt with during the game [cough] [cough] Kelly Johnson [cough].

What do I expect in the end? Nothing. Bud might hand out a couple of fines and maybe a 1 game suspension, but nothing to address the root cause of the issue. In the end, what will it take for change? Season ending injury, career ending injuries or maybe incident that might end the reign as commissioner.

Only time will tell.

Baseball Tonight Disrespects Brewers

It has been said that ESPN has a unhealthy obsession with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. This was no more true than on Baseball Tonight on Sunday before the baseball game. They displayed the lineup of the St. Louis and progress to talk about the lineup and the key players. Then the lineup of Milwaukee was displayed and following a brief mention that the Brewers were 20 games under .500 we progress to start talking about the players for the Red Sox and Yankees while the Brewers lineup was still on the screen.

I understand that Brewers are not in playoff contention, but I would at least hope that ESPN could give the common decency to give one minute towards the lineup.