MJLiverock

Pearl is kind of like Kelvin Sampson, a guy who has these "minor" recruiting violations or scandals where ever he goes. It just seems to follow him and I would guess for good reason, he is either completly oblivious to the rules or he just doesn't care. Either way I wouldn't want him for a coach, he cheats but not so much that he really builds big time winners, bad risk reward. Other schools/coaches in the past like UNLV, the Fab Five of Michigan, and the rumors/history of Callipari at least netted big time rankings and tournament runs. Pearl has had issues going all the way back to his assistant coaching days at Iowa. http://underscorebleach.n...-iowa-recruiting-scandal Nobody in that story looks good but Pearl is right in the center of it. He also had some issues at UW-M as well if I remember right. Nothing major but he is always surrounded by some sort of cloud.

I think the highlighted portion is the crux of the disagreement. I don't think anyone would disagree that in a world of no budget issues and no other options for Cappy to pursue it would have been nice to sign him for depth. But what I and some others believe is the reality is he found a better opportunity elsewhere. The Brewers may well have offered an identical contract that the Mets did but the chances of cracking their rotation were much higher than cracking the Brewer's rotation. In the Brewer's situation he had one slot to try for, beating out Narveson, who he knows is also a lefty and had a strong finish to the year and is younger/cheaper/healthier (thus far). He wasn't going to beat out any of the other four starters, period. Even with a promise of being given a chance he knew it was beat out Narveson or be in the bullpen. He didn't want to sign to be an insurance policy or a swing starter, or a 6th man, what have you. Looking at the Mets rotation he had probably 2 slots, and maybe even 3 slots open to competion or starts early in the year and greater likelihood they would use him as a starter. It was a no brainer for a guy like him to go there since the opportunity was much more open due to the lack of penned in rotation guys in NY.

Did anyone catch Barkley calling out the Big East right to Pitino's face during halftime of the ILL/KU game? It was awesome someone finally spoke out about how sure the Big East has a lot of teams, so obviously some are good but there a fair number of bad teams as well. He pointed out that there are a lot of decent teams but no greatness in the Big East and went so far as to say they have the best coaches and worst talent. Pitino argued that MU winning showed how deep the league is and Barkley countered that all the top teams losing showed how mediocre the league is. Pitino was getting visibly upset and started saying something about getting two teams to the final four Barkely said no way because ND was going to lose to FSU later. Pitino guaranteed ND would not lose to FSU and Barkely just laughed and said we'll see. He even got in a shot calling the Big East the Itty bitty East as they went to break. Sure enough ND got smoked by FSU I even stayed up late to see if Pitino/Barkley appeared but to my disappointment neither were on the post game show. I've always thought the BE gets an inflated reputation because of the sheer number of teams, despite that all of the top teams don't play each other 2x and there are still a lot of bad teams as well. There a lot of 1x only matchups between the upper half of the league. The league is just too big.

I'd have greater confidence in Narveson being able to throw 5+ innings on a consistent basis vs. relying on Cappy to hold up for 150+ innings at this point. Nothing against Cappy but given his age, injury history, why pay more money for more uncertainty? I'm not going to get too excited about less than a dozen spring innings for Cappy and declare he has returned to pre injury form just yet.

Just bought my airline tix and booked the hotel, now I just have to buy tix for the games. We'll probably just go to the Friday and Sunday games and use Saturday for sight seeing and a nice dinner.

Based on the guide data on DirecTV it looks like TruTV HD is only being used for the basketball games. The guide just shows upcoming: College Basketball for all the times until game time despite regular programming on TruTV SD in the meantime. Edit: fixed of the HD's to SD

Didn't Hart start last year on the DL or was Edmonds the starter on opening day because of a RH pitcher or something? I don't recall the details other than remembering something about Hart not being on the All Star ballot because he didn't start opening day.

I would imagine a team like the Brewers will always be lacking in depth if they are fielding a good team since they lack the payroll ability to pay good everyday players and have a talented deep bench. Fielding a playoff calibler team takes just about all of the team's payroll resources. Sort of that roll of the dice that small market teams have to take to have that dream season, can't suffer injuries and need a few role players to step up.

Really MLB? You feel the need to blackout a replay of a spring training game between the Brewers and Reds on you own network? Really?

CBS Sports reports that the dust up was between Silva and Aramis Ramirez.

Wow pretty harsh crowd if some stupid picture makes you decide someone has an attitude or is a "tool". I wonder how many of you have pictures in the past where if looked upon now would be viewed as "toolish". If you have a picture with a mullett or beside your Camaro or passed out in college or any number of youthful idiocy then I guess I would call you a tool as well only I just don't see anything wrong with the picture. Maybe if there was a pic like that every week but one pic or even a couple? Nah.

Good point RyDogg66, how would the classy Cardinal fans react to Pujols stepping to the plat in Busch wearing a Cub uniform and staring at HR before flipping the bat aside?

I was watching CNBC this morning and they were already talking about Pujols to the Cubs in the offseason. They talked about the amount of money the Cubs could make off him and if he somehow brought a WS title to the Cubs they would make a killing not to mention the God like status he would hold forever in Chicago. St. Louis has nice fan base but a guy who brings a WS to the Cubs will be stratospheric with that fan base and in terms of money generated. I know a few of my Cub fan friends are already starting the, "We are getting Pujols" talks. It may not be that far fetched, teams like the Cubs, Yankees, etc. that have access to tons of cash can afford to overpay relative to other teams because winning brings in so much more money and in the Cubs case, paying top dollar to a guy who is actually extemely good would be a step in the right direction for them. It doesn't really matter if a guy is getting $5MM or $10MM too much relative to production because that is chump change to them. In years 8-10 of Pujols deal that $30MM he gets may be a $10MM-$15MM overpay relative to other players with his ability t that time but it won't matter. Even if baseball salaries are only inflating at 8% per year (a number I just randomly picked) $10MM in 10 years is only $4.6MM in today's dollars. So in today's terms a team like the Cubs can afford to overpay by $5MM at the end of guy's contract.

So happy to see this get done. I love watching Rickie play, reminds me of one of my all time favorites, Rickey Henderson with the power, speed, and OBP. Keeping a guy from draft day through his first contract after arby reminds fans the Brewers aren't just a farm team and that they can invest in players and fans can invest too without worrying they will be gone as soon as they get a chance. Maybe I can get my wife to replace the Fielder jersey she bought me 4 years ago with a Weeks one for this birthday.

Appealing to a vast demographic is hard, I can tell you I hated Paul McCartney as a choice, too old, not upbeat enough and given my utter disdain for U2 they didn't rate highly for me. Coldplay is another band that has no appeal to me and I can't figure out why anyone likes them or would want mellow rock for a Super Bowl halftime - - Sting and Norah Jones not available? The Foo Fighters are an interesting choice but they probably don't have the name recognition to get a shot, even if they did play Nirvana songs. The best bet is probably a headliner and a song or snippet or two from other bands/performers who appeal to different demographics.

Because Edmonds wanted to play for St. Louis?

I am not really disagreeing, only saying that in evaluating PH'ers the sample size is always going to be small. Everything doesn't have to be used to create a prediction but a GM has to use the information available. Past performance is a great determiner but most guys who are pinch hitters don't even have a meaningful sample, like the Joe Inglett reference, 871 AB's spread over how many years? Or a grizzled veteran who is a shadow of the player who put up 90% of the career numbers? How is that any more relevant than at least looking at the guy's history of PH'ing and seeing if he totally sucks at it or not? I wouldn't extrapolate it to mean those numbers will be a full season's worth but it gives some indication of adjusting to the role.

Agreed, somewhat, in that recent record is most relevant but also that some guys do better or worse in a role as a pinch hitter. Kotsay appears not to be bothered by the role. I'll take that 100 AB sample over a guy who has a marginally better 3 year track record while playing everyday but has a horrible stat line in 100 pinch hitting shots because all you are going to get is a small sample for pinch hitting... gotta work with what is available. It is useful information because unlike computer models, players are not robots and are affected by things like only pinch hitting or playing 1x a week. The guys relegated to pinch hitting roles are pretty much all going to be end of the line guys who aren't good enough to play everyday so there just isn't going to be some .300/.350/.400 guy over his last 1000 AB's willing to take that role, they end up playing everyday or in the AL where then can DH.

FWIW as a pinch hitter very few if anyone is going to have a statistically "significant" number of plate appearances in that role to satisfy some people. Players either pinch hit at the beginning or end of their career and you just don't find a guy who sticks around for 15 years getting 100PA's/year in the pinch hitting role. Guys who are really good hitters don't just stay in the pinch hitting role and guys who have good careers are usually old and no where near the player that put up good career numbers by the time they end up as a pinch hitter. If Kotsay hit .315 in a 100 AB's as a pinch hitter it is more useful to know it than get all huffy because it doesn't cover a 1000 AB's. Maybe management is right to go with a guy with ML experience and a successful record in a 100 pinch hitting opportunities than trusting marginal talent and experience like the Brad Nelson attempt of a few years ago.

No one has said WI has to run a Paul Westhead run and gun offense, there is plenty of room between that style and the current WI system. I don't even know if it is purely a system problem as much as it is an emphasis and recruiting problem. Even Leuer acknowledged that the defensive end taks so much energy and that is what gets playing time, not scoring or shooting. Just looking at the recruiting for the last few years, after WI has had a nice run of success in a beaten down Big 10, and the players they go after are still the guys weighing offers from WI or mid majors or bottom feeder B10 programs like NW or Iowa or MN. WI has been able to turn some of these guys into more and found diamonds in the rough but trying to keep that plan going is tough work. Eventually a few of the guys turn out to be what all the scouts thought they would be, not top level D1 players. WI's offense over the last couple years has become a perimeter game with lots of passing around the perimeter and jacking up shots, late in the clock, from distance, or both. I think I could have a low turnover percentage if all I had to do was pass the ball around the outside from 23 feet away and never drive or make the defense move much. You'll also notice WI has a horrible assist level but all anyone focuses on the assist/turnover ratio which is good because the turnovers are so low. WI is 10th in assists per game in the Big 10. WI doesn't turn the ball over but they also don't make opponents turn the ball over. WI ranks 10th in forcing turnovers. They are 10th in offensive rebounds as well, primary due to the philosophy of getting back on defense rather than fighting for the rebound. It certainly isn't because they make their shots as they rank 9th in field goal percentage, meaing there are lots of missed shots. WI gets about 28% of their misses back on the offensive end, MN which ranks near the top in field goal percentage and offensive rebounds gets around 38% of their misses back. WI looks to be a team that plays a very conservative style of basketball, no turnovers, no fast breaks, no attacking the basket, play tough defense and try to wear the opponent down. That style is, for me, getting boring to watch and is not attracting top talent to the program. Sure there are guys here and there but I think the recruiting has actually gotten worse not better over the past couple seasons. It is the same story, outrecruiting mid majors and trying to prove that the system or style can make anyone a good player but now that a couple guys they hoped would blossom haven't things could be looking worse. I just don't see scorers anywhere outside of Taylor next year. Guys like Brust, Dukan, were touted and they can't even get on the floor so you know next year will be their "freshman" year. Gasser may be a role player but isn't going to score 20 a game unless he suddenly shoots a whole lot better and Bergeren still barely plays, Wilson and Evans are so inconsistent and neither is much of a shooter. This year WI will make the tourney, probably get bounced in the first weekend and look worse on paper next year. WI has established itself as fringe top 25 team that can make the tourney but really doesn't make me think they are much more than that. That's enough for some people and it doesn't bother me until people try to make me believe there is something more there or that they are on the verge of the elite because I just don't see it and honestly have gotten bored with team. More and more friends feel the same, the excitement for the games just isn't there because the style is so predictable and slow coupled with poor shooting.

Danzig hit on a point about having defensive first guys like Flowers or Krabby on the court. I agree that one of those guys on the court at a time isn't a problem and is probably good. It is beginning to look like 2 or 3 positions at a time are filled with players like that now. It is good to value defense but there has to be some balance, the whole team can't be scrappy, dive on the floor, defensive first, don't turn the ball over, never take chances players. In other words, it is very difficult to win games with a team of role players, none of whom has a role of scoring for their specialty. I fear that is what this team has in the past few recruiting classes and it will become glaring once Nankivil and especially Leuer are gone next year. Think of Penn State a couple years ago when all they had was Taylor Battle to play offense, he got good numbers but they didn't win a whole lot. WI with Jordan Taylor could well look like that. There is an article in today's Wisconsin State Journal talking about having only three scorers isn't enough. One telling comment was: “It’s tough playing defense. You get tired doing that, but when you come down offensively you have to dig it out and just be willing to work hard and cut and move and make good reads regardless of how tired you get,” Leuer said. There is so much emphasis on defense that when it comes to offense they slack off- - why? Because playing defense gets you playing time, standing around on offense or hanging around the perimeter passing the ball around but not turning it over doesn't get you benched. There has to be some balance between defense and offense and right now the way the team is constructed and plays there isn't enough emphasis on scoring. I always see posts or comments on message boards after losses dismissing the games as aberations because they didn't shoot well or that if they shot well they would have one. I see that as an obvious answer, of course if a team shoots well they have a better chance at winning. WI's problem is they aren't that good of a shooting team, especially against athletic teams that play zone. Sure WI can have a hot night and shoot well from 3 but night in and night out I'd bet against guys like Gasser, Jarmusz, Brusewitz, Valentyn, Smith, Evans, Wilson, etc. from lighting it up. I swear Evans will be a year out of college and I'll still hear people saying this is the year he'll break out an find his shooting ability.

I'm not going to miss getting Punto. He really isn't very good, hasn't played a lot of games in a season at SS and these projections cited have enough variance built in that any difference over Betancourt is likely negligible and far from the automatic win or two that are assumed given how shaky defensive metrics are to begin with. We aren't talking about adding a player like Tulowitzki at SS vs. Betancourt we are talking about adding another bad player who could just as easily stink or not be able to play everyday at SS anyway.

I can barely stand to watch this team anymore. There is just nothing exciting to watch as the offense is primarly pass the ball around the perimeter and jack up threes. It would be one thing if they had a bunch of sharpshooters but they don't. I have been pretty turned off by the last few recruiting classes and think this team is setting up for big step backwards when Leuer and Nankivil are gone next year. The team is going to be nothing but a bunch of role players and gritty guys who will dive for a ball butcan't handle a press, can't create their shots, and really have a tough time scoring. Even now you hear people complain that WI doesn't get to the foul line like they used to and they don't know why. I think it is because WI has no aggresiveness on offense and teams are content to let them fritter aound for 30 seconds and jack it up. It isn't like Evans, Bruiser, Jarmusz, Gasser, Valyentyn, are going to put the ball on the floor and drive past anyone. Taylor should be able too with his strength but he rarely tries it and if Wilson tries it and fails he ends up on the bench. If the team is hot they can beat some decent teams because they play defense and just the sheer number of three's can win a game if they make a lot. The reality is they really aren't that good of a shooting team and in the end they are going to lose games when they have 10 minute droughts which are all too common.

Not even drunk yet, just sitting a our table talking during dinner. He was a high school friend of my wife's and this was early in the night maybe 7 PM.

Well I just spent New Year's eve in Chicago and was informed by an aquaintance that the Cub's pitching staff is still better than the Brewers because Zambrano is just as good if not better than Greinke and that Dempster is better than Gallardo. They also have Kerry Wood back in the pen who along with Marmol makes their pen stronger. He didn't know who Marcum was, but since he played for the Blue Jays he couldn't be that good. He was sure the Brewers and Cubs would battle for 3rd but could see the Cubs surprising people and pushing for the wild card if their bats return to form. I kid you not, this was a real conversation. I really just let him talk because it was loud and I really didn't feel like arguing with him but it just reminded me of the mentality. Edit: I should add this guy is a college grad, probably in his early to mid 30's, not a little kid.