Fear The Chorizo

The problem will be giving a huge chunk of future cap space and hitching their wagon to Fields, who isn't a longterm answer at quarterback for a team who wants to perennially contend. And they should have a ton of cap space with the godawful roster they had last season that earned them the #1 overall pick.

The only team really being hurt by any sort of delay is the Jets at this point...perhaps he's just giving them a taste of what they're in for the next 1+ seasons. My guess would be the trade isn't finalized because both the Packers and Jets are sorting out draft compensation options should Rodgers play more than 1 season in New York, and possibly sorting out a restructure of Rodgers' existing deal to even make that a possibility for the Jets without carrying a massive cap # in 2024. GB was never going to be a major player in free agency this season no matter what Rodgers opted to do - they're just sorting out 2023 draft options, and perhaps filling a roster hole or two with a mid tier free agent on the O line or safety.

This regarding Favre is spot on - there are stories everywhere from the 1st half of his career that just don't have the cellphone/social media proof of his exploits that would've been comparable or even more of a scandal than Deshaun Watson. Favre was fortunate to have played most of his career before social media/smartphones made everyone's world a whole lot smaller and accessible. In the 90s/early 2000s, many of those stories were either chalked up to "boys being boys" or just willfully disregarded as a biproduct of Favre's issues with pain meds and alcohol.

I think many people identified more with Favre than Rodgers. Favre's deer-hunting, wrangler wearing, lawn mower riding, personality seems to fit more with the regular fan than Rodger's more CA-lifestyle type personality. And especially over the past years as he has either changed or let people know more about himself. Or Favre's croc-wearing cell phone d-pics to sideline reporters, northwoods tail-chasing with his buddy Chmura, and propensity to try and bilk his home state welfare fund to build a volleyball arena....a true man of the people! Favre's aww-shucks persona is a fraud. Rodgers is weird, has a spiraling taste in increasingly bizarre women, and appears to hold grudges/look for slights everywhere he can to the benefit of nobody...but it doesn't seem like he's posing or putting on an act only when the cameras are on. Let's be honest, many people have recently amplified the Rodgers off field drama just about every veteran QB has when teams bring in a young QB who could very well be the heir apparent because he chose not to get a Covid shot and then proceeded to get cute with words saying he was "immunized" instead of just being open about it. Assuming a trade to the Jets or other team happens in the near future, I hope both sides move on respectfully and Love takes full advantage of his opportunity to take the reins of a pretty decent roster in a winnable division for 2023. It would be a double-rainbow unicorn miracle for the onfield transition to be as seamless from Rodgers - Love as it was from Favre - Rodgers, but I do think the parting of ways is going to be smoother than that training camp when the ol' gunslinger decided to show up in Green Bay after retiring.

lolz...

eww....nope, not with the structure Wilson already has baked into his rookie deal being a #2 overall pick. Assuming Rodgers is dealt I doubt Packers' brass would even want any semblance of a QB competition with Love headed into training camp, as Gute's own job security likely depends on what Love does as a starter over the next 1+ season. People always talk about needing to get to the top of the draft to pick a franchise quarterback - well, what happens when you miss is you wind up trading a bunch of draft capital AND cut veteran salary elsewhere to try and bring in a veteran QB in the twilight of his career to make a run before your roster blows up in a couple seasons. The Jets are currently over the cap by a couple million dollars, so any trade for Rodgers likely means a handful of restructures and a few more cuts for the Jets to make room for even some of his contract.

I do think there are multiple teams that would be interested in trading for Rodgers - but the Jets make the most sense with Hackett there...although it would be ironic if Rodgers stays in GB or goes elsewhere, the Jets' offense continues to stink and Hackett is fired for the 2nd time in as many years after he was hired by other organizations with the thought of him being a key to land Rodgers. Part of the return of trading Rodgers is getting out from under his contract and the yearly drama that follows around what an aging HOF quarterback will do at the end of each season, and handing the keys to a different young QB who is as ready as he'll be to become a starter.

I think there's a difference between an organization falling off a cliff for an extended period of time primarily due to poor management, and an organization taking an extended step back into the NFL blob after their HOF quarterback isn't under center anymore. Packer fans haven't been in that blob for 30 years and honestly don't remember what it's like to have a decent quarterback that needs a talented roster around him to be a consistent playoff contender - otherwise there's an ebb and flow to contention windows and a much higher turnover in the front office/coaching levels of an organization that tends to lead to quarterback turnover, too. Only Peyton Manning has won more league MVPs than Rodgers in NFL history, and there are 7 MVPs between Rodgers and Favre over the last 28 seasons....not having a 1st ballot HOFer who's going to be an annual MVP candidate leading your team is a huge step backwards in terms of having a shot at winning a title year in and year out. I think Rodgers is at the end of his career in being considered a MVP-caliber quarterback due to age and physical limitations beginning to creep back into his game (particularly in cold weather, a common theme for aging star quarterbacks), so I'm ready for the Packers to move on from him even without factoring in the salary cap/financial benefit of trading Rodgers. I don't care about any of the "off the field weirdness", and frankly I doubt front offices do either.

I'm pretty sure Clark has already been restructured this offseason to improve that cap hit for 2023 as much as possible. I do agree a Bakh restructure could help alot - but they be better off doing nothing with that contract to keep cap and roster decision flexibility with him next offseason. Heck, if Rodgers is traded and they do need some extra cap room for a rookie class I wouldn't be opposed to trying to deal Bakh for picks or proven NFL talent, also - I think a post June 1 trade of Bakh would have significant cap savings. Gary extension does carry some risk with him recovering from the ACL injury, but also would make sense for some cap savings.

Agreed, and I also think the Brewers need to focus on retaining core players through their age 30 season while avoiding paying them going free agent market amounts too many years beyond 30 - that means finding players to extend and buy out a couple free agent seasons most of the time, not trying to extend multiple veterans into their mid and late 30's for huge sums of $$. And it also means being willing to move on from core players before age starts leading to diminishing returns on the field. The trio of Burnes, Woodruff, and Adames IMO should not be extension candidates for Milwaukee due to this approach - particularly when they already have 1 veteran player (Yelich) locked into a longterm contract way into his 30s. Burnes will hit free agency after his age 29 season, and both the length of a free agent contract and annual amount he's going to get elsewhere make zero sense for Milwaukee to even offer. Woodruff will hit free agency after his age 31 season, so any sort of longterm contract for a pitcher already on the wrong side of 30 makes little sense. Adames will be 28-29, so that might be an option if he'd accept a 3-4 year contract, but the recent contracts signed by FA shortstops are much longer than that so I don't think that contract framework is a realistic scenario.

If he's traded now, doesn't Rodgers' 2023 cap hit in GB go from $31M and change to ~$40M? That would just mean a $9M cap hit increase on this year's salary cap plus save the Packers close to $16M in actual salary paid out this year. The Packers currently sit between $17-18M under the cap with Rodgers' number at $31.2M - trading him before 6/1 would mean the Packers are still $8-9M under the cap if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure if that amount is enough to cover all draft pick salaries, but it'd be very close and only minor roster adjustment would be needed for this year. If GB trades Rodgers, they should do it before 6/1 so all the dead money cap issues fall off the books at the end of the 2023 league year and they find themselves with a healthy financial situation and extra draft picks to help the team this season.

Given other teams are now confirmed by named sources to be talking with Rodgers, I think this doomsday scenario never happens, and the most likely outcome is Rodgers gets dealt before this year's draft - there has been some talk about waiting till June 1 before trading Rodgers to spread that cap hit across 2023 and 2024 league years, but GB currently has the cap space to absorb the full cap hit a pre-June 1 trade of Rodgers would cause. I think it's worth moving fast in order to bolster this year's roster with draft picks brought in from the trade - this approach also would free up a ton of 2024 cap space for a Gary extension, Love extension potentially early in the 2024 league year, etc. The fact other teams are flying planes to go talk to Rodgers means Rodgers' preference is to play elsewhere in 2023 and the Packers are going to find a way to make that happen quickly.

I'd rather have a safety with a 4.5-4.7 40 time who has great ball skills and the ability to blow up a play based on his football instincts and aggressive decision making than a safety who gets to show off his 4.3-4.4 speed constantly chasing down pass catchers after blowing coverage assignments/missing tackles or running backs after filling the wrong hole. You can be an elite safety in today's NFL without having world class speed - especially on a team with cornerbacks who can run.

Or it would be twitter being twitter, as Hackett ( a friend and member of the Jets' organization) could have just called Rodgers (or vice versa) to catch up with him and somebody ran with that information to Wingo. Teams giving permission for veteran players to talk with members of other organizations they know well/have history with could easily be done proactively to remove concerns of tampering the league wouldn't want to bother looking into. Until it's reported with named sourcing that Rodgers actually had a call with the Jets front office about playing with the Jets after a trade, it could be anything or nothing.

It's at least some smoke....although the "per sources" stuff is just sloppy and speculative - could just as easily be Hackett calling Rodgers after his darkness retreat asking him how it went, but I kind of hope there's more to it than that. I think it's time both Rodgers and the Packers moved on separately, because it's best for both of them.

That's not how arbitration works...like at all. And that's also not how the process of the Brewers trying to negotiate a 2023 contract amount with Burns played out either, like at all. The Brewers offered Burnes a 2 year deal that would have avoided both this year's arbitration and next year's arbitration process, and buy out zero years of free agency. By the way, the Brewers did that with Prince Fielder when they knew he was destined for free agency also, and Fielder/Boras signed that contract. Burnes' camp stated that 2 yr offer from the Brewers was "pretty poor" - not exactly surprised by that from a guy willing to go to the mat in arby year 2 over about $700K in salary difference on a $10M+ contract and one that has probably been told by everyone in the players association that he should be the pitcher to reset the free agent market in a couple offseasons. Woodruff is also a homegrown star, and they avoided arbitration this season. Peralta was essentially a homegrown star and signed a longterm contract extension with the Brewers years ago. Adames and Woodruff agreed with the Brewers on contract amounts and avoided arbitration - those settled amounts were between what the Brewers and respective players initially proposed in arbitration. Once the deadline for negotiated arby settlements expired, Burnes 2023 contract was either going to be the amount his camp posted or what the Brewers posted initially, not any amount that was in between while they were negotiating. Once it goes to arbitration, your side either wins or loses, there's no "let's meet in the middle" anymore. Given the fact that I think Burnes was the only player of like 12 possible arbitration cases that actually didn't settle with the Brewers somewhere between the initial proposed amounts, I'd be inclined to think whatever amount the Brewers moved the needle between theirs and Burnes' initial arbitration posting amounts was a reasonable compromise - but that would presume that Burnes and his agent had any intent of moving down from their proposed contract value. The only speculating going on is people turning quotes that were generalizing the process from a frustrated Burnes 2 days after losing his hearing into what was actually stated by the Brewers' representatives during the hearing.

Obviously not comprehensive, but look at his setups in those two graphics posted in the article...2019 his stance started open and stayed open, with a small leg kick that seemed to get alot more drive from his lower half once he dropped that front foot and fired through with his hips. The 2022 swing shows Yelich's stance as neutral and perhaps even a bit closed, and instead of a leg kick he uses a toe tap that doesn't yield as much drive from his lower half through the swing - not saying it's lingering issues with the front knee injury, but I think it has more to do with ongoing back issues that limit how much torque he can put into a swing from the ground up. That is also evident in the comparison of those 2019 and 2022 stances - Yelich has more knee bend in his stance and throughout his swing in 2019, and remains much more upright in that 2022 swing.

Article needs a quick revision in paragraph 1, as I think Turang is ranked #4, correct? People are quick to forget that Turang was the top positional prospect in his age group for multiple years prior to his senior year in high school and considered a potential top overall selection in the 2018 draft prior to summer of 2017. He slipped a bit due mainly to concerns about his slight frame/build leading up to the 2018 draft, which IMO was a gift to the Brewers being able to pick him at #21 overall that draft. He's going to have a long MLB career, and I'm looking forward to him getting to Milwaukee soon!

I'm really looking forward to seeing how Misiorowski has developed over the offseason - could be a meteoric rise through the system if the command improves with a more consistent delivery.

Yes, plus Contreras. If it wasn't he wouldn't have gone from nowhere to a consensus top 10 prospect in all of baseball after last season. He is 4 years younger than Frelick and 6 years younger than both Mitchell and Wiemer, and he reached double-fricking A as a child last season. That just doesn't happen unless you've got enough talent to essentially be untouchable as a prospect as soon as you start playing in the minor leagues.

If you were comparing Ruiz, Mitchell, Frelick, and Wiemer - sure. Trading Chourio right now would probably land Contreras plus at least two of the prospects listed above, and I'd still be upset they traded Chourio. When a young prospect flashes the type of ceiling Chourio has, he quickly becomes untradeable at the age he is.

He won't be cementing his prospect rating the next couple years, he'll be in the major leagues by then, barring injury. And I'd make the argument that there aren't more than a couple other prospects/rookies across all of MLB right now that would carry more trade value than Chourio - Garret Mitchell is a quality prospect, but he's nowhere close to as valuable as Chourio is, who happens to be 5+ years younger than Mitchell.

If Chourio is the player most scouts and we all hope think he can be, he's not spending two more full seasons in the minor leagues no matter how much OF depth is in front of him in Milwaukee and higher levels of the minor leagues - Chourio is the type of prospect you make room for by willingly trading away major league players with multiple years of team control remaining that might be blocking him. If he has a really good 2023 season, he'll be in Milwaukee in 2024, if not sooner.

I think the glut of options for this OF indicates a couple of the high minors prospect options (Frelick, Wiemer) are likely to start the year in AAA - and I also think it's likely we'll see a trade or two that includes either some of the veteran OFs like Taylor or seasoned but not as highly regarded prospects (Lutz, Gray JR, Perez, etc) to both thin the herd and add bullpen pieces if the team is in buy mode at the deadline. I think with Chourio coming behind Mitchell, Wiemer, and Frelick, it also wouldn't surprise me if one of those three is traded for a roster upgrade elsewhere over the next calendar year - Chourio is the type of prospect you absolutely make room for as soon as he proves to be ready for the show. As an aside, I wondered how long I'd have to read before seeing Suter's name mentioned in an article that's supposed to be entirely about this year's Brewer outfield options...10 sentences in was actually a pretty good job by clancy holding off! However, I'm a bit disappointed there was no mention of Cooper Hummel.

lol - ok. in 2000 they were about $0.91/dozen, too. My point wasn't specific to egg costs, anyways, so feel free to insert the exploding cost of just about anything.