Fear The Chorizo

Hoping it's precautionary and he can suit up but that doesn't sound good....was hoping he could solidify the pass coverage against a Dallas team that has plenty of weapons in the passing game to at least give the defense a shot at slowing down the Cowboys at home.

Yes, cost certainty for a guy like that is a good thing for any interested teams to be willing to offer a valuable-enough prospect package for the Brewers to deal him.

If there's one person who has the clout to get everyone on the same page and establish some regulations I get what you're saying, but the counterpoint to that would be he's also probably the 1 coach who benefitted the most over his career at Bama by having a stranglehold on financial resources/facilities/recruiting draw to bring in limitless 5 star recruits and then jettison scholarships from players if better talent shows up the following season, and also have their pick of top level assistants before the NIL/transfer portal started scrambling that up, it's him. I can definitely see him just wanting to ride into the sunset at 72 and not have to deal with what coaches need to do in today's college football landscape to stay at the top. And he's not a dummy, I'm thinking he also realizes that UGA has passed up Alabama in terms of being "that" program in the SEC and shows no signs of giving it up. As the weird SEC divisional schedule now shifts to UGA and Bama playing each other in the regular season and more frequently moving forward than just in the SEC title game, plus adding UT and Oklahoma to that conference, sledding is getting alot tougher for even the best programs to sleepwalk themselves to undefeated or 1-loss regular seasons. Or, he just wants no part of Bucky the next couple years!

Playing a game defensively at a corner OF position requires far less stress on a player's back compared to 1B when you think of how an infielder gets into position at every pitch, stretches/plays at 1B trying to dig balls out of the dirt, hold runners on, etc. I don't care if Yelich wanted to play 1B, I wouldn't put him there. He's going to remain the team's LF and eventually transition to a DH who can play OF in a pinch.

I'd add to this that I think there's still time between today and an eventual arbitration hearing for team/player settlements on an arbitration salary if the two sides continue negotiating....that hasn't been something the Brewers have done as an organization (they've largely followed along the "if have to file, then trial" sort of approach), but with slightly moving up the deadline maybe some agreements resulting from good faith negotiations leak a few days past today's filing deadline.

Technically, teams can still negotiatate arby contracts after submitting figures by the deadline today and avoid going to a hearing. IIRC in the past if the team and player couldn't settle by this deadline it was rare for an agreement to be made before the hearing, but maybe that's a little different with the slightly accelerated deadline. I do expect most of the arby eligible Brewers to reach an agreement today, but probably not Burnes - Adames and Williams would probably be coinflips to reach a settlement today but still have a good shot at reaching an agreement before a hearing. I fully expect Burnes and Boras to have an outrageously high figure for a guy who's pitched like a number 2 starter the past 2 seasons, if only to lay the groundwork for what he's going to be looking for in free agency next offseason.

My initial thought is that there's going to be some sort of NCAA investigation into Bama and Saban is just either getting out of it or him "retiring" is a way for the $EC to justify keeping any violations under wraps and playing the "nothing to see here card".

The White Sox lost 101 games last season in an awful division, and they are into a rebuild stage for their organization. Cease still has 2 seasons left before free agency, and despite a pretty meh 2023 season that amount of team control and his raw stuff make him an attractive trade target, and one of the few players on the current White Sox roster that would net a good package of prospects in a trade. The Brewers won their division last season and are still the likely favorite to win the division again should they opt to not trade Burnes, who also has just 1 season left of team control before he and agent Scott Boras go hunting for the largest contract offer next winter. I think the closer comparison to Burnes' trade rumors would be Shane Bieber since they're at the same stage in salary arbitration with just 1 year left and similar team postseason aspirations for 2024 - Cease will get traded because the team he's on is rebuilding and the risk of him having another down season or getting injured is too great for the White Sox to not get a quality return back when their MLB club won't be in contention for that season with our without Cease on their roster.

From where they were mid-season, when often 2-3 receivers wound up within a few yards of each other because they wound up running the same routes and the offense looked completely confused, the receiving corps really has taken a quantum leap forward....great to see!

Read some quotes this afternoon from Rodgers about what the Jets need to do in order to establish a winning culture....if someone could get him a mirror I think he'd realize he's just asked to be traded.

Not sure he'd be open to taking a coordinator position after multiple head coaching gigs and documented health issues (he may be more than content to just enjoy the rest of his life off the sidelines, and deservedly so).....but recently fired Ron Rivera is a guy that I'd be excited to see get an interview this offseason in GB to run the defense. He's pretty much a 4-3 guy so that'd be different....but honestly both Gary and Van Ness have the size to be DEs - and the thought of Quay Walker as a Will flying around the field has me thinking that type of front 7 transition wouldn't be impossible in 1 offseason with their current core personnel.

The Vikings didn't have an NFL-caliber quarterback or bellcow running back plus their star TE just went down with an ACL the week before the GB game, and the Bears' offensive line is persistently among the league's worst....3 weeks ago the Panthers hung 30 on this defense in a must-win road game for the Packers and then proceeded to be shut out their final 2 games. I don't know if Barry needs to be "fired" since his contract his up - but he shouldn't be retained as defensive coordinator because I think there are numerous better options than sticking with what hasn't worked for multiple seasons. There are some things schematically with his defense that seem to be way too predictable at times, and good teams are able to pick on a weakness at will with what appears to be next to zero in-game adjustments from Barry's defense to try and negate what the opponent is doing....particularly in the run game against really questionable personnel groupings in the front 7 with certain formations and in the passing game in the middle of the field. Injuries have definitely thinned the defensive personnel for the Packers - but injuries happen to everyone in the NFL - the amount of draft capital invested on that side of the ball should mean there's plenty of talent and depth to field a solid defense if development and coaching are up to snuff, even when factoring in the expected busts here and there.

I guess my question in response would be if there was a baseball-related reason why the schedule couldn't be compressed that would actually benefit both organizations and players - at least for the free agency signing period. The NFL has from the Super Bowl (early February) until mid march before free agency starts, and prior to that they spend most of their time getting their roster sorted out for salary cap management purposes. MLB players who are free agents starting the day after the World Series ends could have started signing contracts 5 days later on 11/6. Player awards for the previous season aren't even handed out until a few weeks later into November. Just seems like an awful lot of roster decisions need to be made in next to no time after the season actually ends. The deadline on whether to offer arbitration to players was 11/17, so why does the free agent signing period need to start 1.5 weeks earlier than that when there are potentially more free agents hitting the market afterwards? I wouldn't be opposed to keeping things as they are, but then moving this January's arbitration agreement deadline a month earlier, too. Then have a late winter period where no trades/signings can happen in the 2-3 weeks leading up to Spring Training to force action between both teams and players/agents.

The MLB offseason schedule and hot stove expectations is still set up like back in the day when all the front offices would send a handful of people to the GM/winter meetings via train, and then news of free agent signings and trades that took place over those meetings would be distributed by local newspapers when those groups got back home just before Christmas. Every team, both large and small market, makes ancillary moves at the margins with minor league invites and reclamation projects at the bottom of their 40 man rosters throughout the offseason - marquee player free agency has been steadily pushed further and further into the offseason and even into Spring Training, and the arbitration figure deadline in mid-January likely also pushes potential trades of players well into the arbitration process back, too for teams who need cost certainty when trying to determine appropriate trade value. I'd like to see MLB actually push the start of free agency/arby decisions/league year/etc to the middle of December instead of starting it in early/mid November. There's no reason there needs to be what amounts to 4 full months of this where teams have the option to make moves before Spring Training really ramps up, and most teams and agents wind up using that vast amount of time as an excuse to just continue yapping at each other instead of getting some things done. Condense the front office/player acquisition offseason to promote action. They're already playing world series games into November routinely now, MLB can use the rest of that month to just announce awards and leave all the initial QO/Aribtration/Free agency decisions to happen in early December instead of early/mid November.

Thrilled there's a playoff line with Green Bay in it for next weekend, no matter what the spread! I don't think the Cowboys have lost all season at home (although the Lions probably had them without that penalty call) - so this is going to be tough sledding. If the defense can find a way to get off the field a couple times a half without giving up scores and create a turnover I think the Packers have a shot. You know McCarthy's going to be jazzed up for this one, and hopefully he gets too cute with his game plan - if the Cowboys' offense just lines up with power running and play action to the middle of the field it could be a loooong day.

I agree with pretty much all of this - but I guess it doesn't matter at all if Burnes isn't dealt. The way this offseason has progressed so far I'd actually be surprised if Burnes is traded before Opening Day. They're the clear favorite in this division with him in the rotation as it stands now. With the current Brewers' payroll, I'd expect them to add in free agency at corner IF or DH (or even both) even if they keep Burnes and whatever his salary will be - I just doubt that all happens and Hoskins is their target due to what I think he'll wind up getting from some large market team. I've long thought that any Brewers trade of Burnes would heat up after the Jan 12th arbitration figure deadline to see if 1) Burnes and the Brewers actually agree to a 2024 salary without having to go to a hearing and there's cost certainty for the season, or more likely 2) Teams see what Burnes' camp is asking in arbitration compared to the Brewers. One question I had with that, say that Burnes and the Brewers don't come to terms before the deadline - if he is traded after the deadline but before his hearing, does the team who traded for him have to make the Brewers' case for their # at the hearing? There's no way Burnes would sign an extension before the season with Boras as a client. Sorry for sidetracking a thread about the Brewers' offense with this!

well the Cubs are currently well below their 2023 team payroll at the moment, too - maybe the Ricketts and Mark A are having a contest to see who's the cheapest??

I'm pumped about Love's development this season, where no matter what happens in the postseason this will be an offseason where the Packers don't have to center their offseason plans about what to do at QB (besides most likely gear up for what Love's next extension looks like once the new league year begins).... I don't like the matchup with Dallas, primarily because I think their offense could really make hay against a Packer defense and GB's youth on offense will get exposed a bit on the road in a playoff game against a talented defense. Dallas is one of those teams that doesn't need to blitz to generate pressure, and can play coverage on the back end with some ballhawks in the secondary (even with Diggs out) - some of those back foot throws Love has excelled with throwing receivers into open space on blitzes just aren't going to be there. That being said, the Packers do have a puncher's chance in this game because I think they can get into a shootout and win, and I also think Dallas has proven capable of laying postseason eggs in prior years. Too early to really start sorting things out...but the sheer number of young pass catchers currently on the roster really shapes up to have trade fodder in the next season or two - there's always a reason to draft at least one receiver or TE most drafts and the Packers could easily deal a couple of these young guys to strengthen the roster elsewhere or add draft capital instead of having to just cut guys down the road.

Gute had himself one helluva draft in 2023. And 2022. 2021, not so much 2020 was meh, besides getting that 1st round pick 1,000% right.

Honestly, if the Packers win the super bowl and we spend more time complaining about Barry being the d coordinator because of it, we've got serious Fandom issues. I don't expect either to happen, but would take Barry reupping his contract if it meant a Lombardi trophy in Love's 1st year as a starter - just to see all the "well yeah, but Gute shouldn't have moved up in round 1 3-4drafts ago to pick Love!" crowd explode

Yeah, now that I have an idea I still wholeheartedly disagree with it....and 3 years is longterm for a pitcher over 30 who likely won't pitch during the next MLB season because he just got done getting his shoulder sliced on.

I look at it as the money they won't be paying Burnes after he's traded. If the Brewers are trading away their best starter for 2024, they shouldn't be turning around and paying a similar amount of money to a free agent 1B on a relatively short term contract - because in trading away their best pitcher they're signaling they aren't planning to contend next season. Assuming Burnes and Williams are back, one other option the Brewers could do is trade Adames and then pool that payroll savings of him + Woodruff into a corner IF/DH bat, while still keeping Burnes as your rotation anchor for one more season. Slide Turang over to SS and then sort out a 2B platoon with Dunn and Capra, maybe even Black unless they want to keep him at 3rd? I just think Hoskins is going to get significantly more than what has been speculated so far.

It's true the Packers play a ton of zone. The issue is it feels like their zones get stretched a ton based on the scheme/formation, routinely seeing safeties drop way off in coverage and LBs get sucked up on playfakes - leaving enormous holes that short and intermediate passes don't have to fit through tight windows or have schemes that fool quarterbacks into throwing into coverage designed to pick a pass off. It's like a 2 deep shell where the 2 deep are way too deep, and the shell has cracks in it. Teams really don't even bother with throwing vertically deep against the Packers, because they can gouge them in 20-30 yard bursts in the passing game with high percentage throws that only have to travel 10-15 yards downfield into open spaces. It's why it always feels like the Packers' defense is playing with 9 or 10 players - because there's always at least 1 or 2 guys on the field covering space that opponents never bother to send receivers.

Hoskins' agent is Scott Boras....if he could be had for 2 yrs, 32-36 million he would've been signed weeks ago. I guarantee you right now that interested teams are being told it will take twice the amount of years and more than twice the amount of salary in the range people are expecting to get him to sign a contract. Hoskins will be among the last notable free agent players to sign this offseason because of who his agent is, and because there are a number of large market team Boras is going to continue selling him to despite him missing last season with a knee injury. I'm expecting Hoskins to wind up signing a 3-4 year deal in the neighborhood of $20-21M per season that has some sort of player opt out after 1 or 2 seasons - which I think prices Milwaukee out of the picture, and rightfully so. It's why I think Santana + spending at DH for a righthanded slugger makes more sense for the 2024 roster if they plan to keep key pitchers for another season (Burnes/Williams).

St. Louis was in the cellar of this division last season - they needed to completely retool their pitching staff this offseason just to even think of finishing over 0.500, and I don't think what they've done is nearly enough at this point. Cincinnati has made some moves around the fringes, but they will need to bank on young pitching staying healthy and young position players continuing to develop in order to take another step towards 90 wins. The Cubs gave a mountain of money to CC to manage a club who has yet to replace its best hitter (Bellinger), best trade acquisition (Candelario), and Opening Day starter (Stroman) from its 2023 team that eeked out a record barely over 0.500. Besides that, they've done nothing - zilch - squadoosh. They have to make a series of significant moves just to get back to being fringe contenders. The Pirates are, well, the Pirates. I'd argue the moves the Brewers have already made this offseason related to nontender/release of veteran players who collectively had awful 2023 seasons or were too injured to contribute in 2024 have improved a roster that won 92 games last season and won the division. Canha and Santana are included in the article like they were borderline silver sluggers for the entire 2023 regular season in Milwaukee and their loss is crippling to their offense...they were here two months and it took both close to a month before they started hitting. Plus, Santana is a likely option to wind up back in Milwaukee at 1B, and adding Chourio to the young OF mix basically leaves Canha without a spot on the field to play with Yelich still in LF. Woodruff is a loss? Guessing if the over/under on 2024 innings pitched at the MLB level is 1, most people would bet the under for him at this point. The holes on this roster that still could use dramatic improvement still have a bunch of free agents at the DH and corner IF positions who haven't signed anywhere else, either....or they could be filled by young Brewer prospects (Gasser, Black on top of Chourio) who may very well be ready for everyday playing time at the MLB level.