nate82

Todd Monken who looks like he will be out as the Ravens offensive coordinator by the end of the season would be another good hire I believe. His offensive play calling would be similar to what the Badgers have ran in the past and more similar to Alvarez and Bielema. I would be fine going back to the Alavarez and Bielema days just anything what PC was trying to do.

I am not sure how the Panthers are 4-3. Their team screams 2-5 or 1-6.

If I were to replace Fickell today I would prefer Buster Faulkner, Ben Arbuckle or maybe see if Kliff Kingsbury would want to return to college football. The line would be better if Kevin Haywood was out there though not by much. The left side of the line at least would look better. Renfro being injured for the majority of the year is also a huge setback as he was the only senior offensive lineman. All of the younger guys are struggling and I am not sure Bostad would be able to fix that. He is not a miracle worker. Bostad had a hard time turning that 2022 offensive line around and that line was just as bad as this one. I think he saw the writing on the wall and left because that 2023 offensive line was also really bad and just as bad as this offensive line. The offensive line has been going down hill for a while now and this is not something new. You can probably trace it back to after 2019. The 2019 line was the last offensive line that was actually good. In 2020 you had a good pass blocking line but trying to run the ball the line fell behind expectations. Then in 2021 the wheels completely fell off with both the run and pass protection breaking down. Then in 2022 the trend continued under Bostad. Again Bostad is not a miracle worker and can only do so much. Poor recruiting is to blame here which is not a surprise considering the HC at the time for these years. I think Bostad was ready to leave after the 2022 season regardless of who was going to be the HC and I don't blame him. He wasn't really given much to work with talent wise. The well was completely dry like a hot August day in Phoenix Arizona in terms of talent at the OL. I know I have been bringing this up over and over again but PC's poor recruiting from 2019-2022 is to blame for this. It is the root cause here and is the main reason the Badgers are where they are right now. Regardless of the HC who would have been hired.

Offensive Line coaches don't tend to make great head coaches. You usually end up with someone like Matt Patricia. On the rare occasion you will get a Bill Cowher or Mike Tomlin. I don't see anything that would make Bostad a good head coach. He looks to be more of a teacher than a leader.

Billups and Rozier arrested for illegal gambling. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46700053/sources-terry-rozier-arrested-part-gambling-inquiry

The never ending story?

Maybe but he is not a 3B and would be a 1B in MLB. I think he signs with the Yankees which leaves Naylor a possibility for the Brewers.

Ozuna makes zero sense for the Brewers. Yelich can’t play in the OF due to his back issues and that probably eliminates him from 1B also. Ozuna is also not that much of an improvement at DH over Yelich. Yelich is also a downgrade overall to who the Brewers could play in LF.

The old Polish proverb not my circus, not my monkey needs to be changed to not my circus, not my Aaron Rodgers.

They may not get rid of every level and just do away with low A but it will be different. You will also have to pay some minor league players more. Anyone on the 40 man would have to be paid at the MLB minimum. So that means your AAA and some AA players will be making more. They could just get rid of A ball completely. That would eliminate enough minor league teams. It may just be better to go away with the active roster and the 40 man and just go with an active roster only. That would have to be less than 40. Probably something around 30-35. You could also slow walk the prospects by keeping them at a lower level until they are ready for AAA. This may actually be better for the prospects. This would also reduce the number of players in the minors. So yes some will have to go to the independent leagues. Majority of the prospects in the minors don’t amount to anything so thinning the rosters may be more beneficial to the teams and players. A smaller minor league system should allow for more coaching for the prospects than they get now. So one or two years at the DSL and spring training facilities and then off to AA or AAA. The losses are usually only temporary. At some point the Mets and even the Dodgers will stop spending. They don’t have an infinite money glitch they can tap into. At some point there will be cuts made to the payroll. Another thing I think for a cap either a NFL style cap or an NBA one to work the draft would need to be altered. Probably where the first three rounds get guaranteed contracts. Which would mean more college players would be picked in the first three rounds. Maybe not do three rounds and only the first two and then limit the draft to 15 rounds. This would also eliminate the international signing as they would be included in the draft. For the MLBPA to accept this I believe you need to give the guaranteed money to the draft picks so it is similar to what the international players are getting now in terms of bonus money. So may need to keep it at the first three or five rounds.

This is the sad part as Schwarber would be a great fit. No on Smith. Naylor or O’Hearn would be ok but I would prefer Naylor. I think Naylor is probably on the top of the list for the Yankees to acquire. Both O’Hearn and Naylor shouldn’t get more than Hoskins did per year when he signed with the Brewers. So they should be in the Brewers price range. No thanks on IKF. Bichette is probably an Adames or Swanson type. Why go for Bichette when they could have resigned Adames? I think Turang moving to SS and Durbin to 2B is a better move. I think Ortiz will be given another year to figure it out offensively. Either at 3B or SS. Defensively he is elite and if he is your #9 hitter he is about average at the #9 spot.

Rage is far easier to sell.

For a salary cap to work the owners would have to give up some of their revenue to the players. That now introduces smaller revenue for the teams. What do businesses do when revenue starts to shrink? You guessed it they start cutting things. One of the things the teams will start to cut quickly are the minor leagues. Since MLB heavily subsidizes the minor leagues it will be the thing that gets cut. It is just a money saving thing. The DSL and the spring training facilities will probably be safe as those investments are already rather high for the teams so cutting them doesn't make much sense. The cuts will probably be made at A and AA or just eliminating A ball. The owners will still want to stay around the profits they were bringing in before the salary cap so something will have to be cut for that to happen. The easiest thing to cut is the minor leagues. We have already seen a cut in the minors recently so I wouldn't be surprised if a salary cap were to be implemented it would probably lead to the end of the minor league system as we know it today.

The salary cap would be the death of the minor league system as we know it right now. Probably looking at gutting about 60% of the minors to where there is only DSL, Rookie and AAA. The only reason I believe the DSL and Rookie would survive is because those are major investments by the MLB teams. I believe you would also have to cut the number of games which the owners will not want to do or increase the roster size to around 30-33 which I am not sure the owners or players would be ok with. Teams would be even more babyish to pitchers with a salary cap in place. No one will want their pitchers to be going down for the year especially with a salary cap hit when a starting pitcher goes down with TJ and they are then out for a year plus. Or a starting pitcher goes out with a shoulder injury and now they are out for a year plus or more. I just don't believe a salary cap will help and will probably be a hindrance more so than it is helpful. It is probably best to go with something similar to what the NBA has. Which MLB already has somewhat. There just need to be more punishment for going over the cap like losing all of a teams international bonus money and the earliest the team can draft is in the third round. Could also make it impossible for a team over the cap to make a trade at the deadline unless they are trading contracts of equal value with the minimum value being $10mm. So for example the Dodgers would have been ineligible to make a trade this past deadline unless they traded someone on their active roster who was making $10mm or more per season and they would have to receive a player who had an equal per season average to who they were trading away and you can't combine players together it has to be one for one. Allow the teams to go over the cap but if they go over it there are consequences for doing so and more than just a monetary consequence. You have to hit the teams hard by not allowing them to get better in the future. So taking draft picks away and taking international bonus money away. I think MLB needs to go to something similar to what the NBA has now and not a true salary cap like the NFL. The salary cap died in 1994 for MLB.

They better have a HC already picked out also as it is getting late in the year for recruiting. May lose the whole class if they don't get it right and possibly last years class also.

Fields is just a bad QB. He has a hard time going through his progressions. He is so so so so so slow at going through his progressions that he misses wide open receivers and then gets sacked or tries to run with the ball. It was a problem in Chicago and it was a problem in Pittsburgh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTOs7GJmL4Q

Yelich is actual garbage.

LOL

Should have been left off the roster entirely.

He got so far under it, it was basically a pop up.

I would rather see Ortiz bat than Frelick right now.

Trade market is even worse IMHO. Other than pitching there isn’t much available that you would want to overpay for.

The only player I would feel comfortable giving a long term deal to would probably be Josh Naylor. Everyone else would be DH's or too old or have too many questions about health and ability. I am not a big Bichette fan and I think he screams more Adames or Swanson. A good player to have but let someone else over pay for him. I am also not sure if Bichette will stay healthy and you could have another Yelich type of a situation. Tucker is another option but again how healthy will he be and will he be worth that contract? It sucks that Yelich is basically a DH only option at this time as Schwarber would be an excellent addition to the Brewers and I don't think you need to give him anything more than 3-4 years maybe 5-years. The only problem is that it will be at about $20-25mm a season. That 4-year $79mm contract for the Phillies looks like a bargain now. Where was the Doug Melvin special for Schwarber then? I am half joking on this but a 5 year $100mm contract would have looked good right about now for the Brewers. I am not sure Schwarber would have came to Milwaukee for that but whatever.

Doesn't look like there is at least not in FA that is a reasonable add. SHORTSTOPS Miguel Rojas (37 years old, 4.5 WAR) Bo Bichette (28, 4.1) Trevor Story (33, 3.7) -- can opt out (Red Sox can void via club option) Ha-Seong Kim (30, 2.9) -- player option Isiah Kiner-Falefa (31, 2.8) Jorge Mateo (31, 0.2) -- club option Orlando Arcia (31, 0.0) Tim Anderson (33, -1.3) Probably just best to go with Ortiz for '26 and hope Made makes the same leap Chourio did and is ready for '27. Probably unlikely for Made to do that so realistically it is probably '28 for Made. Trade market there really isn't anyone and no Rengifo is not an option. Probably just best to move Turang back to SS and move Ortiz back to 3B. I would prefer a trade for someone like Donovan but I doubt the Cardinals would trade him in the division.