CheezWizHed

Yeah, I'm patient to wait and see how the team gels, but the really, really poor defensive approach by the team from a defensive minded coach is a red flag. I didn't expect the team to be top 5 defense, but in the 20s? Dame's shooting is oddly horrible too, so there is probably much to gain when he ramps back up. Would be nice to see them fill Stott's spot too. All being said (new rookie coach, new offensive coach, Giannis+Dame figuring each other out)... It will easily be into the 2nd half of the year before we could see this team stabilize.

Nuts. Two back-to-back posts about Kopps (in another thread) and now I'm hungry... Best burgers, best custard.

Yes. The original before Culvers. Kopps on Silver Spring was my college hangout (MSOE). But now when we come into town for a Brewer game, we hit Kopps on Layton all the time. My kids absolutely love it. But oddly, the one on Bluemound doesn't have as good of custard. It is always half melted.

Still not worse than our recent options. And to avoid being political... I'm including both sides of the aisle. Wish I could put that in blue... 😖

Some thoughts on this game: Love looked much better than his numbers. One INT was lucky, many drops on the game. Threw some nice deep balls, though I hold my breath on each one. I spend a lot of time watching our middle DL. Originally wondering why Clark looked like wet tissue paper to run through. Early in the game, the DL (all of them) were jumping into some gap at the snap. The result was leaving gaping holes that the RBs ran through. I'm sure there is some defensive logic to why they were doing that, but it DID NOT WORK. Later, they played more straight-up run D and looked much better against the run. I'm thinking this is much more the defensive scheme than the players. Fire Joe Barry please. Reed, Wicks, and Musgrave are really coming on now. They look great. Doubs looks good, but plateaued. Not much improvement from last year. Watson... dude, where's my car? Really looks like an athlete and not a FB player. That saddens me very much. Josiah Deguara - must have pictures of someone to stay on the team. Really? You can't even shift one foot to block? You have one job. Owens is starting to fit in better. He looked lost in the pre-season. He looks competent now. Probably not enough to make the Olympics, but sufficient for now. Gary has looked much less effective the last couple games. First game where Dillon outplayed a healthy Jones. Dillon has been strong lately. I wonder if he can take some of Deguara's HB duties?

Well, CC did have that odd batting stance, and we struggled hitting, so... A few thoughts on Murphy: Much of CC's success seemed to be in paying attention to advanced metrics to guide his decision making Second most important job of the manager is maintaining the team unity and locker room. I have no idea what sort of manager he is or will be, but hopefully he can do these 2 things. It doesn't require retaining the most expensive manager in the league to do #1 and #2. Spend the money elsewhere. We are probably into a mini-rebuild around our younger position players, Murphy managing that seems low risk. If he can't handle #1 and #2, we can find someone in 2-3 years when those rookies and AA/AAA players are hitting their primes.

Prague has always been a bit of a fantasy... but Argentina might be lovely.

To be fair, taking the high road disqualifies him for the Cubs... Cardinals too. 😝

Yes, what Outlander said. I'm projecting how I expect a 35 yo to age. Average of 115 OPS+ on his career, peaked at 30, and posted 111, 122, 108 OPS+ the last three years. Every player has a "bell-curve" to their production and I'm just projecting about where he will slide on the downside of his career. Maybe I'm undershooting him with 100-105 OPS+, but I'd bet the under for 110 OPS+. The guy will be a decent asset for the Tigers (as he would've been for us). But I'm more of the mindset that we should be rebuilding this year and looking for longer term assets. Canha is more a stop-gap player. Other equivalent stop-gaps (Brandon Belt) are available, too.

Well, he looked bad in TC as a rookie, then went into the doghouse with the suspension. Nice to see him work his way out of it. Has JRJ played much at center aside from the few snaps in pre-season? I kind of doubt he is ready for that. I wouldn't mind seeing JRJ & Rhyan (and perhaps Nijman/Walker) alternate series or halves as an in-season competition. I know the OL wants continuity, but at some point you need to evaluate the players too.

I see a lot of worry about "rebuild", but I wonder why. Do we actually want last year's offense on repeat? Yes, it was improved with Cahna and Santana, but it wasn't really great either. Canha was a great find last year and he played great for us. But his 120 OPS+ wasn't going to last. He'll more likely revert back to a 100-105 OPS+ guy with poor defense. While his $11.5M might not be huge, his presence on the team limits our flexibility too. Our best spots to improve our offense is at DH and 1B. People didn't like it when we trade for Canha, hated him 3 games into his Milwaukee career, and hate it when we trade him away... Just be happy we caught lightning in a bottle and move on. Watching NYM and the Padres should show that even the big pockets teams need to spend money smartly. Even more so with the Brewers.

Ok, please stop with the personal shots. Debate about the issues all you like. But taking shots about other's opinions can stop now.

Clearly he DIDN'T. 😄

I'd say most coaches at that level would take the HC job if offered. Some people really don't want that spotlight, but the opportunities are pretty rare. So if he wants to be a HC, he has to take it if offered.

Maybe AG should've let Stotts finish the offensive discussion with the players before firing him! Agreed. Giannis is scoring a lot, but certainly looks a bit out of sorts on the court. I kind of think this is a good thing. Giannis was always raw at BB coming in, so seeing such a gap in his understanding of a basic BB play means he still has some untapped potential...perhaps something Bud should've unlocked long ago to break up the "build a wall" defenses. The main question/concern is if Giannis can turn the gap into a strength for him. And unlike shooting 3 ptrs (PLEASE STOP!), I think this is an area well within his wheelhouse. Just will take work and practice...things GA does excel at. I was worried about the loss of Stotts from the start. Not that he was so brilliant, but just losing your main offensive leader right at a time when you were still installing the offense. And for AG, I hope he isn't the type of coach where he stubbornly sticks to his guns despite the limitations of his players... Either he needs to play Brooks less at times or adjust the D to fit him better.

Well, I fit the first criteria, but didn't see the play itself... so now you have to say it! 😉😅

Life's been busy, but wanted to add my $0.02 here. Maybe it's worth less (or worthless?)... Love has put together a couple of nice games. He still has a couple "aim" balls that tend to go off accuracy, but far more just let 'er rip. He has a good arm, but too often looks like he is trying to finesse it in this year. Did better there. Dillon - maybe his best game of the season? A couple bad runs, but had some very nice ones too. Finding more of the holes instead of just running into OL. I'm starting to wonder if he should have Deguara's job as a HB? Wicks - He continues to impress - fumble or not. The embodiment of why route running > athleticism. Valentine - he has been up and down all season, but I'm excited to see him get more opportunity now. Certainly a starting CB in the league. Just needs some refinement and/or experience. Looks very natural out there. Johnson - likewise. Nice to see him step up and have a good game at safety. Rhyan - Was happy to see him out there, even for a few snaps. Looked good. Way better than Newman. Maybe he is the first to break the 3rd rounder streak? Brooks - I keep getting KGB flashbacks when I see him out there (physical resemblance), but Brooks has really made an impact on the field (very different player than KGB). Wooden - has been up and down, but didn't disappoint in Clark's absence. Will be interesting to see how much of a 2nd year jump he can make. McDuffie - Reminds me of an old-school MLB. Not really a speed, sideline-to-sideline guy, but a solid tackler and run-stuffer. Great backup guy. Defense - yeah, against a backup QB, but they did what they needed to and made him look bad. Defense has actually been decent for a few games. Offense - Improving, but still below average as a whole. They really need to find something that sparks them at the beginning of a game.

Another article tied in CC's path to coaching with RW's current path. Hence the link. No idea if Week's would be good at coaching or not, but obviously multiple people think he can't. Why not?

You don't think Gute will draft a 1st round QB while already having one? He has made some comments about Love recently, so I'm guessing he would be open to it. Frankly, if we had one of the top 2 picks (and considering how bad we would be to fall that far), I'd hope he'd run to the podium to draft one of them.

It isn't a good look, but the first half of the season most likely is going to be figuring a lot of things out. What works, what doesn't, who works together, who is going to step up this year, etc... So many people questions along with new defense and new offense (minus the offensive coach)... They have two new starters on offense. Khris is returning from injury. Crowder, Green, and Beauchamp are all taking bigger roles this year. All trying to figure out a new coach's D-philosophy... and who knows what is going on offensively with Stotts gone. I'm much more concerned if you don't see the team start to gel in the second half.

I don't disagree about our OL and run blocking, but Dillon doesn't look like the back he was as a rookie either. He was much better and patient about finding and picking holes. Doing jump-cuts. Then last year or the year before, he started running into his blocker a WHOLE lot more. And not just running into a line, but practically between the numbers of his OL. Not sure if it is coaching or what... but he seems like he just runs to where the play is "supposed" to go and doesn't look to see if the hole actually opened there. Not that I want him dancing in the backfield... but some patience and vision has been lost the last couple years.

I was saying it a little-tongue-in-cheek (half-blue?). But we aren't half-way through the season and have 1 win more than the worst team. Alexander is dinged up and playing poorly. Our safeties were bad coming into the season and our best one (Savage) is probably out for the season. Nixon isn't bad as a slot CB, but hardly a shut-down. And now we are going to have Val/Ballentine starting at CB. Our pass defense was pretty good up to now. Now we don't have much for pass or run D... Especially if Alexander doesn't get better (physically and level of play).

The "pitching coach" is more than just a single person. It is also the lab and network behind that singular person. When Johnson left Hook was brought up from internal org who was part of all that. Obviously, they don't share the responsibilities of each person in the org as part of the "pitching lab", but I'm pretty sure all the pitching coaches are involved with it. Thus my concern if CC leaves, Hook may leave... when you start pulling the string (whether others follow CC, Hook, or just find a new opportunity) how it impacts our pitching lab as a whole. Much of why we have "ace after ace" and a strong BP is because we have those coaches that are able to better shape pitches, form a better plan for how to use pitches, and focus on the effective pitches while eliminating the ineffective ones. It has been very interesting for the last 5-6 years to watch the Brewers pick up pitchers and suddenly make them effective. Megill is a great example of this in 2023. Less is said about how we develop bats, swings, etc... do we have a "hitting lab?" I have no idea. But our hitting coaches certainly seem less effective at improving our hitters. Or maybe their impact is simply less obvious?

Losing Douglas might have some interesting trickle down effects... Clearly a good rebuild move for next year with Douglas' salary. But it looks a bit like a "tank move" for this year also. Alexander isn't 100% yet. Stokes just went on IR. Valentine, Nixon, and Ballentine become our CB starters if Jaire can't play. Our CB strength just went to a glaring weakness. Maybe Gute has his eyes on Williams/Maye after all?

Then he might as well keep Joe Barry as DC!