HiAndTight

Yes,and they're also incomplete. He talks extensively about how why HE BELIEVES that the Brewers WOULDN'T be losing money and makes several points. You take parts of each point and then ignore the part that doesn't support the clearly cute, but inaccurate one-liner of It’s nauseating that a business owner doesn’t want to lose money? I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you were being intellectually dishonest at best. He said he can't "hear" the arguments that he's going to lose money and then supported that with little factual actual data other than the increase in the valuation of the team, and supposition about how much the team has made, how much they would make and how much a playoff run would bring the team. What he absolutely DID NOT SAY was that "it's nauseating that a business owner doesn't want to lose money," because he's made it clear he doesn't believe he IS losing money, in fact, just the opposite. And for the record, as incomplete as his facts are on how much money this team has or how much they would have to spend in order to lose money, you're in the same boat. The only thing we know is that he's made a helluva lot of money just on the valuation of the team since he purchased it. He never said it was nauseating for a business owner to not want to lose money, Mark A has never said anything about losing money(though he HAS always said that if the team was close and there was a game changing player, they'd find the money, though I don't know if Kimbrel fits that description). But back to the premise. You know that's not what he said. Argue with the words actual stated. Don't re-arrange what was said. When you have to go back and re-arrange and then re-quote what he said, you know that you're mis-representing his argument. When he talks about how he's made nearly a billion dollars on the team alone, that right there tells you he doesn't believe Mark A is losing money, he's not buying YOUR arguments that Mark A is losing money. THAT is what he finds nauseating, the argument that he's losing money. You can twist it however you'd like with his ill-concieved "we deserve this" argument, but the two were seperate. He doesn't believe Mark A is losing money, he finds people making that argument nauseating. Full stop. YOu responded by saying, "so you think a business owner not wanting to lose money is nauseating." If you see that as a intellectually honest exchange, then I'm not sure what to say.

I don't see how you make this math work. First of all, Fields is a guy who has been extremely lucky the last two years, stranding nearly 90 pct of runners each year. He's also a fly ball pitcher who's moving from the NL West to the AL Central. Oh, and he missed the last two months of last year with a shoulder injury. Wilson is a fine middle reliever who is a middle of the road reliever. I think there's just as good of a chance that Barnes and Albers out-perform them than they not only out-perform Barnes and Albers, but do so to SUCH a degree that they make up for the loss of Knebel? Not likely. Not unless they both turn into something that they haven't been in their careers to date. And Albers at least has been dominant at some point with a 1.60 ERA and a .85 Whip two years ago, and Barnes is the guy on the team who's pure stuff is closest to Knebel. Getting Jacob Barnes to turn it around like Knebel did would be the closest we could come to making up for the loss of Knebel.... But I wouldn't count on either of those happening either. Just as I wouldn't count on Jeffress, who was already highly, highly unlikely to even approach last years success to come out of this shoulder injury and be an elite high leverage reliever. Fields and Wilson are like medics on the scene of a gun shot to the chest. Two pieces of Gauze that will be used up and then discarded most likely for a better option down the road. At least hopefully that's the case...othewise our patient was DOA when he got to the hospital. +1 Couldn’t agree more with your take here. Only quibble would be Barnes closest to knebel Barnes scrapped his 99 four seem of 2017 for cutter. 2017 closer to knebel 2018 regressed In my mind. We see cause apparently crew still likes him. Well, he's not exactly the same as Knebel. He throws a slider while Knebel has that wipeout curve. They both throw really hard and they both get a lot of movement and they are both like a lot of other pitchers, if they have decent control, not even command, just control, they can dominate. According to fangraphs though, he hasn't changed anything since 2016....He's thrown a 4 seemer and a slider and he throws them just a tick slower than Corey, but when Corey really took off was when he started working up in the zone and then using that nasty curve to change levels on the hitter. That IS tougher to do with a slider, tougher to throw a "get me over slider." Which is probably why he walks more and struggles more, but also looks dominant at times. Anyway, Kimbrel or no Kimbrel, the Brewers are gonna need a pitcher we all didn't expect to be really good to be really good. Not counting on Wahl to make it back late this year, though I think he could have been the guy, but the early candidates I have are Barnes, Guerra as a reliever...that splitter is fily, Chase Anderson, if he can get it up to 94-95 in the pen and get that curve over, he could be good, and kinda gotta hope that Albers can go back to being a 9K per 9 IP type guy, and while I'm not expecting a .85 whip and a 1.60 ERA, a workhorse who can be in the upper 2.00's and be that rubber arm would be nice. IF we miss out on Kimbrel, fine. Hopefully a few guys have really nice 1st haves and we can add a dominant reliever. But as it stands right now....I'd feel much better with Kimbrel. And then maybe Knebel will be that one guy out of 100 who is able to rehab that UCL and come back and pitch like Tanaka did for a bit. But I have zero confidence in the two guys we just added other than being the Dan Jennings-esque type additions. Two guys who aren't part of a playoff BP rotation in the big games but not horrible and keep our heads above water for a little while. Who knows what we may get from our own system. Maybe Phil Bickford figures it out and shoots through the system to become an effective reliever.

Yes...that appears to be exactly what's going on. Especially when you read the reply and take this post along with several others in context along with the exaggerated claims of a Cy Young for Nelson, a sarcastic quip used as a way of saying "told ya so," because Nelson is.....sore? Anyone on here ever pitch or play baseball? The first time you ramp it up and start really throwing it, you deal with soreness. When it's been 19 months since you pitched, I'd imagine that's even worse. When you're a pitcher at that level and you generate THAT type of stress on your arm, I'd guess its' that much worse. But for the love of Bernie, can we PLEASE hold the "told ya so's," if there are any to be had until either we're watching this team spray each other with alcohol at some point, or we're all so miserable from the people who are happy the non-optimistic comments have come to fruition that this board is already miserable?

The saying you're looking for is "Don't count your chickens until they're hatched." Do you see now it wasn't a given Nelson was going to start Opening Day, pitch better than ever his year, and win the Cy Young? Optimism is great, blind optimism is not. Because a guy who hasn't pitched in a year and a half is sore from....pitching? Also, could somehow link me to the Jimmy Nelson Cy Young predictions? You seem more pleased with yourself that Nelson isn't returning from a near 2 year layoff without any issues(and also subtely jumping to conclusions about the severity of an injury) while saying "told ya so," to a fellow Brewers fan. I'd think ANYONE who's a fan of the Brewers would MUCH rather be wrong and see things go BETTER for the team than be right and see things go worse...like their best pitcher potentially suffering a serious injury(though there's absoulutely nothing to suggest he's done anything OTHER than get sore throwing 60 pitches for the first time in how long).

I don't see how you make this math work. First of all, Fields is a guy who has been extremely lucky the last two years, stranding nearly 90 pct of runners each year. He's also a fly ball pitcher who's moving from the NL West to the AL Central. Oh, and he missed the last two months of last year with a shoulder injury. Wilson is a fine middle reliever who is a middle of the road reliever. I think there's just as good of a chance that Barnes and Albers out-perform them than they not only out-perform Barnes and Albers, but do so to SUCH a degree that they make up for the loss of Knebel? Not likely. Not unless they both turn into something that they haven't been in their careers to date. And Albers at least has been dominant at some point with a 1.60 ERA and a .85 Whip two years ago, and Barnes is the guy on the team who's pure stuff is closest to Knebel. Getting Jacob Barnes to turn it around like Knebel did would be the closest we could come to making up for the loss of Knebel.... But I wouldn't count on either of those happening either. Just as I wouldn't count on Jeffress, who was already highly, highly unlikely to even approach last years success to come out of this shoulder injury and be an elite high leverage reliever. Fields and Wilson are like medics on the scene of a gun shot to the chest. Two pieces of Gauze that will be used up and then discarded most likely for a better option down the road. At least hopefully that's the case...othewise our patient was DOA when he got to the hospital.

Maybe but we Don’t know that. Stearns has signed a guy like fields and Wilson each year he has been here and it has worked out each year. Nothing wrong with improving the pen especially with Corey and JJ possibly being on the IL to start the season. The longer this drags on, the more likely you are probably right though. Well I did say probably. The way the roster spots work out just suggests to me that they aren't going to add yet another guy. Knebel and Jeffress both could easily still pitch this season, the roster is getting very full. That's probably a better chance that Knebel doesn't pitch this year and ends up on the 60 day than there is at this point. Pitchers getting second opinions on their UCL seldom come back to dominante like Knebel did last year. Also, shoulder injury-topping out at 84....good chance Jeffress also sees the 60 day as well.

I think you could draw the conclusion that Kimbrel was asking for both of those before since he's been historically great and not yet signed, but I don't think the signing of Alex Wilson means anything regarding Kimbrel. Had they traded for Will Smith, perhaps that would have, but not Alex Wilson.

Yes, but that's assuming Kimbrel as a reliever is equal to or similar to Kuechel as a starter. I don't think that's the case. I think Kimbrel's been historically great. Kuechel is a soft tossing lefty who relies on GB's and does not dominante like Kimbrell. A more apt comp would be a Justin Verlander like starter vs a Kimbrell type reliever. I'd also take the starter in a more equal comp like that. Also, I'd rather not burn another year of Corbin Burnes in the BP as I think a pitcher with his 4 pitch mix, mentality and velocity can be a upper tier starter that you're talking about. You're talking about how much better it is to have a starter...why waste a cheap, homegrown stud like Burnes in the BP? Then you flip it around and look at how the Brewers succeeded last year, they were able to, especially at the end of the year, get whatever they could out of their starter, patch together the pen to get to the 9th or the last 4 outs because they had a dominant reliever down there in Knebel or Jeffress. Of course you'd have be 100 pct conident you were getting a healthy and rested Kimbrel and make peace with the fact that you'd likely not see him until the middle of April. Again, impossible to know, but we could have signed Ottavino for 2 years for what we'd likely have to pay Kimbrel....but, those are the breaks if you want to win a WS. Sometimes you have to overcome bad luck. And maybe we'll get good luck. Maybe Knebel who's had some issue with his UCL since 2014 in Texas will be back by the ASB and Jeffress and his BP's go really well and he'll be back by mid-May. I personally am not counting on either at all this year, but how nice would it be to be wrong on that.

If there is anything we have learned since Stearns has been in charge is he rarely will pay more (in terms of salary, players, etc) than he believes a player is worth. All of his moves have been about getting value for assets expended, and while he is willing to pay a premium price for production now that the Brewers are competitive he doesn't appear to be willing to overpay. I think Stearns would like to add Kimbrel. I think the Brewers are in a good position to add expensive pieces like Kimbrel because competing for a championship is realistic. I don't think, however, Stearns is going to pay Kimbrel more than he thinks he's worth, regardless of factors such as cash on hand, current roster makeup, etc. If Kimbrel's price remains significantly outside of what Stearns thinks he's worth, I doubt we'll see Kimbrel sign with the Brewers. The only possible scenario I could see where Stearns overpays for Kimbrel would be on a one-year deal, and even then I doubt he significantly overpays. EDIT: I don't know Kimbrel's asking price or that it is "significantly" outside of what Stearns is willing to pay. I am assuming the gap must be somewhat large because if it were not the two sides would have agreed on a contract. I am perfectly willing to concede the gap may be closer than the situation would seem to indicate. Yes that is certainly stearns m/o up to this point. Only difference I see now is the market in all likelihood is down enough to where we can get tremendous value on a pitcher of need just by ante up above what’s comfortable. There are exceptions to every rule. If the reports are true and it’s down to the braves and brewers and Kimbrel doesn’t want to wait til the second week of June, I think that time to break that rule is now. I don’t think anyone is gonna care that he overpaid for one year of arguably the best closer in baseball. I think some of us are so focused on the trees we miss the forest. I agree with this. Though overpay means something different to everyone. Stearns does not overpay, but Stearns has never been in a situation like this before, going into the season and just weeks before it starts, two of the most important pieces of your team go down with what we have to assume are going to be prolonged injuries that in a VERY BEST case scenario will leave us without those two pitchers for an extended period of time, a period in which we have a very difficult schedule. The Braves are one of the cheapest teams in baseball relative to what they're fiscally capable of spending, so hopefully that will work out to our advantage as much as Kimbrel's history with the Braves will work against. Provided you're fully confident that Kimbrel is healthy and that he can come in and produce at a level like he has in the past(and if he's healthy, there's no reason to believe he cannot) then I'd be all for giving him a 2 year 38 million dollar deal with a team option for the 2nd year. Maybe 16 million this year, 20 million next year and a 2 million dollar buyout. It's allow Kimbrel to save face and get more than the QO that he turned down, it'd allow the Brewers to get out of it after one year, AND if he has a dominant season like he had in 2017, you could pick up that option and likely turn around and trade him. When he's on, he's as good as JUST about any reliever has ever been. I know this is hindsight and there was no reason to focus on this at the time, but how eager would this team be to negotiate with Miller or Robertson, or the guy I really wanted, Ottavino. I was operating under the assumption it'd be a strength for us(and given that Kimbrel has been pitching with some damage in his elbow since 2014 in Texas, and we still have a lot of young talent, it still could be). But how much nicer would it be to have Ottavino as depth rather than have to try and negotiate with a pitcher who's intent on setting the market for FA Relief pitchers? Not blaming Stearns at all...though it did make more sense to me than bringing back Moose, but not the point. If Kimbrel wants to play around too much longer though, the Brewers should just move on entirely, if their BP lets them down, try and swing a deal with a team like Baltimore or whatever bottom dwellers are out there for our young OF'ers. Of course by that point, we may have already lost a win or 3 and look at where we'd have been last yearee in that scenario.

Milwaukee being the best fans in baseball is not a "Fact", thats an opinion that every fan base of every pro sports franchise shares about its self. No fan base "deserves" a payroll of whatever it takes to win a world series. They deserve a product on the field of professional baseball, which we have. No, of course not. I don't even know if this is a fact anymore, but I do KNOW that it wasn't long ago that Brewers fans spent more money per capita than any other fan base in all of baseball per capita. So perhaps the Brewers fans are more fiscally invested in their team than other fan bases are per person. But "best," is an arbitrary word. And I've never once heard a single player retire from playing in one place for a long time and NOT refer to the fan base he was speaking to on the mic as the best fans in whatever sport it is that person played. I would slightly disagree with you. I DO think we "deserve" a owner who's willing to extend himself a bit in unique situations when you have a team capable of going to a World Series given the financial committment we continue to make to the team. For instance, if say, you're a team that won last year in large part due to a fantastic bullpen and now you're realistically looking at missing your two best right handed pitchers from last years team and due to a confluence of events, one of the greatest relievers who has ever pitched has become available for far cheaper and for a far shorter deal than anyone thought possible just a short time ago, I think you're obligated to TRY and make that situation work out. That's provided that the pitcher is healthy(lets not forget that as bad as Jeffress was at the very end of last year, Kimbrell was just as shaky, this can often times be an indicated or elbow issues...ie, control issues, but not veloity issues) and that while you may not be comfortable with the terms of the potential deal, they're not outlandish or something that was forbid us from being competitive in the near future, ie, a 3 year 55 million dollar deal.

It’s nauseating that a business owner doesn’t want to lose money? He should just lose millions of dollars and take a big loss? From what I can find online, Mark is the majority owner and owns 38% of the Brewers. If you think he’s personally gaining $100 million in his pocket this year then wow. Their valuation went up 6% from last year to this year alone. How much of that is Mark’s at a 38% stake? $10 million? Also, just because a value of a business goes up does not mean there is an increase in cash in his pocket to throw at payroll. Stearns can dump the payroll to whatever when we aren’t contending? That proves my point. Brewers won’t draw 3 million fans winning 70 games and fielding a team with a $70 million payroll after spending $130 million on it a couple years earlier. How is he gaining his money back now to fund another competitive team down the road if he blows it all now, but can’t make it back up down the road since they are fielding a poor team with a low payroll? They will still draw fans, but a lot of people won’t pay to watch a non-competitive team, especially after an extended competitive window. Many fans will lose interest in the team if they start losing a bunch of games and they will feel slighted when they are paying more for tickets, but the payroll is the lowest it’s been in years. There is a lot that goes into these decisions. It’s not as simple as it’s being made out to be. Are you trying to infer that's a statement that was made that you're replying to? Because at no poing in there did he say he thought it was nauseating for a business owner to not want to take a loss. What he said was that Mark A has already made hundreds of Millions of dollars on his investment(that's true, though it's like almost all rich people's money, it's not actual money, it's valuation) and that he doesn't believe that he(Mark A) would lose money and that he finds the ARGUMENT being made nauseating. I find it nauseating when people create a fictional argument or ascribe a comment to a person that a person never made, then argue against that so as to argue their point stronger.

There are so many studs on the DL in this draft. I can't imagine a guy like Ed Oliver potentially falling out of the top 10 in most drafts or Wilkins potentially being available in the late teens. Wilkerson is still young, but he's gotta take even less than last year on that one year "prove it" deal, but it'd definitely be nice depth. I don't see the same drop-off when healthy that others do from Daniels, but even so, he IS gonna be 30 by the time he hits free agency. Hopefully he plays well enough this year that he's a day one free agent next year that we either re-sign before free agency starts, or someone gives stupid money to! Ed Oliver though, he was used as a DT at Houston and he was good, but he's not a natural DT. He's a 3 technique who could be a double digit sack guy. Bring back Clay on the cheap, pick the best pass rusher available assuming one of the studs IS available, Oliver, Sweat, whoever and give Pettine the pieces to provide the pressure so that guys like Jackson can use their ball-hawking skills to rack up the picks in the secondary. One quick thing. Anyone else here realize Sweat was a Michigan State guy before running into some trouble and transferring? He's obviously an athletic freak, but he spent 5 years in college. I wonder if he really has the upside some of the other guys do?

I like the Peralta with the big club-Davies In AAA. All Peraltas’s gotta do is get the ball over the plate and he’ll dominate. You're talking about Peralta like he's Walker Buehler. He's a good looking young starter and better yet, one we developed for the most part, but he doesn't have the velocity to just get the ball over and dominate guys. I like Anderson personally, but I don't like what we've seen from him recently. You can't count on him. I don't like soft tossing right-handers, so I've never been high on Davies. I don't think there's much chance Sueter comes back this year and is productive. In fact, I think we've already seen the best out of him that we'll ever see. You're talking about a guy who had a 4.49 FIP, who had TJ surgery last year coming back and doing what this year? What can we honestly expect out of him? I think it's far more likely he never pitches for the Brewers again than he comes back this year and is an average pitcher again. And if we're going to be a contender, we're going to expect 30+ starts out of 3 guys who've never been regular starters in the big leagues and then ask them to pitch in the post-season? This is why I've changed my tune and am hoping they sign a guy like Kimbrel. I don't know if that's even feasible given our payroll or if he'd even consider the Brewers if we do offer more money given that he probably has 3-4 year offers from other teams and it sounds like he's holding out for a huge offer, but our BP is really gonna have to be great again this year to get us back to where we were. I am confident that Nelson will be back and he'll be very good, I think so long as he's not overused, Guerra is a better fit in the BP and could be dominant. I believe Hader and Knebel will be studs. But I do fear we may struggle for a while with multiple relievers before we find some guys who establish themselves. Guys like Taylor Williams, hopefully Jacob Barnes among them. And I'm definitely not counting on Brown or Supak to come up this year and do anything even approaching what Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta did for us lsat year. I don't even know if we can count on those three to do that.

I actually think they ranked him pretty fairly. Trout and Betts are obviously ahead of him. Bregman I think being ahead of him is ridiculous. Hell, I'd put Atuve ahead of him personally, but not Bregman. He's a guy who had a bit of a down year last year and was injured and put up a 5.2 WAR. So maybe he could be 6th, but since you have to have pitchers in there, Scherzer and Degrom are hardly insults to rank ahead of him and Arenado is one of the most under the radar superstars I've ever seen in sports. I get he plays in Coors, but his defense is just absurd, and maybe my memory is bad, but I thought from his splits that he performed almost as well away as he did at home. The one controversial one I MIGHT throw in there is Machado. I don't like the guy, but being back at 3rd with his bat and at his age, he could very well be ahead of Yelich next year through no fault of Yelich. Just the result of not being an elite defensive OF'er and some other really-really great players. Now if Aaron Judge was rated ahead of him....I'd have some issues!

I don't care which way they do it(if they do it out of the pen though, I'd really hope it'd be every 5th day and that he could warm up like a starter). If he can get the velo back up and his breaking stuff looks like that....wow. Maybe instead of his '17 season being an outlier, it'll be just the start!

Exactly, too much uncertainty. Seems like we went from a dominating, team defining bullpen to maybe slightly above average pen overnight. Barnes has the potential to be a Knebel type arm, but I've thought that for a few years when Barnes numbers looked very similar to Knebel's before Knebel broke out. Very little confidence there. Taylor Williams, I feel good about him. They were pretty careful with him, but he should be a guy they can count on pretty regularly. Albers has been an every other year guy, but that's hardly proof he'll be good this year. We're already down Wahl and Jeffress for at least a while and we lose whichever young guys move to the rotation. Houser is in the same camp as Williams sorta. But it's taking a lot on faith that either will be really good. More likely 3.00-ish ERA type guys. Wahl and Jeffress were two guys I was counting on for 100 innings of high leverage pitching and that number may end up being zero now. If we're really pushing our chips to the middle, see if Kimbrel will take a shorter deal. Maybe even go 1 year 14 with some money deferred(or make it like Grandal, a mutual option he'd obviously decline). It's just extremely rare to have an arm as talented as his still sitting around on March 18th.

If I understood correctly, he was suggesting that if Kimbrel gets a big deal, that's less money that one of Boras' clients could then get.....I don't know how a reporter saying he may be "in trouble," advances that case as it's not like GM's who may be interested in Kimbrel are sitting around and making their decicsions based on what a reporter is suggesting. That said, I'm firmly on board with signing Kimbrel right now. I was a bit indifferent to it. I didn't realize that Jeffress was out to start the year and only throwing 83-84 before shutting it down while denying an injury. I was incredibly skeptical he would be able to even approach last years success in the first place, but now with that chance almost completely gone, we NEED either someone to really step up and have a big year in the pen(Albers, it'd be nice if you could post a sub 2.0 ERA again) or, and this would be safer, sign a proven, future HOF reliever still in his prime, still throwing in the upper 90's if you can get him for 2/20. Gotta say, if we don't have 10 million to spend, that makes me dislike the Moose signing even more. AS much as I like the guy, I just didn't see it as a need. The way this team is built, we NEED a dominant reliever in the pen, and while Knebel could be the closer, I would actually feel better with Kimbrel closing and Knebel being used like he was at the end of last year. To put out fires when they're burning hottest. In the bottom of the 6th, the 7th...whenever. Plus, giving Kimbrel the closing spot on a team that's improved it's roster after winning 96 games should put him 40+ saves closer on his quest to become the all time saves leader. We cannot afford to get off to a slow start and be 7-8 games out before we make a move. Signing Kimbrel now may not help for opening day, but it'd give us a stud for about 2 weeks into the season. And if by some miracle, Jeffress and the "Un-injured shoulder" that coincidentally had him throwing about 13 MPH less than last year make it back to form, we don't just have a great pen, we have a Yankee like pen. Then we only need to ask Burnes, Woody, Nelson(hopefully) and company to give us 5-6 innings.

I’m hoping we don’t need a starter at this years deadline. Price gonna be half the farm for some of these guys. Too many buyers in NL this year in all likely hood. Isn't it juuuuust a bit early to be speculating on which teams are looking to add or subtract for the playoff run? I get it's ST'ing and teams are optimistic, but the very guy we're talking about was a guy who was on a surefire contender last year, was a guy who likely would have gotten 20 million dollars if he was a FA last year and we ended up picking him up for nothing as a waiver trade. There are always arms available. We're not talking about looking for another CC or Greinke....just a viable starter.

This makes almost no sense to me. Maybe he doesn't make the team and we add him when he opts out, but I thought he'd be a good fit here and for 3 million, a really-really good fit. Did he actually prefer to NOT come back and battle for a spot on the Yanks or were we just not willing to sign him to a guaranteed contract I wonder.

It's just one guy suggesting it. On the other hand, he's relentless about it. I just don't see what that would get them. Why are you taking Shaw or Moose out and who are you trying to fit in at 1st?

I thought Williams looked pretty good last year. Still has the quickness to play in the slot. At this point, I'd rather see them just move Jackson to FS unless they can pick up a better one in the draft. Or MAYBE...Eric Berry likes playing in the Midwest? I'm only half kidding. I have NO CLUE what you even offer a guy with that type of talent who's coming off the injuries he has dealt with the last two years. 1 year 8 million? 3 years with most of it front-loaded so you can cut him next year, but with incentives? So 3 years, 30 million, 5 SB, salary of 5 million guaranteed this year and then a roster bonus for 8 million on the first day of the league year next season? Then you can cut him next year with only 3.3 cap hit?

From what I've seen he wanted to go somehwere he was more likely to start. The Packers apparently are banking on the Alexander/King combo again this year. For 1 year 3 million, that's a bit of a surprise. Right now we have one good, reliable corner. The Chiefs have the same in Nelson. I don't really see that situation being all that more advantageous, but it's done now. Corner should be a relatively high priority. Not a 1st if there isn't one who's the BPA(though I do like the sound of getting Greedy), but at least before the 5th round. I'd like the see the first 3 picks used on a young, high upside edge rusher. With the signings of the Smiths, if one turns into a Jamal Reynolds, it'll hurt, but not as bad. Another threat for Rodgers, be it one of the Iowa TE's or a WR'er. We should have a really nice option available at 30. Even Irv Smith would be a nice fit at 30(though a better fit in the 2nd). And then a pick on the best available linemen on either side of the ball. After that, the next 3 picks, a talented RB who fits in this scheme, a CB and a safety, hopefully a bigger athletic one. Like a Josh Jones who you hope can figure out what his actual responsibility is as I'm not holding out much hope he figures it out anymore. Then...whatever. A tackle you projected to play guard, a MLB'er with some speed, who knows.

I get he hasn't looked good as of late...or has been hit or miss and he does run ISO a bit, but he's our 2nd best player. 3rd at worst. You're actually HOPING the Bucks lose him this off-season? It's not like hoping the Packers move on from a guy who's been one of their best players but you just don't think fits. If they lose him, they are replacing him with a very late 1st round pick or with Tony Snell likely stepping into the lineup. Middleton's a very good player and the Bucks can't afford to lose him. I do wish he'd take fewer deep 2's, wish he'd pass more instead of taking that contested 12-16 foot turnaround, but he FAR more of an asset than a negative.

It's also not NEARLY as big of an injury as the one he suffered in college. If it was another Navicular break, particularly to the same foot, that'd be a huge concern. The concern on this one is it's just going to be painful. He'd been playing with it. I think he'll come back on the more optimistic side of the time frame, but it's not a good injury to come back and jump back into a tough series with(though I don't know what is). Not sure we'll be able to count on him being able to get those 2-4 drives a game where he gets an angle and puts a nice move on the guy and takes it to the hole. I think he's going to be more of a catch and shoot guy in the playoffs and his defense will also struggle a bit. He can match up against more physical 2 guards, but he'll likely really struggle with quick PG's. Boston is the team that I'm really concerned with right now. I think I'd like to see them in the 3rd seed and the Sixers as the 4. Of course we could get lucky and maybe Indy will take care of the Celts in the 1st round! How nice would that be?

Not having Brogdon might be affecting this team more than we think. It's been one game. I do think it will hurt, hopefully they can keep their #1 overall seed, get through the 1st round and then have Brogdon back. As far as the Bucks being a marginal playoff team without Middleton, that's ridiculous. That would mean they're at or below .500 and that's not going to happen. I agree the way the rules are set-up they need to keep him, but it's crazy to think they go from the best record in the NBA to a marginal playoff team in the East without Middleton. I'll bet Brodgon is back for the 1st round of the playoffs. This is nothing like the injury he had in college. This is an injury that's mostly just a matter of pain tolerance. The problem is that it's worse when you come back after not having worked out for a while. So hopefully he can come back, play a few minutes in the 1st round, and then be ready to go for round two. It has only been one game, and in that game, we played a Sixers team that hit almost 50 pct from the 3 point line and has arguably the best starting 5 in the game(I'd argue they don't, but it's good). And it was competitive. Just get that 1st seed, beat up on Miami or...is it Orlando that could be the 8th seed? Haven't looked in a while. And then get ready for a tough 2nd round series. But of course losing a 90/50/40 starter who is one of our best finishers at the rim and a really nice, physical defender is gonna hurt this team. Maybe we get lucky and the Jordan of Delaware really flashes in the next 5 weeks and we have a better idea of what he'll look like in the future!