JosephC

What is "middle infield" and "catcher?" Give me more toolsy outfielders!

Cain and Yelich have too much RBI potential to use their bats at #1 and #2 in the lineup. If that's where Counsell is going to hit them, then he should be batting the pitcher 8th to try to get more men on base for Cain. I would agree that, to this point, some of the bottom of the order hitters haven't been much better than pitchers, but that won't last the whole season. Is part of this because they feel Braun has to hit third? Complete foolishness if that's the case. Bump Cain to #2, Yelich to #3, Braun/Aguilar to #4 and Shaw to #5. Maybe it's time to just put Villar back in the leadoff spot and just stick with him. As frustrating as he is, I haven't seen anything that makes me think Perez or Sogard will contribute more to the team. Solid two week "audition" for Villar everyday in the leadoff spot and if he can OBP .320, although terrible for a leadoff man, it still might be best for the lineup having his .320 OBP ahead of Cain instead of a pitcher's .140 OBP (current OBP for Brewer pitchers).

There is the speed receiver. Now I like the Moore pick that much more. Getting lucky on my projections. Had both Alexander and Madison in my pre-draft projection, and had Valdes-Scantling on the day three projection I did this morning.

Congratulations Gutekunst on your first dumb-dumb pick. Last year's rookie punter was seventh in the NFL in net average. Good luck getting a much better performance than that. OLB, TE, S positions all could use help. Also could have added more depth to OL or WR. They must not like the bottom of the board to take a punter there.

I like the Cole Madison pick. College right tackle that probably swings between right tackle and right guard. Considering the Packers need help in both areas, it seems like a real logical pick to me. Do have some worries about him playing in a spread offense in college. I don't have any numbers to back it up but there have been reports that offensive lineman from spread offenses have a much higher bust rate. But that may just be because there have been some high profile ones (like Greg Robinson) that turned out really bad.

Wouldn't have expected the Moore pick. The 40 time is 4.60 is which is a concern when coming off a year where the play speed of the receivers was the slowest in the NFL. But Moore was very productive in college. Back-to-back 1000+ yard seasons with 8 TDs in 2016 and 10 TDs in 2017. And that's in the SEC, not a conference like the Big 12 where the defense forgets to get off the bus each and every week. The agility numbers were outstanding, 4.04 in the short shuttle (2nd best at combine among WRs) and 6.56 in the 3-cone (tied for best at the combine among WRs). Interesting pick. I figured the Packers would take two receivers in this draft, if they do it will be interesting to see who they add with Moore already in the fold.

Not necessarily indicative of another player’s future performance. What is pretty indicative of a player's future performance is what they've done in the past. J.J. Hoover's big league statistics from 2014-2017: 187 innings, 4.86 ERA, 5.23 FIP, 1.48 WHIP Looks good in spring training, gets called up and flops with a 20.25 ERA and 4.50 WHIP. Thankfully for Brewer fans the sample size didn't get any larger than that! Wade Miley's big league statistics from 2016-2017: 323 1/3 innings, 5.48 ERA, 4.85 FIP, 1.57 WHIP The guy posts a 3.09 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in AA, BIG DEAL. At least the Brewers could have put him in Colorado Springs where he would have had to deal with the altitude and some AAAA and AAA hitters. Watching Suter pitch is sore on the eyes but so far as a major leaguer he's posted a 3.84 ERA, 3.86 FIP and 1.33 WHIP. The last time Wade Miley pitched to that level was 2013. In the four season's since that time he's had a 4.89 ERA, 4.32 FIP and 1.47 WHIP. Still trying to figure out what the Brewers see here? Maybe it's that AL East thing? Can't pitch against the big boys but put him in the inferior NL Central little league and he might stand a chance?

If the free agent market is as crappy next off-season as it was this off-season, I could see Machado having to settle for something like 6 years, 162 million. But one would have to anticipate, with all the big market teams having their luxury tax penalty reset, that there will be big, big, big money thrown around. I'd anticipate something like 8 years, 232 million...wouldn't be completely shocked if it would push near 300 million considering Machado will only be 26 years old. The longer teams wait to make a trade the more the price-tag will come down. The price tag would be ridiculously high right now. Trading for him late in July, the trading team knows they will only have 2 months out of him, and then the price should be fairly reasonable. See the J.D. Martinez return last year. Arcia and Burnes wouldn't be a consideration now IMO, but late in July if Arcia is OPS'ing something like .730 and Burnes is pitching well and has solidified himself as a solid top 50 prospect, then an Arcia/Burnes package for Machado might be competitive on the market. It just depends on how desparate other teams would be to add him.

I was pretty surprised by the Josh Jackson pick. Really thought the Packers would stick more with speed players. I do think he'll have trouble if locked up man on man against faster receivers. More concerned about his speed and "backpedal, turn and run" times than I am about Alexander's lack of height. Could be that Pettine will play more zone than what is anticipated. Burks definitely fit the athlete profile, but I wonder how he will hold up when the play is coming right for him. But for about the last 10 years the Packers have clearly gotten subpar coverage play out of their inside linebackers so Burks does fill a pretty big need for them in that regard, provided he shows good awareness in his drops. I pretty much blew it on Alex Cappa, having projected him to Green Bay at pick 172 yesterday only to see that he went off the board at #94. Terrible miss there. Rest of the guys are still in play, although Maddox and Avery are likely no longer possibilities since Green Bay has already drafted two cornerbacks and an inside linebacker. So here are my updated day three projections: 4-133 = Cole Madison/OT/Washington State 5-138 = Godwin Igwebuike/S/Northwestern 5-172 = Ade Aruna/OLB/Tulane 5-174 = Marquez Valdes-Scantling/WR/South Florida 6-207 = Jordan Thomas/TE/Mississippi State 7-232 = Nick Gates/OT/Nebraska 7-239 = Jester Weah/WR/Pittsburgh 7-248 = Jamiyus Pittman/DT/Central Florida

J.J. Hoover was looking great too until he got called up.

Interesting slash lines for Sogard. When playing second base = .267/.353/.400/.753 When playing shortstop = .000/.036/.000/.036 (0/27 with 1 BB) There are enough at bats where one has to wonder if there is something mental going on there.

While I would very much like to see Dubon, my guess is the Brewers would call up Andres Blanco first.

Stearns waited all the way until June 19 before releasing Feliz. If Sogard doesn't pick it up soon, that day could come a month earlier for him. He's probably safe for two or three more weeks...but beyond that is very questionable.

Revised Round 2-7 prediction after the trades that occurred in round one. Note that even with the movement, there are only two different names from what I had posted in the "preview and predictions" thread. Now out is 3-76 Tavarius Moore/S/Southern Mississippi and Dorance Armstrong Jr/OLB/Kansas. 2-45 = D.J. Chark/WR/Louisiana State Almost flipped it Stanford S-Justin Reid but will stick with Chark. Jaire Alexander is a fast guy and I think Gutekunst sticks with speed throughout this draft. Only pass-rusher that seems worth this pick is Georgia's Lorenzo Carter, and his motor seems to run to hot-and-cold so I think the Packers will pass. Best OL'men get cleared out early in the round, but players like Oregon's Tyrell Crosby, Nevada's Austin Corbett, Texas Christian's Joseph Notebloom and Louisville's Geron Christian are all strong possibilities. Tight ends like South Dakota State's Dallas Goedert and Penn State's Mike Gesicki could be in play. I think one of those tight ends will probably be off the board but not both. I just don't see TE being as big of a need after the Graham signing, but some prominent Packer writers see it differently (Tom Silverstein). Best guess is a WR, S or offensive lineman will be the pick. 4-101 = Cole Madison/OT/Washington State The Packers currently have 6 of the next 74 picks when it gets to this point of the draft. I'd actually be a bit surprised if they don't trade back up into round three. If that happens, I'll go with the guy I projected to them in round three before the draft started, Southern Mississsippi safety Tavarius Moore. 4-133 = Godwin Igwebuike/S/Northwestern 5-138 = Genard Avery/ILB/Memphis 5-147 = Ade Aruna/OLB/Tulane 5-172 = Alex Cappa/OT/Humboldt State 5-174 = Avonte Maddox/CB/Pittsburgh 6-207 = Jordan Thomas/TE/Mississippi State 7-232 = Jester Weah/WR/Pittsburgh 7-239 = Jamiyus Pittman/DT/Central Florida 7-248 = Cole Reyes/S/North Dakota

I like Drew Brees, but I wouldn't be crying if he was injured in training camp next year and missed the season. Nothing that would be permanently debilitating of course, just something that would keep him on the shelf for 6 months and then after that he'd be as good as new.

I had predicted D.J. Chark at #45 this morning and see no reason to get off that. If anything, the Alexander pick may indicate that Gutekunst is going to place a big emphasis on speed and Chark definitely checks that box.

Alexander is 5-10 1/4. I don't think anyone would argue that the two best CBs the Packers have had in the last 10 years were Tramon Williams and Sam Shields. Both listed at 5-11, but I doubt either of them were even a 1/4" taller than Alexander (who will probably also be listed at 5-11).

There goes Ragnow. I like this player but think that #20 is just a tad high for him. Another guy that missed quite a bit of time last year (high ankle sprain).

Alexander also had a sprained knee last year.

Well at least I got my morning prediction right. Not real fond of trading back up for Alexander. If CB was the target then I would have just sat until #27 and taken whatever fell. If there would have happened to be a run on all the corners then I probably would have just gone OL. I really like Alexander's skill set but am worried he missed so much time last year. Just not a big fan of hurt guys. But no question the Packers needed a CB in the absolute worst way. Hopefully King's shoulder problems are behind him and King and Alexander will form a good CB duo.

Calvin Ridley? Who else could it be?

There goes Derwin James. I don't see any player worth trading up for now. Would be very content to just sit at #27 and see what happens. I'll mention Frank Ragnow again. Gut feeling that he will be the guy if he is still available. That will likely cause many Wisconsin gaskets to blow, especially since most of the media will list him as a center (even though he would likely be plugged right in at RG). Well so much for that. Certainly wasn't expecting a trade back up with Edmunds and James gone.

Good, Kolton Miller off the board. Not a real fan of him. Have to start wondering about why Edmunds and James are not off the board yet? Especially Edmunds.

If Gutekunst was dead set on taking a CB with the first pick, then this trade down is the right move. IMO the CB quality will probably be very similar between #14 and #27. Also really brings the offensive line into play. I'm not a fan of Kolton Miller, but there are plenty of attractive guards there and RG is pretty much open. There were some rumblings that Gutekunst loved Arkansas' Frank Ragnow. Played center at Arkansas but he would likely have no problem swinging between any of the three interior spots.

Is Jackson right for that Saint's offense? Could be a shocker coming up here.