JosephC

I think Brew crew 92 should start a Go Fund Me page for the Brewers so they can sign a few more impact free agents. We all should be sick of Attanasio's penny-pinching ways. Oh, how I long for the big-spending days when Laurel and Wendy were running the show!

The Journal-Sentinel has listed 25 of Green Bay's 30 pre-draft visits. I have sorted by position and then added an estimate as to where each player will be drafted. QB - Drew Lock/Missouri (late 1st) FB/TE - Andrew Beck/Texas (undrafted) FB - John Lovett/Princeton (undrafted, college QB that project to fullback) WR - Jeff Smith/Boston College (undrafted) WR - DeAndre Thompkins/Penn State (undrafted) TE - Jace Sternberger/Texas A&M (mid 3rd) TE - Kahale Warring/San Diego State (late 3rd) OT - Andre Dillard/Washington State (mid 1st) OT - Kaleb McGary/Washington (early 2nd) OT - Greg Little/Mississippi (early 2nd) OT - Tytus Howard/Alabama State (mid 3rd, but I'm expecting him to go in round 2) OG - Jonah Williams/Alabama (mid 1st) OG - Nate Herbig/Stanford (early 6th) DT - Trysten Hill/Central Florida (late 3rd) DT - Greg Gaines/Washington (late 5th) OLB - Montez Sweat/Mississippi State (early 1st) OLB - Jesse Aniebonam/Maryland (undrafted) OLB - Kaden Elliss/Idaho (undrafted) OLB - Randy Ramsey/Arkansas (undrafted) OLB - E.J. Speed/Tarleton State (undrafted) ILB - Curtis Bolton/Oklahoma (7th round/undrafted) ILB - Ulysees Gilbert/Akron (undrafted) CB - Sean Bunting/Central Michigan (mid 3rd) CB - Ka'dar Hollman/Toledo (undrafted) LS - John Wirtel/Kansas (undrafted) It has also been widely reported that the Packers wanted to use one of the 30 meetings on Duke QB-Daniel Jones (late round 1 grade), but couldn't set up the visit due to scheduling conflicts. The Packers had also met with the following players at the combine: DT - Ed Oliver/Houston (early 1st) TE - Noah Fant/Iowa (late 1st) TE - Jace Sternberger/Texas A&M (mid 3rd) OT - Jawaan Taylor/Florida (early 1st) DT - Quinnen Williams/Alabama (early 1st) OLB - Jachai Polite/Florida (late 3rd)

I wanted to give Aguilar a couple more weeks at first base. But Thames has really stepped up and has earned 1B playing time IMO. Thames = .270/.300/.703/1.003, Aguilar = .136/.237/.197/.434. I'd probably do a strict platoon at 1B starting today and play a couple weeks and then re-evaluate. Personal rule of thumb would be to wait until the early-to-mid May area of the schedule before making moves. But right now there are just too many players making too many outs in the lineup. Braun = .221 OBP. Shaw = .277 OBP. Arcia = .276 OBP. Aguilar = .237 OBP. Aguilar just catches a bad break in that he's the guy who has the hot bat sitting on the bench behind him. I guess one could argue that Thames could play LF for Braun, but with the pitching staff so shaky I would hate to downgrade the outfield defense in anyway.

"Close" in terms of what? Obviously not contract negotiations as Gonzalez is still Yankee's property through at least today.

It almost seems like a guaranteed lock that Davies and Anderson will be the Brewer's two best starting pitchers this year, especially since it seemed everyone wanted them run off the team this off-season. That's baseball.

I'd be picking these players for Green Bay in Reuter's scenario: 1-12 - Rashan Gary/DE/Michigan 1-30 - Noah Fant/TE/Iowa 2-44 - Juan Thornhill/S/Virginia 3-75 - Max Scharping/OT/Northern Illinois 4-114 - Isaiah Johnson/CB/Houston 4-118 - Michael Dieter/OG/Wisconsin 5-150 - Darius Slayton/WR/Auburn 6-185 - Ty Summers/ILB/Texas Christian 6-194 - Christian Miller/OLB/Alabama 7-226 - Marvell Tell/S/Southern California

Too bad he has that clause in his contract that specifies 300k per start. That might be too much for the Brewers to handle, especially when it looks like they probably will need to make another move or two closer to the deadline. If it wasn't for that, I'd be all for Stearns making the Yankees a modest trade offer to put Gio in a Brewers uniform and keep him off the market as there really should be at least a couple other teams interested. It will be interesting to see what happens. Have to think Gonzalez would project as a high 3's/low 4's ERA/FIP type performer and while that's not spectacular, it would definitely represent a big upgrade for Milwaukee based on what we've seen so far. If I were the Yankees, I just might pull the surprise move and shuffle some younger pitchers around to get Gonzalez on the 25-man roster. Severino currently KO'ed and I just do not trust the health of Tanaka and Sabathia at all. Paxton has hardly been the model of durability over his career. Yankees let Gonzalez slip away now and they might be regretting later on.

Wade Davis > 3 @ 51 Zach Britton >3 @ 39 Craig Kimbrel > 3 @ 45 For those that that still don’t think we need to sign him, why? Money? Possible injury? Regression candidate? See post #185 on page 10. How many losses would Kimbrel have turned into a win so far? IMO, last night possibly, and I say possibly, may have been the first one. And that would only be if Counsell would have pulled Hader in the 8th and inserted Kimbrel, which is very questionable speculation because Kimbrel has mostly been a traditional 1 inning closer and the Brewers did not have the lead when Hader gave up the home run. The closer is completely meaningless if the pitching staff can't get the job done through the first 8 innings and so far the Brewer pitching staff has not gotten the job done through the first 8 innings. Pitchers like Keuchel and Gonzalez make much more sense for Milwaukee.

So what is the rotation now? Chacin Guerra (?) Woodruff Wilkerson Davies Guerra hasn't pitched since the 15th. Seems like he would be in line to take the open spot.

Would have much rather seen Burnes get a chance in the bullpen. Could be wrong, but I see him as a better option than Hart as a potential difference maker. I know all the "working on his secondary pitches" and "need to keep him stretched out if they need a starter later" approaches, but the Brewers could use bullpen help now and Burnes had plus-plus-plus results in that role last year. Putting him in the bullpen now does nothing to impact what his role would be for the Brewers past the next few weeks.

Looks like he fired Scott Boras. I don't think he's a great pitcher at this point, but would be a solid addition and a good fit for the Brewers.

That's why I really don't like Gattis and just don't see him as a fit for Milwaukee. If the Brewers decide to bench Aguilar, then they would probably want to have a 3+ week run where Thames plays everyday against righties, and still play Aguilar most of the time against lefties. Even though the results for Thames has been poor so far, the Brewers probably would want to see what he would do when getting more regular at-bats. If Thames crapped out, then they could bounce Shaw to first, Moustakas to third, and since Perez is off to a nice start they could give him some regular playing time at second base. While I don't think there is any chance that Perez could come close to maintaining a .292/.346/.583/.929 over a full season....well, maybe the guy could maintain a plus-plus batting line during one big career year. Look at what Marwin Gonzalez did in 2017, and then look what he's done the rest of his career. Gonzales slashed .303/.377/.530/.907 in 2017, the rest of his career he has a .253/.304/.390/.694 line. I don't think Perez could ever maintain what he'd done so far in this small sample size, but he definitely deserves more playing time if he keeps hitting close to this level. Hiura could factor into this equation, but I have a real hard time thinking the Brewers want him in the majors this year after sinking all that money into Moustakas. Certainly SHOULD happen in an emergency situation, but Counsell probably already has the hots to play Perez more and it would actually be pretty hard to blame him for that now with Perez on a pretty good offensive run. Gattis is a power bat but he's a historical low OBP guy. I just think the Brewers would see too many other viable internal options where they just wouldn't be interested in a player like Gattis.

Braun and Aguilar need to get it going.

It's a shame that Albers laid an egg tonight. Did a nice job getting out of jams his last couple times out. Maybe he can only be an effective pitcher if he enters a game with runners on base?

Under normal circumstances I would say that Arcia should be moved to #9 in the lineup because his poor OBP of .286 plays better than what the pitchers would do in a position that is only two spots ahead of Yelich in the batting order. But since Brewer pitchers have OBP'ed .429 so far this year, maybe Arcia should just stick at that 8th spot in the lineup.

I don't see the Packers taking a receiver at #12. J'Mon Moore looked like a big zero last year, but Gutekunst is probably really happy with Valdes-Scantling and St. Brown. Adams plus a returning Allison plus those two rookies is a pretty decent start. I still find Kumerow interesting as a depth option. The Packers probably will take another receiver somewhere along the line for depth purposes, but I'd be pretty surprised if they take one before round three. I've kind of crossed off D.K. Metcalf as a possibility strictly on the need factor. Gutekunst doesn't have enough of a track record to draw any conclusions yet. But the track record of the standard NFL GM will show you that 10/10 GMs say "take the best player available" but actually "take the best player that fills one of the two or three biggest need areas." I don't expect Gutekunst will be any difference despite whatever "GM speak" comes out of his mouth. I still think these are the big need areas and are spots that get filled with the first three picks: TE, OT, ILB, S, DE. I've been on the fence as to how big of a need five-technique is, but have been talked into including it by some other people. I'd guess the first three picks are all dedicated to those five positions. By then the field will be so thinned out that the two spots that don't get filled will get thrown in with the "secondary needs" and Gutekunst fills the holes best he can....some of the top secondary needs would be OG, OLB, CB, S. A big question is if Gutekunst sees Devin Bush as a strong 3-4 ILB possibility or is he just limited to being a 4-3 weak side linebacker due to his lack of height? I think Bush is a STRONG possibility at #12 if Gutekunst and the coaches think he's a fit to play next to Martinez in the defense. That's just kind of the way the board is shaking out. Best candidates at #12 seem to be TE-T.J. Hockenson/Iowa, OT-Jawaan Taylor/Florida, LB-Devin Bush/Michigan, OT-Andre Dillard/Washington State. I'm kind of leaning towards Jawaan Taylor being gone, but maybe he makes it down to #12 as teams tend to de-value right tackles. Dillard seems like he's a far better fit as a left tackle which could de-value him a bit on the Packers board. Best candidates at #30 seem to be S-Johnathan Abram/Mississippi State, OT-Dalton Risner/Kansas State, S-Taylor Rapp/Washington, OT-Greg Little/Mississippi, OT-Kaleb McGary/Washington, TE-Irv Smith, Jr./Alabama, S-Chuancey Gardner-Johnson/Florida. McGinn thinks that OT-Max Scharping/Northern Illinois is a possibility here, so I'll include him as a surprise possibility. I'm guessing TE-Noah Fant/Iowa will be picked ahead of #30. Best candidates at #44 seem to be S-Nasir Adderley/Delaware, S-Delonte Thompson/Alabama, S-Juan Thornhill/Virginia, ILB-Mack Wilson/Alabama, DE-Zach Allen/Boston College. If Jawaan Taylor is off the board at #12, I'd guess that Gutekunst would be shooting for something like LB-Devin Bush at #12, OT-Kaleb McGary at #30, S-Juan Thornhill at #44 and then any one of a number of tight ends at #75.

Unfortunately, I'm not a steamer. ….but looking at some of the titles on that list that don't have Criterion Blu-ray/DVD's. I see they have Mizoguchi's The 47 Ronin and, WOW, would I love to see a quality restoration of that one! I do have a cheap import DVD but would love an upgrade. I have a Kino DVD of Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala and I could badly use a Blu-ray upgrade of that one. I see it's listed here so hopefully that means a Criterion Blu-ray is on the horizon. And it's about time Criterion deliver on that big, bad Godzilla box set that's been rumored for so long. Yep, many of these movies aren't very good. Nonetheless, Godzilla is the best of the monsters. The historical significance of these films would make a big Blu-ray collection and automatic purchase for me. I'll be watching Kobayashi's brilliant The Human Condition films this weekend. There is a Criterion DVD collection and I see they have the films available for streaming. Highly recommended. I had grown tired of waiting for a Criterion Blu-ray of these films, and acquired Arrow Video's European Blu-ray release. It's region B, but I've mod'ed my Oppo so I'm ready to go! But, in all seriousness, as far as I'm concerned this service is essential for movie fans that stream.

I agree with the two more starts thing for Burnes. There comes a point where it's not fair to the rest of the guys on a contending team to keep sending him out there if he isn't pitching well, I'd just rather see Counsell give Burnes a couple more starts to see what happens. But I don't agree with the concept that Burnes should automatically be sent down if he gets pulled from the rotation. Stearns/Counsell and the rest of the decision makers should then decide if he's one of the best 8 relievers, and if they decide he is, then he should get moved to the bullpen.

I don't know what it is about the Cardinals. Last year they won 88 games but just didn't look like a typical Cardinals team. Off to a good start this year, but again just don't look like a typical Cardinals team. Is it just because I'm used to them being a better team than the Brewers and now the Brewers are a better team? For some reason I don't think so. Maybe their homegrown pitching just doesn't seem to be as good as it once was? Last year they really didn't have that one intimidator in the lineup, but Goldschmidt should have fixed the impression? Maybe it's just because LaRussa isn't there anymore? Something just seems missing.

Darn, I was hoping we'd be through with Petricka.

I'm certainly not suggesting that Barnes will be a bullpen savior and that he doesn't have a spotty history. But all this talk about playing matchups, going with the hot hand, etc...frankly there haven't been many standouts in the bullpen other than Hader. Albers has come into a couple tight spots with running on base and has done a nice job wiggling out of those, his stuff is nothing special but he's done a nice jobs in the times I've seen him. After that, Barnes has kind of stepped up and has been the "hot hand" after those two. Prior to last night's ballgame, Barnes previous four outings were scoreless, 4 2/3 innings of work with 2 hits, 0 walks and 4 strikeouts. So Counsell puts him in a critical spot against plus major league hitters, Barnes delivers a nice performance, and I come on here this morning and see a comment that he should get shipped out in favor of some guy who (1) isn't even on the 40-man roster (2) got bombed in his brief stint in MLB in 2015 (6.23 ERA, 1.85 WHIP) (3) didn't pitch all that well in spring training (5.87 ERA, 1.96 WHIP). And as Greenleaf1 pointed out a couple posts ago, Barnes is a 3.56/3.55/3.66 ERA/FIP/xFIP career pitcher. I don't see any reason that he should be the one that gets the boot for a total question mark like Jay Jackson, especially when Barnes has been pitching well of late. Barnes does have a spotty track record. But how about saving the pitchforks until he is going through another bad stretch? Based on what the pitchers in the bullpen have done lately, it seems appropriate that Counsell used Barnes in the 8th inning last night and Barnes should keep getting the occasional high leverage appearance until (1) he blows it or (2) other guys step up and pitch themselves into that role.

Please, please, please Stearns...stop with the "fresh arm" nonsense of JJ Hoover and Mike Zagurski and keep the best 8 relievers on the 25-man roster. Since the beginning of 2016, Petricka has a MLB ERA of 5.42, FIP of 4.87 and WHIP of 1.75. It's questionable if this guy is even worthy of a spot on the 40-man roster.

The Brewers scored a run in the bottom of the 8th to push the lead to 4. Entering the top of the 8th the Brewers were ahead 9-6. Counsell was giving non-important outings to Barnes early. However, Barnes has clearly been one of the more effective pitchers out of the bullpen so far. Counsell putting him in a game in a hold situation against a team 1/2 game behind in the standings with Martinez, Carpenter, Goldschmidt and DeJong due up is a high leverage situation. The thing that always has annoyed me about the foolish "closer" role is, wouldn't it have made more sense to have the #1 reliever pitch against these guys? But that's another discussion. If Barnes has a couple blow-ups then he will wind up right back in a long-relief role or back in AAA. But based on what he and the other relievers have done so far, it makes much more sense to pitch him in more critical situations and see how he responds. Last night was a clear win for Barnes, although I will be the first to say that Arcia did make one great play behind him.

Hader had 6 appearances prior to last night's game. Of those 6, 3 were "4 outs or more" appearances. Counsell appears more than willing to pitch Hader in more than one inning if needed. Hader did not pitch on the 13th or 14th. Counsell could have easily sent Hader out there to work the 8th and 9th considering it was a three run lead when Barnes entered and the Brewers were facing a team that was only 1/2 game behind them in the standings. Martinez, Carpenter, Goldschmidt and DeJong were the scheduled hitters. If Counsell lacks confidence in Barnes, he sure didn't show it last night.

Barnes did a pretty nice job in last night's game. Did get bailed out a little bit on a great play by Arcia to end the inning, but had two strikeouts before that and a walk to Goldschmidt in an at-bat where Barnes was being careful when considering the hitter. Time to do away with the assumptions that "I want this guy to do good" and "this guy is bad." Zach Davies was a guy that seemingly everyone wanted dumped and so far he is the only good starting pitcher that the Brewers have had in terms of what matters the most, actual run prevention (Davies ERA = 1.53, next best starter's ERA = 6.00). Barnes 4.05 ERA trails only Hader and Guerra among the relievers. Barnes 3.44 FIP trails only Hader and Albers. Barnes 2.61 xFIP trails only Hader. There is no question that he's been one of the team's best relievers so far and, as long as he keeps pitching at this level, there is no reason he should be in the discussion to be sent down. Brewer bullpen rankings (ERA rank 1st, FIP rank 2nd, xFIP rank 3rd). Hader (1-1-1) Guerra (2-6-7) Barnes (3-3-2) Albers (4-2-3) Anderson (5-7-5) Claudio (6-5-8) Wilson (7-4-4) Petricka (8-9-9) Williams (9-8-6) Barnes and Albers (another Brewer Fan "favorite") has probably been the teams second and third best relievers so far.