tmwiese55

But are you missing the point that your choice is either George Hill at 18 mil or basically a Tim Frazier type guy at min salary? Which makes the team better? Since it's not my money I get the logic of paying it. Though I'm sure they won't since I think it'll put them in the tax so that 18ish mil costs them even more. The one CBA argument I can come up with would be that if they let Hill go they could remain under the tax in order to avoid repeater penalties that could affect future roster moves. Top of my head, assuming they resign everyone else they're in the tax anyway so it wouldn't matter. Also, I'm sure they're going to be trying to move Snell/Ersan in the offseason. I know I'd rather pay Hill 18 mil than Snell 11 mil. Both overpaid of course, but Hill is just better. So if Snell is moved somehow well then Hill's only 7ish mil more than him, thinking of it that way it's not so bad.

That's true but it's semantics. They could post the position, leave it up for two weeks as a formality and let random jabronis apply to it. This is what happens with every assistant football position, there isn't a truly open public application. If Barry would've said right away it was Gard's job that would've been it. Plus, the req is only like two weeks or 10 days. Post it the day Bo leaves, hire Gard officially two weeks later. Done, no drama. Barry didn't like his hand being forced though and apparently he wasn't totally sold on Gard. But then Gard turned that team around (remember it started horrible and shouldn't have made the tourney) and Barry had no choice. I think they announced it sometime in early March or late in the season.

I'll be surprised if they give up a run all year. I'm not crazy, I know a hit will happen but not sure about runs.

IDK, Braun is only signed through 2020. That timing could line up really well for Ray if he continues to progress to take Braun's spot. Plus obviously with Brauns injuries/rest some call up could happen prior to 2021 to get his feet wet. I'm not a Ray mega fan or anything, I essentially have no opinion on him. Just saying Braun isn't here that much longer plus if doesn't perform well this year (like last year) his hold on a full time spot becomes very weak. to the Giants relievers, yes I agree these are great guys to target. One thing that pops into my head is some of the new guys added this year I don't think have the options to go down so you might be locked in a bit, but note I'm not an expert on the rules there so...

I might be a little naive but no one in the east really scares me except Philly. Really not worried about Toronto with Kawhi? They have a really deep team that can play tons of matchups. Assuming Brogdon comes back fine (or at least Hill is healthy and playing as well as he is now) I'm still confident and would pick MKE. But Tor is really good as well.

IMO, you can't have it both ways. If Gard was the point man for recruiting under Bo, then he has to bear some responsibility for the stagnant PG recruiting that would lead to prioritizing D'Mitrik Trice over Sam Hauser (while leaving out that the 2016 recruiting class also did include a forward in Aleem Ford). This is just you know not following it. The reason they got Ford in that class is because Dearing transferred at the semester break, freeing up a spot. So they scrounged the prep schools and found someone. At that point Hauser was committed, too late. If UW was a shady school they'd have pushed Dearing out way earlier to free up a spot. For PG. It was the transition to Bo/Gard at the time and they didn't hire Gard until the end of the season basically. So how can Gard get a PG to commit to him when he's not even sure if he's the coach? By the time he got the job all he had left was prep school scraps, which was Trice. Throughout the process they likely would've had Pritchard at Oregon if Barry had just given Gard the job right away. Maybe Bohannon but there was a couple others above him like Pritchard they were sitting very well with. But No, they didn't prioritize Trice over Hauser. Trice/Ford were scraps at the end. That year was ruined by Bo's transition and Gard not getting the job. Again, according to the 'insiders' on this, if Gard was in charge the whole time it's almost 100% Sam Hauser is at UW and obviously the bro would've came too.

I've thought the whole time Cubs make the most sense from a need perspective. However, they're management the whole time has been saying they're staying under the tax. Still, wouldn't surprise me if they cave.

Strickland was a stretch to be at a high major program to begin with, he was not a big time recruit by any means and frankly looked terrible when he played. All he had is athleticism and a good name. Sure he could develop and turn into something but to indict Gard on him just seems wrong, the chances of him every contributing were slim, that's why he left. They have all the Gs back who played above him this year for the next two years then a legit recruit coming in after. Strickland saw the writing on the wall, he was barely going to play the next two years and bailed. That's it. It never made sense to me that Strickland didn't redshirt, this explains why. So he could save the redshirt to transfer. You also can't really blame Gard for the Hausers. Bo effed that all up. They needed a PG in the older ones class and Bo had previously wasted spots on Dearing and Hill so they didn't have another spot. Gard pushed to take Hauser anyway as he thought he was legit, Bo thought he was mid major only worthy so still prioritized PG instead of him. And of course that cost them the younger one too. Though I would blame Gard for not seeing the writing on the wall and putting all his effort into Joey and being left with nothing as a backup. Herro, he had him committed and the kid screwed him. So he did what he could, under Bo that kid would have never even looked at UW. Moreover, it seems fairly overwhelming out there that he didn't have the ACT to get into UW and didn't want to bother taking the test again for UW when he could just go to Kentucky instead. Maybe he'd have gone to Kentucky regardless for obvious reasons, but again what can Gard do about the NBA factory beating down his door.

The Jimmy Nelson prediction to the pen could be interesting. Say the young guys, Chacin do well and no one needs to get pulled from the rotation fro a while. Jimmy comes into the pen in the Burnes role of last year and tears it up or even takes Knebels place. I could see something like that happening.

Line around the block before 11AM even though it was raining the last time I was there, worth the wait or just go later in the day when it's not as busy.

162-0 doesn't really win anything. 173-0 is the key number.

Yup, not saying he's doomed without it or anything. Still think he has a great chance to be really good. Just kind of day dreaming in a way on how awesome that pitch could be for him with his delivery. Very K Rod esqe.

Gotcha. Either way it's not the ideal hope we're going for then. If it's actually a split then frankly he's still not throwing a change. If it is a change but it's barely slower than the FB then it's just not a good one. Doesn't mean he still can't be very good, I just think a competent change would be an awesome weapon for him due to his release.

I agree with BBQ but I'd also say you should do the southern hot fried chicken while there. Lots of options but I like Hattie Bs.

Came here exactly to look for info on Peralt's change up progression. Based on that link he only threw 5 changes out of 58 pitches in that outing. So at least he's throwing it but for those more in the know on this how has it progressed, does it seem like he really improved it, will he use it a lot, etc? I think that's the key for him taking the next step up. With his crazy delivery a good change would work great.

I generally agree. But this year they were 4th, one game behind Mich and 2 behind MSU. And they beat Mich once so I would say this was competing with them. At least one of the MSU games was down to the wire and they took MSU to the wire in the B1G tourney last year (not so well this year). I'm starting to get a bit skeptical on Gard too but if you think rationally and take away the two freak FF years, this season was basically the same as the vast majority of Bo's years. That said, I'm not seeing the player/skill/shooting development looking as strong and of course recruiting still isn't good. But we have to remember recruiting wasn't good under Bo either but their player/skill development was so good it didn't matter. Long story short, in game stuff and D I'd say Gard seems fine. First two years with BK/Nigel still there they went to Sweet 16s and got really unlucky both years to not go further. Then the crap injured year, then this year where pulled a classic Bo year of finishing with fourth while being way out talented. But we have to see some progression from those 3 key Sophs which is a part of coaching. In game is key but skill development is really important. Another thing to note is that Gard's job now is harder than Bo's was 12ish years ago in that the rest of the country has caught up to the stuff Bo was smarter than everyone else at combined with rule changes against our style (30 second clock as an example but just in general freedom of movement rules).

I've been using a really old flip phone for my alarm clock for several years now. It just so much simpler than the current smartphone alarms to me and I don't see a reason to go away from it until I have to.

87 Wins. I'm guessing a dip in bullpen from last year combined with the NL being so tough as the reason for a dip in wins. No Playoffs, 3rd in Central ASG: Yelich, Grandal, Hader Offensive player: Yelich Starter of the year: Burnes Reliever: Hader Surprising player: Braun Disappointing: Jesus Aguilar or Knebel/Jeffress but I'm going to cut them slack due to injury it's not their fault so to speak. Could include Davies/Anderson too but frankly I don't expect much so I won't be disappointed.

Yea I know how bird rights work as to why I was talking about going Lopez first before them. I just had it in my head they'd have some space below before signing everyone and that Bled helped more with Brogdon's cap hold being so low. Maybe not even if they clear Snell/Ers though so it's just exception for Brook then. And maybe I had seen that pre having Niko's cap hold as well (or I'm just straight up misremembering). Still, getting Niko was perfect insurance on the one guy who has some resign issues in Lopez due to no bird rights. If you lose Brook, Niko becomes a no brainer to keep then. It's debatable if you need both, it's not my money so I pay anyway but I see the discussion.

Didn't look at Marquette until you said it. I agree with you. Probably have their heads out of their A now and will get back to themselves. I'd be comfortable with them.

Could be wrong of course. I was thinking of it from the procedural that they'll just have to Lopez first and thought now they'd be under the cap enough since Bled salary is lower than his hold to make him a reasonable offer like idk 8-10. Then proceed to pay their guys to go over the cap and tax. I also could be not including/remembering that maybe Ers/Snell would have to go first to be under the cap rather than needing exception. Yea, not sure.

UW -7.5 vs Nebraska. Really tough line, I probably stay away. But go UW if I have to due to the consecutive games for NU and likely a virtual home environment for UW. Bucks -5 at Miami. I just do it and live with it, I always fear road games at MIA for obvious reasons and MIA does have good guys to defend Giannis. But again, at this point it's just riding the Bucks. They've been so consistent. They lost down there last time so expect more focus this time. And they've been there a few days so maybe got the partying out of their system and took it easy last night.

I think you have 5 locks in Max, Sale, two Mets, Soto. Leaving one of Kershaw, Vlad, Severino. I think I'd eliminate Severino first due to the injury risk and being in the AL and that between him and Kershaw I just have to trust Kershaw for one more year. So Kersh over him if I go P. But, i think I go Vlad due to you being so ridiculous on P already plus the age of course. The hype on him will likely have him drafted before you as well whereas the injuries to the Ps might make them fall.

It is totally feasible to keep every player as long as the owners are willing to pay the tax. If they sign everyone and are able to move Ersan/Snell's contracts they could also get under the tax (of course depending on what Niko/KM get). Lopez is the X factor if someone did offer him a stupid contract, but i don't think anyone will and what Bledsoe just did freed up like 5 mil extra for Lopez.

The Middleton contract situation was described pages ago, due to his player option they basically can't extend him now without it being super low for him. Doing Bledsoe when they did lowered his cap hold htis offseason so it will help resign others, especially Lopez. Combine that with him having bad knees and it made perfect sense for both sides. Brog is a RFA so no need to sign him now as it would mess up their cap as FA opens. Lopez doesn't have bird rights so also complicates cap. Niko just joined the team.