MrTPlush

l had one today for lunch. Outside crust was crisp, middle crust soft, just like I like it, used the Pizza setting on my toaster oven, 425 for about 13 minutes. A couple of handfuls of Roundy's gourmet mixed cheddar ($2.50/bag, lasts 3-4 pizzas) added on and I thought it was great, well worth the net cost of ~$4 (they are usually 3/$10 at Mariano's, plus the extra cheese). Of note, I only buy the half/half pepperoni/cheese. I can't speak for other varieties. I’d probably consider the same if the crust wasn’t so terrible now (in my opinion). I’m honestly thinking I will have to switch to something else. I’d rather eat a Roma at this point. I like the crust to be cracker like...doesn’t have to be rock hard, but I like it crispy through to some extent. Jacks seems so chewy now.

I’m just neutrally watching. I’d cheer for the Vikings, but then we will lose and that would be horrid.

I’m just neutrally watching. I’d cheer for the Vikings, but then we will lose and that would be horrid.

Have a friend on Facebook that still hates the Packers and wishes weekly injury on Rodgers because his feelings are still hurt they threw old man Favre to the street over 10 years ago. I can’t believe their is still a group of people that literally hate the Packers with a burning passion because of that to this day.

Have a friend on Facebook that still hates the Packers and wishes weekly injury on Rodgers because his feelings are still hurt they threw old man Favre to the street over 10 years ago. I can’t believe their is still a group of people that literally hate the Packers with a burning passion because of that to this day.

The first time a tried beer I thought it was the most wonderful thing I ever tasted. I was 16 and I just got done bailing hay all day on a hot summer day. My mom brought out some cold ones for the adults. I was about to go in and get some water and she handed me a beer. I drank it in two swallows and was totally buzzed. The next time I had beer was at a party. I was surprised at how much worse it tasted and ended up nursing it for a couple hours. HA, that is great. My first beer...man I milked it for a solid 30minutes. Which doesn’t sound long, but it was in college so 30 minutes is pretty offensive. Definitely an acquired taste, always enjoy a nice beer with pizza/fish fry now. On the topic of fish: I hated fish with such a passion as a kid, but I blame it on the nasty fish they gave in the cafeteria. Now I love fish, especially a good fish fry. Another favorite is swordfish. Anyone who is a big fan of fish and hasn’t had swordfish needs to try it. It is a meaty fish...tastes real good. Can usually find it in a nice grocery store. And Sushi? Straight from the heavens, one of the greatest culinary creations to ever grace the earth.

The first time a tried beer I thought it was the most wonderful thing I ever tasted. I was 16 and I just got done bailing hay all day on a hot summer day. My mom brought out some cold ones for the adults. I was about to go in and get some water and she handed me a beer. I drank it in two swallows and was totally buzzed. The next time I had beer was at a party. I was surprised at how much worse it tasted and ended up nursing it for a couple hours. HA, that is great. My first beer...man I milked it for a solid 30minutes. Which doesn’t sound long, but it was in college so 30 minutes is pretty offensive. Definitely an acquired taste, always enjoy a nice beer with pizza/fish fry now. On the topic of fish: I hated fish with such a passion as a kid, but I blame it on the nasty fish they gave in the cafeteria. Now I love fish, especially a good fish fry. Another favorite is swordfish. Anyone who is a big fan of fish and hasn’t had swordfish needs to try it. It is a meaty fish...tastes real good. Can usually find it in a nice grocery store. And Sushi? Straight from the heavens, one of the greatest culinary creations to ever grace the earth.

Over the course of a 162 games...I think that is an important thing to note here. While it may be better with no Shaw/Aguilar train wreck (we hope) if we were talking a postseason series I’m not sure the offense is actually better. I’m not saying regular season production doesn’t matter, it does a ton. Especially those bench bats and the #6-#8 in the rotation. Those guys are huge, but their production means nothing when October hits. Then it is all about the starters (in both sides of the ball). At that point it doesn’t matter that Shaw gave us a .600 OPS for months or how the #7 starter produced for 3 weeks. Because if we are comparing the actual end of the year line up 3B is over -100...a massive downgrade. You gotta get there first or at least to July, I get that completely. I just think it is fair to know the difference between 162 game production and head to head on any given day talent.

Over the course of a 162 games...I think that is an important thing to note here. While it may be better with no Shaw/Aguilar train wreck (we hope) if we were talking a postseason series I’m not sure the offense is actually better. I’m not saying regular season production doesn’t matter, it does a ton. Especially those bench bats and the #6-#8 in the rotation. Those guys are huge, but their production means nothing when October hits. Then it is all about the starters (in both sides of the ball). At that point it doesn’t matter that Shaw gave us a .600 OPS for months or how the #7 starter produced for 3 weeks. Because if we are comparing the actual end of the year line up 3B is over -100...a massive downgrade. You gotta get there first or at least to July, I get that completely. I just think it is fair to know the difference between 162 game production and head to head on any given day talent.

This is nothing like the Doug Melvin era. Going off 40-man roster payroll at year end the 2008-2014 era saw us ranked #13-#18 in baseball. The payroll was consistently $90-$100mil with 2014 being an outlier at $110mil before the rebuild started. So the highest payroll number was at the end. The payroll was consistent during his tenure and didn’t dramatically drop while contending. For the record the payroll last ranked #16 in baseball...similar to the payroll rank in Melvin’s days. Currently we are slated to be close to the the 2018 payroll that was #23 in baseball in that respective year. I guess it is disappointing to see us drop so much payroll, but it does take the right situation to spend it. I don’t want to spend money just to spend it. Especially when spending money often means long term teams that handcuff you for years. I guess I don’t have a huge gripe about it before we even play games, but if this team just isn’t that good I think people are right to gripe about how cheap we were this offseason (assuming we don’t make any big moves down the stretch here). It certainly won’t look at that good if these boring signing are just that...boring.

I am pretty confident in a Packers win. To me the Seahawks were a pretty great draw for the Packers. Our weaknesses on defense are when teams run all over us and/or we can't get any QB pressure. The Seahawks don't have a strong running game and the OL is beat up majorly. I think this is going to be a great defensive performance by us. Everyone talks about us "winning ugly", but what about the Seahawks. They have not had one dominating win all year. They beat two playoff teams all year (MIN and SF). Their biggest win was 27-10 over the Cardinals...the same Cardinals that then beat them late in the season in Seattle 27-13. Honestly the Seahawks are in the playoffs by narrowly winning nearly every single game where 10/12 were against non playoff teams (some of which were really poor teams). The same team that struggled to put away the Eagles playing an ancient backup QB. I like us a lot regardless of where the game is played...but Green Bay in January? Yah, we should win this game. It may be close, but Rodgers and Co. should be able to figure this one out.

The problem with this logic is you get to take last years disappointments/underperformances and then compare that to all the 2020 players like we won't have guys be big disappointments. Reality is we will have big disappointments in 2020 once again. Hopefully not to that extent, but there will be. Using that kind of logic always paints the future a lot more pretty than it is. I do think they trimmed off some worthless ABs and will have more average ABs...does that outweigh the above average ABs they are losing? Unknown. Some of them will be disappointments, some players will also perform better than expected. But it also goes both ways; Grandal, Thames and Moose could have terrible 2020s too. Whether you look at just 2019, 3-year averages or projections, I still have a hard time seeing this team not be better than 2019. I don't believe this team will lose any above-average ABs at all, and will in fact gain a lot of them. Offense doesn't worry me at all. But defense is worse, and I still like to see pitching adressed. Sure, I am not necessarily disagreeing with your overall point...I just feel that is an easy way to analyze any upcoming team to make it sound like it will be better. It would be pretty hard for us to have players flop as badly as Shaw/Aguilar did. Hiura having a sophomore slump and/or Braun just simply having a disaster year (at his age) are very real possibilities. Yelich could have a "down" year and lose us a lot of 2019 offense. Overall I don't think the offense is woefully different. If Cain rebounds a bit and Urias can make SS at least someone relevant on offense that would make a huge difference. I do differ with you on above average ABs though. I think we are losing some of the more elite production Grandal/Moustakas gave us, but are somewhat canceling that out if we are getting rid of the pitcher quality ABs/ Not only was Arcia a total trainwreck, but so was the bench a lot of times and the injury replacements. I think the depth is a little more average and that is always a big deal when injuries do happen. Of course Urias, Cain, Braun, and Hirua are all red flags for notable disappoint in my eyes. The later because he had elite production last year and he could be a prime candidate for a sophomore slump.

I had a Jacks pizza today for lunch. The entire cooking time it was about as crispy as a wet towel. Upon exit from the pizza oven it stiffened up, but not exactly crispy. It was, however, so chewy my jaw was borderline sore by the time I was done. I could tell the second I took it out of the wrapper that it was going to be gross. It was super thin compared to the typical Jacks and there were bare spots on it with no cheese/sauce.

They will make it. The Big 10 provides pretty much all decent to good wins and the top teams are great, but very beatable...thus they should still get some nice statement wins. I just don't see them missing it even if they have a decent amount of losses because they will at least have the resume of wins to make it look palatable.

The problem with this logic is you get to take last years disappointments/underperformances and then compare that to all the 2020 players like we won't have guys be big disappointments. Reality is we will have big disappointments in 2020 once again. Hopefully not to that extent, but there will be. Using that kind of logic always paints the future a lot more pretty than it is. I do think they trimmed off some worthless ABs and will have more average ABs...does that outweigh the above average ABs they are losing? Unknown.

Trade Arcia for an everyday 3B? I think we already have better options than Arcia is worthy of getting. It is getting harder to see where Arcia fits into this puzzle...but the extra bench spot may keep him around as a defensive sub and to some extent provide a little baserunning speed late in a game.

To be honest, I'd rather have just resigned Shaw to a one year prove it deal, than to go the route we have chosen. I like those chances better than what we have done so far. I think it is pretty obvious Travis Shaw was not coming back here. So that point is kind of irrelevant because it was not a real option. That being said...yah, I am not exactly too pumped about this team as it really starts to take shape. I suppose the bench looks a little enticing? Maybe the bullpen if Knebel comes back strong? The rotation and lineup both seem to have mediocre ceilings with room to have a pretty low floor. In addition the defense seems particularly concerning. That line up will really need to get elite production from Hiura/Yelich and they need Braun/Narvaez/Cain to complement them. Guess we will see how the next month or so goes. Maybe a bigger splash is still in store.

To me coffee is an acquired taste much like beer, tea, liquor, etc. And I am talking actual coffee that isn't loaded with cream/sugar...cause that is hardly a coffee taste then. I thought coffee was a putrid taste, but after you drink it a bit you are used to it. I don't necessarily like the taste, but it is drinkable now.

Can't imagine why the Brewers would have any interest in Arenado. We would have to essentially pay free agent money for him (which we likely can't afford) and he isn't even a career .800 OPS away from Coors. I am sure he would still be great away from Coors and into Miller Park, but $35mil worthy? Paying him in his mid 30s? Giving up Hader worthy?

Cruickshank probably in search of transferring somewhere that will use him more as a wildcat type player. Badgers offense is about as vanilla as humanly possible which doesn't exactly maximize Cruickshank as a player. I think the Badgers had a useful offensive player they rarely used.

I sense people are way too upset in the Dodgers paying Nelson $1mil to be a spring training invite. Nelson is probably a FA again by May or may not even crack their roster.

I don't know how people get those calorie loaded drinks all the time, I find them to be disgusting and way too sweet.

There goes all our free cash, must be a split duty: Manager/3B

Keith Law is a pretty major loss...wasn't he like the main paid content guy at ESPN for baseball?

I watch ESPN when I am on the road for work and I am sitting in a hotel room bored. That is about as far as my ESPN watching goes.