MKE81

When you're in the playoffs every year it's pretty challenging to "continue to improve". While I do think the Packers should have won more SB's over Favre/Rodgers careers to date I won't be "pissed" because I'm not playing nor have anything invested in them in any way. It's entertainment. It's awesome to win the SB but it's also awesome to have like 25 years (almost consecutively) of a very competitive team.. And QBs don't win championships - teams do

I watched a handful of his videos going back to June 2014 and he's definitely changed his swing since coming over. A couple years ago he had a wider base, slightly open, didn't take hands back as far (and in turn, back shoulder didn't turn back as far). Now he's more upright, closed it up from open to neutral positioning, pointed his back foot more on an angle to home plate and takes his hands back farther (shoulder turns deeper). Not sure if this was to generate more power or what but it's different. Leg kick there isn't much of a difference. He looked more athletic in his other stance. Sometimes his bat head stays more on an angle from start through swing and other times (like AFL video) his barrel starts upright and stays there at start of swing. Sometimes he has lower body and/or foot movement other times he doesn't. It's weird. He has some kinks but I agree with you that he gets in his own way. These are all minor tweaks that can be made making a good amount of difference giving him more success.

I am guessing he doesn't like the leg kick since that is the only questionable thing with his feet. Its not the leg kick otherwise he would have stated that. Noisy feet refers to movement of the feet while in the stance, which adversely affects balance then snowballs into affecting timing. But his feet don't move in the AFL video. Anyway, Phillips with a great game tonight. Now has the 4th highest OBP in the entire league among regulars (few others are higher but they've only played 5 games). Also is tied for league lead in walks (12) and has fewer K (10) than walks

Phillips has "noisy feet that leave no margin for error, timing-wise" - I don't get this. Look at Phillips video from last week and his feet don't move until his leg kick and even then his back foot is still until squashing. I'm shocked he got the excessively deep load part correct, which is what I said after watching the video - takes his hands back much too far. That's the biggest issue. There's nothing wrong with his feet. He's said in the past he doesn't like Phillips as a prospect so not a shocker he doesn't think he'll hit even though everyone else out there (coaches, team usa coaches, AFL coaches, Mayo, etc) all say he'll be average at worst. Eric also suggested we might have already seen the best of Bickford and remarked he hasn't even hit AA yet as if that was a negative given he was a 1st rd pick last year and college kid. I was laughing when I read that part actually. If he continues to split levels he'll reach MLB as he's turning 23. He was inconsistent after the trade but previously in A/A+ with Giants he was pretty darn good and was 2-3yrs younger at both levels. Harrison with "insane" tools? Maybe a couple (ie arm). But the guy was terrible in A ball at the age of 20. If he doesn't light Appleton on fire at 21 to start next year then it's not looking good for him. Kodi, in my unprofessional opinion, will reach the MLB level but in the pen. His plus fastball and plus slider are too good not to get him to the MLB level. He needs to make adjustments for his control and then everything will fall into place. Gatewood will never see MLB and I don't think Harrison will either

Meh, this is where you lose me on this. He may want to win in 2017 but I doubt, highly doubt, that he would agree with this statement. He just has a different way to rebuild a roster. Doesn't make him wrong and it sure as hell doesn't make you right. Doesn't matter if Briggs agrees or not. His statements say otherwise. Blocking prospects from playing (ie Santana was a Top 100, destroyed AAA and is a better defensive player overall) because he loves Khris Davis, a player that has zero future in the NL. Creating any scenario that adds a LH bat with pop into the lineup regardless of how that addition affects the roster and growth of others. Case in point below. Castro the past 3yrs vs RHP 231/331/757 219/299/707 216/290/662 Pina the past 3yrs vs RHP 283/340/840 with Brewers and 306/350/823 overall 309/387/879 273/339/715 You don't "need" a LH bat when you can simply find a player that hits RHP well (Pina). And Pina is much cheaper than Castro. And he's already familiar with the org and pitchers. The Brewers catching situation is just fine with Susac/Pina so if he wants a LH bat with pop then he should be looking to the 3b opening after Scooter gets traded this winter and Villar is moved to 2b. Every other position is set except another backup OF joining Perez in that mix. And even then you're competing with Reed and Wren who both post better numbers vs RHP than Kirk last year. It has to make sense if adding a LH bat rather than just adding someone just to add them because they're a LH bat.

Didn't see this until now, I stand corrected on his age and must have hit the wrong number thinking of someone else. Regardless, he wasn't listed as a Top 100 heading into this year because he was ineligible. Not sure he would have made the cut again anyway based on his "ok" MLB stint in 2015 (slashed 248/320/736 when starting) but he still would have been a Top 150 prospect. This year he was injured and still hit 273/343/798 in AAA with Giants. And I agree that there's no point in signing Castro or another lefty catcher for 5M+ when Pina hits RHP rather well (Susac hits LHP very well). So if there's any platoon to begin with it's already covered with Susac/Pina.

Nobody saw it coming? I, along with a lot of others on here and elsewhere, predicted him to hit 35+ HR. Nobody should be shocked by his production. While the Brewers could go with a 1b that hits for a higher BA/OBP they might not hit his OPS and won't replicate his power (35+). Carter was better defensively than what you always heard about him. Still isn't good but he's serviceable. Even if he gets 6-8M we aren't strapped so the price is only an issue if Stearns thinks teams wouldn't be interested in him at that price if he replicates or improves his performance. I think he's a Brewer next year for sure, at least for the first half.

I'd prefer the Cubs to lose at Wrigley having never even gotten a W there

Flanagan said in April that Woodruff is one of the players's to watch in the entire system as he was finally 100% healthy and that his previous numbers didn't do his talent justice. That this was the year they expected him to put everything together and pitch to his ability. He did that. 24 in AAA isn't a negative. And when you have a plus fastball consistently hitting 95-97 velocity (and continuing that late in games) with an average-to-above average curve, changeup and control you absolutely can step in and be a competitive SP at the MLB level right away. Hader, Woodruff, Ortiz I think are locks, barring injury, to be (very) productive SPs and definitely better than anyone we have in the rotation right now. They all have track records whereas Lopez didn't. He happened to have a dominant 2015 but there was nothing previous that showed this is what would translate to the field (mainly control related).

I have a feeling, assuming he has other options, he only re-signs with the Brewers if he thinks he has a decent chance to make the big league club out of spring training. As of right now, if he doesn't, he'd be behind Brinson and likely Cordell (and possibly Phillips if he ends up in AAA) and fighting for the remaining AAA outfield at-bats with Reed and Wren. Obviously a lot can change, but there would likely be a clearer path to AAA playing time elsewhere than Milwaukee. For a 5th OF, Flores is as good a choice as anyone else. That said, by the end of 2017, I think it is quite plausible that the Brewers could have Hernan Perez as the 5th infielder and 4th outfielder, while Ryan Cordell is the 6th infielder and 5th outfielder. So, the other three or four bench spots could be... interesting to fill. If Flores is even re-signed there's a strong chance he's not sticking with the Brewers beyond 2017 anyway. If he's re-signed and doesn't make the MLB roster I would cut him because he's not going to play in AAA with Brinson, Cordell and potentially Phillips there too plus Reed or Wren. Definitely a log jam. This year we have Braun/Puig, Broxton, Santana starting with Reed/Wren as the only players currently in the org that are competing for a backup OF spot. Perez will also see time in the OF and will most likely be the 4th OF to start. But if the starters remain healthy you're probably only looking at a total of 40 or so games where a backup will fill in for the starters (especially if we have Puig instead of Braun as he'll play more games for sure). I just think Kirk is far too inconsistent to come back even if he does provide punch at home plus he'll be 30. I'd rather give a younger Reed/Wren or Flores the opportunity to earn the other backup job. Plus, Brinson will be up at some point in 2017. In 2018 you're looking at Brinson/Santana/Puig/Broxton/Cordell and maybe even Phillips but some of them will be traded since not enough spots. Lot of moving pieces coming by the end of next season. Regarding Cordell, there is no way the Brewers would/should put Perez over him on the depth chart when it comes to backup OFs. Cordell is a true OF so he's much better at tracking balls and will not only get on base more but hit for more power while also stealing some bases. Perez is fine in the OF with a strong arm but he's not a better option on either side of the ball than Cordell when it comes to being the 4th OF. But until these guys come up from AAA Perez will be the 4th OF, at least to start.

Phillips is absolutely a lock and it's not even debatable. A CF/RF with a cannon arm and speed to track combined with "potential" 20/20 from the left side. His overall numbers of 229/332/729 don't tell the entire story - take away one brutal month (July) and he finished 253/348/799 with 13 doubles, 5 triples, 15HR, 59rbi, 53 runs in 344 AB. Willie Randolph (Team USA coach) spoke highly of him. Mayo said during the broadcast last night not to pay attention to his numbers because he's working on some things but he's played well even though numbers don't show it. He has 10bb in 10 AFL games. His last 5 games he's 250/471/804. Plus he was 2yrs young for AA last year as a 21/22yr old. He'll be just fine.

Just to go AB by AB since I watched the entire game. Diaz walked his first 3 trips then had a rbi ground ball single up the middle then a sharp ground ball single through the IF to RF. Nottingham squared up a rocket to 3b his first AB resulting in rbi ground out then followed it up with a walk. Final 3 ABs were a shallow-ish fly ball to LC that almost fell in for a hit, K swinging then fly ball to RF that was about 10 feet too short from allowing Phillips to attempt tagging from 3rd. Phillips walked, 2rbi double to RF and hustled into 2b, barreled up a ball back up the middle and the pitcher got lucky with a glove on it (knocked his glove off actually) but unfortunately the ball landed near the pitcher for the easy put out, then walked in final AB. He hit a foul HR his first AB prior to the walk that you couldn't see land but the announcers said it was long gone. He shot off his bat like out of a cannon though.

I didn't see any Bill Hall. My first thought was Robinson Cano and then the announcers spent a whole AB talking about how he studies Cano. Definitely see the Cano resemblance. There's nothing about Diaz, stance/swing or otherwise, that resembles Hall to me. He should turn out to be a very good player. He's polished already. I agree, Plush, that Nottingham appears to have solid pitch framing/receiving skills. The 2 throws I saw from him seemed to show a good enough arm too. His release and footwork need to improve a tad. Blocking balls seems to be his biggest issue. He blocked a few last night very well but there are others (even going back to the first game that was broadcast) where the footwork isn't there or he gets down on one leg instead of dropping to both knees. These are very correctable but the effort has to be put in on his end to have it translate to the field. The announcers spoke well of all 3 Brewers position players even though their numbers aren't eye popping by any means. T.Scott pitched well last night too. Not sure if he'll be an effective pen arm in MLB though - time will tell.

Let's provide context instead of painting Nottingham with the garbage-behind-the-plate brush like a lot of people do on this board. Tebow had a great jump. Fastball was in the dirt. Nottingham made a great backhand pick, relatively quick release on that type of pick then threw a strong one hopper on the money. And not an in-between difficult pick. It was far enough out in front that EVERY MLB infielder makes that play. The 2b who picked the ball brought his glove back and up upon picking it instead of taking it straight down. If he takes it straight down Tebow is easily out by 1-2 feet. Nottingham also looked much better behind the plate than his counterpart (Taylor Ward - 1st rd pick last year)

I could see Clark, Burnes, Erceg start in A (although can easily see Erceg starting A+) -- Bickford, Kirby A+ -- Phillips AAA. Cordell/Brinson/Phillips is a pretty good AAA OF

Keep the political garbage in the political forum. I laughed at his line. Mainly because its true. Its ok to throw some funny remarks around on occasion given it directly applies to a MLB ump and his illogical reasoning and blatant disregard of facts

While he does have a higher leg kick it's not much higher than previous. It's slightly higher. And there's zero correlation between leg kicks and load. Leg kicks are merely for timing. Watching the video from AFL on the previous page of this thread the only issue I have is with how far he takes his hands back, which leads to him fully straightening his front arm before throwing his hands forward. If he shortens that up he'll be quicker to the ball and more athletic with his swing. I like how he starts and finishes through contact though. You'll notice Diaz has a slight bend to his front elbow, Moncada even more bend. Nottingham gets a little straight with his front arm too at times but his best swings have slight bend to it.

So you want 2x or more than what Lucroy got, but with someone with half the value if that? That might be hard to pull off. On another note why should the Dodgers regret not getting Braun exactly? In all of the Dodgers NLCS losses they lost by 4+ runs. You honestly think Braun was going to create 4 extra runs over what they got out of their LFer in any of those games? Yah I doubt it too. Not sure if I'm reading this correctly but are you saying Braun is half the value, if that, of Lucroy? If that's what you mean then how is it that Puig + 2 very good prospects are coming back for Braun when we only got Brinson for Lucroy (or Brinson/Cordell - however you look at the Rangers trade because some see it differently. I align Jeffress with Ortiz/Cordell given Smith brought back Bickford/Susac). I also disagree with HighHeat because there's zero indicators suggesting De Leon + 1 was part of the trade nor that the Dodgers squashed it. What was made public was 1 prospect being agreed upon and the other couldn't before the deadline but that they probably only needed an additional 30 minutes to agree on someone. If De Leon was coming back how difficult would it be to add another guy? I mean, you're getting a 26yr old Puig who could return to All Star form and be flipped for multiple high end prospects, a potential #2 in De Leon who's basically MLB ready (added to the list of Hader, Ortiz, Bickford, Woodruff) + 1. There's no way De Leon is coming back (I HOPE I EAT THESE WORDS:)

I don't buy the "can't roll out advanced concepts" with this team given Jordy and Cobb are in their 9th and 6th years. Adams, Abby, Janis in 3rd years. Lacy in 4th year. Ty is in his 2nd year but he's also very intelligent. How many seasons need to go by before advanced concepts are installed? The defensive secondary is beat up with top 3 DBs injured but they've been playing solid. The offensive game plan has not been good. It was terrible last year and it's carried over. This team has tremendous talent on the offensive side and their skill sets aren't being utilized to the best of their abilities. Packers fans are spoiled. And they are annoying and unappreciative, generally speaking. I say this as a Packers fan.

Zach Walters I think makes sense and it would be great if he performed fairly well at 3b, which appears not to be the case. But if he's platooning with Perez maybe that works much better since he has pop and plenty of experience at the upper levels with some MLB stints. This is where trading Scooter for lottery tickets (ie Freddy Peralta) comes into play as Arcia/Villar up middle with Perez floating around so need another IF - a switch hitter with pop and versatility in the field aligns with Stearns. Past 3yrs he's outperformed Cecchini offensively. I don't think Matt West makes sense.

Finally someone else understands that Flores actually is talented enough to help a MLB team. He's young still and will use this year as a learning experience moving forward. A lefty spray hitter who can play all 3 OF spots is useful. Whether he sticks with us or not is up in the air but he can stick with someone. Glad to see Middlebrooks opted for FA. He's terrible.

All my teams are just run by stupid people from the top down. Tony Snell? Why? We could have had a lottery pick for MCW but Kidd wanted him. We sign Monroe. Both guys play like MCW and Monroe with no surprises, then we dump them for pennies on the dollar. Hopefully we can complete the Braun for Puig plus a bad contract and the year will be complete. Yeah!!!! Settle down, Trump. Just because you can't grasp the logic behind a trade doesn't mean it's not good for the team now or moving forward. And when was "Braun for Puig/McCarthy" ever a reported proposal? Regarding all other comments - how is the bench weak? There are going to be various starting lineups but off the bench you're looking at Delly or Snell along with Teletovic shooting 39-40% from deep. Beasley is instant offense. Monroe will kill reserve Centers while not getting killed on defense because the average reserve Center isn't good. Henson will alter shots and rebound. Then mix in an all-around player in Brogdon, veteran in Terry and length in Thon. I will never understand how people think MCW sucks. He's very good defensively, great at rebounding for a point, great at getting to the basket against anyone, will have terrible turnovers at times but also creates open shots for others (had a career low 2.8 turnovers last year and has avg 6apg over career). His jump shooting isn't good. The biggest problem with him on the roster was our 2 best players (Giannis/Parker) absolutely can't shoot from deep and Giannis isn't any different than MCW when it comes to jumpers in general - he gets his points from going to the basket. If Giannis had a legitimate jump shot then MCW would fit in just fine. But that's not the case and with Middleton out it's amplified. But saying MCW sucks isn't remotely accurate. He does a lot of things very well - the things he doesn't do well just don't fit into this specific team. MCW off the bench would kill backups, which is why I think we should have held on to him but if he's not getting plenty of minutes with Giannis running point then they did what they thought was best for improving the team in getting a perimeter defender who is solid at shooting 3s (36-37%) in Snell.

I agree with this. De Leon on the table you take him. When trading guys like Braun, Lucroy you get young, elite players back who have had success at the upper levels vs 19/20yr olds in rookie or A ball. It's why the return from the Rangers is better than CLE even though number of players was fewer.

I would guess so. He's been ok with the bat and I've never heard that he has attitude problems. FWIW, he's allowed two stolen bases today in two attempts, and has a passed ball for the second game in a row. He's also been behind the plate for two wild pitches. Prior to today's game, statistically, he's seemed fine regarding passed balls. Wild pitches, stolen bases we can't understand why unless we witness it or there's legitimate reporting on it. So if he's making these remarks he's got to be continuing his defensive performance from this past year. He's got a couple more years to figure it out if he wants to stay there.

What is he specifically referring to regarding Nottingham - solely his defense? *edited for wording mix up