paul253

Just wanted to bump this thread now that the season is near the end. Wisconsin is up to #3 (tied with Union) in the all important pair wise rankings which more or less means a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Of course they still have to play two games at Michigan St and Wisconsin hasn't exactly been a juggernaut on the road. They need to win both games and at least make it to the finals of the Big 10 tournament to get that #1 seed I think (unless they lose one to MSU then win to B10 tournament). I've been following USCHO's tournament projections which tend to be pretty accurate and even when Wisconsin was a #2 seed the usually always ended up in the St. Paul bracket with #1 Minnesota, probably because of attendance reasons. It'd suck to have to play Minnesota in St. Paul in the NCAA tournament so Wisconsin needs that #1 seed.

I know I campaigned the Brewers to take a position prospect the last few months, but it's hard to imagine them not dipping into the wealth of arms this year. I would be fine with a number of positions (3B, SS, C even a stud 1B) but seeing so many talented HS pitchers makes me want the Brewers to go the direction. If we use our first two picks on HS arms those two, plus Williams, will give us something to be really excited about. The Brewers system hasn't had much for me to be excited about in quite awhile.

Philadelphia isn't going to win another game all year. Right now they have a 3 game lead on the Bucks. I don't know what the tie breaker is but the Bucks beat Philly 2 outta 3 times. So I think if the Bucks want to guarantee a top 4 pick they can't win more than 2 more games all year.

I'm getting really, really tired of reading these stories about high school kids asking a celebrity to prom via twitter (and just to clarify, I'm not talking about kids who are dying or anything). Seriously.....it's been done. It's not cool anymore. How about you grow a set and ask someone from your school? Just once I'd like to see a celebrity respond with something to the extent of "no way you loser". Is that mean?

The thing I can't stand about Buzz is his inconsistency in giving players PT. At certain times this season I've forgotten that JaJuan Johnson and Steve Taylor play for Marquette. Meanwhile Derrick Wilson is nothing more than a backup caliber point guard and Jake Thomas can't do anything but shoot 3's. I'd really like to see more time given to the more talented players (Johnson, Burton, Taylor) in hopes they develop instead of the guys who play now who are clearly limited in what they can do (Williams, Thomas, Anderson).

I think it'll be hard to blow this pick, especially if it's a top 4 pick. We can debate who we want between Embiid, Parker and Wiggins but none of them would be a terrible pick. And Dante Exxum at 4 would be a solid pick as well. I just wish he would have found a way to add an additional first rounder.

I've seen some recent mock drafts that have us taking Touissant at 12. I'm not a fan of the hard throwing no control type pitchers and really don't want to take a chance on someone who can't throw strikes.

The worst way to rebuild a farm system is to draft based on current MLB needs - just draft the highest player left on your board each time your organization gets to pick. While I agree that in general you pick the best player available I think teams need to be flexible when it comes to positions. The Brewers have more or less ignored positions like third base and shortstop at the top of the draft for the past 6 or 7 years and it's created a glaring hole not only at the major league level but all throughout the system. Melvin did a good job trading for Segura to fill that hole at SS but if we weren't so desperate for a SS we could have traded Greinke for pitching instead. Unless there is a fairly large separation between the top player on your board and the top player on your board at a position you need I don't see why you can't select the player at the position you need, especially after the second round (Can there really be that much separation between the 90th best player and the 91st or 92nd best player, for instance?) Let's face it, the Brewers need a severe talent upgrade at every position in the minors. But at least they have some guys who have a chance to be Major League regulars in the outfield (Roache, Haniger, Taylor, DVo, Reed, etc), which I think is more than they can say for third base, shortstop, catcher, second base, and maybe even first base (Coulter and Arcia are too far away to make a decent projection on, in my opinion). They also desperately need a top of the rotation pitcher. Because of that, while I agree with the notion of drafting best player available I'd be pretty disappointed if they took at outfielder with the 12th pick unless that outfielder is much more talented that anyone else available.

With Philadelphia in all out tank mode and the Bucks playing a little better I'd be surprised if the Bucks still finish with the worst record in the league. Probably not the worst thing in the world as it seems like the team with the worst record rarely gets the #1 pick.

If he rejects the offer, the Orioles get a comp pick - better than this year's 2nd round pick. You beat me to it. I was at first thinking "why give up a pick for a one year deal" also. But once I realized it wasn't a first round pick you realize it's actually a pretty good deal. There are 3 possible outcomes here, two of them favorable to Baltimore. 1) He has a good year, the offer him a QO, he accepts and it becomes a 2/$23 million deal. 2) He had a good year, they offer him a QO, he turns it down and they get a better pick than they forfeited or 3) He has a bad year and they let him walk without a QO. 2 of the three are good for Baltimore and even if he has a bad year it only cost them a second round pick.

If he can up his walk rate even a little bit, then he's got a much better chance of being a long term solution at second If he hits 8th we probably don't want his walk rate to go up. If he is walking a lot it means teams are pitching around him so they can face the pitcher. I guess that's ok if you want to turn the lineup over it also means you are pretty much either giving up on the inning or at the very least giving up an out to bunt Gennett over. I know Mark Reynolds has power but in the last four years he's hit .198 (.320 OBP) .221 (323 OBP), .221 (.335 OBP) and .220 (.306 OBP). Juan Francisco hasn't had an OBP over .300 since 2010 and has a career .243 average. I think whoever plays first base this year is far and away the worst hitter we have. I'd rather put the all or nothing guy in the 8th spot than put Gennett there hoping he'll draw more walks. I know I'll probably get knocked for this but I'd bat Gennett 2nd. Hitting between Segura and Braun not only will you go righty-lefty-righty but he'll probably see better pitches as teams won't want to put him on ahead of Braun, Ramirez, Gomez. and Lucroy. He only struck out once every five and a half at bats last year (over his minor league career it was once every 7 at bats). You want the top of the order putting the ball in play. He has decent speed and has shown over the course of his career that he'll hit for average. I don't understand all of these assumptions that he'll regress to be .260-.270 hitter. Maybe it will happen but I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, my lineup would be: 1) Segura 2) Gennett 3) Braun 4) Ramirez 5) Gomez 6) Lucroy 7) Davis 8) Reynolds/Francisco/Overbay/Green/Yuni (after we inevitably re-sign him)

What an awesome game. I wanted to wake up and watch it live but I just couldn't do it so I taped it instead. TJ Oshie taking 6 of the 8 shootout shots and scoring 4 times, including two do or die goals. Can't get much better than that. I've read that some NHL owners want this to be the last Olympics with NHL players. What a shame that would be. You have a major sport where the stars are begging to play for their country, unlike baseball and basketball (where Wade suggested once that players should be paid) and now the owners want to abandon the idea because they don't see a benefit for them? How about a little national pride and seeing your guys winning a gold medal, something very, very few people have the chance to do? The greed of everyone tied to professional sports (players, owners, agents, etc) really gets to me sometimes

I just saw a rumor that Charlotte may be buyers and may even be willing to trade their first rounder. The Bucks should be on the phone and ask what it would take to get that first rounder.

This seems like a good problem to have. Even as the debate heats up it doesn't appear as though we are going to end up with a bad player. I'd be excited with Wiggins, Parker or Embiid. I'd be slightly less excited by still ok with Smart, Randle, or Exum. I wish there was a way they could walk away with a shooter too though, someone like Gary Harris or Wayne Seldom, though after being overshadowed by Wiggin and Embiid I wouldn't be surprised to see Seldom go back to Kansas.

Forgetting about Keith Law I think the Brewers system is in shambles. Yes the graduation of guys like Gennett, Davis and Thornburg made it worse but let's face facts. Even posters on this site can't agree if Gennett and/or Davis are every day players. While some people, like me, think they are, I don't think anyone believes they are all-star caliber types. And others can't agree if Thornburg is a starter or a reliever. So just the fact that we are arguing that the graduation of a couple of possible every day players and a guy who profiles at best to be a #3 starter makes us system so much worse should tell us how bad our system is to begin with. I thought last year's draft was an absolute joke after the first two picks. How many college aged pitchers who profile as relievers does one organization need? I liked the Clint Coulter pick from two years ago but he's shown nothing so far. The Victor Roache selection looks like it can be a good one but he needs to figure out how to hit above .250. And I do like Tyrone Taylor. Overall though I think the system is one of the worst in baseball and I am very much down on the future of this franchise. I hope I'm wrong.

Signing Garza tells me the Brew are going for it again over the next 2 years, they ain't dealing Ramirez I'm sorry but I just laughed a little when thinking about the Brewers "going for it" with Mark Reynold, Lyle Overbay and Juan Francisco fighting it out to be the starting first baseman and no depth whatsoever. The Brewers of 2012-2015 (I know it's only 2014 now but I'm just predicting based on the multiyear contracts they are giving out) just scream of the Bucks of 2010-2013. Milwaukee sports fans deserve better.

http://espn.go.com/nba/lottery2014/mockdraft Here's a fun little tool if you have some time to kill. It's a mock draft but instead of just going from worst record to best record it actually plays the lottery and changes that mock depending on how the lottery turns out. I'll tell you what no matter how it turns out Philly usually ends up with two of the top 11 picks. If we get the #1 or #2 pick I'd be very tempted to trade that pick and maybe a John Henson for those two picks. The draft has enough talent that you can still get a quality player at 3 or 4 and another one at 11 or 12. Some combination of Randle/Wiggins/Embiid/Exum/Smart along with Gary Harris/Vonleh/Willie Cauley-Stein/James Young would help this team out a lot

I'm thinking of renting Captain Philips. The plot never really interested me but I've heard nothing but good things about the movie. Anyone here see it? Was it worth the time?

I'd love it if Embiid and Parker went back to school. The Bucks would still get someone like Wiggens, Smart, Exum, or Randle and next years draft would be that much stronger with those two at the top of the list. That being said I don't buy for a second either of those guys is going back to school. We've seen a lot of guys actually hurt their stock lately by going back (Smart, Jared Sullinger, Perry Jones, Harrison Barnes, etc) and I don't think a sure fire top 5 pick is likely to go back to school. I could be wrong of course but it's one of those I'll believe it when I see it type moments.

I've actually considered this a successful offseason for the Brewers, mainly because of some things they did NOT do: 1) They did not sign a free agent that causes them to lose their fist round pick again 2) They did not sign a free agent to a multi year deal that will block a prospect 3) They did not trade any prospects for veterans Considering those were my three biggest fears heading into the off season I'm glad to see that at least Melvin didn't do any of that. I would have liked to see him shop Gomez but Melvin was probably driving himself crazy not trading away any prospects. You can't expect him to trade FOR prospects too.

Bucks GM John Hammond and especially, owner Herb Kohl, don't want to undertake a long rebuilding plan that involves few reasons to be excited. The thing about it is that like the Brewers, they probably don't need to go through a long rebuilding plan. They just need to start making better decisions. In the NBA more than any sport one or two guys can make you a good team. The Bucks will theoretically get one of those guys these year in Parker, Wiggens, or Embid. If they can move Sanders and/or Ilyasova for another top 15 pick they could add another piece. Maybe struggle a bit next year get another top 5 pick in 2015 and all of a sudden you've got some talent to work with. On a side note, I'd love to see the Bucks make a run at Ray Allen this offseason. He's not the same player he was when he was here before but he was always a fan favorite and a real classy player. The back court needs a lot of help as it is and getting him would be a way to maybe get some fans back and give them somebody to really cheer for. They'd probably have to overpay for him but I think it'd be worth it.

trade it to 76ers for the 3 and 10 overall, That'd be a fantastic move. I don't see a ton of separation between the top 4 guys. Parker may stand out a little but him. Wiggens, Embid, and Randle would all be a good get. At 10 Smart may even still be around or else you could grab a guy like Gary Harris or Wayne Seldon for the backcourt of Willie Cauley Stein who is a real nice looking defender. On a side not how about that move Philly made to get an extra pick this year. They got Nerlens Noel AND the pick for Jrue Holiday. I wish the Bucks had a GM who actually recognized that state of the team before this disasterous season and had tried to grab an extra first rounder this year.

I was just perusing the NBA standings and I couldn't help but laughing. Four teams in the East.....FOUR....have records above .500. The gap between the haves and the have-nots seems like its getting bigger every year. The NBA has got to do something about its draft so that teams aren't constantly drafting potential. If you either make it like the NFL where players are not eligible until three years after their HS class graduates or make it like the NHL where a team can draft you and then retains your rights for a certain period of time I think that would be a big help. The NBA franchise wouldn't have to spend half of the rookies first contract trying to develop the guy while he sits on the bench. Instead he can develop in the NCAA or overseas while playing against guys at his own talent level.

Maybe I'm a dork talking about this already but there a ton of potential blockbuster movies set to premiere in 2015 and a lot of casting news has been coming out lately on one particular movie. I wanted to start a thread to see what people think about the movies and the potential or announced casting. 2015 movie releases are scheduled to be Superman vs. Batman, Avengers 2, Star Wars episode 7, and sequels to Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean, Terminator, Die Hard, Jurassic Park, and Hunger Games, among others. There are two movies I am really excited about. The Star Wars movie is first. I'm really curious about both the plot and how close to the expanded universe books and games and what not the movie is. It would be really weird to see Han and Leia have kids not named Jacen and Jaina or Luke married to someone other than Mara, for instance. I'm also really excited about the Superman vs Batman movie, though I am concerned about all the big names being cast. To me the best superhero movies star either unknown or up and coming actors (Henry Cavill as Superman, Chris Evans as Capt America, Christian Bale as Batman, even Chris Hemsworth as Thor). Superhero movies that try to use big names tend to bomb (Ben Affleck as Daredevil, George Clooney and Val Kilmer as Batman, Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern, etc). It's not a given of course, as well known Robert Downey did pretty well as Iron Man and little known Brandon Routh didn't do much in Superman Returns. Still, I hear the rumor of The Rock being cast as the Green Lantern in Superman vs Batman and I just cringe. Seriously? The Rock? That move right there would make me less likely to see the movie. I wasn't big on them casting Ben Affleck as Batman but I suppose I could get over it. I'd just like to see the movie set up possibilities of spin-offs staring single characters. I don't see a whole new Batman franchise with Ben Affleck, nor would ANYONE want to see a Green Lantern spin-off staring The Rock (another rumored name was Denzel Washington. I'd be more ok with that but again, I don't see a Green Lantern spin-off with him). This movie has the potential to be so huge. I hope they don't screw it up. Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts on potentially the biggest year in movies ever? Which ones you are looking forward to the most?

The NBA draft does need to change but not in some stupid way like that. The NBA draft is becoming more and more like the MLB draft in that you are essentially drafting a guy based on potential. I think the best thing the NBA could do would to be change their eligibility rules. My ideas are: a) change draft eligibility to something like the NFL where players are not allowed to enter the draft until three years after their high school class graduates b) allow high school kids to enter the draft and then start a viable minor league system where the young kids could play and mature. c) allow teams to draft players and retain their rights for 4 years. The NBA team can then choose if/when to sign the player, allowing the player to play in the NCAA before they are signed. It'd be similar to what the NHL does. So like last year the Cavs could have picked Andrew Wiggins #1, told him to go to school for a year or two, then sign him to a contract. d) Do something similar to what MLB does. Allow players to be drafted after high school. But if they choose to go to college they have to stay in college for three years. Unlike MLB though, I would allow teams to retain the rights of the player they drafted for a number of years. None of this "I don't like the offer so I'll try again next year" crap like MLB allows. As far as draft order goes. It should be worst to first. Tanking or not, the worst team should get the first pick. There is a such a talent disparity in the league now. 18 of the 30 teams are under .500 and certain teams have built in advantages in getting free agents.