TJseven7

Wow Moose Hello park ranger, the moose is loose... oy

Life isn’t always fair. Shaw probably should just stay down, but the fact they are rushing him back tells me either Hiura is going back or Aguilar is getting dumped. The later of which doesn’t make a ton of sense just because Shaw is a lefty and Aguilar is a righty. That would make the corner infielders very LHB heavy. Dumping Thames seems...questionable, but I suppose possible. I missed this. They are rushing him back?

I don't think he shifts off SS though. I think the 2b stuff is more to do with the fact that Coca is a young gun who's starting to bloom as well. Like Henry Feliciano in A+ Arcia hits arby next year. Would be nice to see him keep this up and take over in time to trade Arcia. Coca's blooming? News to me. As many HR this year as the rest of his career. OBP the best its been since DSLat 17. Walks are up. Errors are down. Are you unaware of this or were you trying to be condescending?

I don't think he shifts off SS though. I think the 2b stuff is more to do with the fact that Coca is a young gun who's starting to bloom as well. Like Henry Feliciano in A+ Arcia hits arby next year. Would be nice to see him keep this up and take over in time to trade Arcia.

It's production in A at 23 years old but I'd love to see Fry challenged with a promotion. If he keeps hitting like this he could be in the 25 talk.

In all the trades last year, there were only 2 who really concerned me with their inclusion. Carmona and Yamamoto. I can't expect they were high value chips and they make me concerned that they could become them. Harrison Diaz already proved trade value but those 2 leave me worried. Can we get a link for Yamamoto. Looking solid in AA.

Terrible news to Kirby. It's gotta be bullpen or bust for him now. Career doesn't get started til he's 26.

Real nice outing from Nelson. What to do about our 23 year old catcher who is killing the ball in A, who is blocked behind 2 younger catchers in A+. Nice problem to have but Fry has to get a shot to climb.

Burnes seems like he's 2 years away and still there's no chance I'd do this. The pitch profile is that of a very good starter. I'm not interested in dealing those.

post 71 "I see drunks at the bar screaming and swearing at everyone. It doesn't make them any more right than you are." Attack, retract, attack deflect. Whatever. My comment about Martinez being a below average LB is tag-lined by me saying I'm swearing at him constantly on Sundays. Which is at home, alone, pacing in front of my TV, sober, and talking under my breath (while screaming inside my head) like I did when I coached. But DRUNKS AT THE BAR DO THAT TOO!!! Please. I've seen your "debate" style. If it talks like a troll, and acts like a troll... So you've retracted Horst to doing a great job. I thought he was: "To say Horst hasn't been a brilliant GM since he's taken the job given the salary cap restraints is absolutely ludicrous." I apologize that I confused you with another poster on the "genius" take. But either way, why are you sliding away from your stance. Don't want to seem too off-base? Now, are you calling yourself absolutely ludicrous because you only said he did a great job? Or are those attacks only directed at me? Martinez could be good if Martinez sucked at shedding blocks and was elite at everything else like Urlacher was. He's not. He's poor in many areas. Darron Lee and Deion Jones get away with it because they have traits that make them an entirely different LB. Jones is plus everything else. Darron can cover and range in ways that Martinez couldn't fathom. Urlacher and speed guys with range can get away with not having great shed skills because they have closing speed. They can take longer routes to the ball to avoid blockers. They make blockers miss. Martinez is a thumper and if you are a thumper who can't shed or scrap, you are just slow. Martinez needs that trait or he's a square peg in a round hole. So in summary, yes, Martinez doesn't need that trait, if he was a completely different human being at the LB position. Like Urlacher. You can't defend a lack of traits that way. You have to build the composite of the player based off of what they are athletically capable of, and how their instincts enhance or decrease that, then think about what a player with those traits needs to be good at, to be a good player. it's a pairing of traits that doesn't go together with nothing in the tank to overcome that weakness. A run game negative mark, when he doesn't have coverage positives. Downhill plus, tackling plus, bad sifting and scraping. Run game grades out above average. Passing game work is quite bad. That equals below average. "It's particularly baffling since I don't care about any of them and they have nothing to do with this discussion. I don't know what the relevance of that rant was or what it has to do with anything. " So my take on Martinez is wrong according to a guy who doesn't care about LB on other teams that he's being compared against? Sounds fair. "You called him average and said anyone could have easily made the trade he did for Mirotic and the trade he made for Hill. " I did and I'm correct. You called me an idiot who didn't understand the CBA among other things. I'd explain it to you but honestly I was so irritated by your terrible tone and conduct that I simply reported it. 74.8 Blake Martinez... 72.4 Darron Lee. Darron Lee earning that grade for ELITE COVERAGE while playing out of position at Mike in the 3-4. Buck or in the 4-3 a Will but he's certainly not Mike in the 3-4. While Blake played in his best fit scenerio. So Lee was terrible? Blake was above average? Do you miss leather helmets? 3 yards and a cloud of dust? Wing T? I like LBs who cover and range because that's important and hard to do. I actually didn't like Lee when he got drafted (not a 1st) because his instincts were rather mediocre. (like Blake's) He's come a long way but you'd have to watch to know that. The truth is he took a big step forward in his 3rd year. Specifically in range and coverage. The games clearly slowing down for him and his speed is finally starting to show up on the field equal to where it was in college. He's a big help to KCs weak pack of LBs (at Will) and won't come off the field. But that's me watching the ole combine which I think is almost worthless. Or is it you not watching the game? Martinez is an old school dying breed in the current NFL. Jake Ryan was graded the same by PFF before Martinez took over. Jake Ryan is well below average at LB but at least his traits fit together. I guess I can't explain it to you any other way at this point because you aren't going to watch the league to know for yourself but you are certain you know regardless. Watching a few games of Darron Lee in 2016-2017 won't cut it if you want to make accurate comparisons. You don't care about that though. Research bah. You can just wing it then attack people who disagree until you feel superior. Cuz if it talks like a troll, and acts like a troll...

You're picking a weird hill to die on here. A 24 year old minor league arm off TJ that's wrecking every level. I remember CC having very favorable comments about his arm in ST. He may not make the majors this year, but very strong chance we see him in AAA at the rate he's going...possibly after only a couple more starts. The nature of hype. When its high its almost always too high. When it swings the other way its typically too drastic. I'm not killing the guy, I have my concerns and I'm sitting in rational territory. Thrilled to have him in the system. Not buying the 2019 playoff secret weapon stuff. For his age, he's getting promoted aggressively like he should be. I even called the promotion to Biloxi between his last A+ game and the AA promotion.

Very big 10 game stretch for MKE here. The starting rotation is a solid as its been all year. The holes in lineup are down to Aguilar's platoon role. It's time to add 4 wins to our stack over 500. Time to shoot up to 10 games over 500 and show the Astros what they can expect.

You're probably right. You'd prefer to not have any guys causing problems right out of the gate when you've got a new HC, but Pettine is pretty well entrenched as the DC I'd think. And it sends a bad message to let a 2nd round pick who struggled because he can't figure out where he's supposed to be force his way out. The only issue is that being a ST's ace requires a guy who's going to give maximum effort at all times. It's up to him if he wants to be out of the league in another year or spend the next 6-7 years making a couple of million dollars a year to be a gunner and make a name for himself that way. Ty Montgomery at least had a legitimate complaint when he spoke up. It doesn't matter at all what a backup S is saying in the locker room. No one follows the lead of the backup S. As for STs undisciplined low instinct freelancers make bad special teamers. If he's not used as a weapon pawn he's going to amount to nothing on his rookie deal. Clay complained about being given this same role. (although at the time Clay had the instincts and athleticism to cause havoc Jones won't accomplish at that spot) That ticked me off and I wanted him cut ASAP after that. Clay was paid like a legacy at that time and didn't deserve the money if he wanted to act "me first." Clay is a different person in that locker room than Josh though. Clay has pull. Have Pettine tell Josh what his job is and tell him to shut up. That's a message sent. Showing the team that a rookie deal bench player can whine his way out of town is a terrible message. Oh and for reference... PFF says he's an average safety. Is that true?

I'm condescending? You need to go re-read your own work my friend. I'm stunned they haven't banned you yet for how you attack people here. You've called plenty an idiot and compared what I was saying to Trump. Attacking someone doesn't make your argument valid. Not comparing him to HOF LBs is saying, its ok that Blake is bad at shedding blockers because Urlacher was too. That's not comparing him to Urlacher? That's confusing. At the very least its saying that this weakness of Blake's if fine because a HOF had that same weakness, but that ignores everything else and Urlacher was better in everything else. That's not a leg to stand on. I can play the same game by going, Reggie Ragland is a good defender against the run. He's terrible so Blake is too. That makes zero sense. There are 21 LBs head and shoulders better than Blake in this league. They actually make a positive impact on their team. Not even worth debating that they are clearly better. Then you start getting into player who are in his vicinity (grammar police attacks are cool) and a solid number of them are better as well. This is when you start counting a few SSLB who play high volume snaps in the nickle. On top of that, some of these guys are forced to play out of position. Martinez is in the only position he can survive. Simply put, the difference between a street FA and Martinez is smaller than the difference between Martinez and 21 other LBs in the league. That's above average? That is a very very favorable designation. As for the Smith LVE Bush stuff. We did pass LVE and his impact on this defense would have been gigantic. It would of allowed Blake to play 50% of snaps like he's supposed to. Did everyone who watched CFB know he was a star too? Everyone said Tremaine was a star. He was projected in the top 10 by tons of people. I saw plenty with him top 5. Did you think Devin Bush was a top 10 LB? I had him 8th. We can go on and on about my accuracy vs my misses. We won't because you'll simply denounce it because discrediting someone is how you do this. I'm just a DRUNK in a bar. As for Jones not being able to play in the base but saying you compared him to Barron and Bucannon. They play in the base. As does Onwuasor. That's strange to me. Teams have done it and it works. There are plenty of "small" LBs doing the job quite well in the base but our guy is too small? Littleton is an inch taller 8 lbs heavier and slower. He never comes off the field. Yet, Josh is too small for base? Would you like more examples? Deion Jones Darron Lee also Jones size at mike. Lee played in the 3-4 too. We can keep going. Honestly, its a bit maddening. Like listening to people say Devin Bush is small but Devin White isn't. Frankly, I get it. You love your teams. Horst is a genius, Blake is an above average LB. These things aren't true, but you love your teams. So you'll attack me to keep your perception.

Or he's catching up to where an early pick used on a college aged pitcher would be if he didn't miss extra time with the 2nd TJ. He's 24 in 2 months. Nice seeing that they trust his pitch count over 50.

Just curious, how many 800 ops guys do you think we need? Yelich Braun Grandal Moose are all there Hiura Thames Gamel are 750 and up range. Arcia is looking improved and he's the 8th hitter. There are 120 players (100ab) in the MLB with an OPS over 800. Our team has 4 of the top 90. Average 3. Thames Gamel Hiura *on pace* Arcia Perez are in the top 180 which makes 9. Average 6. Cain's OBP numbers have dropped but the offense hasn't been an issue. 4.87 is a little lower than we would like 4.37 almost a half a run too high And that's not due to Davies 2.19 Gio 3.19 Woodruff 3.22 Anderson 3.25 or even Chacin 4.88 Nor Hader Guerra Jeffress Houser or even Albers. Burnes Peralta (largely starting) Peralta in the pen 2.07 is resolved Burnes 7.55 in the pen not so much Barnes Wilson Williams (all 3 in AAA) is resolved Claudio being used as a non-loogey is an ongoing problem. Teams big weakness at this point is Burnes (who I want on the Woodruff plan, learn in AAA) and Claudio being used wrong. So we don't need a Kimbrel. We need 1 more pen arm and we've scooped some decent pen arms late in the season for very little. Team basically needs a Swarzak.

I called him above average actually, and will stand solidly by that. You're comparing him directly to HOF'ers, which seems a bit more unreasonable. He's not at that level, clearly, but he's an above-average LB at this point, IMO. And regarding the other stuff, the 'I know the game better than others' stuff generally doesn't fly with me, whether valid or not. It certainly can frame your viewpoints, but it's unlikely to make me and probably many others take you or whoever more seriously, if for no other reason than it's unverifiable. Too many instances of stuff like that not ending up true here over our many years for me to put much weight on that, whether your situation is legit or not. No offense intended, just IMO. I didn't compare him to HOF'ers. I asked someone else to please not put them in the same sentence as Martinez. I get the verification issue, by all means be skeptical. Calling someone above average I see as a reference point issue. As a tackler, in his consistency and in his durability he is above average. His instincts, range and basically all the physical asks of the position he is below. His hand work, a giant pet peeve of mine, is below average. If its not down hill there is a lack of suddenness. Basically he does a mediocre job very consistently. There are a number of LBs who outclass him easily and a long list who will when you factor in their range and instincts. The question I ask PFF and others need to consider more, is what is the role of LBs in this current era of the NFL. We don't funnel to thumpers anymore. The job of the ILBs is now the same as the old school FS but on a different level of the field. Your job is to stay free, flow, and erase the gaps in the front that their OL is able to force. In coverage, mark diversity and range. Shooting a gap is flashy and a plus but can't come at the expense of losing your assignments due to a lack of range. (which PFF has a hard time grading properly) Another question is, "is above average a grade or a versus others comparison, and how far does that list extend." There are about 160 non-edge LBs in the game. If you think Martinez is top 80, I can't disagree. 80 LBs don't play the snaps of a starter though. Above average for a starter, I can't agree with that. Old school LB appeal but he struggles in the ask of the GB defense. The 3-4 specifically has struggled as offenses continued to spread out further. All you have to do is look at Pittsburgh after the lost the erasing abilities of Shazier. Their defense dramatically weakened when they went from having that 1 stud to having LBs who rival GBs. Rams went tiny with Littleton and Barron. The Chargers are a sliver away from a 4 S base set. It's the present for many teams and every teams future. Blake isn't part of that. Last year some people loved Tremaine Edmunds. This year those people love Devin White. I was and am over the moon about Smith LVE and Bush. Hell, I'd rather have Tranquil than Martinez. It's the LBs who flow freely and cover space on feel that are above average to great. A good way to explain it just hit me. If GB had Martinez and Kyzir White or Martinez and Tranquil the latter in both cases would be the better LB. Blake should and would play 66% of snaps which would be a better suited role for him. If they Kyzir or Tranquil played 67% on 2nd and 3rd down vs Blake's 67% on 1st and 2nd I'd value the coverage backer higher even if they were equals. It's a harder job and harder to find talent. Same way run stuffer DTs are dime a dozen but pass rushers are valued higher. Those who can do both are the stars. I struggle to call any LB above average when Josh Bynes, who is currently a FA and would come in easily under 2 million dollars, would improve upon Martinez results in the defense. I'd be very excited to see GB add him and lessen the demand on Martinez but Bynes looks like one of the quality NFL players who is going to fall through the cracks this offseason.

Which ILBs in the NFL are better? Which other ones have you seen play as much as Martinez and can base this off of? One of the things that bugs me among the fan boards I browse is when a person claims a player to be better/worse than average, but only watches that team and rarely any others. They expect a player to be above average only if they execute every single play, but the reality is that most players on other teams make just as many mistakes if not more. I watch the 5 on TV every week then watch a half dozen other games during the week on re-airs. I'm not watching just the Packers. What do you define as ILB? 3-4 inside LBs and Mikes, only mikes or all non-edge LBs.

I think this is mostly personal opinion rather than fact. PFF has ranked Martinez as a high quality LB both of the last two seasons. I know that's not the end-all, but his actual game performance is being independently rated very well. Some people scream at PFF for errors some see it as the bible. They do good work but they have a grade volatility of 5 points high or low and then they tend to get a little stats biased. They also grade Schobert highly which shows they have a type more than they grade accurately. If you are a consistent volume tackler then they will grade you high despite other factors. If you want to call him average go ahead. I don't see him being an average player and the main reason they are inflated is that they struggle when grading range. I've seen LBs get a great coverage grade because they do well within their tiny little box they occupy who are consistently beaten in coverage range. Blake is one of those. They reward players too much for not missing tackles and downgrade players for missing tackles that most wouldn't have the range to attempt. If you want to play the cross sports reference game, Yuni fielding SS well with no range vs Arica's brilliant range and some bonehead mistakes. They'd grade Yuni as the better SS. PFF will get there but its not quite there yet. To tagline this... I follow this league at an insane level. Have for 20 years including coaching staff duties during my undergrad, being in film rooms with D1 schools and coaching conferences. I like baseball and root for the bucks but I follow every NFL team through every single system hire, FA and draft pick like its my career. I profit off it. I do not speak in personal opinion because I have a reputation at stake. I know, I'm correct or I don't speak. I say what the film shows. You can call it personal opinion if you like, but it's accurate.

What type of system do you think he would be good in then? I don't think the system is the issue with him or his physical ability. I think he's just not smart enough or at least he's not instinctive enough to be a good NFL player. Mark Barron wasn't either. That's how I'd use him. Bucannon isn't as well. Again, that's how I'd use him. Low responsibility, man keys on backs and TEs, fire him through gaps. No thinking, no reading, task oriented. Attack this or pursue. He is dumb, and lacks instinct, so use him as an athletic pawn. Think back to when he played a rolled up SS versus Cincinnati a few years ago. They nearly put him at OLB and he destroyed the LT with sheer speed and athleticism. Had a big game and 2 sacks. That's who he is. It's an athletic talent who doesn't think. You can hide that at buck in this system and you can send him often from that spot. The teams sliding to more of a 5-2 anyway so the OLB will be in more of a contain set to free up the interior to rush. He can get sent from buck often. In the nickle 4-2 look again you could use him as a blitzer or a spy or a guy who simply man locks the RB. Easy jobs that play to his athletic ability and don't require the nuance. Rapp from Washington is much the same guy as well and that's what the Rams took him to do. Replace Barron. It works. You can run a 6'2 220 LB in the base. Especially with Clark and Daniels (Adams) and OLBs who are 275 and set the edge. There's a lot less traffic for LBs in that look but more importantly its harder to turn the edge so pursuit capabilities can be hidden due to delays caused and Ss can fill. If can an just disrupt and pursue from that spot he'll slow down the play enough for Savage and Amos to clean it up. Both Ss should have a monster season tackle wise and the scheme should delay the O enough for those tackles to be reasonably close to the LOS.

Not sure i would go that high on him. Maybe a tick above average but is really terrible at getting off blocks. Good speed but once someone gets his hands on him it's game over. That's pretty standard for the NFL today. You can't be both a big, physical LB'er who can blow up guards and a guy who can cover ground. He may be one of the best 4-5 in the NFL at slipping blocks though and if not, he's definitely among the best at shooting the gap and making plays. But the days of NFL LB'ers taking on linemen and then shedding them is over. Urlacher was terrible when it came to that and he's one of the top 3-4 MLB'ers in the last 25-30 years. There are only so many Luke Kuechly's out there. The only thing Blake rates highly at is tackle numbers because he's in a catch all position. He doesn't even have good speed. He sucks in coverage, he can't handle a RB. No one blows up guards anymore as you say but don't pretend Blake can cover ground. Covering ground involves scraping over blocks and navigating traffic. He doesn't do that well. Even small guys are capable of doing that well if they are athletic. I wanted Devin Bush beyond badly and he's small but he does that exceptionally well. Blake is no where near the top 5 in slipping blocks. Don't ever talk about Urlacher or Kuechley in the vacinity of Martinez. Those are the grail and I swear at Martinez every Sunday. The entire defensive scheme folded in the last year mainly because him and the Ss don't cut it.

As he says, "No hold MY beer" to Thon Maker. Savage and Amos are a monumental upgrade. If Jones doesn't move to LILB he won't play. He probably needs to move to LILB because he's not good enough in coverage for the current NFL game at SS. The defense actually looks good now, even if I'm not enthralled with Gary. It'd be bordering on elite if it wasn't for fact that our interior LBs are terrible. I don't think Jones was ever expected to play or start in the base at MLB'er. We need more depth at LB'er and Owen Burks is totally unproven, but he flashed a bit last year. Blake Martinez is a very solid, well above average inside backer. Jones was never expected to play LB but Kyzir White is the same size as is Onwausor and Barron. That's the new NFL. You have to be able to cover and range with your LBs or they can't be on the field. Old era sure, but its fallen from 2 down thumper to barely 1 down thumper. Our LBs are terrible if they don't get marked improvement from Burks or get something useful out of Jones at LB. Blake Martinez is not very solid. He is a poor player in a catch all position who makes a lot of tackles because he's consistently beat. He gets run past in coverage and as stated above sifts sheds and scrapes poorly. It's basically this eras AJ Hawk and he was pretty poor. The 1 position this defense lacks currently is a high quality do it all LB. 100% of snaps because you are the best they have doesn't mean he's any better than mediocre.

As I have mentioned before you can't get rid of Perez. He is the back up for the infield and most notably at SS. Get rid of him and Arcia is literally the only person to man SS. You would have to replace him with a SS and Hiura isn't that nor is Shaw. We have another Perez in Dubon waiting in AAA. Not as versatile, but with Gamel/Thames, Moose/Shaw Dubon's ability at SS or 2b makes Perez a target to be traded sooner than later. We also have another Perez in Saladino. He's pretty versatile. Doesn't solve the 25 issue though.

18.34 mil opened for this offseason. Expirings which bad teams take on readily for 1sts. Nothing new. Plenty of teams would have taken those 2 for a 1st this offseason as well. And it would be 7mil if he simply didn't sign Snell when we had Brog and Brown who are the same guy. The composite of that trade is 7 mil of cap space and a Hill rental for a 1st. He gutted their mistakes over his own, because his own is tied up longer. Honestly, if Snell is any indication being hamstrung cap wise might have HELPED HIM. Mirotic is a 16/8 playing heavy minutes for bad teams. There wasn't a market for him or a handful of 2nds wouldn't have done it. He found a team in a something is better than nothing situation. Look around, people wanted Dedmon cheap before he was in SA. That's how long that's been going on. We didn't have a D-, we had an F- who happened upon a unicorn. Exec of the year, is because the team was good. The team wasn't bad before, Kidd was. Steve Keim of the Arizona Cardinals did the logical simple things when he got Arians and got exec of the year and then fell off a cliff for 3 years because, simply put, he is average. Horst is too. Riding the coat tails of a superstar and hiring a coach due to something other than blatant nepotism doesn't make you a great GM. It makes you a sane one. Any half way decent fantasy basketball manager would have done the same stuff. Genius is Ainge who suckered teams out of elite assets. Horst hasn't screwed up. Horst has used all but 2 picks in the next 4 years to get there. Wake me when he buys an early 2nd instead of selling them. Horst has 2 college matured 1sts who are borderline 2nd stringers and 2 picks in the next 4 years. That's no genius. I get the bar has been set REALLY low in MKE for years. He's competent. They were really bad. Plums, Henson, Delly, Telly, Thon over Sabonis, DJ over Collins/Allen, Vaughn over Portis, the MCW debacle, the Vasquez trade that still haunts us. BAD! Does not make competent a genius.

As he says, "No hold MY beer" to Thon Maker. Savage and Amos are a monumental upgrade. If Jones doesn't move to LILB he won't play. He probably needs to move to LILB because he's not good enough in coverage for the current NFL game at SS. The defense actually looks good now, even if I'm not enthralled with Gary. It'd be bordering on elite if it wasn't for fact that our interior LBs are terrible.