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coolhandluke121

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Everything posted by coolhandluke121

  1. coolhandluke121
    That's what I was getting at when I said it seems he's scared of the ball. He's kind of swinging gingerly, standing a little away from the plate, and not stepping into it. He seems reluctant to commit to a good swing. Of course Thames is just as much of a headcase some times, but what are you gonna do. May as well play the LHB more if they're both going to be so inconsistent.
  2. coolhandluke121
    They needed a starting RF, not a 4th OF. The stuff they've done to accommodate Braun, despite his salary, health, and production, is a curse.
  3. coolhandluke121
    You could say that about every helpful innovation before teams started doing it. I think some of the pitching innovations they experimented with last year are more sustainable than most people seem to suggest. No, it's not the same as after September call-ups, but they have plenty of guys with options who are stretched out as starters. It's not really built on using traditional relievers, like in September, but more on long relievers to minimize times through the order and pitcher ab's. There are plenty of reasons teams don't do it, but I think the main one are just that the MLB guys are much better than AAAA for most teams so it's a moot point. The Brewers thought that was going to be the case this year, but the early returns are dreadful. And if your MLB guys aren't better than your AAAA guys, you probably are nowhere near contention anyway, so you just play the young guys. The Brewers are in an unusual position and are very progressive thinkers, and that's just the type of combination that leads to changing paradigms. I'm not betting or predicting that they will do this, but I think declaring in no uncertain terms that they won't is presumptuous at best.
  4. coolhandluke121
    His reflexes have declined and he starts his swing a split second sooner to keep up with fastballs, causing some embarrassing swings against off speed pitches. His K% doesn't do justice to how much he struggled. This clearly was happening last year, and your stats in a vacuum do nothing to disprove it. The first hint of that is usually the beginning of the end for hitters like him. We're seeing the natural progression of that process this year, but it definitely started last year. Sure, he can still mash fastballs. And opponents will continue to throw them and live with the occasional home run, because usually they're just setting him up to look silly on a well-timed breaking ball. And people here will still call out the "Braun haters" every time he hits one out, but the results continue to speak for themselves.
  5. coolhandluke121
    I tried to say this last year and compared him to A-Rod in 2012, when he hit 33 homers but struck out 145 times. A lot of people just kept quoting hard contact %, but that doesn't prove anything except that he can still hit the ball when he guesses right. Most declining sluggers can. The issues are real and I think this is going to get ugly. If you had a time machine and could waive Braun to keep Santana, would you do it?
  6. coolhandluke121
    I agree that they should have started out with a platoon. Aguilar had a great 3 months last year, but he's still the guy who spent nearly 10 years in the minors with an OPS of roughly .800, which makes Matt Clark look like Pujols. And he was not an especially young prospect at any stop either. I caught a lot of flak for pointing this out time and time again during last year's spring training OF/1B logjam debates, and was very happy when he seemed to prove me wrong. Watching him last year, it was hard to imagine how he could only OPS .800 for so long in the minors. Now it's still hard to imagine how he carried an OPS of .800, but for the opposite reason! I think there were some weird stats about his medium contact % last year and the percentage of those that were falling before the ASB last year. Perhaps it was never sustainable? However, he didn't look completely lost. When did he get scared of the ball? Maybe I just need to start ragging on him again?
  7. coolhandluke121
    Sure, why not. Things haven't worked out as planned in the rotation, so you're improvising in the short term without abandoning your long term strategy. This is perfect. He just has to eat 5 innings and not completely implode and lose his poise the way young guys often do, and he'll be an upgrade. I kind of expected a bumpy road for the rotation, and I think they did too. That's why they kept so many options like Anderson and Wilkerson. I'm a little more concerned about guys like Aguilar, Thames, and Braun possibly never being any good again.
  8. coolhandluke121
    His only struggle is refusing to lay off of them. He should have a more compact swing and be a good singles/doubles hitter like prime Lucroy.
  9. coolhandluke121
    That and the fact that they don't have no-trade clauses. Choi is a big loss too. They could have played Santana/Thames in RF with Choi/Aguilar at 1B. Braun should be a designated pinch-hitter and play 2-3 times a week. He still seems to be able to summon some power in high leverage situations, but he's worse than ever this year. Always seems a couple days off helps him though.
  10. coolhandluke121
    I'm really excited to see Bledsoe against Boston again this year. I'm not being ironic or sarcastic at all; he's a totally different player from last year. He dedicated himself to being a great defender again, like he was before becoming the go-to guy in Phoenix, and his reduced minutes should be just the thing to cure that weak/absent lateral movement we saw against Rozier last year. I'm not really worried about Boston. They're going to have a really hard time defending the Bucks, and their star power is more hype than substance. Sorry, I know this series isn't over yet. It's just so boring, lol.
  11. coolhandluke121
    Do yourself a favor and don't check Domingo Santana's stats. Or Puig's in 2017 and 2018. Or Choi's. Or Khris Davis's (not that they should have kept him, but much like Santana, they wouldn't have had to trade him at his lowest possible value if they hadn't been stuck with Braun). That botched Dodger trade is the gift that keeps on giving. They almost cut Aguilar in spring training last year because they thought Braun would be the RHB 1B. How much wreckage is there going to be in the wake of that failed trade when it's all said and done? It's bad enough that they're paying him what they are when they could spend the money on depth, let alone all the personnel losses listed above to accommodate him on the roster. It's one of the most soul-sucking things I've ever experienced as a fan, right up there with Jabari Parker and Tony Mandarich.
  12. coolhandluke121
    Everyone needs to get on the Hill bandwagon. He's really good. It's incredibly valuable to have a guy who can score an efficient 15 when you need it, but who also doesn't need a lot of shots to contribute positively. He can run the team like a solid starting pg, guard pg's and sg's very well, play smart team defense, shoot, protect the ball, and make the right decisions. Consummate glue guy. And on plenty of nights he's still perfectly capable of being the borderline all-star he was with Utah. I'd easily pick up his option. They need him roughly as much as they need Brogdon, Mirotic, Khris, or Lopez, and more importantly they're in control with a 1-year option. The other guys have a lot of uncertainty as free agents.
  13. coolhandluke121
    Maybe injury by suitcase? One of these days someone is going to get a serious injury trying to tear a phone book in half and then you'll understand what "freak injury" really means.
  14. coolhandluke121
    I'd send him down. It worked for Knebel. I kind of wanted Chase to start this year anyway. Seems to me you know what you're getting with him, and you can handle the extra hr's when you have a pretty good offense - assuming Aguilar, Braun, and Shaw don't really suck this bad. We all know Chris Carter was overrated by many because he hit a lot of hr's but couldn't get on base. By the same token, a pitcher who gives up a lot hr's with a low WHIP is a little underrated. He basically turns opposing offenses into a bunch of Chris Carters. I can live with that, especially when the alternative is young guys with shaky command turning opposing offenses into a bunch of Christian Yelichs.
  15. coolhandluke121
    I now have more confidence in him than ever before.
  16. coolhandluke121
    Great, at least his debut will be festive. Hoping for the best, but expecting some struggles. He has turned himself into a pretty crafty pitcher despite losing velocity over the years, so maybe he will keep finding a way to get it done. Honestly if he's just a little above average, I'll be very happy, because that would be a big improvement over what they've got now.
  17. coolhandluke121
    I don't like it when people hold the Bucks' history against them, so I can't hold Toronto's history against them either. With Kawhi and Green, they're a different team with a different personality. The Bucks were dominant most of the year, so every team relies on hot shooting to beat them. Are they likely to shoot the 3 well enough to beat the Bucks 4 times? No, but I think they're more likely to do it than any other team in the East. I think Philly and Boston are a little over-rated for having more so-called star power, but Toronto is just better.
  18. coolhandluke121
    Golden State obviously isn't going to steamroll everyone like last year, but I think they're still very strong. They still have the most talent, and they don't have any issues of "fit" like Boston and Philly, who have under-achieved all year and will continue to IMO. Toronto is kind of scary. I think the Bucks' weakness is when the opponent has 5 athletic guys who can shoot. Their defense is much better when one or two opposing players can't shoot, allowing Lopez to camp closer to the basket. Ibaka and Siakam are a tough match-up for the Bucks. Who knows what you're getting from Lowry on any given day, but the Raptors have been a top-3 team pretty much all year and I foresee that being a very tough series if they meet in the ECF.
  19. coolhandluke121
    Please god Houser come up and be that random Fiers/Eldred rookie who pitches lights out and saves the season. (Sorry but kinda not sorry for being dramatic; this staff sucks.) In no way should this be interpreted as an indication that I think this can actually happen, but there's a chance!
  20. coolhandluke121
    Not a huge fan of ESPN, but I thought this was a great read: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26495696/a-star-built-giannis-best-basketball-player-alive The stuff at the end about scorers who don't play defense being chronically over-rated is (obviously) what I like most. "No one will totally agree on what is valuable in the game of basketball. While the analytics era of the NBA has helped us quantify value in dozens of new ways, our accounting framework and discourse still remain skewed toward offensive numbers. It's within this environment that terrible defensive players still get paid millions of dollars. It's within this framework that the stank of superstars on the defensive end gets obscured by buckets."
  21. coolhandluke121
    Pat C is fine but I think this team and coaching staff is helping a lot of guys look better than they really are. A lot of flaws would be exposed more if guys were asked to play larger roles or face more focused defensive attention. Hopefully other teams see this too and don't try to over-pay our free agents.
  22. coolhandluke121
    Somewhat blue. Just hard to watch NBA guys even in playoffs lollygag up and down the court. This is the reality of what the NBA promotes. They promote the individual and everyone wants to see stars play 35+ mpg. If they focused more on team play and having more interchangeable parts, they could give everyone more rest - like the Bucks do. In Europe, my understanding is that the stars don't play as much, because they believe it's better to have a slightly inferior well-rested player than a player who has to pace himself to log so many minutes. But that would require everyone staying involved and being able to adapt their individual style to the team needs, or it falls apart. Being able to play as a cohesive team is why some international teams beat the U.S. in the early 2000's despite having only a few NBA players (most of them on the fringes) against a team of all-stars. Someone said hockey has hustle, which kind of illustrates what I'm talking about. They have lines and make sure everyone gets enough rest. If more NBA teams do what the Bucks are doing, it could help usher in some changes in a copy-cat league. It would be kind of like the Brewers relying on bullpen depth to reduce the amount of times starters go 3 times through the order, even though the starters are ostensibly better pitchers than middle relievers.
  23. coolhandluke121
    What do you mean I'm not happy? I just don't agree. Let me try: "It seems you won't be happy until I agree that Harden is also deserving of the MVP award." See how that sounds? It's got nothing to do with whether you're happy or not. It's just not agreeing about Harden's accomplishments this year.
  24. coolhandluke121
    If Thon can do it, so can you!
  25. coolhandluke121
    A couple hundred, but who's counting. Yeah, taking all those long ones and still being able to hit over 36% of them is a huge part of their strategy this year. That's key to spacing the floor. Taking wide open ones up to 1 foot behind the arc doesn't have the same effect, even if you hit a higher percentage. Detroit. LOL. Can always count on the East playoffs to provide some real doozies in the 8th seed. (Hi Monta Ellis!)
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