SeaBass

I don't have a problem with sex or violence in movies with the appropriate rating. I do however agree with people who have criticized American culture saying people get offended by the sight of a woman's breasts but don't seem to have any issues with serial killers, murders, decapitations, severed limbs, city destroying bombs, etc. etc. And the movies with violence seem to have a lower threshold to clear for a desirable rating (like PG-13) than nudity or sex. As I said, I'm generally not bothered by any of those things but there are movies where I will draw the line and typically it's the violence that exceeds my tolerance limits, not sex or nudity. I'm thinking of those torture for the sake of showing gratuitous torture movies like Hostel or other ones like it. I'm assuming about that movie too because I haven't seen it. I have no desire to watch that stuff. Game of Thrones went pretty heavy on the sex and nudity in earlier seasons but I felt like they toned it down in later ones. I could be wrong, I'm not that sensitive to that type of scene so maybe there was still some over the top stuff that wasn't that memorable for me.

I said this in one of my previous posts: I agree with @TURBO, they likely discussed his usage in contract negotiations. I also had a speculation about "refusing" to pitch in certain situations in my post right above this one. I don't think he's refusing per se, I think he and management of the teams he's played for have discussed it and came to an agreement rather than it being simply a straight refusal on his part. I think teams would have liked him to be more open to pitching multiple innings but in the grand scheme there are pros and cons to doing that just like there are pros and cons to adhering to a static one inning only policy.

If your style is to put words into the mouths of people you disagree with by all means go for it, just admit that's what you're doing. The average person is not accumulating generational wealth in their 9 to 5 job. I am a 9 to 5er, my job is important to me to earn a living but it's not going to make my family financially secure for the next 50 to 100 years or longer. And we know his reasons which I won't repeat. He also said that he would pitch multiple innings in playoff games. In fact he has pitched over 1 IP in two playoff games since the arbitration decision that went against him (he pitched multi-inning games in playoff games prior to his one inning limit days). He pitched 4 outs in the Brewers' 2020 wild card loss to the Dodgers and in game 2 of the 2022 NLDS he pitched a 4 out save for the Padres. And again, there are other pitchers on the team, it takes everyone. When the Brewers used him in multiple innings that typically meant they rested him for a couple days after. If he is limited to pitching one inning he can be available to pitch two or three days in a row. There's always a give and take. I also don't know how a player can "refuse" to play without breaching their contract. The employer can demand for the player to be used how they want to use him or take legal steps against him. Clearly the Brewers and Padres never took such a step. If a team were deliberately trying to abuse him physically the player would have a case but if a team used him like every other reliever there's not a lot he can do about it. To me it sounds an awful lot like the teams agreed to use him in the role he preferred. I don't recall ever hearing a quote from a Brewers manager, coach or front office representative where they directly said they didn't "like" it or were upset in any way about the parameters of Hader's usage. If you'd like to provide a direct quote I'd be interested to see it. I have heard CC talk about it and never had the impression there was a major rift or disagreement there. And now we've wandered into the land of the absurd. Fun. Don't know if you have but I've witnessed pitchers bat and not run out grounders as hard as they could and it was fully understood that it was by order of the manager to prevent unnecessary injury. If MVP Yelich was playing through an injury (sore back, ribs, knee) and the manager asked him not to crash into walls or dive for catches I don't think there'd be a significant number of fans that would gripe about it. Healthy players are preferred, always. Even Josh Hader. It's why I suspect that despite speculation that the team didn't "like" his preference to exclusively pitch 3 outs they didn't push too hard against it because it is a way to minimize injury risk which works both for the player and the team. This team famously kept Corbin Burnes from pitching the ninth inning of a no-hitter because of pitch count superstitions. I said "at maximum" which implies the 1 or 2 out save. There were also comments saying that Hader was being selfish. Yes, he was. I never denied that. I just think his reasons are justified. He's earned some criticism, sure. I just fall on the side of not really having an issue with it and I stated my reasons for not judging him too harshly. Nobody is required to agree. I get a bit triggered over what I view as knee jerk reactionary criticism but ultimately people will have a spectrum of opinions. Fair enough. My feelings about him as a player are mostly indifferent, he's not a Brewer anymore and I am a Brewers fan.

Projecting your 9 to 5 work values on a pro athlete is both irrational and irrelevant. You're seriously upset because he prefers to pitch one 3 out inning. C'mon. It's a team sport, laying all that blame on one person is unfair. If it were common for all closers to pitch multiple innings this wouldn't be an issue but it is not common. It's very nearly always one self contained 3 out inning every time. I just think this is classic fan envy of the rich athlete. Josh Hader had an opportunity to earn generational wealth, meaning it doesn't only affect him it affects his kid's, their kid's and so on. It's real easy to take pot shots at these guys from the cheap seats when you have zero stake in the game other than your fandom. Yeah, in his shoes I wouldn't care what anyone else thought either. It's a baseball game, it's entertainment. It's the same thing as watching a movie or a TV show, or reading a book, except the team competition concept and home city/state create an environment where people can form a natural rooting interest. I'll repeat, Hader did what he was paid to do and he was extremely valuable doing it. That is a fact and it is indisputable whether you agree with the way he chose to ply his trade or not. It wasn't a secret to the Brewers how he preferred to be used, it wasn't a secret to Padres when they traded for him and it wasn't a secret to the Astros when they signed him as a free agent. Heck, now that he's finally signed that big contract it's possible he eases the restriction since he is now set for life whether he gets injured or not. That's the other thing, he was protecting himself from the risk of unnecessary injury. He wasn't lazy, it wasn't that he didn't want his team to win or didn't care about the team or its fans. He happened to be a player with a very specialized job and whether folks like it or not that job valued a very specific stat that simply requires one to get, at maximum, the last 3 outs of a game while maintaining the lead. If he had been a starter this would have never been an issue. If he wasn't in the top 3 to 5 players in the entire league at this very specific role it wouldn't have been an issue. But he was and he was made to recognize that due at least partly to an arbitration hearing where his employer tried to play down his value to suppress his earnings and in doing so unwittingly pigeon holed themselves into using him in exactly the way they argued was the most valuable for that role.

Yet the Brewers still got an absolute steal of a deal in that 596% raise. Will Smith earned a 3 year $40M contract coming off an All Star season that was a nice season but came nowhere close to the dominance Josh Hader put up. Instead if he blows out his arm it's sayonara, better be frugal with that $4 million you earned that was at least 90% below what your actual performance was worth. Everyone take a long look in Brandon Woodruff's direction. So yeah, I'm right back to "Sorry boss, I'm not pitching more than 3 outs in closing situations from here on out." What does this even mean? He still did exactly what he was paid to do. I guess it wasn't bad for MLB either, look what they paid him after all his "selfish behavior." Gimme a break.

I have zero issue with his reasoning and choices. Brewers were dumb to even go to arbitration in the first place but then to kill their golden goose by literally downplaying how important him pitching multiple innings for them was. Hope the money they saved was worth it.

The Brewers were 18-14 in regular season games Burnes started last season regardless of his actual performance. The team lost a game where Burnes pitched 8 no hit innings and no runs allowed and they won a game where Burnes allowed 3 HR and 6 ER in 6 IP. There were only 2 games where he pitched fewer than 5 innings (both wins). So yeah, I think they can win and compete for the division without him.

From the day the season ended the expectation always was that the Brewers would not have Burnes on the roster in 2024. Now the expectation has come to fruition and for some reason people are surprised. As some said, they should have traded him sooner. This was never going to feel good.

I'm stoked, so glad Burnes is gone and we don't have to sweat out his health status the whole year. Burnes has been far from my favorite Brewer, for an ace it was pretty frustrating to watch his mediocre starts of which in my opinion there were too many of. I'm not saying he was bad he just didn't live up to my idea of an ace, more like a solid 2 or 3 on a team that can afford to spend on pitching. With only one season of control remaining the return isn't what I hoped for but I think it's pretty reasonable and I trust Arnold and the team's scouts (who are not amateur keyboard warriors) that they got good talent. That comp pick is real nice too. Big win.

Thank you, even as I was answering that I had the feeling I shouldn't be, which I unfortunately ignored lol.

Yeah they're just a website that regurgitates what other news sources have already reported. Living the click-bait life. I prefer to source an actual news site (but that still doesn't mean the report isn't regurgitated).

First, Yount wore 19 (not saying you don't know that, hopefully you set your buddy straight). Second, you're allowed an opinion but it's not worth much, same as me. You also don't get to self-determine the criteria that makes him worthy unless you are the controlling owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. ETA: I say that only because clearly there is some other reason the team hasn't officially retired the number or allowed another player to wear it.

It would make him your cousin as well. If he's your father's 1st cousin (one of your grandparent's sibling's kids), he'd be your 2nd cousin. Aunts and uncles are siblings of your parents only. Siblings of your grandparents are your great aunts/uncles. It gets confusing after that lol.

Where to Watch Free TV Antenna 49.1 / 58.3 Spectrum 7/8/608/982/1007 DirecTV / Dish 49 AT&T 7/1007 TDS 7 Packerland 22/2.1

One week later...

I agree, they should hand out the 17. Or just retire it. But diminishing Gantner's career as part of the exercise really shouldn't be the point. He clearly meant a lot to this franchise (and its fans) and I think that extended beyond his playing days. A personality in baseball can elevate the person beyond their playing career, case in point Mr. Bob Uecker. Add in Gantner being a small town Wisconsin guy and it just solidifies him. I don't think his number should be retired but I guess I somewhat understand the thought process, I just would rather they make it official or hand out the jersey. Pick one. Or maybe a sports franchise isn't a sports franchise without these unwritten quirky customs and it's all just part of the lore.

Of interest this article says the broadcasts will be "moved from Bally Sports Wisconsin" which I assume means they won't be aired on Bally Sports at all now. That concerned me because I do not receive Milwaukee broadcasts where I live, I get the Green Bay channels. But the very end of the articles says "Television stations outside of Milwaukee will be announced shortly." so I hope that means they are working on Green Bay and other markets in the state. 4 of the 10 dates are scheduled to be aired on ESPN, not sure if they are subject to black out, in the past they have sometimes blacked out the ESPN broadcast so that people had to watch the Bally's broadcast. Those 4 dates are March 1st, 8th, 20th and April 3rd.

Hey just want to say glad you're still living and I hope you make a full recovery. Get well soon. Lotta baseball to enjoy yet!

I read that part of his deal when he parted ways with Wisconsin was he would be paid $1M for 2023 as long as he didn't take a DC or HC job which I'm sure it's a pretty big factor why he has the job title he has. It will be interesting to see what his next move is and what he has his sights on. He may not want to jump to the NFL, he might want to see if he gets offers to head coach at the college level.

Nothing's been reported about the details of his contract yet so it's unknown if there is such a deal. Wouldn't shock me if there was, wouldn't shock me if there weren't. In Hoskins's mind I'm sure he expects he'll be in a good position to decline a QO and still get signed somewhere for a big contract. I think there's a good chance there's no QO agreement looming over the Brewers.

What's wrong with Fangio? Just because Joe Barry was a failure doesn't mean the system is flawed. I don't think, or I would hope not at least, that guys that run defenses just install a system and forget about it and refuse to innovate or pay attention to what offenses around the league are doing to counter defenses. Fangio reportedly is going right to Philly from his last job, tells me he's still highly respected. It's an offense first league and for the most part it's the players that matter which of course doesn't absolve DCs from the responsibility of getting the most out of those players. I've pretty much said Leonhard isn't my choice but end of the day what do I know? Not much. I don't dislike him even if I think he's got a slightly overinflated popularity among the Packers fanbase. If Leonhard is ultimately hired I trust the process. My comments about him are more a criticism of the fanbase wearing blinders. I'm prepared to be wrong, I've been wrong about countless things in my life, I'll be wrong countless times more.

One more name to add to @Joseph Zarr's post above.

Packers interview Not Jim Leonhard, Packers fans riot. Classic.

People really seem invested in making something they personally disagree with some big wide issue when really it's just their own personal issue. You don't need to say, "but the KIDS" or "MLB can't survive this way" just because you don't like the idea of having to subscribe to a bunch of different streaming services to see every game. You don't have to, that's the point. If you want to, you know how. Just say, "I don't like it and I refuse to pay for it." That's really all there is to it.

Please feel free to point out what I said that I presented as fact that is not a fact. I'll wait.