SeaBass

I mean, possibly he doesn't but isn't it also obvious that, with a few exceptions, he seems to be dumpster diving trying to find value in players that can't demand high salaries? Signing Mookie Betts isn't a matter of evaluating talent it's trying to get him at the best price possible. JBJ is struggling hard right now but even his normal numbers aren't awe inspiring and I do feel that he was partially targeted at the suggestion of the owner after they failed to sign Justin Turner, a guy that would not have people accusing him of not evaluating offensive talent especially well had they been successful. He's shopping in the bargain bin, it stands to reason that along with lower salaries there's a higher risk these signings don't work out as well as if they took their chances on more expensive and established hitters. I don't think that excuses his failures either, clearly it's a strategy and if the strategy doesn't work then he has to swallow the blame. If this is basically year two of failing at the strategy then it's time to adjust the strategy. They seemed to tweak it going into this season to place more value on defense, what's the next tweak going to look like?

Never wall scrapers when they hit them though.

Center field in KC robs another Brewers HR. BTW I meant the wall dimensions, not the catch.

Yep. I also have back troubles and I've been very hesitant to compare Yelich's situation to mine. Everybody is different and the spine has so many nerves and muscles attached to it two people could feel back pain in exactly the same place and still have completely different sources and reasons for that pain. The only comparison I've attempted to speculate on is that when my back flares up I generally am not useful in social situations until it calms back down again. Going on that basis and the report that his MRI showed no structural damage, when I saw him in the dugout during games while he was on the IL and watched his posture and movement while he interacted with his teammates it led me to feel that his back pain wasn't so serious that it prevented him from being there and didn't prevent him from moving around. It also didn't look like he was concerned about his posture, that it wasn't restricting him. I specifically recall him leaning on the rail at the top of the dugout in a position that I thought wouldn't be comfortable for someone experiencing back pain. I took that as a very hopeful sign that his issue, while lingering longer than it had for him in the past, wasn't ultimately anything to get worked up about as far as long term ramifications. Again though, I could be completely wrong about it because I really have no clue what his actual situation is.

I'm as disheartened by the Brewers offense as anyone, very frustrating to watch quality pitching performance after quality pitching performance seemingly go to waste. BUT The Cardinals are a very good baseball team. They held the Brewers to 5 runs the first two games of the series and their ace and quality bullpen shut them out today. The Brewers held them to 4 runs plus the 5 spot they put up in the 11th inning of game 1. A wrinkle here or there and they're the team that would have every reason to be upset about this series not going their way. After 6 games we're 3-3. The battle for the division is on. Just something to think about while we wallow in distress together.

The club also has the option of releasing him. You're right though, easy to assume that releasing him is extremely unlikely.

Wow he really caught that, but the bobble saves us.

I think I’d rather have Tim Boyle. This is a good, low risk move in a vacuum, but now we have to listen to the media imply the Packers will be downgrading to Blake Bortles. Yeah I still have no idea why they let Boyle go. Money. He signed for $2.5 million I believe.

I was thinking they might go with Nick Mullens or Blaine Gabbert. Bortles is ok I guess, it's possible he simply agreed to the cheapest deal.

What other moves did signing JBJ prevent at the time it occurred on March 8, 2021? Complain about Stearns not using that money earlier, that's fair, but I'd rather not read about how it's tied to JBJ unless you have a better move you were advocating for on March 8th. I'm not looking for hindsight and I haven't seen any "I said at the time I wanted them to sign so and so instead." I only see "he makes $14 million" or whatever his contract is. Awesome, he costs a lot of not your money, where else should it have gone? Maybe I've just missed the alternate examples but I feel like I should have seen them if they existed.

I looked at the Brewers run scoring on Monday since they didn't play that day. They've only actually lost 6 games where they've scored 3, 4 or 5 runs. They are undefeated when scoring 6 or more (two of those were in extra innings). By far their most losses have been when they've scored 2 or fewer runs, which in itself isn't surprising. The depressing part is, including yesterday, that encompasses 13 games (36% of their total games played) and their record in such games is 2-11. So all other games when they've scored 3 or more runs they're 17-6. Breakdown: 2 or fewer runs: 2-11 record (3 shutouts, 0-4 when scoring 1 run) 3 to 5 runs: 7-6 record 6 or more runs: 10-0 record

Pity the league and union couldn't figure out the universal DH this season, I think Braun would be that much more receptive to playing if all he had to do was show up and hit.

I guess these are what everyone wants to know. The Packers say they offered to make him the highest paid QB or something like that. But what does that mean? It could be a salary of $60M for 2023 - which would technically make him the highest paid QB when you average out his deal. But in reality, there's no way they'd keep him for that salary. It's just bogus year stuff. No matter, I'm guessing he's got a laundry list of petty snubs that he's going to give them - and they'll have to address things in a satisfactory sort of way. But that's just a guess. In the end, who really knows. I still find it mind boggling that things could get to this spot. I mean, they knew he was frustrated by things a year ago. It's called sitting down and figuring out how to make it work. Of course, Rodgers probably sat there and waited for the Packers without helping out with direction is him passive aggressive fashion. But that's the teams job to figure this kind of thing out. Right, I've thought of the short contract too but I've heard the terms "dollars AND years" attached to the contract offer, the money does mean something but it's the years that tie the Packers to Rodgers commitment wise. Now maybe the Packers only want to add the equivalent of 3 guaranteed seasons of commitment and Rodgers wants more. That is a more realistic hold up than maybe any other scenario.

I'm trying to figure out the demands Rodgers might have when it comes to reconciliation with the Packers. Reportedly they've offered him a contract that has the money and years to commit themselves to Rodgers as he supposedly wanted. We don't know how many years but from reports it's long enough to neutralize the "move on to Love" hurdle that most believe Rodgers had an issue with. So if that aspect is solved, and who knows maybe the offer was made and then rescinded after he reportedly turned it down, you'd think not but nobody can really know for sure, but assuming the contract offer stands what else does he want? Perhaps he's asked for a no trade clause? Again that's been talked about and really no team would trade for him if they got wind he didn't want to be there, so that seems moot. Firing Gute? I think that's been debunked a bit but might still be an issue with Rodgers. Could he be demanding some type of player move? I'm not sure what's out there to be had but what if it's a Julio Jones trade as some have speculated? Is that even possible if the Packers give Rodgers the contract they've reportedly offered? Does he want Love off the roster? Possibly but that all comes back to again not exactly lining up with what people are saying, that it's not Love's presence that bothers him, it's that the team could move on and with a new contract that issue goes away. So what is it? What's the pound of flesh standing in the way of Rodgers and the Packers ending the standoff? Anyone else have ideas? Maybe he just wants to make them sweat for as long as possible before agreeing to return. That kind of seems on brand to be honest.

Slaw is an underrated addition for a lot of things. Pulled pork, chicken, even on burgers. For dogs I'm a sucker for a chili cheese dog. Otherwise it's just katschup, mustard, and relish for me. My regular A&W order: Coney dog with cheese, chili cheese fries and A&W root beer. Perfection. Followed by a heart attack. Worth it.

Brats/dogs: Ketchup and yellow mustard mostly, raw onion and/or sauerkraut if available. Burgers: Ketchup, yellow mustard, raw onion; pickles on the side. I don't generally go for tomatoes on burgers, if a burger comes with tomato that's fine but a fresh, sliced garden tomato is a real treat.

I'm not trying to excuse Stearns by any means but it does feel like the league has evolved just in the last 5 or 6 seasons. From early on when Stearns was having success adding undervalued pieces to the roster to where now free agency has slowed to an almost unbelievable crawl where teams are waiting out free agents and each other to reap the most value possible. The Brewers were once one of the few teams doing that now it's the norm for every team. So once again payroll and spending power shifts the advantage that much more to big markets. That doesn't excuse draft or overall strategic success or failure. For the most part Stearns' successes have been boosted greatly when they've been able to trade for and re-sign Mike Moustakas and sign Yasmani Grandal to one year deals, unfortunately that doesn't seem to be as repeatable a strategy as once hoped.

Anecdotally I seem to recall some reports that had Love been in the 2021 draft he may have been the 3rd QB taken and likely a top 10 pick. Of course it only takes one scout/NFL team source to frame such a report so it's hard to say what that really means, if anything. But I'm not willing to claim he's not or shouldn't be viewed as a highly regarded prospect.

It's been a heck of a merry-go-round. If they can work things out with Rodgers I still think that's the best thing for the team. Hopefully that would include the airing of grievances and stabilizing the relationship between Rodgers and the front office as well. If that all happens I don't care what they do with Love. I think arguments can be made for trading him or not but we'll have committed to Rodgers and anything else really shouldn't matter. If they trade Love they will have likely picked up a veteran to be the backup for this season already anyway so they'll be covered. If they keep Love I don't think it will be for longer than a year, get him on tape for pre-season games, maybe some garbage time, let teams simmer over if they want to trade for him and go from there. I think his value will be highest in the off season with 2 years remaining on his rookie contract and the 5th year option still in play.

MLB ranks (through 5/6): 23rd in runs scored (tied for 10th in NL) 26th in OPS (14th in NL) That's not good.

Even if you want to claim Yelich's deal was spearheaded by the owner, which I can see the logic behind the thought, Stearns and the front office would very much be involved in determining the parameters of the dollar value and years that would make sense for the Brewers situation. I don't think MA is just blindly throwing out terms willy nilly as part of an effort to extend Yelich.

Packers didn’t say anything to refute or really even defuse the situation...so do they OWN the leaks too? The Packers are ahead infinity to zero in terms of answering questions about this situation. They have even said things that could be viewed as defending Aaron Rodgers like when Gutekunst denied ever hearing that Rodgers demanded he be fired.

All about the clicks, views, ratings. Rodgers did say at the Kentucky Derby, through Mike Tirico because Rodgers doesn't make on the record comments himself, that it was unfortunate the goings on got leaked to the media. We know the Packers wouldn't leak it either. But we've heard now that Rodgers has, allegedly, been telling free agents and people in his circle that he wasn't going to return to the Packers. When that many people know something it only takes one person to decide to talk, it's hard to sit on gossip that good.

This. Also, back issues don't get better with age. Such is the cursed organization that is the Milwaukee Brewers... Let's make sure I'm getting this right, Tiger Woods has had 5 back surgeries and Christian Yelich has had zero surgeries and a very current MRI showing no structural damage. Why are we talking about Tiger Woods again? Doesn't seem relevant.

I think it matters that he's been shown to be a petty grudge holder in the past and that a lot of what's coming through in this dispute is more petty grudge holding and actions that seem specifically designed to make this as painful for the Packers as he could possibly make it. I haven't seen many people that have commented on this situation say that he's crazy for feeling like the Packers didn't treat him the best that they were capable of. He has several really good reasons for doing what he's doing right now, if he had stuck to that, streamlined his message, I think a lot more people would be in his corner. But he can't help himself, he's got his petty grudges and has to list everything that's made a multi-millionaire do slow walks, kicking at stones in the driveway of his zillion dollar Malibu mansion and feeling like nobody cares about his feelings except his celebrity girlfriends and fiancée.