Jim French Stepstool

IMO the progress they've shown has to continue, week-to-week, for them to win at Iowa. But yeah, I wouldn't put Iowa quite at the level of PSU or the Ducks.

Even in those two games.......they hung in vs a much better team (Alabama) for almost two full quarters despite mistakes, then wore down. Vs USC they played a mostly terrific half of football, then the offense lost continuity & defensively the 'SC receivers & QB are just elite talents that stepped up their game in the 2nd half. Couldn't get off the field on 3rd down. So I think the improvement somewhat started before Purdue, but now vs avg-to-less competition it's really more noticeable. Maybe learning what it takes to compete for 4 quarters, too.

What I liked about today was that last week they were much more physical against a Purdue team that you SHOULD dominate, and today they continued it against a team that had more of a physical reputation, and did it on the road. Despite a few dumb, 2023-type mistakes the offensive line continues to progress. Last year in the run game I felt their best hope was to get some kind of initial push & pick up 3-5 yards. Now along with a deeper, more healthy stable of backs I see some linemen (and a receiver or two) actually firing out into the 2nd level & getting a piece of a defender downfield. But as I said before, stay healthy. Depth still a ?. Dupree looks comfortable both running & catching the ball, and runs hard. Officially 'not a freshman anymore'. Kekahuna, size be damned, the kid is just talented. I loved the defensive philosophy. I don't know if this is the specific reason why they did it, but mostly just rushing 3 or 4 & making Kaliakmanis make decisions in the passing game, rather than giving him chances to beat you with his feet, worked brilliantly. His receivers didn't help him much, but I've seen the guy enough to feel good about forcing him to complete a drive by throwing the ball, especially when they weren't running it consistently. Other than the option play where you don't know whether he's pulling it out of the RBs' belly, there was nothing that really hurt us repeatedly. And among the DL & LBs it's not so much about one or two guys dominating, but everyone getting a little better, a little more assignment-sure. Gratifying. The bad decisions by Locke seem to be getting a little fewer each week. For a #2 QB who doesn't have the running instincts you'd like to have in this offense that's about all you can ask for. That, and continue to diminish the bad stuff, like the other units. Another challenge awaits as NU usually isn't the most talented group but more often than not schemes well & refuses to beat themselves. Looking forward to seeing how they react to going into Stadiums-R-Us, or whatever that thing is they put together with their Tinkertoys down in Evanston.

It's been my belief that at least one of them gets looked at as a 1B at some point. With Burke & Martinez at least in the organizational conversation, that leaves you with a lot of numbers to throw at the corners in the AA-AAA levels (I suspect they'll also want to find a lot of AAA ABs for Dunn). I see 2025 as an intriguing year in N'ville & Biloxi.

Kim seems to check off a lot of boxes, as long as he's good with the idea of being a fulltime 3B. I only bring that up because he's spent much more time at second & short, although he's been a very good defender while playing 3B & that's definitely where I'd want him as I want to see Ortiz move to SS. I never knew he was such a heavy pull-side guy. Interesting.

I'm a Boeve fan & am also looking forward to Wilkin having an injury & drama-free year in 2025. But I'm pretty sure the ship has sailed on Black factoring in at 3B. If he remains in the organization I suspect they're viewing him as a 1B-OF type. He really didn't play much 3B at Nashville this past year.

Certainly a step forward for him this season, despite the long, long drought in the middle portion. I'd like to see him add a little strength to his frame; add the ability to pull effectively on a more consistent basis while maintaining the impressive oppo stroke. Do that, sharpen the already-decent plate discipline while continuing to be able to hit w/two strikes & you have an all-star.

They could do away with divisions, and just play a totally balanced schedule. MLB would justify it by claiming that everything else is secondary to making sure all fans get an equal chance to see Shohei.

I'm confident they can, too. Conceptually I just don't like 40% of all teams being in the post season when you have 162 games to sort things out. The marathon of a season should carry more weight than someone who won 86 games or whatever getting hot late. JMO.

That's a nugget we can agree on. In a thirty team league that plays 162 games, having twelve playoff teams is borderline insanity. But don't hold your breath about it ever being "over", and we all know the reason why.

It's uncommon to be in a position of a small-market team that has an elite talent in their last contract year, and has many able options available for that guys' role. No guarantees whether any of them reach Williams' level, but you probably don't need them to for a trade to make sense. Some might be a little underwhelmed with the return, but it probably should/will happen.

I guess the best reaction to a post-season disappointment is to get busy livin', or get busy dyin'.

Assuming that because negative things happened, they're going to continue into perpetuity is a bad way to go through life.

Ashby returning to SP status would be HUGE, but with him going from looking like a total disaster most of his AAA season to being at times a dominant reliever here, I just don't know how much you want to push him. If he's an effective lefty BP arm we should probably count our blessings. You WOULD like at least one LH starter though, and he seems to have an effective enough pitch mix. If not him then hopefully Hall steps up, or Gasser when ready. I absolutely loved what I saw from Myers in the finale.

After the outburst, I loved the quick pivot & brisk walkaway a la Tom Crean. I don't know the name of the character because I never got into the movie series but he is starting to look like the bald-headed guy in Austin Powers.

I think the biggest takeaway from this is that there HAS been improvement in the last few weeks, it just isn't overly evident due to the defense being worn down in the 2nd half at USC & Bama being a physical mismatch. Both Kekahuna & Anthony have made strides, The O line seems to be coming together (although the depth still isn't there, an injury or two among that group could be critical) & as much as Mellusi's horrible injury luck sucks, I thought we had the depth to overcome it as long as the youth steps up & yesterday it did. Obviously the defense is going to have bigger challenges ahead than facing a struggling team w/a guy in his 1st game as OC. Still, overcoming the INTs & resulting field position by holding them to a pair of FGs was impressive. Kept momentum from turning & basically put the game away. I actually like the schedule progression, going to Rutgers next week. Continue to try to answer questions re focus & physical play while hitting the road vs a group playing pretty well. Please, just stay away from the 3-and-outs that take all of twenty seconds off the clock & send the defense right back on the field. That could turn things ugly.

For all his inconsistencies & lack of running ability Locke is their best bet right now & it isn't particularly close. Perhaps Mettauer has the light come on at some point this season & he earns some more snaps. Unless they missed badly in their assessment he'll be much better than Locke, He just isn't there right now, which isn't surprising.

Seems like a quality young man who wasn't dealt the best of hands, to say the least. Good luck to him. From a football standpoint at least it's a spot on the field where there are other options, unlike previous personnel losses.

Pretty good analysis. JL had defensive linemen that could either make plays, or at the very least be good enough to occupy blockers. Thompson was a big loss. But I'm encouraged by flashes Hills has shown the last two games. It's hard for me to compare who is better AFA scheming is concerned because it won't work either way if you're out of position, over-pursue, etc & there's a lot of this going on. Now, maybe THAT can be put on the coaches. I feel there's a lot of emphasis under this staff of athleticism, making plays, speed. Perhaps being more assignment-sure is a bit more important? I loved the way Leonhard coached the defense, But Tressel deserves to have some leash remaining. I feel they made some strides last week against a QB & group of receivers the likes of which I doubt they will see from here on out. And there was some semblance of pressure compared to the previous weeks. They certainly ARE on the field too long, and yes much of that is on the offense. Not to get biblical, but if they struggle tomorrow, hoo boy, there will be wailing & gnashing of teeth among the fan base.

I agree about Pratt & Made. But in the Bichette scenario you'd need someone in '26. I'm guessing Pratt might need more than one more season; Made certainly so. Brown has quite a ways to go offensively & it might not ever get there. But he & Areinamo are further along in the system. That's why I mentioned them. No offense taken😉.

Worth exploring. It at least would buy a year while Eric Brown tries to figure things out & Jadher Areinamo continues to climb. If Black could be the headliner going back, sure. Plus he'd qualify for being a legacy😛.

The leadoff walk--with a two run lead--is a definite no-no. But like @owbc mentioned, Lindor really did earn it. Nine, ten pitch AB? That's the fulcrum everything hinged on IMO. And yes, at some point a FB at the top of or slightly above the zone to Nimmo would've been welcomed. The 2nd & 3rd in the 7th inning, you needed a base hit rather than just contact but still, William, give yourself a chance. Touch the ball. You're right about the 5th on Tuesday. The stuff we hung our hats on all season was there the last two games (minus the 9th yesterday). If it was there in the middle of game one we probably win the series. Murphy made three pretty bold moves yesterday--Bauers, Mears & Peralta--and they all worked. Someone about a million pages back mentioned that Haase could've come up for Ortiz in the 9th, which makes some sense. But overall the braintrust did its' job.

Exactly. I think the chances of him being dealt over the winter are definitely there, but it's about having a year left on the deal & the other options in the organization. Nothing to do with last night.

No, in all likelihood none of them for next year. Martinez is simply the closest of the group right now. By June that might look different if Wilkin has a good fall & springboards, or Boeve continues to hit. Geno Suarez would certainly be a nice fit if something could be worked out. Both Ortiz & Turang can play SS, but after the year he had with the glove at 2B I'd leave Turang alone. Plus he started to re-emerge offensively a little & I'm not really nuts about throwing a position change at him.

Just throwing this out there.......I've seen Boeve mentioned as a 2B in this thread. He's played there 16 games in his pro career, ten of those in rookie ball. He played zero games at 2B this year before getting hurt. He's a corner guy. As is Wilkin, Burke, Ernesto Martinez, Luke Adams........If Wilkin has a good fall league & they truly believe in Burke, that might be an area where we could look to deal from. AFA the '25 brewers are concerned though, Martinez is probably the closest to helping, & even that's a stretch.