Jim French Stepstool

Yeah, Hamilton replaces Mona as INF depth. He's played exactly one-and-a-third innings at 3B for the Sox. And never played there in the minors.

In recent years the Brewers have looked to lean on the cheap, under-the-radar guys to fill INF spots---Dunn & Capra to start last year, Mona, Owen Miller, Brosseau, Brian Anderson, Jace Peterson, Pablo Reyes. What made me initially think this a precursor to another deal is there doesn't appear to be anyone of that ilk in the organization (Eddys Leonard?) Blacks' heart rate must be quickening right now, but 3B? No way. Wilkin, Adams, Made, Pratt and others appear to be on the verge, but not quite there yet. The situation seems to scream a one-year placeholder at 3B. The FO has earned our trust many times over. It's hard to map out how this turns out, but that's nothing new. I haven't read the whole thread--is it too late for the "What's Josh Donaldson doing" joke?

Binelas is with the Phillies organization now. Boston released him last year.

Agree with all these points, but to be honest I'll miss Durbin. There's a lot to be said for someone being asked to fill a need & filling it well, even though the peg didn't fit into the hole perfectly. And I think he's going to have one of those careers where if you're the opponent you'll hate seeing him come to the plate in a big spot. But yeah, he's built to play 2B. And with all the MINF talent through the system........

Nor can I. I still have hopes for Mitchell, but with his history they should probably put a ? on the back of his jersey rather than a uniform number. And Yelich in the OF is going to be a very few-and-far-between thing. Frelick is a GG caliber RF. No way should he be moved.

You would hope so. Or at least different irons in the fire w/the belief one of them is going to come through. Probably involving an arm/arms, maybe even one of the arms they just picked up from Boston. Fun times😐.

Not that I would advocate for this but I was curious as to whether Hamilton played any 3B---he did, for a total of 1.1 innings. And never in the minors. I would guess the starting 3B is someone currently not in the organization, and it's someone already being targeted.

Maybe not, but the Yankees organization moved him off C for an entire minor league season before he came here. Given how valuable it can be to have someone be able to step back there, I think that's significant.

That would give Contreras 140 starts. Yadier Molina, who seemed to never take a day off when in his prime, reached that total once in his career. But regardless of that I see nothing that suggests the organization views Seigler the catcher as anything more than a #3 guy as you suggested in the article. If he makes the team it'll be primarily as an extra option at 2B-3B-OF-PH-PR. His ability to go behind the plate is quite secondary.

After Winter hit the three to put them up four, yeah. Maybe not an egregiously bad whistle, but it certainly had elements of being a coin flip type of call. And UW was getting none of those late in the game. You don't expect to get your share on the road, but getting just one might've been enough.

I remember that inning Siegler had behind the plate. Not pretty. He's still on my radar due to his versatility & I thought the quality of many of his ABs were in contrast to the paltry results, but as a catcher yeah, emergency at best. Black is still intriguing in an enigmatic sort of way. I feel positional versatility could help him find a niche, but that versatility is stemming from trying to find a position he can play adequately more than from anything else. I agree it would be nice to see him settle into some kind of role at Nashville & just HIT.

Just to put this whole ugly thing to bed once & for all, video & stills are coming out showing that on the last foul Blackwell & Wilkerson had their legs tangled & IF the ref who made the call actually saw that then you could justify a foul call. In real time, I have no idea if that played into the call as referees seldom are looking at guys' feet when someone is trying to back down a defender. And I'm still ticked when you throw that into the hopper with the other 4 or 5 calls that went against UW in the latter minutes of the game. Anyway, on to Tuesdays' matchup vs the Eastern European Sports Collective.

Yeah, in many games including today it's been even more than that. But Rapp & Bieliauskas haven't been enough of a presence on the boards or defensively, although they seem to be improving in that regard. And Garlocks' minutes have really shrunk. Gard has mentioned how they'd like to get him more of a blow, but he gives them the most consistency on both ends by far. Playing one big, you'd think that would give him more opportunities to get a rest but they've played a lot of close games. If he can average around 30 minutes from here on out I'd actually take that. The other bigs are FR, FR, SOPH. That isn't ideal, but it is what it is.

And Winter had a late block on someone where the ball never really got out of the guys' hands & he came down with it. How that isn't a held ball, or in a Cardinal-and-Red world even a travel, is beyond me. And the Blackwell 'foul' on the DeVries 3PT shot. All-in-all, 5 or 6 50-50ish calls in the latter stages that went the other way. And yep, once again the defense looks for its' bearings early but settles in & really becomes tough to score on. IU with one FG in the last 6:00 of regulation, and one in OT.

Because they blew a twelve PT lead in the 2nd half---at home---I'd put the SC game in the same bucket. But IU & 'Nova were bigger skins to hang on the wall, for sure. As for Carrington, he certainly lost track of how much time he had left. I'd have preferred Boyd there. He was guarded closely on the inbound, but Janicki was basically standing there doing nothing & could've screened for him. And with his speed dribble you might've gotten a 25-30 FT shot before the horn.

Yeah. With the offense they run, Winter isn't going to post up in the traditional sense like a Happ or a Wahl, so the timing needs to be there---roll or duck in & have the ballhandler recognize that & hit you at the right time. I thought Rohde did a nice job of feeding him on a few occasions. But there were a few missed opportunities on some of the Boyd & Blackwell drives, for sure. Those drives are such a huge part of what they do though, and the more time Winter spends down low, the more clogged the driving lanes become. And IU clogged them up pretty well as it was. I think a bigger factor was Boyd not getting to the line on some of those drives, where maybe the whistle was swallowed. But I agree, Winter scored 26 PTs, you'd like to see him get more opportunities in this one. He WAS getting nice position down low & IU didn't seem to have much of an answer.

Yeah. Rapp being out really was little to no factor as you were going small most of the time anyway. Would like to know how it might've affected things if Bieliauskas hit a couple of the early looks though. Might've loosened up the paint a bit. Gotta feel for Winter after the work he turned in today.

I've noticed something in CBB recently--when you're the team trailing---and the outcome is still in doubt--- you'll get some love. For example, drive the lane for a layup, all the defender has to do is move his hands, or have bad breath, and you'll get the and-1 call. Some of the fouls called on 3-point shots, that's been going on for a long time. It made an appearance today. The charge called on Boyd----when I saw the replay, I actually thought it was a 50-50 call. The arm did get extended. But it's the type of call I don't think you see go against the offensive player with, say, eleven minutes left in a 7-point game. Put it this way.......... If we're trailing by one I think the foul goes on Enright. The call with 2.8 to go was sad in the sense that, during the TO, a coaching staff that coaches rings around a lot of other staffs prepared their team about as perfectly as you can for what Indiana was trying to do.,.. and the guys executed. But if you're down one, especially at home, I guess you can fall down & get sent to the line. The fact that Wilkerson fell while trying to back down tells you that if anything there was a 'pull out the chair' aspect to what Blackwell did. And it's really hard to do that and foul a guy. So I give the refs a C- on the first call---with an A+ in trying to create a dramatic finish. What followed was clearly an F. As for the rest, Indiana did a terrific job defending the paint all day. They were also really good at creating & utilizing the favorable matchups---Alexis hurt us in that regard. For spending as much time as UW did trailing, not quite getting over the hump, they deserve a ton of credit for mostly owning the final 3-4 minutes & getting the lead. It was a terrific game on it's own; it didn't need any kind of late-game script to be followed to add to it. Sad. I will say that I miss the old days, when you would either blow IU out or just hang around & wait for them to do something stupid.

Wilkerson is a tough cover. He showed a really effective mid-range game in the 1st half, both with & w/o the ball. What I DIDN'T count on was Conor Enright constantly getting into the lane. We can't continue to allow that to happen. I think back to Bieliauskas hitting the threes vs Michigan & how that affected things. Also Rapp vs OSU. Today Bieliauskas missed a few early & it really allowed IU to concentrate on stopping the drives to the hoop--something they were already putting an emphasis on. Fortunately Winter hit some & helped us pull back from the deficit. I guess the best news is being in the game at half w/Blackwell turning in a poor performance. He obviously needs to step up.

Never focused on him defensively when watching Indiana but it would make sense because he expends a lot of energy on the other end & quicks isn't really his game. If that's true (and considering how important he is to them) we'd most likely see him on Rohde & Janicki.

My bad; that's local time in Bloomington. 11AM Central.

I think they unlocked something with Vaughn last season. Many of his best ABs ignored the '1B profile' of getting out in front & driving the ball out of the ballpark, and the pitches he got that he COULD pull largely were a byproduct of that mindset. If he can stay on that track, be willing to take walks & concentrate on contact he'll once again be an important asset (but I agree he's unlikely to hit .300). The soft platoon w/Bauers feels good to me. The ABs Bauers put up after coming off the IL was an impressive story in itself.

Bombs away tomorrow in Bloomington. Indiana is a team that could very well hoist from behind the arc at a higher rate than UW does in this noon matchup. 52% of their shots are from 3PT range on the season, for a respectable 35%. Seventy percent 😲 of Tucker DeVries shots are from deep, making about a third, while their other big gun is Lamar Wilkerson who attempts 57% of his looks from behind the arc (39%). Wilkerson has 'tweener' type size & is maybe a little more athletic than DeVries; I expect a combo of Rohde/Janicki/Carrington to take turns on him (perhaps Blackwell if he can stay away from fouls). This also looks to me like a game where we can pretty easily go small if desired. I love the work Bieliauskas & Rapp turned in vs Ohio State but I don't know if the matchups are there vs this group. IU seems to be a 'rebound by committee' sort of team & it usually works OK for them, but they don't appear to be a big OREB squad. The bigs don't force the issue--they shoot a solid % from mostly inside the arc. Their pace under Coach DeVries is slower & they take much better care of the ball than under Woodson. Tucker DeVries is a big part of what they do offensively; making him uncomfy would be extremely valuable but it'll be tough to do. Nick Dorn mostly comes off the bench & is very productive (.415 from 3PT). FR forward Trent Sisley also comes off the pines. The UW staff recruited him pretty heavily. A winnable game but UW will have to play pretty damned well to pull it off.

Tough financial pill for the Bucs to swallow. I think they should just trade him to the Dodgers, who can pay him a dollar a year for the next 32 million years.

Ditto. I'm ready to once again dream, because the potential upside looks to be quite tasty. At the same time you can't mentally pencil him in for 400-500 ABs---and there are enough options that you don't need to do that anyway. Fingers crossed.