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Jim French Stepstool

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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool

  1. Jim French Stepstool
    Hopefully Floyd can put a positive cap on what has been a really trying 2022 season. Some nice bullpen potential in the system headed by him & Cam Robinson. Didn't see it coming, the cup of coffee for Chourio in AA. If he establishes himself there with a strong finish, the thought of him breaking through to Milwaukee sometime in 2024 becomes less of a pipe dream. Just.....wow.
  2. Jim French Stepstool
    If they've decided to commit a guy Like Clarke or Xavier Warren to a particular position (either 1B or 3B), then I think it would make sense to give that guy some work there. Same thing if they were, say, planning on looking at Eduardo Garcia at 3B. Too bad if Black is indeed done until spring. He would've been a prime candidate. Erceg wouldn't surprise me. Nick Kahle?
  3. Jim French Stepstool
    Sure. Why would it be different than any other game he pitches? Unless you're suggesting he gets squeezed, and isn't given pitches 3 inches OFF the corner. Bush called day-to-day by CC, which as we've learned could mean just about anything.
  4. Jim French Stepstool
    Unless They could get more for Rowdy than I suspect they would I think the best plan is to roll with him in '23, then see where you are with guys like Xavier Warren, Wes Clarke, or even Thomas Dillard. I've liked his bat-to-ball skills since he's been here; with just a little better ability to lay off certain pitches I think his numbers could go a little northward re BA & OBP.
  5. Jim French Stepstool
    Not so much about HIM getting a W as much as doing his job to put the team in a comfortable position to win, then all that work going for naught. It came fairly close to happening twice in a row. Personal wins are certainly largely unimportant to pitchers nowadays.
  6. Jim French Stepstool
    Woody seems like a pretty stoic, water-off-a-ducks'-back kinda guy. But just to be safe, if we blew a lead for him again today I'd have kept him off the Hoan bridge.
  7. Jim French Stepstool
    I remember listening on the radio when he hit for the cycle vs Mark Fidrych. Mike had at least partial ownership of indoor batting cages in Brookfield back in the day. Some of us fastpitch softball guys would practically live there, and at times Mike would actually be working the counter. I recall Frank Howard being seen there sometimes; he coached in Milwaukee in the mid-80s. Also Juan Nieves. It's just funny in this day & age to think of seeing current or former players in such an accessible setting.
  8. Jim French Stepstool
    I remember listening on the radio when he hit for the cycle vs Mark Fidrych. Mike had at least partial ownership of indoor batting cages in Brookfield back in the day. Some of us fastpitch softball guys would practically live there, and at times Mike would actually be working the counter. I recall Frank Howard being seen there sometimes; he coached in Milwaukee in the mid-80s. Also Juan Nieves. It's just funny in this day & age to think of seeing current or former players in such an accessible setting.
  9. Jim French Stepstool
    Calvaruso has to be a concern as well. Not only two misses on FG attempts, but neither had a chance, almost the type of mis-hits you see in a HS game. There are a couple other options, but unless someone sees practice every day you have no idea if anyone else is ready to step in. I agree with the playcalling. In hindsight, sure it looks like some more 1st down throws early on would've been a good idea. But that's just what it is, hindsight. They tried early on to establish their #1 offensive threat. Hard to argue with that. Once they get further into the schedule things will probably get a little more diverse but they'll never look like what some fans pine for after watching NFL highlights. Nor should they. Like you said the O-line has a lot of cleaning up to do.
  10. Jim French Stepstool
    Fair enough. Like I said it depends on the situation. They had a terrific defense last season. To me netting 35-40 yards......or even 25..........with the group Leonhard had last year was playing to your strength. There were times PC probably should've been more proactive in trying to go. Yesterday they hadn't shown any consistency on the offensive end to that point. Neither had the Coogs. I say use that. I think preventing an opponent from getting a spark when they had shown none so far is playing smart, not scared. Definitely cost them yesterday.
  11. Jim French Stepstool
    And the Rose Bowl win over Stanford wouldn't have helped much even with one loss. So we probably still would've been ranked the same (4), maybe a tiny chance of challenging for 3.
  12. Jim French Stepstool
    I know that was a sore point for a lot of fans last season. I think it should have more to do with the yardage needed to pick up the 1st down & the game situation than anything else. There were times last year they probably should've been more aggressive but if you don't make it you give a team a spark. Today we gave one to an opponent that had very little going for it, and you could make a strong case it cost us the game. Chryst leaned on a defense last season that was clearly the strong point of the team. I guess whether he makes similar calls depends on how the D looks--I think it's looked good so far, but maybe not at the level of last season--and how the O-line & Mertz grow moving forward. Today was a day to make WSU go 85-90 yards cuz I doubt they could.
  13. Jim French Stepstool
    Sophia: "Hunter, how awesome was it when Bally Sports showed replays of the play at second but never showed any footage of you standing at home plate instead of running?" (I'm assuming this, because I agree it was shocking to see a close play there.)
  14. Jim French Stepstool
    Todays' game reminded me A LOT of Cincy. Like, no matter how well you moved the ball you were going to find a way to come away empty. Those two losses in '99 were the springboard to Bollinger taking over at QB from Scott Kavanagh. And I stand corrected, they were actually 2-2 after the losses not 1-2. Don't remember if there were any undefeated teams that year. The theory that it cost them a natty might be valid.
  15. Jim French Stepstool
    I remember a year when we went into Cincinnati (before they were a thing) & lost, then lost the next week to Michigan to start out 1-2. Losta people were ready to jump off a bridge. That team went to the Rose Bowl. Not predicting the same result, but the program is about playing clean games & getting better week to week. If they can do that they'll have a successful season.
  16. Jim French Stepstool
    I expected to see the normal stuff that you see on a message board when the home team loses a football game--they're predictable, the play calling sucks, too conservative. Some of UW's best performances over the years came on days when they were as predictable as you can get. I was in the stands the day Drew Brees threw over 80 passes, mostly short outs & hooks. One of the most predictable performances I've ever seen. The main reason they lost today was the boring coachspeak stuff that most people hate but is usually spot on----turnovers & penalties. I will pinpoint 2 huge moments. The KO return to start the 2nd half where virtually no one on the left side kept their lanes, and Chrysts' decision to go on 4th & 2 in the second quarter. I'll give myself license to tear Paul a new one there because there was no hindsight involved, I hated the decision the moment I saw them lining up to go. It wasn't a crucial moment & the WSU offense had zero momentum. Rolling the dice there instead of relying on your defense & keeping the field tilted gave them some. You could make a solid argument that they win if not for those two blunders, even with the horribly uneven performance. Hard to find positives in such a frustrating day, but I thought Keontez Lewis looked terrific.
  17. Jim French Stepstool
    A lot of those schools also have the experience advantage of having had a pay structure for the players in place for a long time before it became legal through NIL.
  18. Jim French Stepstool
    Not going to rehash what happened tonite as it was a show we've unfortunately seen too often. What I took away from this game was Topa & how the organization seems to think he's worth continually giving chances to. I know he didn't give up any runs (somehow) but his stuff looks awfully straight, with decent but not exceptional velocity. Just don't see much there.
  19. Jim French Stepstool
    That, and Ashby really not being ready for an increased role either. This would've been the year for Aaron to give us 2-3-4 innings at a crack, either as a bullpen guy or "opener". Unfortunately injuries sped that timeline up.
  20. Jim French Stepstool
    Lindblom threw last night so he could've easily been held back a day but wasn't. So that's where we are. Alexander is out there because they view him as better than Lindblom?. Just not a lotta options.
  21. Jim French Stepstool
    You would think they'd be against it, but lest we forget about half the rostered players are pitchers.
  22. Jim French Stepstool
    The recovery thing pitch-to-pitch is something I hadn't considered. Interesting stuff.
  23. Jim French Stepstool
    Ted Williams brought teams out of the shift by doing exactly what you referred to. Guys like Rod Carew & Tony Gwynn could do the same if confronted with it. But it's too much to ask of the modern-day hitter, especially when putting up numbers & setting yourself up for arbitration time & FA is more important than winning games.
  24. Jim French Stepstool
    This can be applied to a lot of the stuff baseball has done recently, and will probably do in the future. I will say that while it isn't necessary to my enjoyment of the game, I doubt that I'll have much problem with the clock. Exactly how much bigger are the bases? does it make the distance between bases 2 inches shorter? Five inches? Anyone who thinks that's not a big deal doesn't see how many close plays there are in a game. Not berating it necessarily, but it WOULD be a big deal.
  25. Jim French Stepstool
    That's a terrific point. I hate the trend, but 20-30 somethings are going to be around a lot longer than old-school type fans & whether right or wrong they're attempting to cater to what they see in their crystal balls. $$$.
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