Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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I don't know about sending him w/a 3-0 count. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but the downside is it's a strike but not in a spot Contreras is looking for, he takes it & you make the 2nd out w/the runner still at 3rd. Or a swing and miss, same result. Don't get me wrong. There's logic behind sending Turang. But with less than 2 outs & Contreras hitting I think they felt less reason to get 'cute'. Bottom line, you had Contreras at the plate with one out 1st & 3rd, and Turang with one out bases loaded & came up empty both times.
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I missed much of the game, but one thing this dispels is the "Woe is me, Skubal & Skenes back-to-back" nonsense. The matchup today, if the baseball gods offer you a one run lead in the 8th you take it every time. And in many other matchups too for that matter. What you need to lean on right now, the run prevention, failed late. I guess you could say the randomness of baseball that sometimes rears its' head did so today. A 3 run rally fueled by hits from Rengifo, Matos, Perkins, Ortiz, & Hamilton, otherwise known to some as "The DFA Quintet". Then a chance to add on short-circuited by arguably your best hitter so far this season.
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Wisconsin has added another HS recruit for the 26-27 season by getting a commitment from Josh Manchester of Mount Horeb HS. He's a 6'2"-6'3" off-guard who averaged over 30PPG his SR year playing against smaller school competition. Manchester received some attention but no offers from high-major schools. He had offers from UWGB, Siena, Northern Illinois & East Tennessee State. While he definitely can shoot the ball, the consensus from rectuitnicks is that he's, at best, a stretch to contribute at a level like the B10--release point, speed & overall athleticism are question marks. But he is one of these kids who bleeds cardinal & white and I think the hope is that he can learn to defend, show a work ethic & be the rarest of breeds nowadays---someone who may stick around and after 2 or 3 years actually be ready to contribute, while still being in the program. He's worth a shot, especially since they have (I think) two spots still available if someone else in the portal becomes a possibility.
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That 1-6 is no joke. Not an organizational filler in the group, either.
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I've done this before, and it's very rudimentary in this analytics-based world but I've found it fun: I'll look at a prospects' total numbers in pro ball after he's reached what amounts to more-or-less a full MLB season in games played/PAs. Luis Pena is now there. He's OPSing .857 with a .381 OBP. A total of 180 base hits including 35 doubles, 13 triples & 11 HRs. 107 RBI. Oh, and he's stolen 89 bases. Jesus Made is given much more prospect love & rightfully so. And I realize the #s include a healthy dose of rookie ball. But save for a blip when getting a taste of high-A last year Pena has been consistently remarkable. It looks like it'll be a challenge to get him a place at the table AFA promotion is concerned but at his age it isn't a catastrophe if he stays at Wisconsin for the foreseeable future.
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Admittedly he became sort of an afterthought to me, too. I think the small stature & having to re-establish himself after the health issues tell a tale about the kid---he just seems to be one of these types that refuses to be derailed, refuses to be deterred. And it doesn't hurt to have talent, too😜. At the plate & on the bases, his 'feel' for the game is pretty astounding.
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😠😠😠😠😠BUT WE PAID HIM ALL THIS MONEY!!!!!!!!😠😠😠😠😠 😄.
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Woodford....C Rodriguez.....McGee......Maybe at some point Pannone...... you need a back-of-the-BP guy to save everyone else in games like this, and it needs to be a vet. No way do you put a developing pitcher in a spot where the work is so irregular. I'd rather Yoho get regular work. That said, Woodford has really gotten clocked his last couple times out. Wouldn't be surprised if he's simply cut loose at some point.
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Leonard coming here could possibly happen at some point, if for no other reason than he has the versatility they crave and he MIGHT hit (I have no idea what his defensive abilities are; that's always going to be important to the braintrust & rightfully so). The problem with Black is redundancy. I don't see him playing in LF in Milwaukee, and at 1B he swings from the same side as Bauers. Perhaps a 3-man at 1B/DH with him, Bauers & Sanchez? But if you go matchups Sanchez might get the short end, and with the injuries I think they feel the need to get him somewhat regular swings. I suspect SOMETHING happens relatively soon because you really don't need six OFs and three of them are vulnerable for either a trip to AAA or outright release.
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Nothing official, but there's a lot of smoke suggesting that John Blackwell is going to sign soon with Duke.
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The rule of sitting out a year was beautiful in that it sort-of created a buffer against the competitive disadvantages of the low-to-mid majors. You MIGHT leave for a bigger school (funny you mentioned CMU as JJ Watt was there originally), but you need go through a full year of not playing & simply being a (GASP!!) college student. Many found that distasteful & stayed put. Now the smaller schools are farm teams. As I said earlier I have no idea how disheartening it must be to be a fan/alum of a school in that situation. Yes, UW is fortunate in being able to stay competitive due to the limited roster spots in BB combined with the sheer volume of kids available. But they've also proven in this new era to simply be damn good at personnel evaluation & putting together connected rosters year-to-year, on the fly. But I hate it too, as do I'm sure most coaches.
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Here's a scenario: HS athlete is a once in a generation QB, 6'9" do-it-all forward, whatever. Clearly the top prep player in the nation in his sport. CEO of a nationally known insurance company (or auto maker, restaurant chain or widget manufacturer) believes it would be beneficial to lock this kid up in an ad campaign. Being a brand known coast-to-coast, this CEO also feels he'd get that much more bang for his buck if said athlete also wore a Duke (or UCLA, or Kentucky) uniform in the ads. The firm (or through accountant mumbo-jumbo, the CEO) donates $4 million to Dukes' NIL fund. By sheer coincidence, Duke proceeds to outbid the next highest offer by, oh, say 3.5 million & the kid signs. I don't see anything that prevents this.
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A big part of the problem IMO. Student athletes should be allowed to market themselves to the hilt, but market THEMSELVES. No direct NIL payments from the school, and no reference to the school in any ads, be it verbally, wearing the school uniform, logos, nuthin'.
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They'd have to both be self-sustaining; I'm sure there wouldn't be a regular caravan of fans heading up & down hwy 151. The organization would certainly conduct whatever studies are necessary as to the feasability. Having both A & AAA in a more challenging spring climate certainly could be a concern. Not to diminish the support the T-Rats have received because it's been terrific but personally, if you only had one affiliate in the state I'd much rather have the AAA team closer, whether it be Madison, the Lake Country or the Fox Valley.
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Yeah, I've thought of that & they'd make my list as well. I guess I'd consider it more of a GB-App-Neenah-Menasha corridor though; including Fondy & Oshkosh spreads things out quite a bit. Appleton has a long history; used to be a White Sox affiliate. Green Bay was an affiliate city once upon a time too---Dodgers, I think?
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I think you raise a solid point re UW. Places like ChampBana, Lincoln NE & Iowa City certainly have the population to support minor league baseball at some level but have never been a hotbed. The flip side is baseball would barely bump into UW's primary spectator sports seasons. Some of the ancillary stuff like softball, yeah. But we've spent time in Madison during BB season & the growth there just seems off the chain. Throw in places like Sunny P & Waunakee and I dunno, I feel it has potential. Columbus has existed for a long time as a AAA city with OSU there; of course that's a very large city. Not familiar with the footprint at Warner. Is it expandable?
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Smart folks, from what I've heard. Whoever can crack this nut I'm all for it.
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If Nashville ever gets an MLB team, I would so much love to see Madison be ultra-aggressive in trying to lure the Brewers into putting a AAA team there. No sufficient place to play at the moment (and I have a hard time envisioning the civic leaders there embracing it) but I'd bet the fan base would be large enough. #2 would be the western Waukesha-Oconomowoc corridor. Expand the ballpark on I-94 & HWY 67. Both of these areas are seeing a lot of construction & growth. A couple of nice, out-of-the-box ideas.
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Just looking at the rudimentary 'box score' type numbers, he had a AA cup of coffee at the end of his '22 season & struggled as you said. In '23, he was 11 for his first 55 ABs at Biloxi & then went 12-32 to close out April. So, 23-87. He K'd about 25% of those ABs & drove in 18 runs.
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To anyone who's watched him work so far this year (I haven't), is Mark Manfredi knocking at the door for a pull-up to Nashville?
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Injuries. Down the line, you might need one of them. Or two. But not all three. Hence the pecking order. As an aside, if DFA'd I wouldn't be shocked if Perkins wound up getting claimed. Not an absolute either way though.
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Which is why the run prevention---people forget about that, even though it's been a cornerstone here for a long, long time---is so important, especially now when you're down so many people. Last Sunday & Tuesday, thirteen combined Brewer runs, and they lost both. Today, a leadoff walk to a .160 hitter followed by an error costs you three. The leadoff walk issued by Hall in a L vs L quite possibly cost you another. That aspect of the team isn't always going to be perfect, but when it isn't it's going to cost them given the current makeup. And it's a strength that needs to be leaned on right now, much more so than expecting an offense that's missing key parts to overcome shortcomings elsewhere. It can happen, but it usually won't.
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Not a good average. I was just responding to the 'gets worse the more he plays' line.
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I think a lot of the b****ing on here regarding the lineups should be channeled towards yelling at Yelichs' hammy and Vaughn & Chouiros' hand injuries. That wouldn't make much sense either, but at least a little bit more. I guess we could whine about Contreras sitting, but of course that would be the direct opposite of the complaining last year about how Murphy was never giving him any time off.
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Had a 3-hit day on Friday.
