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Jim French Stepstool

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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool

  1. Jim French Stepstool
    I think Rapp was on Wagler some, too. And you're right, they did about as well as you could ask. As for Carrington, it's so valuable to have a veteran willing to accept the role he fills. He almost HAD to know he was coming off the bench when he came here. Terrific piece to the puzzle. Glad you mentioned Janicki's shot. There were four scorers on the floor with him, and sometimes he's just gonna wind up with that look. Unless you're really early in the clock yeah, he has to hoist that. Winter---four points, no makes from deep, yet maybe the play of the game. A lot of heroes.
  2. Jim French Stepstool
    Didn't notice that (or didn't want to lol). I'll have to look at that again. If so, I'm surprised Underwood didn't throw a few verbal grenades.
  3. Jim French Stepstool
    How in the world did THAT happen? First, more shots at the rim for UW (76-60), due mainly to Bucky only being outrebounded by 2 vs a huge team, and crushing the TO battle (only 4 to Illinois' 13). I think I heard 23-6 in favor of Wisconsin in PTS off TO. Also a big thank you to the home team for going 11-19 from the line. I don't know what UW shot from deep in the last 5 minutes + OT but it had to be impressive. At one point in the 2nd half Illinois was over 50% from three, and UW wound up virtually matching them (16-36 to Illinois' 15-33). Austin Rapp, AGAIN. 18 pts w/5 boards & 3 assists in 31 minutes---and zero turnovers. He & Carrington are becoming 2nd to none in the conference as a bench duo. Boyd & Blackwell combined for 49 pt & shot a combined 50% from three. Considering the size he faced, I thought Bieliauskas competed really well & is slowly causing the empty 'non-factor' minutes to become fewer & fewer. And he gets criticism, but other than not providing a lot of points I think Rohde is playing some really solid ball. Like at Michigan, no way did I expect this. But damn, they deserved it---especially after what happened in Bloomington.
  4. Jim French Stepstool
    UW is mostly doing a lousy job defending the screen-and-roll. But when you're facing 7-footers who have skills, a very good PG, and they shoot 50% from 3PT range I'm not sure what you can do. UW also needs to contest better on threes, but guys sometimes shoot less than 50-50 in an empty gym, too. Just a real talented team.
  5. Jim French Stepstool
    Yes. 44-38 Illinois at half.
  6. Jim French Stepstool
    After looking at the available FAs I thought these were the most likely two if they choose to go that route. And as you get closer to the opening bell for spring training you'd hope the price would drop as well. Whether it's a FA or a trade it's pretty apparent you're looking at someone for one year, which probably increases the chances that they do neither. But if we've learned anything from this organization it's to not assume any of these options are ahead of the others on the leaderboard.
  7. Jim French Stepstool
    Illinois is good enough as it is---seeing them in the FF wouldn't be shocking---but they're returning home after a tough loss & that doesn't help matters any. Izzo didn't do us any favors. Obviously the size is an issue. They out-rebound their opponents by almost 11PG & average btwn 4 and 5 blocks per outing. Not a super deep bench but the couple they rely on (Humrichous & Davis) have been playing at a high level. You'd like to force their bigs away from the hoop w/Bieliauskas, Rapp & Winter hitting some shots, otherwise Boyd & Blackwell will find the going extremely difficult on penetration. The biggest key is probably Wagler. The kid is very talented & plays well beyond his years, but he shot poorly at MSU. He's important to what they do, even moreso with Kylan Boswell still being out. If UWs' bigger guards can rotate on him & make life tough you might be able to hang around.
  8. Jim French Stepstool
    The 'lost a blowout' category hasn't really reared its' ugly head since early January but yeah, other than that it's been a season marked by inconsistency--even within the 40 minutes of each game. I would love to see them come out better in the first 10 minutes, especially defensively. But they seem to make their adjustments & settle in eventually. For sure, you can show 8-10 minute stretches of the season, both good & bad, and find it hard to believe it's the same team.
  9. Jim French Stepstool
    If that doesn't sound like Keon Broxton..........
  10. Jim French Stepstool
    Yeah, I think it's entered the thinking of a lot of fans---and a lot of front-office people in MLB. For the bulk of a season I think it's workable if maintained, but the 'win today' approach you alluded to would probably creep in way too often. When it's the 2nd guy of the piggyback, the tendency would lean heavily into going with matchups once you get into the last 3 innings or so, and when that happens regularly you need more than three late-inning arms. Nowadays the key is finding as many starts of 6 innings or more as you can. If that happens with some regularity, a quality BP with depth can be managed pretty easily. The day a manager can comfortably go to a guy in the 5th or 6th inning & say "it's your game to win or lose" and stick with that more often than not is the 1st step towards seeing something like this tried.
  11. Jim French Stepstool
    I'll say it once more: I was behind the idea of trading for Jansen to beef up the depth at C, but didn't like that it cost Areinamo. MINF was getting pretty crowded in the system but that felt a little steep.
  12. Jim French Stepstool
    I liked always Wilson when he was in our organization, thought he had the versatility & enough of a bat to be a nice bench piece. I'm a little surprised he cleared.
  13. Jim French Stepstool
    Roberto Pena (70-71) says.......ah, never mind, I don't think he says anything.
  14. Jim French Stepstool
    Great point. Wilkin missed a lot of developmental time due to injury weirdness-----getting hit in the face with a pitch, hurting himself in a post-game celebration-----and it's intriguing to imagine where he might be on the ladder had that stuff not happened. If all goes well, mid-season readiness isn't a pipe dream.
  15. Jim French Stepstool
    Agree 100% with the first two points. As to the third, I think they like Durbin quite a bit (although perhaps some organizations hold him in even higher regard after last season). I think it's more a case of liking Harrison too much to turn it down, as you said.
  16. Jim French Stepstool
    He's never played 3B as a pro so I don't see that. Flip side, no one twelve months ago saw Durbin being a starting 3B at the major league level so who knows? Unless a trade happens Williams getting reps at third could certainly be thrown in the hopper.
  17. 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.
  18. Jim French Stepstool
    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?
  19. Jim French Stepstool
    Binelas is with the Phillies organization now. Boston released him last year.
  20. Jim French Stepstool
    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........
  21. Jim French Stepstool
    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.
  22. Jim French Stepstool
    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😐.
  23. Jim French Stepstool
    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.
  24. Jim French Stepstool
    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.
  25. Jim French Stepstool
    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.
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