Jim French Stepstool

Lockridge was a headscratcher, for sure. But it's not like they've never moved Chourio up or down in the order due to the handedness of the pitcher. Hell, the guy in the other dugout benched Busch & his 30-whatever HRs the other day because Ashby was opening. Managers these days are big on matchups & going L-R-L-R as often as possible. One quibble I might make, is dropping Frelick to 5 with Yelich leading off vs RHP. It just smells to me of overplaying the 'get him as many ABs as possible' thing. Ohtani does it but he obviously has much more help surrounding him, and LA has folks other than Perkins & Ortiz in the bottom third of the order.

So if you fit anyone for goat horns today it obviously has to be Priester. 3-2 to Busch, then the HR really seemed to put him in nibble mode until the Kelly AB, which he couldn't afford with the zone that was tight both ways. You could say he didn't catch much of a break w/the bases-loaded hit, I guess. Got to 0-1 due to Crow-Armstrong chasing a pitch he chases all the time, then puts the next two in the same spot & he takes both. Then of course you don't want to go 3-1, so...... Most of the civilized world thought Lockridge might be bunting in the 1st & 3rd situation. Even so, I was OK with it in concept, he just needed to deaden the ball more than he did. They battled, and the BP was once again terrific. But we needed to be a little more woodpecker-ish in a few key spots. Turangs' AB after the Chourio double was pretty terrible. And that was nothing like the Isaac Collins I've seen all season, swinging at a clear ball four. Had they scored in the ninth, that would've been one damned interesting defensive alignment for the bottom half. I kinda expected Monasterio to hit for himself, then probably Vaughn for Perkins. Someone might have to nominate Counsell for the PJ Fleck 'Get Put on Camera Every Twelve Seconds' award.

As a 3B Durbins' arm could be described as adequate. No way is he ever penciled in as a SS. Barring something very surprising I think you'll see the same format next year at 2B-SS-3B while they bank on continued development from Pratt & Made and as always take a look at what might give you a short-term jolt at the deadline that isn't prospect-cost prohibitive. IMO the only way they consider a Turang at SS & Durbin at 2B scenario early in 2026 would have to involve a heckuva jump from Wilkin, and his bad luck with health has hindered that.

We know how they value run prevention, and I think they're SO much better defensively with Perkins in CF & Frelick in RF. With Yelich & Chourio both available that kinda aces out Collins. Collins had the horrible defensive game late in the season also, which still might be sticking in Murphys' craw. Just a guess, but had Chourio never landed on the IL Collins' PT might've shrunk at that time. As to Lockridge over Perkins today, I have no idea. But I do like the feel of two switch hitters on the bench, as well as Vaughn. And if it's a ground-ball day, Bauers is a nice call at 1B even though Vaughn has been solid.

I recall talking to a co-worker in '82. The team was coming back to Milwaukee after falling behind 0-2 to the Angels in the ALCS & she was pretty despondent. I mentioned that if you just win game 3, all of a sudden you're nine innings from tying the series up & of course that's what happened. So yeah, a great spot to be in but momentum can be a funny thing. I'm surprised no one until now has mentioned the Yelich LF/Chourio DH possibility. I think Yelich has been adequate when out there while Collins has struggled a bit w/the glove recently. But my gut says they're looking at Chourio as an all-or-nothing decision--play both ways or not at all.

I love (and am not surprised by) the move of Adamczewski to LF. Not AFL related, but also looking forward to seeing how they sort out assignments for Boeve, Burke & Adams in '26. I'm assuming Wilkin is ticketed for AAA.

For my money, the three run first was more the fault of Ashby dropping the ball in the Tucker AB, than a failed strategy by Murphy. Walking the LHH caused Ashby to have little to no margin in the Suzuki AB. So now, it appears that we come out of that game not only with Priester (and Quintana if needed) still in the holster, but a more solid & resolute Misiorowski moving forward. Great stuff.

Let's not forget the crowd reaction from medium-to-deep fly ball outs, too. Although it's much easier to mitigate those.

Probably. But I'm guessing there are a lot of BP options they'd rather go to if looking for one inning. If a typical outing for him in the post season is what we saw Monday, then I don't see him working in either game in Chicago.

I know top of the 1st inning didn't go well, but I thought the decision to go with Ashby was master class, and I didn't see it coming. What uglied it up was the walk to Tucker L on L, that can't happen. Ashby throws strikes there & gets to two outs w/a man on, I'm not so sure Suzuki gets anything he can hit out of the park. As it was, the team seems to be sitting pretty w/Priester & Quintana yet to be used & you can assume the pen fully loaded going into Wednesday save for Misiorowski.

From what I heard, not until Saturday morning.

After grabbing the 1-0 lead in game one, SD had runner on 3rd w/no one out & didn't score. An inning or two later they had runners at the corners w/one out & didn't score. If they convert on those two opportunities I suspect SD would be in Milwaukee this weekend.

Not to mention an imposing handshake line. Juwan Howard got canned just in time.

I meant on this board, a few people have brought up JL. And the only chance of it going anywhere beyond that is if Mac was jettisoned. Yeah, some well-heeled people---many of them---would have to have a lot of disdain for Fickell for him to be in his last year. I also don't see that happening. And in that case, it would be futile to put together any kind of serious candidate list at this time. But if the unlikely occurred, Kotelnicki & Campbell would currently be my favorites. I've been a Leipold fan for awhile now, but he'll be 62 next spring.

It IS a big loss. He & the missus have four kids & I believe they're all relatively young. I also recall reading that he has business interests in NZ, so perhaps coaching in the US was never in the cards for him long-term. Along with what he contributed as a coach, I'm sure he was a catalyst in opening up the NZ-Aussie area leading to them signing Hayden Jones, Jackson Ball & Austin Rapp. Hopefully that trio has success here, which could lead to a pipeline. Davison has been playing in Europe. Given his makeup & some prior comments it's not surprising that he'd jump at a chance to coach, especially at his alma mater.

As I mentioned, Chryst appears to be one of those guys who should've just stayed an OC---and while I'm sure he didn't know it at the time, would've been happier had he done so. NIL makes this almost a necessity, but you've wound up with a number of what are supposed to be key players being from elsewhere. Bad football is bad football no matter where the kids are from, but the new coach & staff and the early Longo-driven hype COMBINED with the makeup of the roster gives (I think) a mercenary-type feel to the whole thing & contributes to the propensity to boo if unsuccessful. Barry took the high road. Knowing his willingness to straight shoot, it probably wasn't easy for him. Leonhard is once again on a few peoples' lips. I don't know if that'll ever be revisited, but there would need to be a different AD for it to happen.

So be it. With the off days, I think they'd be fine with eleven. I guess that means Lockridge OR Hoskins, as that minimizes the 3rd catcher theory.

He's been really far off everyones' radar since being added. But yeah, he mostly throws strikes & has been through the wars and that's the sort of stuff Murphy appreciates. Ya never know.

Just a few random thoughts: I was among those who considered Hoskins a lock but that obviously has appeared to have changed. If they're looking at Jansen as a possible PH bat then you'd need a 3rd guy who can catch if need be. I question whether that would be Seigler. It might be Quero---I know that would be a real reach, the guy has never appeared in a big league game much less a post-season one. But I think in a potential 5 game series w/off days baked in you can go with eleven pitchers. That means you would have a six-man bench. Adding Quero would definitely be a huge surprise but if needed I'd much rather see him behind the plate than Seigler. Plus, Seigler might make it anyway. Black has been.....let's say better, in his final weeks in Nashville. And I believe he's drawn five walks to one K in his short time here. I wouldn't be surprised if he makes it as a bench bat. Again, one of these candidates gets aced out if they DO decide on 12 pitchers. I agree with those who believe Brandon is a Lock(ridge). Whoever is on the staff, I feel a key to this series might be the guys who are earmarked to work the 5th-6th type innings---Myers, Patrick, maybe Hall. Also, whatever workouts/scrimmage situations they set up this week, IMO Rodriguez & McGee are just here to absorb innings they don't want others covering & aren't viable roster options.

Both Bauers & Vaughn are putting up some of the teams' better ABs recently, which is the issue. Recent games, as well as the next few, might be used to answer whether they want Bauers in LF, or Yelich. Collins appears to be an odd man out right now but can be very valuable as a PH who can hit from either side.

I don't want to dump on Chad Patrick. He's been pretty valuable for us, especially in the early months of the season, and has pitched better than some of the numbers might suggest. But early in Wednesdays' game I heard him say Patrick's been "unbelievable" this season. I guess if he maintained that it was something that needed to be said I'd tell him "Didn't have to be".

Yep. Or the opener of the SD series. Peralta stumbles & balks in a run. In the 7th inning Mears looks very solid, then with 2 outs & none on walks Iglesias, who had homered but overall is having a very similar season to Joey Ortiz offensively. That cost him a run. Koenig & Uribe followed up with scoreless & fairly efficient frames. A series that left a bad taste in some mouths could've easily been a 2-1 series win.

I was ready to say a few games ago that he was looking better at the plate, but he promptly proceeded to put up some ugly ABs. Watching him, I really think he needs to find that fine line where he's keeping the shoulders & hips tucked in & trying to drive the ball to RF, while at the same time laying off pitches that are TOO FAR outside. That isn't easy. If he can lock into that then he might get balls to pull, like the GS he hit vs the Mets that seemed like it was about a century ago.

For whatever reason, when this is brought up I think of the 2018 WS, when we fell short by one game. LA & Boston were the participants. LA had Logan Forsythe & a 39-yr-old Chase Utley sharing 2B, and the Dodgers would've been happy had either approached Ortiz' current offensive numbers. When necessary, they would be PH for.. I don't recall the names, but Boston had two guys share the C job, and both were weak offensively. My point is, sure it would be great if Ortiz was hitting .280 for the year, or Cooper Pratt was playing well beyond his years & could come up here & be productive, but teams can have someone with an exceptional glove swinging a sub-par bat & still be successful. The teams I mentioned had a pretty good collection of hitters to offset a weak link, sure. But I'm pretty certain we aren't going to come anywhere close to approximating that by replacing Ortiz' bat with Monasterios, not to mention the defensive downgrade. As long as he's healthy I expect Ortiz to be the guy throughout the post-season, and I agree with that. They'll PH for him if it's a later inning & they're trailing.

I think the offense has been better in recent games than given credit for. Obviously the RISP needs to be better. That aspect of the team has been lousy, good enough, or very good, depending on which segment of the season you're talking about. I mean, we're talking about getting to/winning a WS, right? OK, then the level we played at from the ASG through August needs to be closer to the norm for that to happen. But you can say that about pretty much everyone. For that to happen, IMO we need to get back to grinding out the ABs, fouling off tough pitches, not chasing, drawing walks, etc. The announcers have gotten on this 'woodpecker' schtick & talk as if it's a constant. It isn't. Re-discover it. Other than that, let's hope for some better fortune afa pitching health. It sounds like things might be trending well for Megill; that would be huge. Whether he goes back to closing or not, you'd be adding him to Uribe, you have two LH throwing well out of the pen, and while I'm sure he's taken some heat after the SD series it looks to me like Mears is throwing the ball well. His biggest sin was when he got two quick outs Monday & then decided to start walking people, which he seldom does. Let's see what transpires w/Megill, Hall, Henderson, Quintana et al & find out who's available to work. And of course you can't have Chourio turning in the ABs he has lately. And Both 1B need to stay on the course they're on. We can be happy about the offensive production of both of our 1B options, and neither of them are named Rhys Hoskins. Who predicted that on opening day?