BrewerFan

1-If you're an elite defender up the middle with a good hit tool AND you hit for power, you're not available when the Brewers are drafting. In any event, Frelick and Turang are hardly the problem on this team. 2-How do you view Durbin as the "main piece?" They traded two players in their final years under team control. Two pitchers. Williams best WAR in his career had been 2.6. Nestor Cortes, also in the last year of his deal was coming off a 2.8 WAR as a good starting pitcher....a #3 starter and then had put up a 4.4 WAR and a 2.8 WAR in 3 of the last 4 seasons. Seems like it was Cortes for Williams with Durbin thrown in...the Brewers have a ton of BP arms and several minor league starters who could be thrown into the pen. They're not lacking in power. Hoskins, Chourio, Yelich, Conreras...and I don't know what we want from Turang. He's pretty much been everything I'd hoped for this year. I've said for years I thought he was a Trea Turner-lite type player. Wouldn't hit for the power Turner has, but he's hit for a solid average, walk, steal a lot of bases and be versatile. He's hitting nearly .300 with an OBP in the .375 range, his exit velo has taken a big jump. 3B was always going to be a problem. SS has become one and then just...players are struggling. Yelich, he's healthy, in the lineup everyday, just not hitting. Chourio, similar to last year, starting slow...Contreras, I doubt at this point of his career he just can't hit and Hoskins has been a good hitter. And then they lost most of a rotation. You want to assign blame? Ok...life's not fair. We can't bring in Arrenado(who would likely reject the trade anyway) and couldn't sign players who weren't available in a weak 3B market. I DID like the idea of signing Iglesias and playing him at 2B with Turang shifting to SS and Ortiz staying at 3B. The whole "Ortiz has a strong arm," was a bad argument from the start as was the "Turang's been so good at 2nd, better to leave him there. The main argument was Ortiz arm(at least on here). It had the same grade on it. Pointing to Baseball Savant velocity from the IF is totally useless. You get more on the ball at 3B and SS than 2B where you're either falling away from the bag or it's a shorter throw, but Turang has more than enough arm to play SS. But I don't think anyone anticipated Ortiz replacing Adames production, I think Chourio+Yelich being healthy+Hoskins bouncing back would make up for it. I also don't think anyone anticipated Ortiz bottoming out at a 450 OPS or whatever it may be... You want to put the blame somewhere? How about a 21 year old kid who is struggling to hit the ball and swinging at everything. A kid who'll almost certainly pick it up. An older LF back from...well...back surgery who struggling and a Catcher who is about 170 points under his SLG from the previous 3 seasons. He had about as minor a back surgery as you could have. He said he'd "never felt better" toward the end of last year and even talked about being back in the cage. His exit velo and hard hit rate is within a normal range. His chase and whiff is off. He'll hit better or he won't, but it doesn't seem as though his back has anything to do with his struggling. It's a team playing without a catalyst(other than Turang at times). You'll see Chourio start to heat up and I would GUESS that would lead to Yelich and Contreras reverting back closer to expectations and the offense will pick up. The left side of the IF will very likely continue to be a black hole offensively, but even with Ortiz, it's nearly certain to improve. People are seemingly giving up on this season like...21-25 on May 17th is the end of the season. I'm not. Once we get closer to the midpoint would be a better time to evaluate and I suspect they'll be squarely in the playoff race. Beyond THAT as far as "blaming Arnold," I'll blame him when our IF has Pratt, Made, Turang and Wilken, Quero/Contreras at Catcher Chourio, Payne in the OF with...a dozen different possible combinations for DH(Adams, Burke, Bitonti, Boeve, Pena, Lara...Frelick, Mitchell or one of the 5 guys we draft this year in the lineup.) Oh, and a staff that...without any big surprises looks like it'll pretty safely include Misiorowsk, Henderson, Gasser, Letson, Meccage...and that's assuming Myers, Ashby, Hall, Patrick, Rodriguez, none of them pan out. As for the Pen, let me quote Fangraphs; I'll "blame" him for building one of the best young farm systems while remaining competitive save for the first 46 games of this year. I MIGHT blame him for trading Yophery and the 33rd pick, but...pretty much every time they target a young arm, they seem to make it work, so I'll hold off on the judgement there. I'll put even money we end up winning that trade as we end up losing it. So sure, I'll "blame" Arnold. There's a strong overreaction on here about a mediocre start to the year that's become more pronounced this past 10 days. But the future looks incredible and even this season is HARDLY over.

Those Hawks 1sts, swaps+a few seconds and then you need...Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley, and multiple first-round picks to the Bucks in exchange for Antetokounmpo. #2 this year, #14, 2026 Swap option. Best of SA, ATL picks. 2027 ATL pick and then a 2031 SAC pick no protections. I guess then you try and keep Jericho Sims, Porter, whoever...not that there's a ton of value there, but, just try and build players trade value over the next couple years and keep flipping them for picks and take big swings in the draft... Or, again, maybe sign Cooper Flagg up for free uber eats, cover all of expenses, wait for a historic start to his career and then get in Nicos ear...tell him he's looking a big chubby...and who knows! But outside of OKC, SAS make sense. Most likely, we're a 49 win team in Milwaukee next year.

He would fit that team like a glove. The Spurs also didn't go to the playoffs when David Robinson got hurt...yet they had a dominant big who helped them win a title a year later...and then were contenders the rest of Robinson 's career. Mix Giannis, Wemby and then they have cap space, they have athletic wings. You send AJ Green with Giannis and you have...a great fit. Add Giannis and that's a 55 win team next year. It's just a problem because they don't really the players who I think they'd trade to make this work. But they have several draft picks who could be very valuable. But just in terms of teams, outside of OKC, I don't know if you could find a better fit. He and Wemby would be interchangeable at the 4 and 5, they can defend the rim, they are mobile and this would be the ideal mentor for Wemby.

I'm most worried about the blue chip prospects(which I don't suppose is a hot take). Let them put up just...ridiculous numbers in A ball ALL YEAR. Let them get comfortable, get used to playing full-season Baseball. They'll go through struggles(or...maybe they won't). But then next year, start them in Appleton, if they perform well, Biloxi end of June or so and...play it by ear. Even on that timeline, you've got two MIFers who would be on the doorstep at 19/20 years old. And then you just leave Made and potentially Pena in AAA until they agree 10 year extension as well! I'm not 100% serious, but thinking about what that dude is capable of as a SS/3B, a SHer, the easy bat speed and exit velocity like he's using metal bats. Love to see him and Jackson playing 5-6 years together!

All I see is we got rid of a pitcher who is 1-7 and doesn't know how to win games! (2025...I don't actually need blue font, do I? You guys all get it).

Getting a happy and healthy Jaire back would be...akin to the Packers getting back a healthy and dominant Brandon Woodruff. It doesn't just impact him, it would slide everyone down a bit and take pressure off so many other players. On another note, anyone hear even rumors that Jaire was upset this off-season? This seemed like it was almost exclusively the Packers who were not pleased with the arangement. Gute made the comments, pretty clearly expressing frustration in Jaire(we later heard from Demovsky more about it, though I don't know how much he hears vs guesses about). There were rumros there was a trade worked out, but Jaire wouldn't take a pay cut(makes sense). And the same was true for coming back to GB. But though all of this, he was shown working out with X and Jordan Love was talking about him campaigning for him to be back...and he just seems like a bit of an odd dude, maybe he won't play through injury like others will, but he always seemed like a pretty good clubhouse guy. Even when he made himself the captain in Carolina, it seemed innocent(ridiculous) but...fairly innocent. 'I think coach forgot I was from Carolina, so I just went out there.' Perhaps I'm missing something though. I'm sure he wasn't pleased to hear the Packers wanted to get rid of him but weren't willing to just let the guy leave as a FA so he could sign on somewhere else, wanted him to take a cut, publicly questioned his toughness and made the whole thing drag out...and despite that, far as I know, he's been...pretty mature about it. ***This also makes me think they HAD to have missed out on some CB targets. A bad FA class, I thought a great draft class, but nobody tested. I'm guessing you'll see every CB who can at the combine testing next year. At least the 40 and then their vertical and one of the agility. Johnson and Morrison were projected top 10 picks...

Well...I'm not just looking at it as total numbers of yards, I'm looking at the way the Backs styles mix and how efficient, not just how many yards they run for. The offensive line could look a LOT different. LT-Walker was a very poor run block. I think they'll try Belton out at OT and RG. Morgan will do the same. I think if Walker gets beaten out, they might just move Tom over to LT and Belton COULD win the job at RT or RG. LG-Jenkins fell off last year, but Brooks is a very good run blocking LG. C-Myers out, Jenkins in should be a huge upgrade. RG-Sean Rhyan was a terrible pass blocker the year before, but then kinda flipped last year. He was very good at pass blocking but the 86th ranked run blocker for a Guard. RT-He's good. So we upgraded at LG, C and RT is already very good. You have last years 1st rd pick and this years 2nd rd pick who will be competing for the two weakest spots on the OL, LT, RG. So our OL wasn't a very good run blocking OL last year and they've made investments in the position. On top of THAT, John Fitzpatrick, another Georgia Bulldog is a 6'7, 265LB TE who is a stud in run blocking. But more than that, I think all three backs are a little different. Jacobs is a battering ram, but for context, his average yards before contact last year was worse than it was during his time in Oakland. He was getting hit after 2 yards(2.2 in Oakland...which isn't a big difference, but one of the big talking points was that our OL would be so much better than Oakland's). And again, they ran almost entirely gap scheme last year because they didn't really have someone capable of running that outside zone. Jones, when he was here and we ran that outside zone, he was able to get the edge and he was going for 3.4-3.5 yards before contact and averaging 5+ Yards Per Carry. I'm not comparing Jacobs to Jones, there's a use for both of them and Jacobs just softening the defense up is extremely valuable, he was a workhorse...but again, it's that core staple of the run game, that outside zone that sets up so much of the offense. So Jacobs is the workhorse...obviously. Wilson...IMO, has really good feet and underrated vision and speed, but the key is Lloyd. I think he can be that guy who can come in and be the change of pace. He's 5'8, 220, similar size to Jones but a bit bigger. More explosive athletically(testing anyway) and more elusive. I could see it looking more like the 49ers when they had a number of RBs and they would run Deebo at RB at times, a role Savion Williams should be able to handle...of occasion at 6'4 230(maybe Patterson is a better comp as a rookie while he hopefully develops into a more well rounded WR). They were a really good run team last year but I think they can get more efficient. Both of the players they drafted, most importantly Belton, he ran a hybrid scheme at NC State where they ran a lot of zone blocking, but also gap. It doesn't happen in a vacuum though. I think it's a given our passing game is better next year. It has to be if we're going to more of a threat and competitive vs the best teams. Wicks more than doubled his drop rate, Reed's went from 3% to 12%, Doubs doubled, Kraft went from 0 to 7.1%. So that's why I think our run game should be better. Less men in the box, we WON'T be the worst in the league in drops(I'd hope) and both of those build off each other. It starts up front though and we've invested in our OL, we've invested in RB, WR, TE and just paid our QB. So whatever it takes to keep the chains moving as that was a weakness as well. Tampa Bay last year was a more efficient team in the run game and they converted over 50% of their 3rd down whereas the Packers were well behind him at 4.7 YPC(they were at 5.2 YPC) and we converted 39% of our 3rd downs. That is a team without a running QB or a Barkley type RB, so...that's the team I'm using as an example....

My estimate was of absolutely no such thing. My estimate was how many SNAPS they were going to play; Josh Jacobs played 721 snaps last year. He...did not have 721 carries. Snaps a game is not the same as touches a game. In fact, I expect you'll see some formations with Savion Williams and Josh Jacobs in the backfield together. Safe to say they won't both touch the ball that play, right? Or Lloyd and Jacobs. In fact, you'll definitely have plays where you have 3 WRs, 1 TD and 1 RB or 12 formation which...is very possibly going to be MLF's preferred formation on early downs in his players are healthy. That'd mean that you'd have...hypothetically, Jacobs, Kraft, Musgrave, Wicks and Golden out there. Obviously nobody would expect all of them to get a touch on that play. I'm very confused here. Why would you only have 5-15 plays to the list of receivers mentioned(or just ALL Packers receivers, TEs as a whole)? How about play-action passes? You'd need a RB on the field for that, no? Even including empty sets...which the Packers ran just 31 of last year, I don't think I can recall a single one in which there was no RB on the field. What they'd often do...and they did this a BIT more when they had Aaron Jones, there was still a RB on the field. That...doesn't really make sense. Again, Josh Jacobs...who I don't think will be asked to shoulder quite as much of the load last year. He played 721 spans last year. He had...a little over 300 careers. 319 I believe as well as another nearly 40 touches via the passing game. I do not believe that was by design given LaFleur's comments; So some plays they'll be on the field at the same time. Others they'll just be rotating to keep guys healthy down the stretch run, something Jacobs had quite a few more touches last year than any year in his career outside of 2022. 2024-358 touches 2022-393 touches 303 touches as a 22 year old was the next most. I'm guessing while he'd be the 4 minute back and still get the bulk of the touches, they'd want to limit the number of touches. So...again, the idea would be to keep everyone fresh. No. I do not think the Packers will run or throw the ball to the RB 57 times a game. That Eagles who run with their QB and had the best RB in the NFL in a historic year didn't run the ball 47-57 times a game(including receptions by their WR). Take how many snaps the Packers run on offense, and adjust slightly for each back and that's how many plays I believe they'll be on the field. Not getting the ball.

Smith was an outstanding pitcher in the minors for the Brewers...to the point where people were confused why he wasn't called up last year. He was a pitcher everyone thought was a near lock to be added to the 40 man so as to not be subject to the Rule5. The Brewers are as good at any team in MLB at working with pitchers and help them refine their repertoire. He was already toying with a cutter last year. I think it's silly to think the White Sox were the only team that could have helped him take the next step. It seems like we made a mistake. The guy is built like a workhorse, he throws in the mid 90s touching 97 and even 98 at times with good location and he'd had an abnormal climb up the MiLB ladder, but to just heap all of his success on this change seems foolish to me. His FB has been very good, he has a CB, slider and again the cutter. That's basically what the Change is, a variation of a cutter. I think there's a mountain of evidence that the Brewers just simply missed this one. Did the Brewers work on him with him to develop a Change? Maybe. That was perhaps the cutter he was throwing last year, playing with the grip. Is it possible(or probable) he'd have benefitted from being with the Brewers all STing with his role as starter a bit more solidified. The butterfly effect was trading the 33rd pick in the draft and a very exciting young CFer to get a young pitching prospect who hasn't had nearly the success Smith had and Smith at the very least is likely as effective as Priester even if you take out the Change that...has been good, but not exactly revolutionary. It sucks, but this is where we are. We made a mistake in letting Smith go. The Brewers make the right call the vast majority of the time, they blew this one. Shane Smith and Freddy Peralta atop their rotation with Woody, coming back, Civale, Ashby and Hall working back and...then Henderson and Misiorowski in AAA just absolutely dealing(I'm hoping it's to build his arm strength for next year before starting, but perhaps a 3-4 inning reliever down the stretch). So....in a system with a LOT going well, 5 picks in the first two rounds, with several LA players vying to become top 100 prospects, including a couple who could become top 10-15 in Made and Pena we missed one. We'll move on...mostly, We'll likely keep bringing back up 'the one who got away,' with some angry, some rationalizing it, but it's over. It we end up a good #2/3 starting pitcher away, we can lament the loss further after the season.

Are the Milwaukee Brewers Losing Their Fans?

I think Lloyd is going to have a bigger role than you may be anticipating(assuming he can handle it). This was a 3rd rd RB who many believed was the best back in the draft. I'm glad we had 2 3rd rd picks as I'm not confident Hopper bucks the trend, but I think Lloyd does. And some of it should be as a 3rd down back...but also just in our overall run game. MLF has run the zone blocking scheme since he got into the league. It's what he came up in, it's what he ran in Tennessee(if you saw his Bussin' with the Boys pod you'll hear him talk about it)...but last year, without the type of back who can get to the edge, they ran mostly gap. And that...as I've said since we cut Jones, that takes away a MASSIVE portion of the playbook. It was a great job by MLF to adjust to his personnel, but he also spoke pretty glowingly about getting Lloyd back last year...before the appendectomy put him back on the shelf when he was set to come back and the Packers lost an appeal to be able to activate him. He spoke at length about the "dynamic ability" and how he adds a different element to the team. Again, that offense HAS...and it's certainly changed, but it has been built off that outside zone movement. Get everyone moving one way, and you either give the back the ball and he hits his landmark and reads the cutback lanes OR you pull it out and you have the LBs flowing the opposite way as you have guys on 3-4 different levels coming across. It also set up those deep shots to...Watson, hopefully it'll do the same with Golden, or you can just dump it down to Kraft. It's just that type of back adds just another layer. Just as Golden can change the way defenses have to rotate over to help protect against his deep speed(as did/does Watson if/when he gets healthy). I think Wilson just takes snaps from Jacobs. Jacobs getting that many carries probably isn't ideal and Wilson is a really good back with quick feet and he's big. If you can get Lloyd 12-15 snaps a game, Wilson 10-12 and Jacobs 25-30...on average, it can keep them fresh. Same with Musgraves....who has certainly dealt with the injury bug, but he has a different type of skill set as compared to Kraft. I'm excited about all the things they'll be able to do with this team. Though NONE are more important than 1-CATCHING THE BALL-We were the 2nd worst last year among WRs and it was even worse weighted for impact. 3rd and 5 and you drop a 6 yard dig or 3rd down and you drop a ball in the endzone. https://www.fanduel.com/research/nfl-teams-with-the-most-dropped-passes-this-season?utm_source=chatgpt.com 2023-We weren't great, but we were closer to average and they weren't as consequential. I think the key player on this team will be Wicks. A little corny, but he got the nickname "3rd down and Wicks," as a rookie and then fell apart. 2-Getting Josh Myers out of here, Elgton Jenkins. Basically replacing Myers with Banks. Love gave up a LOT of pressures up the middle. 3-Competition. Everywhere you look there is competition. Milt Hendrickson was talking about how they viewed Oliver as potential Off-Ball LB. They wanted to start him out on the edge as a pass rush specialist, but they think he can ALSO lineup as LB and play the run. Obviously a STs stud. And you go back and watch him and he looked REALLY good at reading and hitting the hole hard. Just feels like we don't need ONE guy to step up, we need to play better as a unit. Fewer weak links(Myers) and then just avoid mistakes and that should help Love and Love needs to also just not fall into bad habits and play better himself. We HAVE seen him play at an elite level and we've seen him play at a good level. Top 2-3? Top 5 the last 10 weeks of '23. And then....top ~12-14 in 2024. A lot resting on his shoulders this year. All the pieces, a great offensive mind. The defense seems like it should be good enough to be a top 10 D and Rodgers only had that 2-3 times in GB...if that. Gonna be fun. Already working on my 53 man...WAAAY before we even have an idea how anyone else looks!

I mean...I think they expected some tariffs as the market was already down and we still have at least 10% tariffs across the board and the highest tariffs levels since 1932 without the nonsense that came on "liberation day," and the subsequent pause. What were we being "liberated" from? 401Ks I suppose? I'm also still not sure who is responsible for this economy. Back in January of '24, it was the current President, but in May of '25, it was...well, still the last President... until the following day of course(maybe it was 2 days later) when they came out with the jobs reports. So guess it just depends on how bad these tariffs work out... If the Economy is bad, it's the last guys fault, if it's good, well... you can figure it out. It's more of a vibes thing. And that's really how the best financial decisions and data comes about.

Why and for who? We already don't have a whole lot of power in the lineup. Hoskins has been...pretty good this year. Hew as sitting at like .300/.400 about 4 games ago. I still think this team is going to be competitive and they could get a WHOLE lot better with just a couple pitchers coming back+a trade. I don't see Hoskins having a ton of value in terms of prospects...or MLB ready players. It's just a salary dump when we're basically over 100M in team payroll. Once you get Chourio and Yelich starting to hit a little better/more consistently, I think the lineup will look good. Get Ashby, Woodruff and maybe Civale or Hall back and I think the Brewers will get hot and be right in the race all year long.

I don't think they could have traded Middleton for Dame. I thought they looked into that and tried and were unable to. Portland wasn't interested...or the numbers didn't match up. And Portland just didn't want him. Jrue was a good, not great player to get back and they were able to flip him for more than Middleton. I believe they did what they could to paid Jrue and Dame. And I don't think it ends up making that much of a difference. Middleton...WAS a stud in the post-season last year.

I think the reason they didn't cut him or trade him is because...he just doesn't have any GTD money left. They were reportedly close to a trade but he was unwilling to take a cut. They haven't said much, but...they kinda confirmed they were looking to trade him. Jaire has never really been very vocal about complaining. He's just a pretty chill guy. I don't think they wanted to move on because he's a problem(like Za'Darius/Campbell). He just...hasn't played. But then the off-season played out as it has and this is why stars want that GTD roster bonus on the backend so teams can't just string a player along like this... but they don't have to do anything until week 1 of the NFL season. Though, you don't want him in camp unless you're planning on going to the regular season with him. But just no real starting caliber CBs signed...and I hope Dobbs is good and I hope Valentine...who I'm a big fan of plays well and Nixon can keep playing physical and be a #3 CB, but the depth is....brutal and it was a weakness last year and you had Stokes who was at least decent in press and Ballentine who was good depth. I hope they bring him back. I wouldn't also like to see them keep their eyes out(as I'm sure they are) and maybe bring in a Gilmore aslo. You're going to keep....low end, 5 CBs. 4 is really just like 2 snaps away from a disaster, so presumably 5 CBs. You have 3. Maybe they really like Hadan. They didn't get the 1 or 2 really athletic UDFAs. This feels like a desperation move. I suppose it's better than a desperation draft move and taking a guy they didn't like in the draft. Also, I think Jaire is pretty laid back and a pretty chill guy, so if you're going to reconcile with someone, I think it's Jaire who would actually prefer to be here(as long as he's making his agreed upon salary). Definitely like a Bucks-Middleton situation though. You don't need him for 17 games and the post-season, you just need him for the post-season. He's a game changer in Dec/Jan.

I wouldn't do that if I were them...I'd be focused RIGHT NOW on Gunnar and Jackson Holliday. Lock them up and...that's gonna cost them probably a billion dollars. Maybe 1.2 if they lock them both up for ~15 years, the type of extension you'd expect(especially for Gunnar). Also...you lose way too much value moving him to 1B. Basallo, you don't know for sure if he can handle it, but you never know until they do. But just playing the odds, Rutschman will get ~35M a year probably and a LOT of his value disappears at 1B. I think Mayo will end up just as good at 1B. I would think the best move would be that keystone duo, but if that's not feasible, he has been a key to that team.

I can't imagine Civale has much value...or Carlos Rodriguez for that matter. Perkins is replacement level. Mears would certainly help them, but I think you're talking about Quero+Misiorowski for Basallo. Maybe you get another piece in exchange? If I'm Baltimore, I'd just keep him and plan for Basallo to take over for Rutschman... though the timeline is not the best.

My mistake, 20 years old...will be 21. Still not really MLB ready. I think he's in a very good case scenario, a year away.

Yeah, this oddly just makes me even more ok with trading him. Hey, maybe Portland wants him. They had a talented young group...and then we can at least get our picks back. I don't actually expect that to happen, but...I also don't see an avenue where the Bucks are a contender during his career again...aside from extraordinary luck. So...do we just watch him pass up milestone after milestone on a ~45 win team?

I just want the guy traded because I'm a huge fan of his and...I don't want to see him squander the rest of his historically great career in Milwaukee. I think if the Bucks could re-do that trade, they do not make it again. They lost AJ Johnson who looks VERY promising and they got back Kuzma...who should be viewed in the same light as a Gary Trent Jr. A guy who can score at times, but not relied upon. Their only chance to win in the playoffs this year was Middleton playing like he did last year in the playoffs and a healthy Giannis and Dame... Instead they chose to try and regroup for next year(at least IMO) and those plans backfired when Dame tore his Achilles and now we likely don't see him in a Bucks uniform again or maybe we see him at 36 making nearly 60M. I'm alright with it though. Could have done things differently, but there's a snowball effect. I thought the Jrue trade was a good one. I thought the Dame trade was a good one. I thought they did a terrible job developing young talent like Beauchamp or whomever it may be and then when they draft young guys to fit a particular role like Jackson Jr, they don't use them in that role, even when they appear to be well suited to it. Off-season, sign and trade Lopez and Portis if you can. I think it's reasonable you can get a pick for each and teams that can really use them may not have cap space(though I think Brook is a great fit in SA). I'd mostly just be looking to acquire as many young players and picks as possible after that. Porter Jr is 22. He's...alright. He could have developed into a good #3/4 option... but now he's your #2? I just don't see the point in prolonging the inevitable. It was a good team. It was entertaining...mostly(I mean, the next graphic is infuriating)...but old boy has been sick the last couple years and now he's just suffering. Gotta take him out back and do the humane thing.

Ok...well, I don't consider Pratt particularly close. He's 19 and in AA but I wouldn't expect him to be up this year, maybe next year, but more realistically I'd look at late '26 with him taking the job in '27. I don't think Made is actually that far behind him and I've seen pretty positive evaluations on his defense. Same with many of their young Shortstops, but if you'd have just said good MLB ready SS's, ok, but you said none in the system. With regard to Areinamo, I mean, he's a slick fielding IFer who makes contact. We have two top 50 prospects who play SS, but if you're narrowing it down to top prospects at SS who have big offensive upside AND are surefire Defenders at the 6, then...I mean who is going to have multiple players? Maybe Boston? I don't know... I do agree...but I would just say I would ALMOST never trade a guy who is winning minor league Gold Gloves with the potential to hit for a lot of power and draw a lot of walks. You never have enough depth when it comes to THAT type of talent.

I hope your perspective is right. I would guess it's not a shock where I may lean politically, but...I really hope Trump really DOES build the strongest economy ever and do all the things he said he did last time-this time. I'm...skeptical that's going to happen. I guess we'll just have to see. I do ironically wish he was listening more to Elon than Navarro at this point, but...it's kinda moot.

And META and MSFT had big earnings which...caused Semi stocks to see a nice litttle bump. That said...I don't really see how this doesn't turn into maybe the high point of the year. This week, maybe through the end of May. Just ugly numbers today and I can't really see them getting much better in the near future. Are you expanding your company in this market? If you make 11 figures as a company, I guess it probably doesn't matter too much. I am...a little surprised at the number of people who genuinely believed other countries would pay for our tariffs. I'm very tired of seeing news reports about how someone's expenses have gone up so much and they had no clue. Really? No clue? Nobody suggested tariffs may cost you more money? Not...not ever?

I like Welch a lot last year and I didn't like Hopper, though I hope he's taken a big step. But Special teams. In '22 he was used more as a pass rusher. he graded out well at that...but he's not an edge by any means. The more than can simplify things for him and just let him worry about the weak side, he's the type of guy who could get out to the flat in time on one of those...insanely frustrating play-action passes the Lions and Vikings run particularly well. Most teams run them, but those teams are really good and have the threat at RB. I would think this is mostly for Bisaccia...obviously, but I'd think Hafley could imagine some uses for him. I think since Dumas-Johnson was the first UDFA we heard of(or one of them at least) and he's a pretty good athlete and more of a MLB and Welch....he looked pretty good last year, they may be competing for one spot. Or maybe whatever role they had pictured for Oladapo last year is what Simmons competes for? More of a sub LB, but the 53 man is going to be tight.

I mean...they're 21 and a year out of College(and we have Contreras and Querro) and then 19, 18 and 18. They've got a while. They are absolutely crushing the ball, but how soon were we reasonably hoping they'd be up, particularly the later 3? I'd say 3...4 years. If they were just incredible, a year sooner, but playing SS/2B/3B may delay that a bit, but I'd guess they don't continue hitting that well that their defense becomes too big of a problem.