Dmiles23

My guess is they wanted Patrick to come in so he could face 3 batters before he gets to Crow and then can bring in a lefty.

I don't want to argue most of your post, but give my thoughts on your string of questions here. I'm sure they have a VERY good idea of what other teams are spending and plan to spend. You're right, they may not have exact amounts, but they hear what most transfers are getting and can very easily add that up. The "insiders" know amounts for the players, so of course the universities who are in contact with the kids and agents know what they are getting. I would bet very much that the Badgers are in the top 1/3 in spending this NIL period. The Badgers are not 1 Sam Leavitt away from being a national championship contender. They have brought in 32 players from the portal so far. Some of the other B1G spenders have brought in: 16 (OSU), 17 (Maybe not a big spender, but a top team), 17 (Michigan), 12 (Oregon), and 8 (USC). So X amount of dollars spread amongst 32 players is a lot different that X amount of dollars spread between 17. The thing that I really like about this class is they brought in a number of players with multiple years of eligibility left. The difference in this class compared to the previous couple, imo, is they have brought in more players from high level programs with the athletic profile, but they haven't really seen the field yet. It's yet to be determined if that will work, but the more options they have to throw against the wall to see what sticks, the better.

I understand what you're getting at, and Chryst was the head coach and is responsible for the whole team... but he's an offensive minded head coach and called the plays for most of his tenure. What would the Badgers record be in those years had they not had a top 5-10 defense every year? We're kind of seeing that play out now. The Badgers offense is in shambles, and that was Chryst's main focus. Saturday morning before the game, I was on YouTube and a video from the 2010 game against Ohio State was in my recommended videos. That team featured Tolzien, Toon, White, and Clay; so some good players, but not one of our stacked offensive teams. But just in the highlighted plays, it was hard for me to believe that it was Chryst calling plays. There just seemed to be not only more creativity, but also it seemed like players were put into positions to succeed and the offense was geared towards the skills they possessed. And like was said, the Badgers had a 3-year span where they had some of the most highly rated recruiting classes they've ever had. Those are the players that are seeing the field now, and they aren't producing. UW is a developmental program, and right now there just does not seem to be much development at all, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. I think one of Chryst's biggest downfalls was his loyalty. He was loyal to a fault to Rudolph, who was just not a good coach, and, in my opinion, we're still seeing the effects from his tenure. I think Chryst is a great guy and the players loved him. I just don't think he's suited to be a modern day college football head coach.

Does anyone have any recommendations on where the best place to get tickets for a game? I'm thinking about going to Saturday's game. It just amazes me the handling charges if you go through Bucks .com or StubHub.

Let's let this situation play out in another timeline. Gard lets Howard walk by and doesn't stop him or say anything to him. Howard continues to spout off to the assistant coaches and players. One of the less calm players, lets just say Davis, takes exception to what Howard is saying, takes a swing, and starts the brawl. 1. How do you think the media would be reporting on this story? 2. What would your reaction be to Gard letting Howard walk by? Being a Badgers fan, I am proud of what Gard did. Howard started yelling at the Badgers bench during the timeout. You could tell he didn't want to go through the handshake line. The announcers even made a big deal about it before anything happened. And he came into the handshake line hot, immediately pulled down his mask, and started yelling. As a head coach, it is your responsibility to protect your team and take them out of harms way. You should expect the coach of a D1 basketball program to be able to handle a situation like this like a grown man. This isn't a weigh-in for a MMA fight, for cripes sake. He is supposed to be a role model for young men! I've always been a Juwan Howard fan, but how he handled this situation has really soured me on him. Not only the handshake line and the slap. But the post game presser was just mind blowing to me. He was threatened by Gard? Are you kidding me?! They weren't pressing? I'm not as dumb as I look! It just seems like a bunch of excuses to try to justify his actions instead of manning up and taking responsibility and accountability for his actions.

I'm just curious while watching this. Does anyone have any idea why Barnes (51) is just hovering back about 5 yards? I understand that on a regular FG; but on a FG that you need to block, wouldn't it be better to have another guy coming off the edge or up the middle? That just kind of seems like giving up to me.

You could also say that if Augmon had not played with LJ, Anderson Hunt, and Greg Anthony that he would have scored a lot more.

I think every scout and baseball talent evaluator would disagree with you. Your ability as an athlete contributes to how good (or bad) you are at accomplishing some task or feat or skill - whatever you want to call it. It's certainly not the only thing, but it's a huge deal. And in professional baseball, athleticism is what teams will bank on when looking at a player's upside - particularly position players. It's why you can take dozens of 15 year old kids who have been playing a particular sport (baseball, basketball, whatever) for 10 years, and have one kid who has never played the sport walk in and be better than all of them in short order. I saw a quote from one scout who said something to the effect of he would almost always bet on the athletic kid with great raw skills over the polished kid with low athleticism (he was talking about minor league prospects). Why? The good athlete is the one who will be able to keep up to the 100 mph fastball or adjust to the improving change ups and curves or whatever other pitches that a player faces as they head up the minor league ladder. Athleticism allows a player to hit the ball harder, run faster, react quicker. It's why when we hear descriptions of exceptional players you sometimes have terms like 'quick twitch' or 'twitchy' used to describe them. Again, athleticism is not the only thing. Being a baseball player is so much more - practice, intelligence, etc. But athleticism is often what helps a player rise above other guys. Scouts love athletic guys because they are the ones that often have the best chance to be difference makers in the big leagues. Sorry, but Ray isn't a great athlete, if he was he'd be a SS. He's not even an infielder. Arcia is a great athlete, Ray is just fast, he doesn't have coordination or body control. Ray is also not young, he's 23. He's just a few months younger than Phillips and Brinson. However, he's years behind them developmentally, and hasn't progressed at the plate. MLB Pipeline is just sloppy. Their writers are hype men who no longer put in their time on the rankings. Wait... What now? So Bo Jackson wasn't a great athlete? Or Deion Sanders?

His second inning wasn't as sharp as his first. He made the hitters look silly in his first inning.

Did anyone else catch this? Sheets was pitching for the Kansas Stars tonight. He just threw one inning, and may be coming back out here momentarily. He still has a GREAT curve!

Brewers Record: 73-89 Playoffs: No Brewers MVP: Jonathan Villar Brewers CY Young: Zach Davies Brewers ROY: Josh Hader First player traded: In season trade: Ryan Braun Surprise player: Andrew Barbosa Disappointing player: Neftali Feliz World Series: Rangers over Cubs

I will say this... he was taking reps in left during BP last Saturday, and he looked absolutely brutal. A guy standing next to me said "You can tell that guy doesn't play outfield!" Maybe it was just the day, or the wet field, but after watching him for 10 minutes I wouldn't feel comfortable putting him out there. On a side note, he almost did something pretty cool that I've never seen before. A ball was hit right at him. He came in a few steps before realizing the ball was way over his head. So he threw his glove at it... and the ball stuck in its webbing. The ball did fall out before the glove hit the ground, but I thought that was pretty cool.

I don't know if I missed it in this argument, but Flores was with the first basemen today at camp. I didn't notice him with the OFs at all.

Maas- I've been to minor league camp the last 3 days, I always find it fun to watch "the future." I don't follow this forum a ton, so I apologize if these questions are answered elsewhere but: 1. Has Gatewood been permanently moved from SS? He was strictly playing third the times I've seen him. 2. Do we know of an injury for Lara? He has been taking BP but hasn't been participating in any other drills. I will say it was fun to watch BP today with the group of Clark, Lara, Tyrone Taylor, and Johnny Davis. I know it doesn't mean anything, but for an 18 year old Lara just has "it."

I agree with most others that tanking only happens in basketball. Why try to fix something that isn't broken in MLB? Do you really think the Brewers offseason would have been different had your lottery been in place? You're not going to last long as a MLB GM in the league if you're positioning yourself for a better draft pick. Two or three guys won't make your team, like they would in the NBA. So, in my opinion, the trades the GM makes are much more important than the draft. So I suspect the Brewers offseason would have gone pretty much the same had your lottery idea been in place.