On The Burners Of Baseball's Hot Stove

The powers that be in baseball have gathered this week in Las Vegas for their winter meetings. From the majors on down through every level of the minor leagues, baseball officials are on hand. There will be some wheeling and dealing, certainly, but also a look at the state of the game.

For example, baseball is looking at eliminating defensive shifts. Yes, these have been much more pronounced in the last couple of seasons, daring left-handed hitters to bunt or punch the ball to the thirdbase side of the infield by overloading the right side. But defensive shifts have been around since the days of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. Hard to legislate this.

The NL Central Division got a lot tougher with the St. Louis Cardinals trading for 1B Paul Goldschmidt. He's got one year left on his contract, fills a need. That makes St. Louis more dangerous

While the Cards were adding to the line, the Milwaukee Brewers were subtracting. They let 2b Jonathan Schoop walk rather than head to arbitration, where he probably would have gotten in excess of  $10M (he ended up signing with Minnesota for just over $7M). Milwaukee's decision was a good one. Schoop struggled when he came over from Baltimore, and letting him leave gives the Brewers a little more cash to either keep 3B Mike Moustakas.

The team has to figure it has the future covered at second with Keston Hiura, who had a solid season with the Carolina Mudcats (AA ball). Hiura hit .320 in 50 games with 16 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 23 RBI. The question about him when the Brewers drafted him a couple years ago was his defense, yet he DID NOT commit an error in 2017. They could bring him up in June (thus extending the time the club has him under contract) and make do with Travis Shaw and Hernan Perez.

Of course, if Moustakas signs elsewhere, Shaw heads back to third.

Still, for the Brewers, The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades -- that song, done by Timbuk3 (the duo met while one was a student at UW-Madison) pretty much sums things up. The core of  players is solid -- players like Orlando Arcia, Lorenzo Cain, Christian Yelich, Corbin Burns, Brandon Woodruff, Josh Hader.

Yelich won the Silver Slugger and was the near unanimous NL MVP. Why does a knucklehead in Arizona pick pitcher Jacob deGrom (the Cy Young winner) as MVP? A once-every-five-days performer who helped the Mets to 77 wins is valuable? All Yelich did was grab onto Bernie Brewer down the stretch and pull him to the NL Central title with 96 wins. But I digress.

Milwaukee went 33-14 down the stretch and came withing an eyelash of reaching the World Series. For a small market club, the Brewers drew over three million fans, averaging nearly 37,000 per game (that's 85% capacity for Miller Park). And in the four playoff home games averaged 42,804 -- and Miller Park capacity 41,900!

Packer Organization Shows It's Class

Quick now, how many major league sports would invited a fired head coach back to address the team four days AFTER the firing?

Probably just one, and that's the class that the Green Bay Packer organization showed today, inviting former (fired Sunday night) head coach Mike McCarthy in to address the team and say farewell.

Word from wide receiver Randall Cobb is that McCarthy was given a standing ovation by the players.

Nicely done, Green Bay. Truly don't think ANY other professional sports team would show that much class after showing the coach the door.

Packer Playoffs Would Have Been Fool's (Green &) Gold

If you thought making the playoffs was the cure-all for a dismal Green Bay Packer season, I've got a bridge you're gonna be interested in.

Sunday's shocking loss a terrible Arizona Cardinal team, one that came in with a 2-9 record, was just the final nail in Coach Mike McCarthy's coffin. Deservedly so. Yes, Coach Mac had taken us to a Super Bowl Title in his 13 seasons. And until last year, had made trips to the NFL playoffs a regular thing.

But, it's time to move on. If the past few seasons have shown Packer fans anything at all, it's that McCarthy's time is done. Coaches have a shelf life, just as athletes do, and his has expired. Sunday's loss just moved up his firing date. If you're playing along at home, I count five (yes 5!) games that the Packers let get away this season. Big difference between 9-3 and 4-7-1. Blame injuries. Blame play-calling/ Blame an uncharacteristic Aaron Rodgers season if you want. The bottom line is, McCarthy is the coach.

Well, ex-coach.

Seriously, did any of you think, for even a minute, that wins over sad-sacks like Arizona and Atlanta would justify the playoffs and save McCarthy's job? Even if Green Bay had won out, and the playoff miracle had happened, the team would have been on the road for the first round. And, since the Pack is currently 0-6 away from Lambeau Field, odds of finding success in the playoffs were slim and none.

Now the team turns to Joe Philbin, the Offensive Coordinator, to fill the head coach position on an interim basis. He was, once upon a time, the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, where he compiled a 24-28 record in four seasons before being shown the door in 2015.

Emphasis on interim. Make no mistake, Philbin is just filling the role for now. Who will they bring in? I'm not sure at the moment. Give me some time to think about it.

Gotta hope that the Packers are doing the same. As a team owner, I look for team president/CEO Mark Murphy make the best decision for the franchise possible. We probably have a five-year window open with Aaron Rodgers. That's why the RIGHT hire is important.

Wisconsin "Axed" For It Against Minnesota

Back in August, in this spot, I cautioned people to not get too over-hyped on Bucky. The team was, in my opinion, way too young on defense to be consistent. That proved to be prophetic in this 7-5 season.

On Saturday against Minnesota, I think Paul Chryst was out-coached -- that, and playing quarterback Alex Hornibrook didn't help. He didn't practice until Wednesday, when he was cleared from two weeks of concussion protocol. I think it was a HUGE mistake to stick with him and not play sophomore Jack Coan, who rallied the team to the win at Purdue. Yes, playing Coan would burn his red-shirt opportunity. But not playing him cost the team a shot at a win as Hornibrook tossed three interceptions AND lost a fumble.

It's unlike Chryst to not think things like this through.

I would also think the law of averages caught up to Wisconsin. Minnesota hadn't won in Madison since 1994, and hadn't won Paul Bunyan's Axe since 2003. Too many stars aligned. Gotta feel sorry for this class of seniors, and there are 16 of them, tho not all starting. They will forever be known as The Class That Saw The Streak End. This group of seniors never won less than double-digits in a season -- until now.

(As an aside to this, Minnesota played a freshman offensive lineman from Melbourne, Australia. Daniel Faalele was had to miss, since he stands 6-9 and weighs in at 400 pounds. Yes, the kid is 400 bills. OMG.)

But I digress. Let's look back at this 7-5 Badger team and find the positives as we await their bowl game destination.

The starting offense will lose 4 senior starters (fullback Alex Ingold, left guard Michael Deiter and right guard Beau Benzschawel), Also graduating are running backs Taiwan Deal and Chris James along with right guard Micah Kapoi, as well as kicker Rafael Gaglianone, who leaves with the most field goals in program history.

If you look at the present roster, that means that eight offensive starters, and nine reserves, are coming back.

Defensively, linebackers Andrew Van Ginkel, T.J. Edwards and Ryan Connelly will be missed, as will strong safety D'Cota Dixon. But on the 22-player depth chart, 18 players return. That includes seven of the top eight defensive backs, many of whom saw duty as freshman out of necessity for Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Leonard.

So, getting a bowl game (ANY bowl game) helps get these young players yet more experience. And the future is not as bleak as one might think. Although, to be honest, it depends on Jonathan Taylor returns or not. He's rushed for 1,989 yards so far this season -- after rushing for 1,977 a year ago. That's 3,966 yards -- more than ANY other college back in his first two seasons. If he decides to turn pro, and with the graduation of backups Deal and James, things could get dicey in the backfield..

Tweaking The College Football Playoff

Tired of seeing SEC teams dominate the current college football playoff format with two squads? Of seeing teams like Alabama, even with a loss, getting a bid over an unbeaten team?

After all, 'Bama will probably face Georgia in the SEC title game. If Georgia wins, and assuming  'Bama knocks off Auburn in their annual Iron Bowl tilt -- Auburn having a down year, by the way -- that leaves 'Bama with one loss. And if things play out the way they should, with no upsets, so would Michigan, Washington State and West Virginia.

Unbeaten squads  Notre Dame and Clemson would be in the playoffs for sure. Georgia, the SEC winner, deserves to be there. That leaves FIVE one-loss teams vying for a single spot.

But...But...But...Alabama is such a GREAT team and program, etc., you gotta include them in the playoff! Maybe, maybe not. After all, they didn't even win their conference, so what makes them more deserving than, say, Michigan -- who finally takes care of business against THE Ohio State and wins the Big Ten title? Shouldn't it be WHEN you lose that matters?

I'm throwing out a lot of "what ifs" here. But relax. Relief is a couple of years away. That's when the current contract ends. At that point, expect the playoff field to expand to six, perhaps eight teams.

I have a little suggestion for an eight-team format. You either take all five major conference champions PLUS some wild cards....or, if the powers that be are still so hot-to-trot on the vaunted Southeast Conference, then set up two four-team brackets -- and one of those brackets is just left to the SEC.

How Can Craig Counsell NOT be the NL Manager Of The Year!!!???

The answer to the question pose above -- East Coast Bias.

That sums up the way I look at the announcement that came out yesterday. (That, and thinking "we wuz robbed!") Counsell finished second to Atlanta's Brian Snitker (116 to 99 in voting totals ).

When the season began, the Milwaukee Brewers were picked to finish third in the NL Central, behind Chicago (tabbed to reach the NLCS) and St. Louis. But it was the Brewers who won the NL Central, running down Chicago in the final month, and taking the LA Dodgers to a seventh game in the NLCS.

Granted, Atlanta was picked to finish fourth in the NL East -- behind Washington, the New York Mets, and Philadelphia -- all of which woefully under-performed.

Maybe that's just my "Homer" coming out, but I still don't think Milwaukee is getting the respect it should in light of a 96-67 season. Let's just hope that Christian Yelich is rewarded with a very-much deserved NL MVP trophy!

Wisconsin Fans Are Spoiled, Aren't We?

Back in mid-August, when the Wisconsin Badgers were ranked as high as third in the nation, I called for caution.

Yes, the offense was loaded, returning most of it's starters, but the defense was, all in all, woefully young and inexperienced.

I was a voice crying in the wilderness then, but the struggles of a 5-3 Badger team proved I was a prophet.

Injuries and inexperience have caught up to Wisconsin. The shocking loss to the Cougars of BYU was a punch in the nose to Paul Chryst and his staff. A loss at Michigan was not unexpected, but last weekend's loss to Northwestern was just downright embarrassing.

Granted, with Alex Hornibrook in concussion protocol, Chryst & Co. had to turn to freshman Jack Coan to run the show. But no matter how well Coan played, Wisconsin couldn't overcome three lost fumbles. The short field Northwestern profited from doomed Bucky.

Where's that dominating offensive line, the one with several pre-season All-Americans? Perhaps the horrible Curse Of The Sports Illustrated Cover caught up to them. And of course, it doesn't help that talented running back Jonathan Taylor has put the ball on the ground too many times to count.

That 5-3 record could finish 9-3, but I think 8-4 is more likely -- but only if the team can get a little healthy. Having Rutgers (the alma mater of cartoon character Mr, Magoo) coming to town Saturday helps. Rutgers is 1-5 in the Big Ten (averaging just under 10 points a game while giving up 28) and is a less-than-stellar 1-7 for the year.

But after Rutgers, the Badgers have games at Penn State (6-1) and a dangerous Purdue team (4-4) before finishing with a home game against a struggling Minnesota team.

Let's face it, at one time a 8-4 record and ANY bowl game was cause for massive celebration in Wisconsin. But over the last 25 years or so, we've been spoiled.

Take a deep breath, guys. Chryst and Co. will succeed in the long run.

Bye Bye, Ty -- Closing Thought

Trading Ty Montgomery was a better option for the Packers than merely releasing him -- you can bet Bill Belicheat and the Patriots would have claimed him, gotten intel prior to this week's tilt against Green Bay, then tossed him away.

Bye Bye Ty

After Sunday's fiasco in Los Angeles, the Green Bay Packers need to cut ties with Ty Montgomery. They need to do it today, says this owner, before that locker room explodes.

Trailing 29-27 with 2:05 to play, thanks to a Los Angeles Rams field goal, the Packers still had a chance to pull out a win. With two time outs (counting the two minute warning), quarterback Aaron Rodgers had plenty of time to pick up the 40-45 yards needed to give kicker Mason Crosby a shot at the winning points.

Sadly, we'll never know if Rodgers & Co. could have pulled it off, thanks to a bonehead play by Montgomery.

If the Rams kickoff went into the end zone, which it did, all Montgomery had to do was down the ball. Green Bay then gets the ball at the 25 and are in business.

But despite being TOLD to down the kick, Montgomery brought the ball out, fumbled and the Rams held on for the win.

Montgomery is in his fourth season with GB. You would think a veteran would know better. Yes, players want to make the BIG play. But the chance for victory was there.

Let's face it, ball security has never been something Montgomery excels at. The Packers don't list fumbles in their media guide, but if memory serves the wide receiver-turned-running back has had his issues holding on to the ball.

Bye, Ty.

NFL Missing Out -- Surprisingly

Let's face it, the National Football League knows how to make money. It's a multi-million dollar business that piles up cash left and right.

So, why no corporate sponsorship of the sideline tent -- the little private hidey-hole where injured players go for evaluation?

Hell, the tent could look like a NASCAR entry, covered with various logos -- hospitals, clinics, lawyers, pharmaceuticals, M&Ms. The list boggles the mind.

Really, really surprised the NFL hasn't seized on this additional revenue source!