Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag is a podcast/radio show aiming at bringing you Wisconsin sports news and opinions! Find the show Wednesdays from 7-9 on Sports radio 92.3 WOSQ or here next day!
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Brewers Trade Deadline Talk, Packers and Badgers Back to Camp!
this is wisconsin sports on the go with trade, your place for all things. Wisconsin sports, now your host trade. How we doing everybody and welcome in to wisconsin sports on the go with trade. I'm your host trade. As we come back for this july 30th edition of the show here, I hope you guys are enjoying your Wednesday. I hope you guys are enjoying your week. So far it's been a hot week, but they're telling me it's supposed to cool off as the weekend comes along here. So that's going to be awesome, especially for me who I work outside. So I mean it's great to hear that the weather is finally going to be cooling off there. I hope you guys enjoyed your last weekend there.
Speaker 1:I spent the weekend we were down in toma at the uh, at the fair down there, and that was good weekend there. Spent it with family, uh, working with the horses down there, and then spent some time with the baby boy and the wife over the weekend there. So it was a good weekend all the way around, a good weekend there. So, coming off this weekend, coming off this blistering hot weekend that we had here, I saw the. A couple of things that I saw across were number one the stratford legion team had a huge weekend. They won at the regionals down there and they beat fall creek. So across the weekend there they scored 40 runs. They outscored opponents 40 to 1 over the weekend there. They beat fall creek one to nothing, beat whitehall 30 to nothing and beat osseo nine to nothing. That is a darn good weekend right there. Holy crap. That is a darn good weekend by the stratford tigers and I watched them over on zaleski sports over there. Make sure you're checking them out for all your high school sporting needs there. Zaleski sports huge shout out there. But watching over there, this team is darn good. The Stratford Tigers. That was awesome to see there. And then also I saw another one when I was scrolling through social media there and for my wife I saw it from both. My wife told me about it there, my brother-in-law. He plays on the team for Chippewa there. Their 17U Legion team was the runner-up down at State, down at the state games there. So that was awesome. See, their triple falls got the uh second place finish as states are runner-up, so I mean out of all the teams in the state that's. That's an awesome accomplishment. So good to see that happen there. Congratulations, triple falls team there and then stratford was. I mean they move on and in impressive fashion there that they move on. And then also I I saw that Marshfield I believe Marshfield did drop in their regional. They lost to Wisconsin Rapids that would have been on Thursday there of the regional. So Marshfield is done, but a great year for Marshfield, it was a great year for Chippewa there and a great year for Trafford. As they move on, there's some exciting stuff there across the board Coming off the weekend that Marlins series.
Speaker 1:I want to get into that today here on the show because they're I mean Brewer fans were ecstatic coming off the weekend there, as some should be. There was some problems there. I mean they're having problems of their own in the Cubs series here with errors and everything like that, just uncharacteristic things happening to the Brewers and that's what happened over the weekend there against the Marlins and a lot of Brewer fans are impatient with that and they're talking about why they need to make moves and everything like that. So I want to dive into that today here on the show. But Friday, that was exciting. That was an awesome thing to see there, that 25th celebrating 25 seasons at American Family Field and they had the home run derby there. After the game. It would have been nicer if the brewers would have won the game. It was a I mean a game that winnable, should have probably had it but ended up losing that game. The marlins were hot coming in town. So I want to talk about, like I said, I want to talk about this series later on, but it was exciting to see that. I mean braun gomez and everybody else that came back.
Speaker 1:Fielder, I think it was more exciting to see the guys back than okay. So, like the first, for me it was like the first 30 seconds it was like guys swinging as hard as they can and then the rest of it happened and it was a bunch of old guys trying to swing a bat. It was just it was awesome to see those guys back. It was awesome to see their swings. Prince Fielder still got a mighty hack. Ryan Braun still looks like he could play today. Carlos Gomez was hacking, but all those guys I mean they struggled in this little tournament here. So it was cool to see all those guys.
Speaker 1:Batkeon Broxton was launching them and Corey Hart that was awesome. Corey Hart was awesome to watch. He was launching balls but then, like I said, he just got tired. He just got tired there. Gas and Prince just couldn't get her out and, yeah, maybe he could blame ed cedar's pitching. I don't know, but it was. It was still awesome, like it was awesome to be ed cedar.
Speaker 1:Uh, cory can able was back in there too. Cory can able was back. I saw him. Uh, ben sheets were there. That was uh funny to listen to him say that he couldn't. They asked him why he wasn't hitting and he's like I couldn't hit with an aluminum bat 15 years ago. So that was that was awesome. Yamati garrardo hitting tanks was cool too.
Speaker 1:So I mean just it was cool to see all those guys back at American Family Field swinging and just interacting with the crowd. And they were signing for fans before that too, and they, like every single one of them, came up there and said they're like they just wanted to be back. They love the fans. They love, you know, bringing their families back to Milwaukee and everything like that, spending with the fans, because the fans are so appreciative of them. And it was a huge crowd, it was absolutely massive for this event and for the game and for the event, and you just wish the brewers would have picked up a win there, uh, before it. But all in all, it was awesome to see and I hope that they do more things like this in the future.
Speaker 1:Probably I don't know if many of these guys are going to be able to handle another home run derby in the near future here, but I mean just little things like that and even see some of the current players come up and they were watching that. Pat murphy was up there, uh, watching with guys. I mean that was cool. I mean, after a loss that sucked, it's still cool to see an event like this happen at american family field, so that was awesome. Um, outside of that, I just wanted to dive so with the brewers. What was grinding my gears as we start every single week? What was grinding my gears coming off the weekend? And one of the big things I would say that was grinding my gears coming off the weekend had to be fans freaking out about this. Danny jansen and I hope, like I, like you guys know, I'm recording on a tuesday. It's pre-recorded, so as I'm talking to you guys on wednesday, I'm a little bit like if anything happened today. Hopefully the brewers made some trades right. I'm hoping they made some trades as we get to the deadline here. I'm going to talk about the Brewers and the trade deadline coming up today here on the show.
Speaker 1:But the Brewers made a move for Danny Jansen. Danny Jansen not really having a fantastic year. He's hitting 197 against lefties, still getting on base against them. He's getting on base at about 356 clips. So he's getting on base and his slugging is at 465 versus southpaws. There contreras has hit 223 against southpaws and haas is hitting 160. So if you put all those numbers together, it's telling you that jansen is actually better than haas against lefties. So you got, I believe, an upgrade offensively in jansen. Was it a great upgrade? No, was it like earth shattering upgrade? No, was it an upgrade? I believe. So Jansen has some time in the big. He's been in the bigs for a bit now. He's a Wisconsin guy, wisconsin native.
Speaker 1:The Brewers I don't understand this with fans now because we've done this multiple times. The Brewers traded Aaron Savallee for Andrew Vaughn. We lost our minds. Why are we making this deal? Why is it happening? Why is this all you can get back for a guy like Savallee there? This is crazy, right. And Vaughn starts hitting the crap out of the ball. Now we're all like oh, wow, okay, maybe they saw something. And then, even before that, yofri Rodriguez, we trade him for Quinn Priester and we trade him for Quinn Priester. And it was oh, are you kidding me? How do we trade him away for Quinn Priester? Oh, quinn Priester has had a pretty good year.
Speaker 1:It's like the Brewers, they consistently make these moves and they see something and they're pretty darn good at seeing it. And I know one of the things that they have against Jansen is he was graded as a plus defender in the past. Now his framing is bad and his throwing is bad. Right, that's what they're telling me. The framing and throwing is bad now. It's dwindled in grades over the recent years. The brewers have a pretty good way of fixing that. They've done it before. Omar navias, before he came to milwaukee, was a terrible framer. He was good offensively. He's a terrible framer. Yasm was good offensively. He's a terrible framer. Yasmany Grandal wasn't great at catcher either. They have a way of fixing those guys and making them darn good. You also have a guy in William Gutierrez who's a darn good catcher too and could probably, you know, help a guy like Jansen figure it out there. So I understand where the trade offensively doesn't make sense Defensively doesn't make sense. I get that. I'm not saying it makes sense to me.
Speaker 1:I was surprised by the move. I think it was a move to try and improve the catcher spot, which I don't hate. It's a good. It's a good. It's a solid backup catcher. You hope that Contreras can, like the Brewers have said multiple times, if they take, if they, if they put him on the IL, it's most likely a season-ending IL stint for him. So you've got to have a backup plan Right now. Jefferson Cuero he's injured too, so you have an injury with him. You have an injury technically with Contreras, but he keeps playing through it and I understand that he's been stinking. I get that. He has absolutely been stinking at the plate, but he's continuing. He's continuing to play. So I don't know what to tell you. He's continuing to play.
Speaker 1:You bring in a guy like Jansen. You thought he was an upgrade over Haas. My problem is that when we, when we sit here and freak out about this trade okay, so we freak out about this trade Every single time it is the oh my gosh, I can't believe we got rid of X, y and Z for this guy. I can't believe because this is what I've seen across Twitter, tiktok, facebook, wherever you want to look. I can't believe that we got rid of Yadier Arminio, the infielder for Danny Jansen. Straight up, one for one. A guy in, I believe. He's in high A, low A, he's in single A. We got rid of him for a major league catcher. I can't believe that.
Speaker 1:One for one. The number 24 prospect in the Brewer system. Are you crazy? You made that deal. What? How is that even possible? Are you nuts? That's basically what we're hearing right now. Are you nuts? That's what they're telling me. No, no, you traded the number 24 infield prospect below guys like Cooper, brad, jesus, may, luis Pena, other guys who are I mean, odds are, will be ahead of. I mean, yeah, brock, how many infielders do we want to name off here? How many infielders do we want to name off in the Brewer system there that are going to be ahead of a guy like Yadier Mignol?
Speaker 1:Honestly, when you look at it, I would have loved to see and loved to hear what people's thoughts were, because everybody's got their opinion on this and they're going to tell me oh well, he was going to be the next up and coming. He was going to be the next up and coming, tell me where his path was to the bigs. Because you have Hayes, who's made in front of him, luis Pena, cooper, pratt, luke Adams is down there, a third baseman, first baseman there. You have Benito, you have, I mean, josh I can't even say that guy's last name. You have Brock Wilkin, you have Mike Bovey. You have so many infielders who are rattling up the line there and you're going to tell me that we're going to lose our minds over Yadier Arminio. You didn't know who Yadier Arminio was until they made the move. And then you saw the little subtitle that said number 24 ranked prospect in the Brewer system. And then you saw and you look deeper into somebody telling you that this is how well Danny jansen's batting this year and this is what yadi arminio is doing.
Speaker 1:And you just went what are you crazy? How can you make a move like this? It was the same when we made the move for quinn priester. Yafri rodriguez got traded away and everybody blew a gasket. How could you possibly trade him away for gwen priester? Well, guess what? He's been pretty darn good.
Speaker 1:Savalli. All you could get back was andrew vaughn. Are you serious? Pretty darn good. So far, I don't know, but pretty darn good. He might actually make it a a problem when reese hoskins and jake bowers both decide to come back. He might say, ah, I already got the spot locked down, so, uh, thank you guys for trying. I just I understand where.
Speaker 1:If it was a crazy stupid trade and I I'm gonna admit like I don't see, I don't see the, I I didn't see. When I looked at the quinn priester trade, I didn't see what was happening. I didn't see it. I was like what. And then I saw this move and I said what? And the Aaron Savalli went oh, really, that's the best move you could get out of him. Now I mean, we would make that move a thousand times again, knowing what was going to happen, and we should probably give Savalli a key to the city for requesting that trade, because what we've seen so far out of Andrew Vaughn has been unreal.
Speaker 1:But what I'm saying is that I mean, as fans I get the oh crap moments where you're like why did you make these moves? But at the end of the day, okay, you want the Brewers to make a move. Now is it the flashy move? I really hope they're still going to make that move. I don't know who it's going to be. You know, everybody said Suarez and everybody was like this guy and this guy. And I've heard Ryan O'Hearn from the Orioles. Like I said, we're going to get more into the trade stuff later. I've heard, you know, a bunch of different talk about who could be and what you think that you can help and everything like that.
Speaker 1:And the Brewers must see something here. With Danny Jansen, if you like what you see, and you made this move and you didn't have to give up a boatload of get-up. You didn't have to touch the top 20 prospects. That's the thing. Like if they would have moved on from, let's just say, a top 10 prospect for Danny Jansen Okay, now blow a lid, blow a lid. Top 20 prospect, maybe even Blow a lid. I understand old baseball America had him ranked as the number 10 prospect in the Brewers system at this point in the season. He was having a good year, he was having a hot season. It doesn't mean that he's still one of the best prospects in the Brewers system. It just means he was having a darn good year. To this point he's been playing well. The problem was that he's got a swing and miss rate. His swing and miss rate is huge and he had his own problems and the Brewers had a talk with him and he's still having those problems. So the Brewers just said all right, bye.
Speaker 1:If the Brewers made this move for the reason of and I think it is to get better in the backup role, they wanted to have a piece behind Contreras as a just-in-case-we-need-you, we're-going-to-need-you-on-off-days-whatever, but a just-in-case move. I think that's what this was. It's an option now, it's not. I don't. If this was the only move, if this was their big move in quotations that they're going to make, then wow, we, the Brewers, really didn't feel like they had it in the bag. They didn't feel like they could do it, or they didn't want to ruin chemistry. I don't know right, that's the thing we always get is the chemistry. It's a move that I understand why fans could be upset about it.
Speaker 1:But at the same time, if your reason for being upset is oh, we moved on from the number 24 prospect in the system for a major league catcher and this guy that the number 24 prospect was down in high A or single. I can't remember off the top of my head, they're higher single a that he was. I man, I, I don't, I don't know what to say. He was in high a. There you go. I just I just read it there. He was in high a this season having a pretty good year 297. It wasn't like he's bad, bad, but he's got his own problems. And I just the brewers, they, they cut ties, they moved on. They saw that they had a lot of talent ahead of them and they said, well, we can afford moving on from and in a in a organization that we've seen like this so far, the way that they've been able to help guys and build guys up and pull guys through the minor league system and continually put uh, good teams on the field year after year for the past how many years now? I think we should probably, in my opinion. I'm gonna trust it. I'm gonna trust it and once danny jansen fails me, then I will say crap. So, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at with that one.
Speaker 1:I want to get to a lot, a little bit more with the mlb. Today I want to talk trade deadline. I also want to talk about salary cap later on in the show. You know I'll talk about salary cap because bryce harper, rob manfred getting into it a little bit. So I want to talk about that.
Speaker 1:Today here on the show. I want to talk packers training camp, everything like that. We got christian stopping by. Next we're gonna talk badgers. We got more brewer talk to get to later on here in the show. I want to talk about the brewers as we get into this trade deadline here and talk about the marlin series, the cub series, everything in between. So I want to talk about all of that today. We have a boatload to get into, so we're just getting going here. One hour of Wisconsin sports on the go Trade is just getting started. We'll be right back here after this quick commercial break Into Wisconsin sports on the go with trade. I'm your host trade coming back on this Wednesday.
Speaker 1:And hey, this next segment with Christian here is brought to you by Foreman's hardware. They offer you everything from home essentials to farm supplies, house to farm grills to drills. Foreman's Hardware has got you covered. Visit today in Loyal Colby or Medford, wisconsin. Tell them I sent you. Tell them Trade sent you. Get 5% off. What's better, you need landscaping stuff, you need maybe some tools, I don't know. Milwaukee tools. They got all kinds of stuff down, drilling supplies. They got casam spice down there. I cannot tell you, get down there, fridays to friday, frenzies happening. Check them out on facebook, check them out and in store there, tell them. I sent you five percent off foreman's hardware of loyal kobe and metford there. So, christian, having you on tonight. How we doing? It's wednesday, we're excited. We're back. Badger football is getting closer, we're getting closer. How are we doing on this wednesday?
Speaker 2:good, good how you doing.
Speaker 1:If I was any better, the Brewers would have not lost the series to the Marlins. That would have made me laugh. But you know, we've got to come off the. They have to suck at some point. Right, they could not. The Brewers are that anomaly where they're like we have to suck against bad pitchers and then when we face aces of staffs, we're going to light them up. That's just how it goes. So we just got to accept it. We faced the aces, we're fine. We faced guys like Jansen Junk, who we got rid of because he wasn't good enough. He's going to light us up. So yeah, that's just the way it is.
Speaker 2:I was actually at that game and that guy looked really really good against us.
Speaker 1:They all, do they all? Maybe if he was in our farm system we'd be darn good. Oh wait, he was. He was with us. Crap, I forgot about that so well.
Speaker 1:We want to get into some Badgers tonight here. Last week we talked a little Badger hoops and there was exciting stuff happening. There's still some exciting stuff with Badger hoops, but we want to get into the forefront of the Badger football schedule here because we're getting close. We're getting close to camp starting up. It's going to have the secretive practices that they're going to have out there. Big 10 media days just happened all kinds of excitement leading up to this one here. So I had a question. So let's just start it off right off the top, because we've talked to scary alvarez on here before about kind of his feelings about the badgers coming up this year. What do you think? Okay, you got this daunting schedule. Could the badgers be a sneaky team this year? Could they be a sneaky team with this schedule? They got a decent roster. Could they find a way to sneak some wins? Do you think the Badgers could be a sneaky team heading into the 2025 season, where we're not expecting them to do what they can do?
Speaker 2:I'd like to say yes, you know, unfortunately we haven't seen a whole lot of that in the last two years. Right, but just knowing what they can be, I mean, no, maybe I'm just a fickle guy, but I mean, now you're going to see more of his guys coming up right, the guys he initially recruited out of high school, maybe not so much of the leftovers from Crist, you know. So I kind of think you know, obviously the schedule is the big, big talking point, how difficult it is and everything. I think I wrote something about this a few weeks ago and I think there's a good chance that you know they're going to be the under-the-radar team. I think they could play spoiler this year and knock a few teams out that you know could potentially be in the college football playoff. You know hunt Teams like Indiana, Illinois, teams that you know we're not supposed to beat this year Because what I think they're over under is five and a half wins this year heading into it right, yeah.
Speaker 2:So you look, I mean, if you want to go over their schedule a little bit, you look at it. Miami, ohio, needs to be a win. Middle Tennessee they were one of the worst teams in FBS last year needs to be a win. Maryland, I mean Alabama, I have zero hopes we're going to win that game, so I'm not even going to count that one and that's going to be a rough one. Maybe four at home. I might be like, well, but now they've got to go down to Tuscaloosa. But then, oh yeah, then you've got Maryland. I think that should be the most winnable conference game they have on their schedule at home. Maryland wasn't that great last year and they have a terrible offensive line and we'll talk about that later when we're talking about Billy Edwards a little bit. But yeah, I think there's three wins right there. This is what I think.
Speaker 2:I know a lot of people really like the going into Michigan and getting a win. I don't see it. But I think Iowa we can win that game. Not crazy about Ohio State or Oregon, especially at Oregon. That one will be a doozy, I think. And Washington last year went winless on the road in Big Ten play. So I think that's a game they should be able to win too. And then I don't know your thoughts on Indiana. I think I always stop myself short of calling them frauds.
Speaker 2:Maybe I'm just a little salty that they were so bad for so long, like they're not a football program. And then all of a sudden they get Kurt Cignetti. He goes off and starts talking smart and everything and I'm like, okay, this guy's full of himself, all that stuff. And then they make the college football playoff, which maybe just irked me a little bit, I don't know, but I think we can beat them. I think Illinois will be a really good game. Then obviously I'll always pick Wisconsin over the Gophers, so I think they can hit over that five-and-a-half game wins. But I think they could do some damage to some other teams this year that have some hopes of making the college football playoff.
Speaker 1:You don't think Joel Klatt's right and some hopes of making the college football playoff. You don't think Joel Klatt's right and they're only going to have three wins, realistically? I saw that video. I'm like, are you nuts? Three wins, they have three wins in the first four games. Where are you looking? I just saw that. I'm like, stop, just shut up.
Speaker 1:The thing with it is the national media and this is where the Badgers are at now and it sucks. They've fallen out of the national media. They talk about them because they have to and that's it. Otherwise they don't care. They don't care about the Badgers. They've fallen into. And it sucks to say I feel like into this, I don't know, are they in that? I don't want to say irrelevant, but they're almost irrelevant. They're almost to that point right now where nobody and I think it's going to change. I hope it changes but I feel like they've hit this point of mediocrity and I really think cause? We're going to talk about them in a minute here, but I really think it's because Luke Fickle came in and he he brought the wrong guy in at offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1:He brought the wrong guy with him and it's dragging him through the mud now. And I mean you look at a lot of. I saw a lot of like uh, interviews with different coaches in the off season here and it didn't say who they were or anything like that. But they're like ah, longo wasn't the guy. Luke Fickle's not a bad coach, he just brought in the wrong. Every one of the Big Ten coaches sees it. They all said the same thing, like Longo was not. Longo's not a bad coach. I've said it before. He's not a bad coach, he's just the wrong hire, bringing in the wrong guy, trying at the wrong time. And now this is kind of the repercussions and now it's about okay, now how do we get it back?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's kind of what I was going to say too. I think I'm fully on board with the Luke Fickle trainer. I think he's a really, really good coach. I think he's a great recruiter. But I think, like you said yeah, I read that too I got that anonymous coach. They all said Fickle's the guy. But he tried to make that splashy hire with Phil Longo and I think it backfired completely on him and set him back. How many years, you know? Hopefully not too many.
Speaker 2:I think some of the other assistant coaches are kind of like helping, like Blas Blas, like heck of a recruiter. He's bringing in really good offensive line recruits. He's kind of bringing, bringing them back to you know where they should be. Um, reed's been doing really good at that uh receiver, at the uh as the receiver, uh coach, like getting uh jayden petite, that four-star receiver that just committed and stuff. Like he's been named by a lot of guys, um, for like you know why they really have a close connection with the coaching staff, because he's so personable and you know all that stuff. So I think that's going to kind of save him. But I honestly like agree with you. The Phil Longo hiring didn't make sense at the time. Um, I think I don't know if they were trying to like just be super drastically different from what they've been you know the big splashy hire, you know things like that but I think that's definitely killed them the last two years I really think it was trying to be shiny.
Speaker 1:Phil longo equals shiny. You get more of those nfl recruits right, the, the explosive wide receivers, the good quarterbacks with the big arms. That's what a phil longo is going to bring. And I do think because I know we were just talking about Singetti before and what happened in Indiana he didn't come in and try to do a full like he used the guys that were there but he utilized them to their talents.
Speaker 1:And I always thought that when Luke Fickle came in and he brought Phil Longo in, he didn't utilize and I know a lot of people hate on Paul Chris recruits and all that stuff, but they were trying to run an offense that they weren't recruited for, that they weren't built to run, and you put them into that situation. They weren't going to thrive in it, they weren't going to do well in it. If you would have brought in and I want to get your thoughts on Jeff Grimes, but if you would have brought in a Jeff Grimes stuck with Wisconsin offense, stuck with what you were supposed to I year, and win, probably not. Do you beat ohio state? Or, uh, oregon? I mean oregon last year, sorry, oregon last year.
Speaker 1:No, probably not, but you play a darn good game and in a game like that in a game like that, with the jeff grimes offense, not even long ago, trying to make brain and lock throw the football, even penn state I mean, I was at that penn state game and you brain lock trying to throw a football is like I don't even know if he'd make it in the WIAC at this point. So I mean it just sucks. It really did suck because I thought there were some winnable games. I just thought the offense coordinator, the lack of playmakers, the trying to run an offense that didn't fit, and then you got guys that aren't being utilized the right way. I thought that was a problem.
Speaker 1:What are your thoughts on Jeff Grimes? All in all, right, I just went all over the barn there. All in all, jeff Grimes coming in. What are your thoughts on him? What do you think that changed from what we saw with Phil Longo to Jeff Grimes? How much do you think this offense is now going to take that next step From what we knew to what we didn't like, to what we kind of know again with Jeff Grimes?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think I don't know, maybe again it's just me hoping, right, but you assume they're going to take a step anyway, the personnel they have now will fit better than what they did when they were trying to run the air raid anyway, right?
Speaker 2:So I mean, even if in year one of this offense, where you know they're still trying to learn the offense you know it's new to a lot of guys, for some of them it's their third offense they're learning since they've been here right, I think, even if, like they do average this year, it'll be a step up from what they were with Longo, you know it'll be just more pro-style offense, right, like what a lot of guys probably want to do, especially our offensive line. I just don't think we had the offensive line to run the Air Raid the last two years anyway. But I think you're going to get back to a lot more running. I'm not 100% sold that they're going to be what Wisconsin football has been, where it's like ground and pound. We're going to just run you into the ground and then by the fourth quarter you know you guys are dead and we're going to run all over you. But I think there's obviously going to be a lot more running than there was with Longo in the air raid.
Speaker 1:A lot more scheming and a lot less complication. That's the big thing. I mean. How many times did I watch a shotgun third and one where we'd give it to Tyler Walker and just say, oh, here we go, it's in shotgun, what's going to happen here? I didn't understand. It's too. We see it with like Matt LaFleur and the Packers all the time, but it's too like pro style sometimes with this bad team.
Speaker 1:It was the simple things, it was those little things where it's like, what am I watching right now? And then it was a stupid play. I think back to the USC game. There was a fourth and one and they pulled the two I think it was the two tight ends off the left side pulled them to the right and then the tackle came from the left side. Tybee Walker just got stonewalled in the backfield there and it was just. It was a disaster. And I think Barry Alvarez then commented he like sent in a text to Brad Nessler or whoever was doing the game there. But it was just. I mean, it was just that, just that. Just that kind of stuff is like over complicating such a simple game that I think I agree with you.
Speaker 1:I love what jeff grimes is going to do, because he's going to utilize the talent that he has and he knows he has that talent in the room there to do both run and throw the football. And with a guy like billy edwards, I want to hear what you got to say about billy edwards bringing him in, a guy who's been. He's been in the big 10, he's been around around the barn there with Maryland a little bit, just has never had and it's Maryland. So I mean, they're not football school, they don't have the talent, they don't have the offensive line, they don't have the weaponry. They always seem to play in games Like they're always. I mean, they give teams dogfights. They just never could win a game. And that is he going to be. The guy that you know finally makes that difference. Is he going to be that difference maker that we've been waiting for with the Badgers that I guess we haven't been able to see due to a knock-on-wood injury. I pray that we don't have another starting quarterback go down with injury for a third straight year.
Speaker 1:But I mean because Br Lock is not there to back him up anymore. I'll say either way, we won't have to worry about Lock coming back in. Right, right, what are your thoughts on Billy Edwards? Give me your thoughts on Billy coming in here.
Speaker 2:I think he's extremely underrated. I think a lot of people like to look at how he did at Maryland and be like, oh, wisconsin just got a super average guy right. But, like I said, they had one of the worst offensive lines in college football last year. Like if you follow all the pff stuff, you subscribe to all that. Um, I mean I think it's just a data point, right, but as, like a unit, they were like the second to last word or they're like the second worst past offensive team, graded out on pff last year, if I remember right, like terrible and he still threw for 15 touchdowns and only nine picks, but he got sacked a ton. So I mean you don't think that'll happen with Wisconsin's offensive line this year. So I think you can look at how he did last year. He was average, subpar, you know whatever, didn't put up eye-popping numbers. He still threw for 2,800 yards, which Wisconsin hasn't done since Jack Cohn in 2017, I think 2019, something like that. Like Wisconsin hasn't had a quarterback that has been able to do that. Now, a lot of it, like you said, has been injuries.
Speaker 2:2020, with Graham Mertz, was COVID. They only played what? Seven games. So I mean that all kind of factored into it too. But I think in this scheme, with this offensive line, I think he's going to really do assuming he stays healthy, I think he's going to do really well this year. At least you would hope so. Right, but I think, and everything you hear about him too, is his leadership and all that fun stuff. He was, you know, one of the representatives to go to Big Ten media days and like he just got there right. So I mean that just kind of goes to show what kind of guy he is or how highly respected he is already within the program.
Speaker 1:And it brings that excitement in there, right, it brings that excitement that you have a guy like that where you can already see that he's stepping into that leadership role, him and Holman and Renfro all, like you said, representing the Badgers, going down in the Big Ten media days. I think that's awesome and so going off what Billy Edwards is going to bring to this team, I had a question because I haven't been able to understand it. I didn't understand it last year. I thought maybe you would understand it, maybe you'd have a more like a why? Why did the Badgers so? Last season?
Speaker 1:I was just looking at the stats there Cade Giacomelli was, I mean, in the little role that they gave him was fantastic 274 yards, averaged eight yards per carry, as long as 46. He had two touchdowns. Why did the badgers go? Why'd they go so far away from kate yacamele that they weren't even using him at all? And then I mean what does it show about a guy who, even after that, even after being underutilized, being talented, being able to do it, he still comes back. He has the option to leave, but he still comes back. What does that tell? Option to leave, but he still comes back. What does that tell you about a guy like that and how excited are you to see how they utilize him this season, because, knowing how good we think he can be, yeah, I honestly have no idea.
Speaker 2:I went to a couple games, covered a couple of them last year, and one of the ones was South Dakota and he had a really big game. You know he was healthy. He was the only guy who could really do anything against. You know an FCS school, which is a little frustrating to watch. But I mean, I don't know what happened. I don't know if maybe the coaching staff really just really wanted to see what Darian Dupree and Dylan Jones had, so he kind of just got relegated down just because he wasn't one of the super young, high ranked players coming in. That's going to be the future.
Speaker 2:But and then I've had a chance to kind of sit and talk like media post game stuff. I had a chance to like talk to him or be around him a couple of times and he's he's. The thing about him is he seems like a super humble guy. He's super like he's a program guy, right. So maybe that's what it is. Maybe he just really wants to stick it out with Wisconsin because he loves Wisconsin, or maybe it's. You know, I could transfer and get a bunch of playing time, but it would be at like a Mac school or something like that, you know. So maybe he just really wanted to stick it out and see, you know, maybe I can beat them out. You know, maybe I can.
Speaker 2:You know these guys get hurt. You know, because, looking at it, all you hear about is you know, darian Dupree was the big guy last year, the big freshman, he was the exciting guy. But now everything this spring and heading into fall is Dylan Jones. Looks like he's going to have a huge year. So no one really talks about Cade Giacomelli because everyone's always talking about the other two, right? So I think he's awesome depth. Maybe he'll kind of fits into that. You know, if we really are running kind of like that true pro style offense, maybe he's that third down back kind of guy that's more of a receiving threat. Maybe that's kind of his role they got to find a role for him.
Speaker 1:They have to find a role for a guy like this. They had to find a role for him last year. I mean, you look at how many games did we watch tyree walker just get stonewalled in the backfield four times? And then we watched dupree go in there and dupree had some explosive plays, right, but he's not katie akamele, he ran different. It just felt like when he was out there he had that explosive explosiveness on the edge where he just broke it and he's a very good, he's very smart. Back and I thought dupree was young yet where he was still learning.
Speaker 1:I don't know why you try to force a role and I I know dupree was going to get there, but why force a role on a guy when you have a proven guy who's doing it in katie akameli, give him a run, see what he does. If he starts to fall apart, then okay, now throw dupree in there. Now do that kind of stuff. Why waste dupree away when you could throw a guy like yakimeliian? It just didn't. I don't know, it just didn't sit right with me. And then you look at the stats and you're like, if you're a stat guy, you're looking at the stats, you're like this guy's averaging eight yards per carry. Something he's doing is right I don't know what it is, but something he's doing is right. Why not utilize him? I don't know. So I mean it was just kind question for all the people out there who are going to hate on Luke Fickle going into this season, because there's a lot of Luke Fickle I and I can't argue. There's some people have good ideas of why they don't like Luke Fickle and there's a lot of people have good reasons why they like Luke Fickle. There's both sides of the boat and I can respect both sides of the boat because what he has not done yet is proven to us, why he is you supposed to be the next guy.
Speaker 1:So the schedule is. I mean, I don't know why they scheduled this. The winner made this schedule sucks because Indiana's schedule, compared to this, is just that. So, looking at this schedule, it's tough. We're talking. Five and a half wins is the over-under. Yep. What does Luke Fickle have to do this season? To say to me, to say to everybody okay, like we're okay, like we're good, we're good. Does he have to get that one signature win? Does he have to, you know, win the? We gotta win the winnable games, but does he have to get that signature win for you? What does Luke Fickle have to do to calm down the fans this year and to say, okay, I'm the guy. This was just a terrible schedule and I'm still working on my. You know, getting built, getting built up here. Jeff Grimes, year one. What does he have to do this year for you?
Speaker 2:Well, for me it's. I feel like for me it's different. I'm not like I try to look at it a little more objectively Like I know this, this is Chris McIntosh's guy, right, like he's going to give him some leash. Like he went out on a limb to hire this guy. Guy has to, yeah, it's his job too. So, exactly so. But you know the the average fan is going to look at and like it's a what have you done for me lately? Business, right, like he had all this hype coming in and he hasn't lived up to it. And I absolutely understand why people would be frustrated with that, right, um, but I think, if you look at this like what's going to help calm people down, I think might be a number of things. Like number. Let's get back to a bowl game. Like even if you go seven and five, you're back in a bowl game.
Speaker 2:People will say, okay, we had a brutal schedule and we still made a bowl game. You know things might be looking up right, like it's there. We just know, well, what can we do with an easier schedule? Right, not in Alabama, in non-con, right? I guess gotta take one last dig at Indiana. We could just like cancel. What is it Notre Dame next year? Just cancel that and just, you know, find some FCS school, just to make sure we get a win there.
Speaker 1:Unbelievable it was Virginia.
Speaker 2:They literally canceled Virginia. What are they doing? It's not even like they're that hard, anyways.
Speaker 1:It's the SEC schedule. That's what he said. He schedules like an SEC school.
Speaker 2:I was like, yeah, let's catch the SEC.
Speaker 2:I appreciated that little dig by him. That was actually pretty good. So I think winning getting to a bowl game, I think would go a long way. And yeah, maybe that signature win, he's what Fickle's 0-6 against ranked teams with Wisconsin so far, yeah, something like that. Like I mean, we're going to have a chance to beat a ranked team this year. It's like we're going to have a chance to beat a ranked team this year. It was like we're going to be full of people. There's Alabama, michigan, ohio, state, oregon, you know, indiana, illinois will probably be ranked at some point if we do see them that late. But then also, I think, I think no matter, he has to be Minnesota this year, right? Yep, like if he loses to Minnesota two years in, oh man.
Speaker 1:You got to beat Minnesota and after getting embarrassed last year at Iowa, I think you got to beat Iowa.
Speaker 2:I think you got to win Iowa. I think that's a game that just got away from them. But yeah, that was.
Speaker 1:It. Just those were the games that made you worry is he losing the locker room? Because it just looked like they weren't there. They looked like they didn't have the fight. It looked like Iowa just came in and curb stomped them. It looked like PJ Fleck was the greatest coach that's ever walked on earth.
Speaker 1:It just those games were the ones that hurt the most, and Nebraska, I mean games that you thought, going into it, hey, they might be able to stick with this game, they might be able to win this game. And then they just got dog walked and it's like, okay, are we really this much worse than Iowa? Are we really this much worse than, you know, a Nebraska or a Minnesota? That's what I think separated a lot of fans, because they saw what the start of the year looked like, what they kind of transpired to, and then what they kind of got on a roll and everybody was like, okay, hey, maybe the Badgers got something cooking here. And then it was oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.
Speaker 1:And then it got worse and worse and games. And then he's got it. He's got to pick one. Get a signature win for me, get an iowa, get a illinois, get in indiana, go get me a washington win, one of those games. We feel a lot better, yeah, we feel absolutely better if you drop all those games. Okay now. Now we're sitting here like how do we defend you now? How do we defend you after this finish to a season?
Speaker 1:yeah, like if clats, if clad is right, fickle might be in trouble yeah, if, if joel clats finally right on a prediction where he might be screwed, he might just have to throw in the towel and go back to Cincinnati. So thank you, as always, christian, for jumping on. Where can the people find you? Where can they find you out there?
Speaker 2:As always, you can find me on Twitter at Christian Borman or at the Badger Backer, then just badgerbackercom. Just swing by whenever. Subscribe, if you can. Just casual Badger content. That's what you need. You need casual.
Speaker 1:Badger content. That's what you need. You need casual Badger content. You need the stuff that you need to know, and he gives you the need to know. That's what I always tell you the need to know, not that Giannis is leaving in 13 years, the need to know right now. He gives it to you there. So, thank you as always, christian, we'll be back here on the backside here. We're going to talk Brewers on the backside of the ad break.
Speaker 1:Welcome back into Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, trage, as we come back on this Wednesday. I hope you guys are enjoying your Wednesday night here and we just had Christian on. If you guys missed any of that, make sure you're listening back on the podcast coming up. It'll be on there tomorrow there, just search Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. Search us across all social media. I'll share the podcast out there too. You can find the links to it everywhere. And make sure you're following us like, subscribe, everything, like tell us know everything you're feeling and if you have any questions, comments, anything like that tonight here, make sure you're texting in 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. I'd love to hear what you guys are thinking about anything. We've talked about badgers getting into the burrows now talking salary cap later packers, anything like that. I to hear what you guys, your thoughts and everything on anything that's happening Wisconsin sports or national wise in sports.
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Speaker 1:So I want to talk a little bit of brewers here. We're getting close to the top of the hour. We're going going to talk more Brewers today on the show. Talk about trade deadline, everything like that.
Speaker 1:But I wanted to look at so over the years, there's been some teams where they weren't really expected to be World Series contenders, to be in the World Series, whatever you want to call it. Over the years now I mean it's been we had the Nationals. I believe the Nationals were in 2019. They were in there. We saw Tampa Bay Rays make it to 2020. Didn't expect that one really. Arizona Diamondbacks made it in there in 2023. They didn't win the World Series, but they made it to the World Series. Just some teams where they weren't really expected to make it to where they did and they ended up doing it.
Speaker 1:Chicago Cubs right, 2016,. Chicago Cubs won the World Series. Didn't expect the Cubs to ever win the World Series again. There they are. I know Shout out to Cubs. But what makes me so? This Brewers team we've been talking for weeks, right, is this Brewers team their one big bad away? Are they one big bad away from being a World Series contender? And I really do think the Brewers are a World Series contender, I think, currently, constructed with the pitching staff that they have and their ability to find ways to win baseball games. I mean, mcgill's been great at the back end of that bullpen there, uribe's been fantastic, do Hall and Ashby have been good, solid. So we constantly we're constantly reminded of how the hitting is.
Speaker 1:Eh right, it's eh. So if, if they go and grab a bat and they get that big bat that we've been waiting for, could that be the difference maker that makes them that World Series contender? Could this year's Brewers team be that team? You look through the statistics, right, the statistics tell you this Brewers team is not that team. You look at home runs they're 24th in home runs. They aren't a big power hitting team RB. Home runs they're 24th and home runs they aren't a big power hitting team. Rbis they're ninth in RBIs.
Speaker 1:Walks currently they're sitting 12th in walks in the league right now. Strikeouts they're towards the bar. I mean they don't strike out a lot. They they don't strike out a lot. They're sitting eighth. Looking backwards, right and good, they're good in the strikeout department. They're stolen bases they're up near the top in third Average. They're actually sitting in 11th on base percentage. They're up pretty high. They're in seventh Slugging percentage they're way out at 22.
Speaker 1:So the thing with the Brewers is the way that they're winning baseball games is not by slugging it. I mean they find ways. They hit some bombs. Like you know, the other night there against the Cubs they had a few Sal had one and then Yelich had one. So they have the ability, but it's not like they have a slugger on their team. Even a guy like Andrew Vaughn's, a home run hitter, but he doesn't hit a lot. Reese Hoskins same kind of gist. Right, he just hasn't been consistent. He went through a hot stretch, then he got hurt. So is this Brewers' team? Could this be a Brewers' team that this is their year to surprise people, to find their way into the big game Currently constructed? I think it'd be hard. I do. It's hard to make it there anyways, right, even if you added a guy like Suarez or anything like that. My worry is.
Speaker 1:I guess when I look at the way this team's currently constructed is. We saw the weekend of the Marlins and I want to talk about that series a little bit more. We saw that weekend where it was the pitching staff kind of struggled mightily with what the Marlins were doing, but the bats cooled off and they couldn't. They don't have that guy who can flip the scoreboard just like that Right, and sometimes in the postseason you need that guy who's going to be able to step up in a big moment with that kind of big swing. Do I think you need it? I don't know if you need it, need it If you can find ways to just hit the ball consistently, get on base, move guys over, bunt guys over, whatever. It is the way the Brewers like to play, that's fine. Question is are guys getting on base? That's the big thing and I think honestly, the way that the weekend went, everybody's so. Oh well, you know we need to have Suarez, because this weekend here we have guys like Ortiz and Durbin and they're not hitting well and whatever Ortiz and Durbin have. If we're relying on Ortiz and Durbin and they're not hitting well and whatever Ortiz and Durbin have, if we're relying on Ortiz and Durbin to be the utmost carrying force of this lineup. I think we have a whole different problem we're talking about. Don't blame Ortiz and Durbin for what this is. You want to look at some blame off the weekend. Yelich didn't have a great weekend. Contreras struggled over the weekend. There wasn't really a big bat that had a good weekend for the Brewers. That's where you would look at it and say, okay, there was my problem coming off the weekend. Ortiz he got hot and he was hitting the ball better For a short little stretch there. I did not expect it to really carry on forever, but he started to hit the ball. And then Durbin I mean Durbin's there, but these two guys on the left side of the infield and that's where I'm going to go with this is that? Do I think that you need upgrades? I would find some upgrades, I would.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I think the upgrade has to be. It's not Durbin. I I would find some upgrades, I would. Honestly, I think the upgrade has to be. It's not Durbin. I don't. Durbin is going to give you what he's going to give you. He's going to be a solid bat. He's not going to be great Ortiz. He is way too hot and cold and he's more cold than hot. He got hot there for a stretch and now when you watch him, he's getting under everything again and it's like I don't even know if he knows what he's swinging at or what he's looking for. So do I think and this is going to lead to what we're going to talk about later on in the show but do I think the Brewers need an upgrade? Yeah, I think they need an upgrade.
Speaker 1:I think the problem and, like I said last week, one of the biggest problems the Brewers have is Bryce Terang, that he cannot move the shortstop. I think it's one of the biggest problems that they're so worried about him playing consistently at shortstop because of that shoulder, because they're worried about that throwing shoulder. That is one of the biggest problems that the Brewers face Because, if not, you could easily see an infield where Durbin plays second base or third whatever, and then you add a guy you know maybe that's Juarez, he plays third, and then you have Durbin plays second base or third, whatever, and then you add a guy maybe that's Suarez, he plays third, and then you have Durbin play second and then you have a shortstop in Terang or you add a second baseman. You keep Durbin at third, you put Terang at short. You could mix and match whatever your combo was, but the worry of Terang and the worry of his ability to be that shortstop I understand everybody's.
Speaker 1:Oh well, why would you want to move him off of second base? If he's a gold glove, platinum glove, second baseman, why would you want to do that? I agree with that. But I think he can be just as good at shortstop. I think right now where you need him is actually in the shortstop position, from what I think, because Joy Ortiz is not cutting it.
Speaker 1:You can hide holes in a lineup, right, we did Orlando Garcia for how many years? And then I mean you had guys like Manny Pena. I mean you had catchers who just weren't the greatest hitters in the world. But when you have other guys struggling, those guys stick out like sore thumbs and that's what we saw again. That's what I said we saw early on in the season was George Ortiz and those guys stuck out like sore thumbs because Yelich wasn't hitting and Contreras wasn't hitting and Hoskins wasn't hitting, and then Hoskins was hitting, so it took some pressure off. Then Yelich started hitting. So then we stopped paying attention to all these guys. They still weren't hitting we them as much. And now now it's like they stick out like a sore thumb again.
Speaker 1:But now you're at the trade deadline. Now it's like, okay, what do you do to improve right now? Right here, right now, I think you go make a move, go grab somebody, grab a big bat, whatever you got to do corner infield. I saw they were talking about steven kwan. That one confused me. That was really confusing. When these outfielder talks that the Brewers get into, it's like you have a lot of outfielders right now. What are we talking about? Can't we just get a corner infield? And then everybody's worried about a platoon role and it's like we played platoon since Fielder left. Why can't we play platoon? I don't know. There's a whole bunch.
Speaker 1:I back, we're going to come back here. We're going to wrap up the hour and then we're going to wrap it up. We're going to talk. We've got some Packers to get to, yet today We've got some Brewers we want to talk about. So we're going to get to a little bit of everything here in the second hour of the show. So make sure you're coming back. We're going to wrap up the hour and then we're on the go with trade. I hope you guys are enjoying your Wednesday. I hope you guys are enjoying the show so far and if you make sure you guys are like subscribing, following across all social media platforms finest Wisconsin sports on the go with trade, make sure you're checking us out across social media and then if you want to text in the show tonight, let me know what you're thinking. Comments anything like that 990-4914. That is, 715-990-4914.
Speaker 1:So we're going to come back. We've got lots to get into tonight here in hour number two. We're going to come back after this quick commercial break. We're going to talk Packers. We're going to talk Brewers. We've got all kinds of stuff to get to Make sure you're coming back.
Speaker 1:Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage hour number two. We'll be starting back here. Welcome back into Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, trage. We're coming back on this Wednesday and I just want to let you know that I got this I don't know if it's. It's one of those baseball bats, plastic bats, fully bubble gum and stuff like that. And that bubble gum. I tell you what. I put one in. I was like I just want to taste the flavor, right, so I had to break there. I had to put one in, and I don't know how long the break is it's like two minutes but the flavor was gone halfway through it. So that just tells you how good those things are. So, yeah, that was my break. Right, that was my break here. As we get to the top of the hour, I hope you guys are enjoying your Wednesday here, wednesday night.
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Speaker 1:Albert, like I said, he's on vacation. Seems like he's been on vacation forever. Now I want I hope he's listening, I just told him forever. It feels like he's been on vacation, but he's going to be back next week there. So there has been a lot of this was the crazy, crazy. So there has to be some crazy, some things that we want to talk about. So there was some crazy that has happened at the Packers practice so far.
Speaker 1:I don't know what transpired with this one here, but apparently Rasheed Walker, he got into a little bit of a. I heard it was. I heard two things. At first I heard it was Brent Cox, then I heard Engelbart, so I don't know who it was, but he got into a scuffle. They don't know if fists were thrown or not. I didn't see far enough for that there. But some stuff happened okay. And Rasheed Walker, matt LaFleur was furious. From what I've heard it was Matt Schneiderman said it, aaron Nagler was talking about it. There's a lot of different guys who reported on it, but they were talking about this and they said, honestly, never have seen Matt LaFleur like this.
Speaker 1:And he made Rasheed Walker take a lap. He said take a lap, take a lap. And I think he actually ran two and I think the second lap was with the trainers. The first lap it was Tucker Craft ran with him, sean Ryan, zach, tom Jacobs, morgan Jenkins, elton Jenkins they all ran that lap together. They weren't told to all run the lap, they just did with Rasheed Walker.
Speaker 1:I love that First off, just just off the top there. I want to talk about this more, but I absolutely love that because the guy that was right there, right there with Rasheed Walker when they were starting that run Josh Jacobs, josh Jacobs, the guy you, you want him to be a leader right, and he has been slowly building up to being that leader. He showed it once again. He wasn't told he had to go for a run here. He wasn't told and we know a lot of people don't like to run right and it's like you go for a run, buddy, you screwed up, not us. No, these guys all took off with them. So, in the light of a bad possible situation, love to see that, love to see that there. So Rashid Walker, matt LaFleur is absolutely fired up at him, letting him know all about it and we, like I said, not really a hundred percent sure if they were throwing like hands or like if fists were thrown, whatever. But she Walker, they pretty fired up.
Speaker 1:Matt LaFleur was all kinds, of all kinds of irritated with that. And then I mean to end practice there. After it was all said and done, he laid into everybody. When it was done, it wasn't just for she Walker at the end of this thing, it was everybody.
Speaker 1:It was a combination, right of what you can figure it was, between the sloppiness of that practice, other problems, guys not following the rules, not getting better. Matt LaFleur just felt like it was a terrible practice. It's hot, everything like that, I understand that. And pads just getting into pads, everything, everything. But Matt LaFleur was not having it and he let them know and I I love that. I love that even in such a simple thing, so early on in training camp, he's holding guys accountable and he's letting them know hey, we got you know because they've had a problem for you know, last season, year before that, pre-snap penalties, everything like that. It's those little things, the little things of following rules and you know being where you got to be and holding yourself accountable, all those little things that I think sometimes we overlook.
Speaker 1:But when you have, when Matt LaFleur gets on these guys and said you guys have to be accountable for your problems, right, the sloppiness, everything like that, when it happens now you build what you're going to see in the regular season now you can't just flip a switch. It has to be almost like a machine, a well-oiled machine, and the machine only works well if all pieces are together. All pieces are working together. I'm going to tell you guys a little side note here. I absolutely hate sometimes that I'm pre-recorded because I'm watching the Brewer game right now and Andrew Vaughn just hit that grand slam against the Cubbies there. You don't know how hard it is to talk Packers and then to watch that and just not want to just start yelling and screaming and you know yelling and whatnot. You know it's it so hard sometimes, but anyways, that was awesome to see there. I had your phone hit that grandstand. But anyways, back to what I was saying. Uh, with the backers there, it's so hard to just flip that switch mid-season.
Speaker 1:And matt lafleur I love how he is now holding these guys accountable right now and expecting the best out of them, especially out of a guy like Rasheed Walker who's been here now for a short he's been. I mean, he's been here, he's been a part of this starting office line, he's one of the starting office alignment and he's setting a standard. And if he can't follow the rules, what does a guy like Belton looking at? Or a guy like Jordan Morgan or whoever? What are they looking at? A guy who is currently in the starting role not following the rules set by the team? You can't have that, otherwise you're dysfunctional and you end up with a lot of hotheads. You end up with guys who are out of control and I mean you can't have that. You just can't.
Speaker 1:I love Matt LaFleur sticking his nose in there and saying, hey, enough's enough. Guys Like we got to figure this out. The sloppiness, everything like that. We got to be better. I know it's just a start, I know it's not like we're far into training camp right now, but we got to be better and I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that out of Matt LaFleur holding those guys accountable and just that's awesome to me. So I liked what I saw there. What was what happened there? I don't like the situation because what happened right and is this going to consistently be a problem? Because we have guys and there's another guy right, nate Hobbs. Love what I'm seeing on Nate Hobbs so far and the aggressiveness that he plays with. Thank goodness that the Marshawn Lloyd injury was a non-contact injury because otherwise that was going to be on Nick Hobbs and people are going to hold it against him, I guarantee it. He's been a part of a couple different hits. I think the one was on I believe it was Wicks, across the middle, if I'm not mistaken. I mean, he's been a part of guys now are part of some aggressive plays and Matt LaFleur has told them basically, hey, dude, like you got to cut this crap. And then we see, you know, zach Tom took objection to it and kind of got up into Hobbs' face and you like that.
Speaker 1:You like to see that out of your offense. You don't like to see it because it's, you know, your defense, it's your team there. You want them all, you know, on the same page there. But you like that. Your offensive guy is standing up for his offensive. You know one of his offensive players. So I like to see that. I love to see that out of Zach Tom stepping up and just you know, oh, hey, you know, like you got to be careful, whatever, whatever he said in there.
Speaker 1:I don't. I don't have a problem with the intensity. I actually love the intensity that Nate Hobbs is bringing. You got to have a guy like that, you know, in your locker room. This guy plays with a little bit of tenacity. You have, you know, that second Kirby Joseph over there for the Lions. You have guys like that. Where they bring that intensity, they bring that. You don't want to play dirty or anything like that, but they kind of they're the hard hitters, they're the hard-nosed guys. They're going to be in there, they're always going to be that hit stick guy. You need guys like that, like a Nate Hobbs. So I don't hate that he's playing with that intensity. It's just when you're in practice and rules are rules, everything like that, you want to say I think you got to, you don't want to dial it back because you got to practice like a player, right, it's hard to dial it back. I guess it's just what are the rules, everything like that, maybe pulling up understanding the situation, all those things it has, just playing with that intensity that you love. You just want to see it with. It's such a hard situation. I. What do you guys think? 715-990-4914 what do you guys think nate halves a couple times now matt laflores kind of got into him about. You know he was. I mean he pulled him out. He pulled him out there, made him watch. He. He pulled him off the ones and made him watch a couple of series there before putting him back in. What is your guys thoughts on that situation there with Nate Hobbs? Do you like the intensity? Do you think it's a problem? What do you guys think on that one?
Speaker 1:This cornerback room has looked good. I actually just wanted to get to that here. This cornerback room has looked good through the first couple days here, first six days I think we're at of training camp there. I mean they haven't been beat a lot. Reid I mean everybody was so worried about Jaden Reid over the first couple practices there because he was kind of a non-factor. There was nobody talking about him and everybody's like, oh, do you worry about Reid? Are you worried about Reid? I'm not really worried about him. I think he's going to be fine. I just think the secondary they haven't really let anybody beat him over the top. I really let anybody beat him over the top. I think Golden finally had a good. Golden's been fantastic. I think Golden's been fantastic in training camp so far. I don't know he hasn't like the game hasn't come easy to him yet, like he's still progressing. It's not like I believe he's hit this number one status already. But I think Matthew Golden, he's going to be darn good. I love what I'm seeing so far out of him in practice.
Speaker 1:Our Carrington Valentine's look good. Nate Hobbs has looked good. So has Keyshawn Nix. We've seen these guys. They've looked good. They've looked good so far in training camp. They haven't been beat a lot. They've been playing well. You love to see it. Now it's just about MJ Buller's been playing well in the slot position there. I mean it's been a lot of guys looking good, looking darn good there in that secondary.
Speaker 1:So does it bring me some more confidence in this cornerback room heading into the season? I don't know. I don't know. It's still early, right, you don't know a lot until pads have been on. So am I less worried about the cornerback realm? From what I'm hearing from guys, I should be. It's looking a lot better. I'm still going to be nervous because I just don't know what to expect.
Speaker 1:I've seen that Lucas Van Ness has been looking good. He's had a quiet, good start to training camp. That's good news. But, like I said before, now it's about transpiring onto the regular season, not just in training camp, not just in preseason. It's looked good. That's what you love to see. It's looked good so far. Now it's just a matter of what carries over and you hope so. Right, you hope so. I mean I don't want Lucas Van Ness to suck, I don't. But from what I've seen so far it's just like I just want to be a realist right At the end of the day. I just want to be a realist.
Speaker 1:And when you look at guys like Cairns and Valentine, he had a pretty good day the other day there. I mean he went up against Matthew Golden. He won round one and then Golden had two catches on the last two. So I mean both guys battling, battling, look good against each other. So you love to see that. I think golden had that big 60 yard touchdown from jordan lovey beat nate hobbs and evan williams to get uh deep there. So that was huge to see.
Speaker 1:Um, outside of that, I mean you still you're dealing with the injury concerns in training camp. Right now you have marshall lloyd. You're worried about him. Right now you have that non-contact injury that they were talking about brian gutekind's kind of reassured on that one. So you're looking at the Marsha Lloyd injury. You're still talking about Christian Watson being out, so there's not a whole lot of guys on the injury report, which is good. That is great to see there. Early on you saw the Packers made a couple interesting roster moves over the weekend there. They added a running back, israel Abakanda is his name there. They had him off waivers from the 49ers and then Garnett Hollis Jr was signed there. He's a cornerback out of Northwestern and I was listening over to Andy Herman talk about that in the Packaday podcast and he was talking about Garnett Hollis and he's reading the scouting report to me and I don't know if there's really anything he's like he's reading the scouting report to me, that somebody had wrote.
Speaker 1:I can't remember if it was on Sports Illustrated or where it was that he was reading it off of.
Speaker 1:But when he was reading it he got deeper and deeper into it and I'm like so what was good about him? I just the more that I, I'm blind optimism, I'm hoping I'm blind optimism, I'm hoping he's good, I'm hoping he's solid. But the more and more he read it I was like what, oh? Is he is he okay? Like, is this guy good? Like, is he decent? I have no idea. But the more and more he read it I was like man, oh, man. So I mean, yeah, we'll, we'll kind of see what, uh, what transpires there. I think just depth at this point here adds more competition in the room. That's basically where they're at. But same with the running back room. I mean they already have a loaded up running back room Now, with Marshawn Lloyd being hurt again, I have no idea what that's all going to look like. So we'll wait and see what kind of happens there. Also, brandon McMattis has been perfect so far in training camp. He's been perfect and I cannot tell you how awesome and great it feels to not have to worry about a kicker For once to go into the season, and the one position we're not really talking about outside of man did you see, he's still perfect is kicker, like you just want to have a solid kicker you don't have to worry about. And that's where we're finally at with Brandon McManus. Again, it was Mason Crosby, you know, and then it was the mess, and now it's Brandon McManus and hopefully it stays that way. So I am. So it's like a sigh of relief when you sit here and you're like, oh, thank goodness for Brandon McManus, right, thank goodness for Brandon McManus. That's all I got to say. So, love to see that there coming out of training camp. That was the real tidbits that I had coming out so far. I mean there's a whole lot happening and if you guys go across Twitter, there you find Matt Schneidman, there you find Aaron Nagler. They got all kinds of stuff. Ryan Woods got a bunch of stuff to talk about there with the Brewers Not with the Brewers, not with the Brewers the Packers and training camp and everything in between.
Speaker 1:So make sure you're checking them out there. But I mean, outside of that, I mean just Dontavion Wicks has been pretty darn good so far. Matt LaFleur talked about him a little bit. He said there was definitely moments where you could feel the frustration in 2024. I think he's done a really good job from when we got back here in April to this point of just really being present and focusing on the task at hand, to this point of just really being present and focusing on the task at hand. So Wicks has been impressive so far in training camp and I love to see that, because Wicks had that drop problem last season there and he's coming back with a new kind of focus, a new kind of urgency and you'd love to see that, adam. So hopefully we see that continue here as we move on. So great stuff there from Matt LaFleur and Dontavian Wicks on that quote.
Speaker 1:But outside of that, I mean I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on training camp so far for the Packers. 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. I'd love to hear what you guys, any thoughts that you have tonight here Packers, badgers, brewers, anything like that. Make sure you are texting, commenting them in there. Hit me up on social media wherever you find it, like, subscribe, follow Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. I'd love to hear you. I'd love to see you guys Like, subscribe and follow across all social media platforms and also podcast platforms. Make sure you're checking them out there. If you missed the show, you can find it across all podcast platforms.
Speaker 1:So we're going to come back here. We're going to switch gears. We're going to get into the Brewers. I want to talk about Brewers. I want to talk about the MLB salary cap. Possibly later on in the show we'll see what we get. So I'll talk Brewers here on the back side of the ad break here. We'll be right back here on Wisconsin Sports on the Goat Rage. Back into Wisconsin Sports on the Goat Rage.
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Speaker 1:So, this next segment we're going to talk Brewers here a little bit and I just want to mention so. Watching the Cubs game the other night, the Cubs and Brewer game the other night there, that ball, yeah, I think it was Yelich who hit it in the center and P Crow Armstrong, little PCA, the blue-haired kid, right, that's what they call him for a while he was going back into center field to go catch it and he like turned his back to the ball 14 times. I don't remember, you know, back when I'm in my heyday, back in the day when I was, you know, learning about baseball and everything like that. But they say never turn your head to the ball, turn your back and turn your head to the ball because you lose it. Watching him out there, I just don't feel like when I watch Blake Perkins, you know, because everybody keeps telling me how PCA is the best outfielder in baseball and he's best defender in baseball and blah, blah, blah, whatever Shut up Anyways, when I watch Blake Perkins, or especially Sal, play the outfield, I don't think PCA is in the same grouping as them. To be honest with you, I just I'm going to be blatantly honest, I'm just just just me. He doesn't look fluid. Perkins looks like he makes playing the outfield easy, like just watching him and I'd argue that with anybody Watching him play center field even last year you know because he's been out for a lot of this year and it sucks but even last year watching him play the outfield he was so, I mean, so fluid and so confident and he like flowed to the baseball and even the home runs that he robbed he'd flow back there and like nonchalantly jump up, grab it, bring it back, jog back in Like nothing happened, like he's so excuse me, there he's. So I mean watching him, he's so fluid. Watching Sal, he's so fluid, he gets good jumps in the baseball and everything like that.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying that. You know, pete Carl Armstrong is not a good outfielder. I'm not saying he's not good. I'm not saying he's not good. But I think this whole hype of oh, he's the best outfielder in baseball, that needs to stop right where it started. It needs to stop. He's not. I don't think he is. I know Blake Perkins has been out for a while, but he's not. When Blake Perkins is playing, he is for me. If he's not the best center fielder in baseball I'm not talking hitting, don't get my words twisted. I'm not talking hitting center fielders, I'm talking defensively. When he's playing it defensively, blake Perkins is, if not the best, second best, and I don't know who you would put as the best.
Speaker 1:I'd have to look through center fielders in baseball right now to even tell you, I think the Brewers have two of the best outfielders in baseball in center and right field. When you have Blake Perkins and in right field you have Sal, isaac Collins is slowly coming along. Isaac Collins, jackson Churrio they're good outfielders, they're fine. Jackson Churio comes up with a big throw every once in a while Isaac Collins comes up with a big play. Those two just make me knock on wood. I trust Blake Perkins and Sal 100% of the time and those two it's like, oh, they make me nervous sometimes. They make me nervous. They just they aren't. They're good outfielders. I just don't think they're great. I think Sal and Perkins are great outfielders. So I don't, like I said, I don't think PCA is a bad outfielder. I'm just saying I don't think he is chalked up to what they try to make him out to be, which is the best. I don't think he's the best. I don't I think he's the best. I don't. I think he's good. He's not great. He's not the great the best center fielder in baseball, as they like to put him, best outfielder in baseball, as they like to say. So yeah, that's where I'm at. On that, I just wanted to mention that kind of off the top there, because I've seen a lot of people talking about it. I just wanted to mention there what I was thinking. So the Brewers Heading into the trade deadline, freddy Peralta, we know, is off the books. He's off. They aren't moving Freddy, they aren't moving on from Freddy. When I look at what the Brewers should do, I think Ryan O'Hearn I would definitely look at the Ryan O'Hearn deal. I am all in on that one.
Speaker 1:Ryan O'Hearn has been talked about in trade rumors with a couple different teams. Now he's been talked about I believe. If I'm not mistaken, he was in trade rumors with a couple different teams. Now he's been talked about I believe. If I'm not mistaken, he was in trade rumors last year too. If I'm not mistaken, they were talking about him. You know the Orioles were more in contention so I don't know if it was going to be the absolute move that they were going to make, but I thought it was in the talk.
Speaker 1:The last seven games he's been well at 368. He's been solid on the season so far. I believe he's batting 283 on the season. So he's been solid this year. In total, he's got 12 home runs. He hasn't been going off by any means, but he's a solid platoon guy and everybody's like, well, how can you have a platoon guy? You just want to get this one solid bat that you're going to consistently leave in there. I Just want to get this one solid bat that you're going to consistently leave in there. I love that idea. I do. I absolutely love that idea.
Speaker 1:Do you remember the last time the Brewers had a first baseman where they didn't really platoon him? I mean, you could probably maybe say Jesus Aguilar, but was that really, I don't know, jesus Aguilar? That 2018 season, eric Thames was still in the room, wasn't he? So they still technically had him in the platoon. I wouldn't say he was like completely platooned in that area there, but he was still in a platoon role. I believe. I believe, I swear I thought they had. Eric Thames was still in there. I do, I swear I thought he was still in there, maybe not. I mean, maybe they platooned him with somebody else, but they haven't really not had a platoon since Prince Fielder was there.
Speaker 1:So everybody's so worried about oh, what are we going to do with two first basemen? It's how they've operated for a while now. They haven't had a consistent four. Would I? Am I opposed to a Ryan O'Hearn just because of that? No, no, I want that. I want to have the ability where, right now, we want to give Andrew Vaughn a day off or we want to move him into the DH role, let's put O'Hearn into a, move him over. He can be the first baseman for that day. And then all of a sudden, oh well, you know, now we're like oh well, we want to start Andrew Vaughn, maybe we want to put O'Hearn he's going to be the DH for that. It's going to flip-flop those two around. There's a solid bat coming off the bench too, a pretty darn good bat coming off the bench too, if you ask me.
Speaker 1:So I don't hate that move. I saw Stephen Kwan. I don't understand, would not understand it if it happened. Because Kwon, I mean you're adding another, okay, would I hate Steven Kwon coming to the Brewers? No, like I, who would hate that? If you would, what would it? What would that entail? I'd love to see that. What would that entail? Bringing in a guy like Steven Kwon would I hate that move? No, but I mean you're looking at. My guess is a team like the Mets would be in there Blue Jays, dodgers.
Speaker 1:You're going to have a lot of teams in the Steven Kwan sweepstakes because of how well I mean he's pretty darn good hitter 286 on the year so far. I mean he's pretty darn good hitter. So you're to have a lot of teams in that sweepstakes. I think you're going to have a lot of teams in the Ryan O'Hearn sweepstakes there. There's a lot of teams. In the Suarez sweepstakes. There's a lot of teams in there. It's just a matter of how much you're willing to give up when you have it. It's an outfield guy in Stephen Kwan. You have a guy in Isaac. You see some people talking about oh, he could be in that rookie of the year conversation. He definitely could be in that rookie of the year conversation. And then you have Jackson Turio. Hopefully he's all good there injury-wise. But you have Jackson Turio and then you have Mike Perkins back, you have Sal. You have Yelich technically in the fold there, so you have outfielders to talk about.
Speaker 1:So, as Stephen Kwan, is that a move you really want to make, or do you put your effort somewhere else? Because for me, I'd be looking more into the. Oh well, we need a relief pitcher. I think I think the Brewers need to look in that long not long relief Cause I think Ashby and Neil Hall have been solid where they want to put it and you got a lot of I mean starting pitchers down in the minors right now that you can put into a long relief role if you really wanted to. They just don't want to, but I think you're looking more at a high leverage guy. Now. I don't think Emmanuel Classe is going to be very good for that at this point here, because you know well he's got his own problems going on where they, you know, suspect him for gambling. I believe that was Emmanuel Classe there that I saw. I don't know what's going on with all these pictures right now. They're all getting kind of it's. I don't know if it's just a Guardians thing or what, but yeah, it was Emmanuel Classe and that was also in there and I believe it was, wasn't it? Luis Ortiz was also one of the guys who had a was in this gambling problem and I believe he's also out from the yeah yeah. So yeah, it's Class A and Luis Ortiz are both guys from the Guardians. The Guardians have their own stinking issues right now. I don't think Class A is really. If he was on the trade block which I think he might have been it's hard to even think about a trade for him now.
Speaker 1:There's moves to be made. The question is where do the Brewers make them? I'm high leverage. I'm thinking of me personally. I'm looking high leverage guy. I don't know, I don't hate Jared Koenig. I know a lot of people are like, oh, jared Koenig's been stinking, I don't hate Jared Koenig. Like, oh, jared Koenig's been stinking, I don't hate Jared Koenig. I think Jared Koenig's a fine reliever. Would I be opposed to adding another guy to go in there before Uribe and Trevor McGill? No, I'm all in for that.
Speaker 1:I think every deadline, if you're in contention, whether you think you have enough bats or not, I think one thing that you don't have enough of is relief pitching, because it could go south on you. So I'm think one thing that you don't have enough of is relief pitching because it could go south on you. So I'm all in with the brewers adding another reliever. I don't know, do you go out and you add another flamethrower? Do you add a guy to switch speeds up on them? Because you're gonna have. I mean, you got guys like brandon, woodruff, mizorowski and freddie, who are all up in the mid 90s, you know, and mizorowski's up at 102. And then you have relievers with Trevor McGill, jared Gannon can whip it, and then you got guys in there like Aaron Ashby who throw some nasty junk. Theo Hall can throw hard, and then you got Rebae in there. So you got guys who can throw hard in that bullpen. You try to find a guy who throws a little bit of junk in there. I don't know. It's that kind of question. I'm definitely looking at relief help. So I'm looking at reliever, high leverage reliever. That's where I'm kind of leaning. And then I don't know if you find a shortstop, but I think you can find a third baseman or a guy who could maybe play second. You have your option and this is where your option is Do you feel like you can move Terang over?
Speaker 1:If you can move Terang over, then you can. It's like, take Joey Ortiz out, move Terang over, keep Durbin in there, but where do you put him? Is it second or third? And that depends on the. That depends on what move do you make. So that's right, I think you need a corner infielder.
Speaker 1:I'm okay with adding depth. I like the Danny Jansen move for depth. I like the depth. Do I think it's a move? The needle move? No, I don't think it's a move, the needle. You can almost say it's a lateral move. To be honest with you, I just think they like what they see in Danny Jansen more than they like what they saw in Eric Haas, especially if push comes to shove and they have to have a catcher for the long run. I don't know if they trusted Eric Haas to be the full-time catcher if William Contreras got banged up and injured More than what he is right if he got an IL stint. So I think you're looking corner infield relief pitcher. That's where I'm at. If they make those moves, I'm happy. End of the day, I'm happy there. Like I said, you're missing guys. Josh Naylor was taken off the board. Ryan McMahon was also moved, so you have guys who are already on the move. We've seen relief pitchers on the move. We've seen relief pitchers on the move.
Speaker 1:The thing that the Brewers have and what a lot of people are going to have to be okay with getting rid of is depth Starting pitching depth. Now, here's the thing. I'm not getting rid of Logan Anderson. I'm not Because I think he's a future number one, number two in the rotation. I love what I see out of him when he comes up. I love what I've seen out of him when he comes up and I love what I see out of him when I watch the highlights from down there in AAA. Tobias Myers, I think could be good. I'm not saying he can't be. If they call about Tobias, if they call about Nestor Cortez, I have to be honest with you. Right now, this is where I'm at. If they call about Jose Quintana, I, yeah, I'm considering it. I really am. I love Jose Quintana. I'm only trading him if he goes to the AL because I don't want to face him, because the Brewers have problems when they face him.
Speaker 1:But right now, if you look down the line of who would you possibly replace in your starting rotation, with maybe a guy like Logan Henderson or whoever to bring him back in, who would you replace? It would be Jose Quintana, because right now, statistically and looking at it, who is your worst starter? It's Quintana. Now you move him out to the bullpen. Maybe, if you don't get rid of him, maybe get a bullpen with him. I don't know. But Freddie Mizorowski, woodruff Priester, those four guys solid, darn good. Quintana would technically be your worst and that's not bad. It's not bad to have Quintana as your worst.
Speaker 1:But what I'm saying is if a team calls about him I don't know if I just hang up the phone right away. I listen to what they're saying. I mean there's a lot of guys out there who you can move on from Katana for and I think would help. Maybe you package up two starting pitchers, a young guy and one of the older guys. Shit them out the door. There's a lot of teams right now that need starting pitching help, and the Brewers have a lot of starting pitching. The Diamondbacks are a team who needs starting pitching. Call them, see what they want. That's all you can do if you're the Brewers.
Speaker 1:I'm interested to see what the Brewers are going to do. What do you guys think? 715-990-4914. 715-990-4914. 715-990-4914. I'd love to hear what you guys got to say. What do you think the Brewers still need to do?
Speaker 1:Like I said, I'm pre-recorded so I don't know what's happened so far today here Wednesday, as we get closer to the trade deadline, let me know, if the Brewers have made a move, what you think the Brewers should do in this. You know, as we get closer here to the trade deadline tomorrow here. So, like I said, text in 715-990-4914. I'd love to hear what you guys got to think about the trade deadline, everything in between there. So we're going to come back here, we're going to talk a little bit more Brewers, we're going to kind of skip around here and then we're going to get to the end of the show here for the day. So we're right back here on Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. Welcome back again to Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, trage as we come back here on this Wednesday getting close to the end of the show here.
Speaker 1:In this next segment here we're going to talk a little bit more Brewers. We're going to bounce around a little bit here. This next segment here is brought to you by Sport and Spine Clinic of Greenwood, wisconsin. They're expert traditional physical therapy and structural integration programming. Call for flexible scheduling and evaluation. Just call Chad down there at Sport and Spine Clinic of Greenwood, 715-267-4583. That is 715-267-4583. So last segment and if you missed it. Make sure you're listening back on the podcast on Wisconsin Sports and the Goat Trades next day.
Speaker 1:But if you missed it, we were talking about the trade deadline, what I thought the Brewers should do coming up here at the trade deadline. Just my thoughts. I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on the trade deadline here for the Brewers, whether they've made moves that you liked or not. Whatever, it is 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. So I got a question at the break.
Speaker 1:I got that same question about Stephen Kwan. Do we really need him? If the Brewers went and made this move, do we really need a Stephen Kwan? Is it a crazy move? I think so. I don't understand why the Brewers are always in weird talks, right, and they do things that we don't understand. Danny Jansen, we didn't understand that move. We didn't understand the move for Quinn Priester when they did it. But it seems like with the Brewers there's always a method behind the madness, as they would say. And nine times out of ten, well, seven times out of ten, I'll give them, because Oliver Dunn was kind of a crack and so was Vinny Capra, but seven times out of ten, the Brewers' method for the madness. It works. They find a way.
Speaker 1:So do I hate the idea? I don't hate the idea of Stephen Kwan, because of course, would I want to add Stephen Kwan on this team? Yes, I think Isaac Collins can actually play third base. Do I want him to? Probably not. Could Stephen Kwan probably play second base? Sure, he probably could play second base. I have no idea. But do I want those guys to switch those positions right now? Not really, not really. Would I take Stephen Kwan's bat? Yes, 100%. Do I think the Brewers need him? No, I think they have bigger needs than Stephen Kwan. Is he a good bat to add though? Yeah, like you wouldn't hate a move like that, but what do you have to give up for him? And then would you have anything left to give up for anybody else without blowing up the farm? Right, because people hate when the brewers blow up the farm.
Speaker 1:They hate when they trade away prospects. The thing with it is, and the thing with fans sometimes, is they see the number that's associated with that prospect, like I was talking about earlier on here in the show. They see that number that's associated with the prospect. They immediately say, well, you can't get rid of him. How come you got rid of the number 24 prospect for a major league catcher. It's like because you have to One for one, you have to. I understand people's. Oh well, danny Jansen isn't that darn good. He hasn't been playing that well. I get that. But I'm not going to sit here and pretend like he's not a major league catcher and hasn't been for a bit now, and that Yadier Mignol's path to the big leagues is not really that big Now. Could you have realistically packaged up Yadier Mignol with somebody else, like a Nestor Cortez or something else, to go to a team for a bigger name?
Speaker 1:Yeah, he probably could have. That's ain't good enough. But you went and got a major league catcher, a reliable, solid backstop, for essentially you didn't even have to touch that 20 for that guy One for one. You didn't even have to touch top 20 for that guy One for one For a high A player whose path is definitely blocked by a lot of talent above him. And I don't know when you would see Yadier Arminio. You have Terang, you have Durbin. Now you have Jesus May, you have Luis Pena, you have Cooper Pratt, you have Bianito, you have Brock Wilkin, you have Bovi. You have all these guys who are above him, luke adams. You have all these guys who are above him not just in prospect rankings but I believe, in talent wise and everything, that are going to be up with the bigs before he is.
Speaker 1:Where was his path? I don't think he had a clear path and then we'll uh saw I believe it was kurt hoag was talking about there and he has his own problems. I mean he had a swing. I believe it was. Kurt Hogue was talking about it there and he has his own problems. I mean he had a swing. I believe it was a chase problem and the Brewers kind of tried to work on it with him but he just, I mean it didn't seem to click or anything like that, and he's still having that same problem. So I mean you have that same problem and the Brewers I think he's going to cut ties. They're like this guy's not getting it, so we're just going to cut ties. We don't have a path for him. Let's go get a reliable backstop Immediately.
Speaker 1:When they made the move for Danny Jansen, I was confused. I was like why did you make this move? It didn't make sense. Now it still doesn't completely ring it. I mean, am I gonna live with it? Yeah, because the bro I I was, you know, questioning the quinn priester move, andrew vaughn move. I've questioned all of them and yet they still end up working out. So I'm not gonna question this, I'm just gonna let it go. Maybe me not questioning it's gonna be the problem. I don't know, we'll see, we'll see kind of what happens there.
Speaker 1:But I want to talk about this Brewers team. I want to talk about the good that's happened as of late with the current roster and that is, the Brewers won the series with the Cubs. I don't know Like. I've told you guys a million and one times. Now I know I'm pre-recorded so I'm talking to you. On Tuesday I know the Brewers won games one and two of the series there against the Cubs Nine to three or eight to four, and then nine to three. They put up some runs on the Cubs.
Speaker 1:Matthew Boyd I was just reading the stat. Before they put Matthew Boyd kind of in his place, a guy who hasn't really struggled In 20 starts coming into the game against the Brewers on Monday He'd given up four earned runs in only one start out of 20. One start the Brewers scored four runs on him in one inning. One inning. Think about that.
Speaker 1:I don't know what it is with the Brewers, but for some reason it seems like when we face no-name guys or Rich Hill, I always add Rich Hill in that. I don't know what it is with the Brewers, but for some reason it seems like when we face no-name guys or Rich Hill, I always add Rich Hill in that. No-name guys and Rich Hill. We can't hit them. But it seems like when we face an ace of a staff, like an Imanaga or a Yawamoto or somebody who's supposed to be the ace of staff and stuff like that, we just light them up. I don't know why, and that's what we saw.
Speaker 1:Matthew Boyd he's been fantastic for the Cubs this year and you know, going into that outing Brewers, cubs, mizorowski, matthew Boyd we were like, yeah, we're going to get this, it's going to be a pitching duel, it's going to be awesome. And then it started and it was like three, nothing with a blink of an eye. And we're like what am I watching right now? What am I Like? This is wild. Mizorowski's clearing first base. There's infield hits. The Cubs aren't really hitting the ball to score. It's just. I mean, nothing was going right and then they flipped it.
Speaker 1:Brewers flipped the script and it was awesome. I mean to see them flip the script. But it was not the outing, not the game that I was expecting when you first looked at it on paper. The Brewers, this offense, as we've seen and as we saw in game two there, they could pour it on, they could pour it on fast, they find ways to get on. And now Andrew Vaughn I don't know what flipped the switch in his head. I don't know if it's just the Brewers, but guys who want to resurrect careers and stuff like that, they should definitely come into and play for the Brewers.
Speaker 1:Because watching Andrew Vaughn right now, all I see across social media and everything is you got fans and analysts and everything saying, well, you know, he's going to come back down to earth at some point. Right, he's going to come back down to earth at some point. This guy isn't that good. Get ready for the real Andrew Vaughn to come out eventually here, right. And it's like this guy's darn good, like watching him. And then I mean, you see, I didn't know if this guy could actually smile at first, but then you know he gets that Gatorade bath there from Monasterio and kind of like chases him away and stuff like that Like he's having fun and I think that was the big thing for him Getting away from the stinky, just terrible White Sox, coming to Milwaukee, being a part of a winning team, a winning organization and just being a part of winning again. I think that's huge, feeling like you got a shot, not a drag, because playing for the White Sox just sounds like a drag. So what Andrew Vaughn's been able to do and what this Brewers team has been able to do, nothing short of impressive. We talked about it last hour, our last segment there the Brewers, I think, definitely need to add. But what we've seen as of late here, especially at the start of this Cubs series, loved it, loved every second of it.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I don't know what happened in Game 3 there, but hopefully a sweep of the cubs, because that'd be awesome. And then you got the nationals coming up and they got atlanta coming up. Yeah, the following week there you're on that east coast road trip, but you got some winnable series there. That's where you kind of right now. It's where you you have your chance to put the head-to-head wins right, knock the cubs straight down, but then you have a chance to kind of bolster that, get ahead? I don't know.
Speaker 1:I was just going to check on who the Cubs had coming up here after the Brewers. Hopefully I mean hopefully they find a little tougher stretch of games. The Angels yeah, that's a real tough stretch of games there. They got, or not, the Angels there. Who the heck do they play next? Oh, baltimore, baltimore, they got the Orioles next. Sorry, I looked way ahead. They got that five. They play five games against the Brewers there in August because of the rain delay one in Wrigley, that craptastic toilet bowl that is Wrigley Field, but the Orioles coming up next. So hopefully the Orioles can help out the Brewers there a little bit.
Speaker 1:Cincinnati, st Louis, blue Jays, pittsburgh so there's some series there where the Cubbies could get knocked around. I mean Toronto's the top team there. St Louis is still, you know, still alive, they're not buried. And then you know you have a team like the Reds who's still in it. Orioles are kind of out, but maybe a team like the Orioles could pick up some wins there. They still have a decent lineup. It's just they can't put it. So hopefully you see some of these other teams help out the Brewers and get this thing moving here.
Speaker 1:So we're going to come back. We're going to wrap up the show for the day here on the backside of the ad break. We're going to come back, we're going to talk and we'll see where we get to here as we wrap it up here on this Wednesday. So we're right back here after this quick commercial break Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. We'll be right back into Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage I'm your host, trage as we come back on this Wednesday.
Speaker 1:I hope you guys are enjoying your Wednesday night here and I hope you guys like, subscribe, follow, make sure you guys are checking us out across social media Facebook, instagram, wherever you got it. Make sure you're checking us out. Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. Like, follow, subscribe, check us out on the podcast platform. If you missed any of the show tonight, make sure you're checking us out there. Wisconsin Sports on the Go Trade. The podcast will be up either later tonight here or tomorrow as you guys listen to this. So make sure you guys are checking it out there and like, subscribe, follow, share the show out as much as you can. That'd be awesome if you could there.
Speaker 1:So no Kyle tonight. No Ummer tonight. Christian came on earlier. I should have had him be a part of the Mellow Yellow Minute. Son of a gun. See, my brain just goes all over the place. He wasn't on it. Kyle usually is a part of it. He wasn't on it. We weren't able to do it. But we will not go without even doing something with it.
Speaker 1:So for tonight's Mellow Yellow Minute, I'm going to leave it as a contest. Okay, I'm going to leave it as a contest. The winner of the contest will receive a prize A prize. I can't just throw what the prize is out there. You guys would be like it ain't enough or it's too much. Whatever, you get a prize.
Speaker 1:Okay, all you got to do is answer the question. You got to guess and if you guess correctly, you get your winner of the prize. There you go. 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. Text in your answer to this question what is Trage's, my favorite brewer of all time? Shoot it in. Let me know. Who do you think is my favorite brewer of all time? 715-990-4914. I will give you a hint 2000 and earlier. Right, I'm not going to go way back in the day. 2000 and earlier. Trage's favorite brewer of all time. Text it in 715-990-4914. I will announce the winner and the answer to that question next week here on the show. So make sure you are listening back next week, make sure you're listening back to the podcast, and if you're listening on the podcast, you can definitely be a part of it too there and you will win a prize. That's all you need to know. There you go. There's your Mellow Yellow Minute of the week there.
Speaker 1:So we got into a lot tonight here on the show. We jumped all over the place. We were talking Badgers earlier on in the show with Christian. That was a great segment there. We were talking Packers there. A little bit later, second hour of the show, we started talking Packers there. There's some good stuff there coming out of training camp. As we get the exciting portion right.
Speaker 1:Pads are on now. You can't really see much when there's no pads because you just have guys kind of running around. You got 11 on 11, but not really anything's happening. You can just see speed versus speed. When you get the pads on, that's when you can see the guys in the trenches. You can start seeing guys get hit. You can start seeing guys kind of move around. What they look like, can they move bodies, whatever you're looking at, can they get around guys. Pads are a whole new ballgame and that's kind of what you wait for. You want to wait for when they have pads on to really dissect and get into it. So pads are just getting on. It's exciting Umber's coming back next week.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk a whole load of Packers next week here on the show, so I can't wait for that. Christian will definitely be back next week here. We got some more Badgers we want to dive into there. So make sure you're checking that out. And then make sure you're checking them out. Badger backer I love his stuff there. Make sure you're checking them out. The badger backer it's free to subscribe, say stuff there. Make sure you're subscribing to him. Make sure you're subscribing to the show here, everything in between. And then kyle, he'll be back next week there to talk. Oh, who even knows? They'll probably get in the trade deadline. We can't wait. Trade deadlines coming up tomorrow.
Speaker 1:I'm excited. I, I, the brewers, I really feel. Mark Ananasio said all the chips are on the table. The office has my support. They can do whatever they want. I don't know. I'm trying to remember back and I was trying to do research to see if he's ever really kind of mentioned that before. I haven't seen him really mention that before, so that's got me excited.
Speaker 1:Will the Brewers make a move? I, I can't wait to see it if they do. If they don't, what do you guys think? Do the brewers make a big time move? 715-990-4914, then 715-990-4914. Make sure you guys text, comment, whatever, get across social media, find us out there, like, subscribe, follow. I'd love to see you guys, across all the social media platforms, interact with you guys so that way I can get you, you know, more talking points, everything for the show. That's always awesome there. But make sure you're getting your answer into the question too.
Speaker 1:What is Trage's favorite brewer of all time? 2000 and you know 2000 to now. Who is my favorite brewer of all time? You answer that question right? You are in line to win a prize. 715-990-4914. Let me know what you think. I'll announce that winner and the answer to that question next week here on the show. So with that, this has been Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. Thank you all for tuning in. I hope you guys enjoyed the rest of your Wednesday. I hope you guys enjoyed the rest of your week Until we talk to you guys again next Wednesday. See you.