The Sporting Word

Everyone had their questions when the Milwaukee Bucks selected PG Brandon Jennings after high school and one year playing overseas.  Jennings was a question for many reasons.  People questioned his move as the first player to go from high school to play in Europe (high school players must play one year in college now before becoming draft eligible), and they questioned parts of his game, including his jump shot.

Brandon Jennings is answering all the questions.  I was watching the game live Saturday night hoping the Bucks would come back and make it a game in the third quarter so I would have some decent highlights to show.  And there went Jennings, as #3 has know been known the do in the 3rd quarter, going off!  This time he scored 29 points in the third.  It was unbelievable watching how “in the zone” the younger player can look at times.  He then capped off an amazing Milwaukee comeback victory by breaking the Bucks rookie single game scoring mark with 55 points.  Oh ya, and the Bradley Center was more electric than I can remember in the last 5-6 years.  Jennings is a front-office dream.

And he never even looked tired, ahh young legs.  To me he looks like a young, left-handed version of Allen Iverson.  He can get his shot whenever he wants it anywhere on the court, and he can shoot from seemingly everywhere on the floor, including behind the 3-point line (7-8 Saturday).

It only makes me wonder where this team would be if the Bucks hadn’t botched the previous two years’ draft picks.   Yi Jianlian and Joe Alexander as first round picks and they both will be gone as of next season (Alexander’s option has been declined).  Not that they had many better choices at the time, those draft classes look extremely weak right now.  Hindsight has me wishing they traded out and saved their cash.

We will take the Bucks in first place and with a star on the rise anytime though.  And Michael Redd isn’t even back yet.  Which begs the question, how will those two coexist on the floor?  There are only so many shots to go around.  Who gets the rock with the game on the line?  At this point I say Jennings is only taking over because he has to.  He has made Andrew Bogut a better player, so there is no reason to think he can’t help open up Redd for big games too.

Stay tuned to the Milwaukee Bucks for the time being, they deserve a watch.

GM Doug Melvin is calling it “financial flexibility.”  The Brewers have already saved $10 million by not picking up the option on Mike Cameron, now today Melvin announced the team will not pick up the $6.5 million mutual option on starting pitcher Braden Looper.  Looper led the Brewers with 14 wins last season, but also gave up the most home runs in baseball (39) and overall runs (123) in the National League.

It certainly looks like the Brewers are clearing as much cap space as possible to go after a legit front-line pitcher, or two middle of the rotation guys.  Count me as a guy who thinks the Brewers staff, besides Yovani Gallardo, already have too many “middle of the rotation” type guys.

Here is my wish-list just shy of the Christmas season. This list consists of free agent starting pitchers or pitchers heavily rumored to be available via trade.

1) Edwin Jackson- Detroit Tigers -  Former top prospect seemingly figured it all out after being shipped from Tampa to Detroit last season.  He went 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA and struck out 162 batters.  And he’s only 26.  Detroit is looking to clear cap room.

2) John Lackey - LA Angels - Probably not realistic as some of the top money players in MLB will be after him, but remember this is a wish-list.  Lackey is 31, but unlike another 30+ free agent pitcher the Brewers overspent to get a few Christmas’ ago, Lackey piles up the strike out numbers.  Only concern is that his K totals and innings pitched have dropped the past few seasons.

3) Randy Wolf - This third spot is a tough one.  I think the Brewers would love to sign a left-handed pitcher since they don’t have one that consistently throw the ball over the plate (yes, Manny Parra that’s you).  Wolf is 101-85 in his career and strikes guys out (at least 160 the past two seasons).  Once again, past injuries and age will always be a concern with signing a free agent pitcher.

The Coal in the Stocking List

1) Doug Davis - Former Brewer has a couple things going for him: he is durable and left-handed.  But he is also a career loser, and not an impact player.  The Brewers don’t need a lefty Jeff Suppan.  Oh ya, and remember how incredibly sloth-like he is with his deliberate pitching style?

2) Jarrod Washburn/Erik Bedard - Washburn was born in this area and attended UW-Oshkosh.  And he is a very average MLB starting pitcher.  See Doug Davis.  Bedard is a huge risk/reward guy but this left-handed version of the Cubs’ Rich Harden will end up frustrating you more with injuries by the end of the year, than he will frustrate opposing hitters with his incredible talent.

3) Carl Pavano - BEWARE of the player who underachieves when given a huge contract (right Yankees?) and then all the sudden turns his career around again while playing for a new long-term deal.  I’m not buying it.

By the way INF Craig Counsell and Dave Weathers elected Free Agency today.  Here’s to hoping the Crew brings back Counsell as insurance to the youth and inexperience on the infield.

Good thing the Hot Stove is cookin’ the cold weather is coming!

It’s hard to believe how much can happen in a week.  Last Sunday night, the Packers had an opportunity to get within a half-game of the NFC North leading Vikings.  But after losing the much talked about game, Green Bay was left setting their sights on earning a Wild Card spot in the playoffs.  Driving back from Green Bay to La Crosse last Monday morning, the sports talk radio consisted of phone call after phone call of upset Packers fans.  I just thought to myself that everybody just needed to step away from the ledge, for better days would be ahead for this team.

Today was supposed to be one of those better days.  Packers taking on a Tampa Bay squad that was the only team in the NFL that had yet to win a game this season.  Couple that with a rookie making his first ever start at quarterback and Green Bay is sitting alright at 5-3 half way through the season.

Instead Green Bay put up a stinker of a game.  It was the classic storyline of the Packers showing they were by far the better team (Green Bay led many major statistics such as total yards 404-279 and time of possession 35:17-24:43) but finding a way to throw it all away down the stretch.  What went wrong?  Lots.  But there are 3 major problems that keep showing up week after week.

1. No pass rush - The switch to the 3-4 defense was suppose to show all these different looks that were just going to wreak havoc on opposing quarterbacks.  Well, it’s actually been the exact opposite.  Josh Freeman was sacked only once today.  Brett Favre wasn’t sacked at all last week.  Like Charles Woodson said after last week’s game, any quarterback in the league is going to look good when they aren’t pressured.  Sadly he predicted the future because there is no excuse for a first-time starting quarterback to do what Freeman was able to do against Green Bay.  They should of rattled him from the start of this game but instead let him look like a poised veteran by the 4th quarter.
2. Special teams - The two big changes this offseason were Dom Capers taking over as defensive coordinator and Shawn Slocum taking over special teams.  Just like Capers’ scheme isn’t getting the job done, nor is Slocum’s.  Once again special teams was a nightmare.  The Packers were dominating the Buccaneers but gave the team life allowing a blocked punt get returned for a touchdown.  They also allowed a huge kickoff return in the 4th quarter that set up Tampa Bay’s go-ahead touchdown score.
3. Sacks - Through 8 games, Aaron Rodgers has now been sacked a league-leading 37 times.  He was sacked a total of 34 times all of last season.  The tv broadcast team told the story today of how difficult it has been for the Packers to score touchdowns on drives that they suffer a sack.

Asked after the game if this was the low point of his coaching career, Packer head coach Mike McCarthy said “It doesn’t feel good. It never feels good when you lose. This one definitely hurts. It’ll definitely rank up in there, but it’s still one loss. I’m not trying to downplay it. I’m disappointed in the way we played today, disappointed in the way we didn’t sustain momentum in the game because that’s something we’ve done now two weeks in a row.”

Yes it is just one loss.  But if those 3 problems don’t get fixed soon, this team will have it tough finishing at 8-8 this season.  And with Packers Nation now one step closer to the ledge, it may be McCarthy who takes the fall from what seems to be shaping up as an extremely disappointing season.

On Friday the Milwaukee Brewers traded shortstop J.J. Hardy to the Minnesota Twins for center fielder Carlos Gomez.  Thursday, I read a rumor on sportsillustrated.com that said Minnesota and Milwaukee were in talks about Hardy but the player Milwaukee would get in return would be left-handed starting pitcher Glen Perkins.

I was excited at the possibility of the Brewers adding a former 1st round draft pick (University of Minnesota) and 26-year old lefty who had won 12 games in 2008.  But Friday we found out that a pitcher would not be a part of the deal.

Having read the rumor, I was a little disappointed when I heard the news Friday.  But the upside is there.  Gomez was the key prize for the Twins in the Johan Santana trade a few years back.  He was a highly-regarded “5-tool prospect” who could do it all, like a faster version of Jose Reyes is you can believe that.  Scouts even expect him to develop some power in his bat.  But, so far two organizations have given up on him which is alarming for a “top prospect.”

Brewers GM Doug Melvin says “Carlos brings to our club great speed, athleticism and energy at a position that we needed to fill.”  That means the team says goodbye to MIke Cameron, who had 49 homers but led the team in strikeouts the past two seasons.

Ok let’s cut to the chase, some things worry me about Gomez.  He has never hit better than .258 in the bigs, never had an on-base percentage above .300, and for all his speed on the bases and good coverage ability in center field, Gomez led baseball in getting picked off and errors in the outfield in 2008.

What the Brewers hope is that Gomez will blossom playing everyday, something he didn’t do last season in Minnesota.  Hardy was expendable with the ascending star Alcides Escobar showing he belongs in MLB.  If Weeks stays healthy and leads off, Escobar and Gomez stay play everyday, that is a lot of speed in the lineup.  The guys just have to prove they can do something with that speed now.  And hopefully with the money saved by getting 24-year old Gomez (they control him for 4 years) and dumping Cameron’s $10 million, the Brew Crew can add some sort of pitching help next season.

Gotta love baseball, even when the long season is over, the trade and free-agent acquisition talk continues until pitchers and catchers report in just over 90 days!  Can’t wait for the hot stove to get cooking again…

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical when the Milwaukee Bucks drafted Brandon Jennings with the 10th overall pick in the NBA draft this past June.  Here was a player that opted to play overseas for a year instead of playing college ball.  And it’s not like he set the world on fire playing in Italy, averaging 5.5 points and 2.2 assists in under 20 minutes of action.

But how Jennings has started off his NBA career!  Talk about stating off with a bang, just coming up short in registering a triple double in his very first game, something that has only been done by the great Oscar Robertson.  It’s hard not to take notice as he scored 17 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, and dished 9 assists.

So how would he follow up that debut?  Just to make sure nobody doubted that first game, he leads the Bucks with 24 points in a win against Detroit.  Jennings then scored another team high 25 points in a loss to Chicago.

I know 3 games a career does not make.  But it sure is nice to have something Bucks fans can cheer for.  And coincidentally, this possible NBA Rookie of the Year emerges the same week Milwaukee declines a 3rd-year team option on last year’s first round pick Joe Alexander.  Guess you can’t score on every draft pick.