Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Packers' Draft What-Ifs, Brewers' Midseason Challenges, and Media's Misplaced Focus – Wisconsin Sports Deep Dive with Trag
Ever wondered about the true value of drafting a franchise quarterback? We'll explore the long-term implications of the Packers' strategic choice to invest in Jordan Love over other positions, delving into the intricacies of team-building and roster management. Alongside this, we vent our frustrations on the media's over-saturation of stories about athletes' personal lives, such as Paul Skeens, Livvy Dunne, Taylor Swift, and Travis Kelsey. It’s time for a broader, more diverse sports coverage that doesn’t eclipse other compelling narratives.
Tired of endless media coverage on non-sporting aspects of athletes' lives? We are too. Tune in as we express our discontent with the constant focus on personalities like Paul Skeens and Livvy Dunne, while sharing our perspective on the exaggerated attention given to Bronny James' stats at USC. We'll also touch on the Brewers' bullpen heroes and potential trade strategies, inviting you to engage with us through ratings, reviews, and feedback to make our podcast even better. Join the conversation and let’s highlight the sports stories that truly matter.
Ever wondered about the true value of drafting a franchise quarterback? We'll explore the long-term implications of the Packers' strategic choice to invest in Jordan Love over other positions, delving into the intricacies of team-building and roster management. Alongside this, we vent our frustrations on the media's over-saturation of stories about athletes' personal lives, such as Paul Skeens, Livvy Dunne, Taylor Swift, and Travis Kelsey. It’s time for a broader, more diverse sports coverage that doesn’t eclipse other compelling narratives.
Tired of endless media coverage on non-sporting aspects of athletes' lives? We are too. Tune in as we express our discontent with the constant focus on personalities like Paul Skeens and Livvy Dunne, while sharing our perspective on the exaggerated attention given to Bronny James' stats at USC. We'll also touch on the Brewers' bullpen heroes and potential trade strategies, inviting you to engage with us through ratings, reviews, and feedback to make our podcast even better. Join the conversation and let’s highlight the sports stories that truly matter.
Thank you, how we doing everybody and welcome in to Wisconsin Sports Time to go with Trage. I'm your host, trage. It is Thursday, thursday July 18th, a fantastic Thursday here in the great state of Wisconsin, or wherever you are listening out there. The weather, the weather is supposed to be nice. The weather is supposed to be nice, nice and cool, I guess, for the upcoming days here, which isn't a bad thing. We've dealt with heat, humidity, rain, everything you can think of in between there, finally getting some nice, cool weather to be able to enjoy. So gotta love it. Gotta love it. Lots of good stuff happening around the world of sports.
Speaker 1:And well, we went part one of the Brewers' first half recap yesterday. There Got a lot into the lineup. Today I want to get more into the pitching staff. I want to look at the pitchers, I want to look at team stats in total too. I want to look at the Brewers' bats compared to other teams out there in the league. And also, I mean just look around at the pitching staff and see how everybody fared in that first half, first half impressions, who we like, who we don't like. And also, we're getting closer and closer to the trade deadline. I'm not going to speculate guys that the Brewers could trade for. I want to look at guys within the Brewers organization that I believe could be trade bait, who the Brewers may think about moving at some point here. So with that, right away, I want to look at my first, the first thing that I conjured at my first, the first thing that I conjured up here.
Speaker 1:The first thing that I conjured up here, and that was I saw a, a post, and that was about the, about jordan love, about the Green Bay Packers and about if you went back to that draft and had to repick who would you stick with? Jordan Love, would you have gone for Jordan Love? So I was just going to look back at that draft. So I was just going to look back at that draft, see who was taken in that draft ahead of Jordan Love and behind Jordan Love and kind of just see what we think there. So in that draft the Packers did select 26th 26th in the NFL draft. There, looking up the line, we saw a lot of big names going, a lot of guys that we know now in the league. I mean you're talking about Joe Burrow, chase Young, tua, justin Herbert. Looking down the line here we see Jerry Judy on there, ceedee Lamb, jalen Rieger, justin Jefferson.
Speaker 1:How would you feel if you were the Eagles? Let's just go. Let's just look at that one first. How would you feel if you were the Philadelphia Eagles and you were drafting 21st and you had your options? You could have gone with Jalen Rieger or you could have gone with Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 1:Looking back on it now you must feel like quite a dink. Quite a dink, that's the best word I could put for it. Quite a dink, because you look at that draft, you say to yourself, man, oh man, what could have been, what could have been? I mean, you look, okay, even after that, brandon Ayuk, you could have gone, ayuk. You could have gone Justin Jefferson, you ended up with Jalen Rieger. And well, we know how that went. Not so went, not so well, not as well as what we're seeing right now out of justin jefferson.
Speaker 1:Now brandon iuk's a different story. He he's not getting there done with the 49ers there in the uh, signing department right now. So he's looking for a trade right now. So different kind of story with iuk, but the numbers are still there. But the numbers are still there. I mean, you look numbers with brandon iuk, you look numbers justin jefferson and man. The Eagles stunk it up there, but. But we look at that 26 pick and we see the Packers take Jordan Love. Now just a pick. Before that we saw the 49ers take Brandon Ayuk. So one pick away, one pick away from potentially having a guy like Brandon Ayuk to pair with Aaron Rodgers at the time.
Speaker 1:Right, you go down the list. We see a guy by the name of Patrick Queen, another, I mean a fantastic inside linebacker there for the Ravens, and I mean Patrick Queen goes after him there. We look down the line there and other players down in round two and we see a guy by the name of Tee Higgins. The Bengals loaded up in this draft. I mean you talk number one overall pick. They ended up with Joe Burrow and then you look at the second round there and you end up with a guy like Tee Higgins. That was, I mean, the Bengals won the draft at that point. If you ask me, look down the line there, you end up with some other good pieces Michael Pittman Jr from USC, but he's with the Colts there.
Speaker 1:And then you look down the line and you see other guys. I mean Jonathan Taylor, that was your Wisconsin guy, could have put him in the backfield, kind of dealio there, deandre Swift's in there, chase Claypool never really turned into anything, so I haven't been a fan. Chase Claypool never really turned into anything, so I'm not going to. I haven't been a fan of Chase Claypool. But I mean, just just looking at you know some of the guys that came after Jordan Love if you could have gone back right now right now you've seen what Jordan Love has been able to do as of now, right, would you have gone back and made a different choice? Right? Because if you were to pair, let's just say, tee Higgins, you gave Tee Higgins to Aaron Rodgers, there with Devontae Adams, does that lead Green Bay to another Super Bowl? Right? If you give them Patrick Queen on the defense, does that put that defense over the edge then and potentially in another Super Bowl?
Speaker 1:I mean, even you go, you trade up, you get Brandon Ayuk, you finagle moves, whatever it is, you trade up and you grab a different receiver in that draft or you grab a running back, right? Does your perspective change? That's what I guess my biggest. You know, if you could go back and make redo that draft, would you still have grabbed T Higgins? Would you have grabbed a different wide receiver there, like Michael Pittman, or even traded up for Brandon Ayuk. You know, and knowing what you know now, or would you have stuck with your pick of Jordan Love Because at the time, that was the worst thing that has ever happened? I mean, it was like Rashawn Gary on steroids, we heard. I mean, everybody was freaking out when the Packers drafted Rashawn Gary. Would you have been in that same boat? Were you in that same boat? I mean, is the big question To me right now, if I could go back yeah, and that's the perspective you got to look at is if you could go back knowing what you know now, would you have told the Packers hey, I mean, brandon Ayuk's going to turn into this, t Higgins is going to turn into this.
Speaker 1:Would you have done that? Or would you have said Jordan Love's going to turn into possibly the next franchise quarterback? You know, don't miss out on this guy. He might be a big. He's going to be a big talent. He's going to be a big talent, I mean, going into his second season as the starter in Green Bay. You're going to be throwing a big payday at this guy and he's going to be the next big thing Would you have done that?
Speaker 1:I thought it was an interesting topic of what you would do in that situation. To me, if I could go back knowing what I know now, I would have stuck it with Jordan Love. Did it help the Packers right then and there? No, I don't believe so. It ticked off Aaron Rodgers right and ended up Aaron Rodgers won an MVP then. So I guess it did help the Packers in that turn right. It just irritated them a little bit. But outside of that, did it help the Packers right then and there by adding a receiver for Aaron Rodgers? No, did it add anybody to the defense to improve on that side of the ball? No. So in hindsight, could the Packers have gone to a Super Bowl if they had a guy like T Higgins? Right, if they had a guy like T Higgins to pair up with Devontae Adams, would that have propelled them into the Super Bowl?
Speaker 1:That's an interesting topic right there, because you look at a guy like Tee Higgins and looking at his first season this was, I mean, of course, with the Bengals, with Joe Burrow but we look at Tee Higgins and just pulling up his stats there to see what he's been doing. I mean you look back at the 2020 season 908 yards and six touchdowns. Next season after that 1,091 yards and six touchdowns. The year after that 74 catches, 1,029 yards and seven touchdowns. Would that production have gone a little bit up with Aaron Rodgers? Would it have been the same? Would it have gone down? You'll never know. You'll never know, because he was a big Devontae Adams guy, but that is another potential number one wide out in the room with Devontae Adams. You know, not a not a solidified number one, but a solid number two who has potential to be a number one, and I really do think that could have put him over that edge.
Speaker 1:But knowing what I know now, drafting another franchise quarterback that's crazy. That's crazy in its own right to be able to do that three times right, three times there. And the Packers are on the cusp of doing it again once this deal with Jordan Love is done and I'm thinking it's going to be coming up this week. Yet I really do, I think it's going to be coming up this week. I heard something about Brian Gutekinds is going to have a long presser coming up on, like Sunday or Monday there. So, with that being said, I feel like there's going to be an announcement you know made before that and then we're going to hear more about it come Sunday and Monday.
Speaker 1:But knowing what I know, now I would take Jordan Love because I, you know, just looking at that, knowing what we know, I feel like it, just it, it works out. It works out better in the long term for the Packers. I really think it does. I mean, looking after that in that draft and seeing some of the guys that were drafted were available in that draft, I mean, yeah, in hindsight at that point it was different. But now, looking at it, if, looking back, would I change the pick, knowing what I know, I don't think so. I don't think so.
Speaker 1:Like I said, drafting the franchise quarterback, that's always the way to go. That's always the way to go. You're talking about a guy with, you know, years upon years of control at the most important position, not just in football, but in all of sports, right, and the quarterback's the most important position. So not just in football but in all of sports, right, and the quarterback's the most important position. So you got to lock that position up there, getting a wide receiver and then losing Aaron Rodgers, and then you're stuck with who knows who, maybe the Packers draft a different quarterback along the way? Probably right. But now you have the solid quarterback that you're about to give a pretty good payday and then some good receivers around him nothing crazy, but good receivers around him that Jordan Love makes, makes and helps get better each and every day. So I mean that's my answer to that question, but I love to hear your answer. Down in the bio of this show you can find this send us a text message. I'd love to hear your answer to that question of if, if you could go back and change it, would you draft T Higgins, brandon Ayuk or others over Jordan Love? Knowing what you know now, I would love to hear it there. So with that, I want to get to the fantastic sponsors of the show here quick before we move on with this one.
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Speaker 1:But with that I got a new segment, a new thought what, what, what? The things that I'm sick of hearing about this week, the things that I am just irritated about hearing, and you know, I figured this would be a good thing. It's time for me to, you know, kind of like decompress out there and, you know, maybe blow a gasket or two or something, I don't know. You know, maybe, maybe that's, maybe that'll be the case, I don't know. The number one and the biggest thing that is irritating me every single day is when I have to go on social media and I get to ESPN or SportsCenter or whatever it is, and you go through and you're looking at ESPN, the apps through your Instagram or Twitter or anything like that, and you're expecting to see, I don't know, the Summer League game or a guy threw the hammer down, or something about baseball or something about boxing or soccer or hockey or you know what, whatever sports. When I have to go through and all I see is Paul Skeens and Livvy Dune. Oh, my goodness, does it drive me up a wall, up a wall wall. It is annoying. It is beyond. This is like everybody out there who is annoyed by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. This is that again. This is that again.
Speaker 1:I don't care. I don't care at all about Paul Skeens and Libby doing I care about Paul Skeens as a pitcher. Paul Skeens and Libby do it. I care about Paul Skeens as a pitcher. I love baseball. Paul Skeens is an amazing talent. He is this international talent now. He is this American talent now. Right, he is this great talent for the Pittsburgh Pirates. And as much as I don't like the Pirates I'm a Brewer fan as much as I don't like the Pirates, as much as I don't care about the Pirates, I will acknowledge that he is an outstanding pitcher.
Speaker 1:What I don't care about is Paul Skeens and Livvy Doon are loading on an airplane to go to the All-Star game. Fantastic. Christian Yelich was on an airplane. William Contreras was on an airplane, I don't know. Let's look at all the all-stars. Freddie Freeman he was on an airplane, most likely he didn't drive. Joey Otani, probably on an airplane. Holy crap, everybody got an airplane and good.
Speaker 1:But we got to hear about this. We got to see pictures, oh, my goodness. Pictures upon pictures. Oh look, they're walking across the red carpet. What's the one that ESPN posts Right there? What's the interview that we have to hear on ESPN and SportsCenter? Right there?
Speaker 1:I don't care, I don't care. Oh, can Libby Dune hold on to a good? How do you throw a fastball? What do you want to know? A four-seamer, or what do you want to know? I don't care. If she knows how to hold a four-seam fastball, I don't care. None of this matters to me.
Speaker 1:It irritates me when I have to go through social media. And if I follow Olivia Dune or if I followed Paul Skeens on any social media platform and I saw a picture of him, okay, I get it. If I saw a picture of them on SportsCenter or something, once in a blue moon, fantastic. But you know what? I got to see it all the time. I got to see it all the time. I don't care.
Speaker 1:To hear an interview with Olivia doing every time Paul Skeen's pitches Irritates me. Don't care, don't care. So that is my number one. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of hearing about it, I'm sick of seeing it. I just don't care about it. I just don't care about it. I care about Paul Skeens, that's it. What are you doing? If she's in gymnastics and she does something crazy, fantastic, right, then SportsCenter can go crazy all over, go crazy about it, but until then I don't care. It's like Serena Williams coming out and talking about Harrison Butker during the SBs Shut up. That was my number two. Things that I'm sick of, things that I'm sick of is hearing about this Harrison Butker thing. You know what I got to say to that?
Speaker 1:No matter what you believe, no matter what you believe, out there, harrison Butker said what he said. That's it, plain and simple. Nobody cares, right? Maybe you do, maybe I do, maybe you do. Whoever cares cares. Whoever doesn't care doesn't care. But to have to constantly be bringing it up, you know what? If you're that bothered by it, he's living in your head, right? We don't? I mean honestly, honestly, get over it.
Speaker 1:He said it, those were his words. He didn't say anything out of context to what he believes. Great for Harrison Bucker to be able to go up there at a Catholic school and announce something that he believes being a Catholic Wonderful. If you want to take exception of that, that's fine, but don't get upset at the people who took exception to athletes kneeling for the flag, kneeling for the national anthem. A lot of people took exception to that, but if you did, you were in the wrong Right. You were in the wrong Because you weren't believing what somebody else believed Right. Sick of it, sick of hearing about it.
Speaker 1:Harrison Bunker said what he said. We move on. We move on. You might agree with him, you might disagree, you might be in the middle. Whatever, words are words, you can say what you want. That's what the great part about this country is right. Words are words and you say what you want to say.
Speaker 1:So there's my number two Serena Williams. Shut up, shut up, don't care, don't care, doesn't need to be a part of the ESPYs, doesn't need to be part of the ESPYs, that's for darn sure. So just get out of here, go retire and be gone Like had enough. Had enough of that. Number three Ronnie James. Banter. Talk, I tell you what, when Ronnie James was drafted and I had to hear about it and I had to discuss it and I had to think about it I wasn't to discuss it and I had to think about it. I wasn't a fan of it. To be honest with you.
Speaker 1:Bronny James stunk at USC. If anybody can say realistically, looking at Bronny James at USC, and you can say to yourself, yeah, bronny had a good college career, he had a good college career, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, he didn't, he stunk, he stunk it up. That's just plain and simple. He stunk.
Speaker 1:But I mean, I'm going to be honest with you I don't care to see his stat line every single night. Right, he might have zero points, he might have zero points, he might score two points, I don't care, right, I don't scroll through SportsCenter to see everybody's terrible nights. I don't scroll through ESPN and see the media guys all just saying, well, look at Bronny James with zero points and three steals and three rebounds and that was it on the night. I don't care, no, cares about that. Just let the dude be the dude. It's the Lakers' problem now. It's not our problem. We don't care.
Speaker 1:We made our opinions voiced, right, everybody voiced their opinion on the situation. Now we're just redoing it every single time we hear about Bronny James. Who cares? It's JJ Redick's problem. It's LeBron James' problem. It's Bronny's problem, it's the Lakers' problem. It's not our problem. I don't care. I don't care to hear about him. I'll be honest with you If the dude ends up being a NBA talent, fantastic Do?
Speaker 1:I think he's going to be? Probably not. I'll be honest with you, probably not. I don't think he's going to be a high-end talent. I really don't. Maybe a bench guy. That's as far as I see him. So, however, you see, brawny James, that's perfectly fine. But sick of hearing about it, sick of hearing the banter, just let the dude be the dude. Let Brawny James go be Brawny James. And if he ends up being a stinker, that's fine. If he ends up being like a Thanasis Antetokounmpo on the Lakers, that's fine. If that's what it takes, if that's what it takes.
Speaker 1:My last thing and I feel like this irritates me every week, and I feel like this irritates me every week Bears fans. They signed Caleb Williams to this contract, right, and now it's, oh, the Bears making the biggest move. The Bears doing this. The Bears run the NFC North now. Bears, bears, bears, bears. I'm hearing about it all over social media. Everybody's saying how the Bears are going to win the division. The Bears are the top team. The Bears might be the best team in the NFC. I'm going to tell you this now If Caleb Williams stinks, it's going to be that much better now Because you look at this Bears roster I mean the receiver room with Keenan Allen and Adunze coming in and Swift in the backfield, and the defense they have.
Speaker 1:If they find a way to ruin Caleb Williams, to make him just, if he stinks, what do you say then? Because he might be the one number one drafted quarterback to walk in a room with a loaded roster. Joe Burrow didn't walk into a loaded roster, right? You could go back through time and look at number one picks. They didn't walk into a loaded roster. Right? You could go back through time. Look at number one picks. They didn't walk into a loaded roster. Caleb williams is. As long as these receivers stay healthy, caleb williams is walking into a loaded roster. The offensive line might not be great, but they have talent across the board. If he finds a way to stink, if he stinks on his own, if the bears stink it up and ruin him, man, oh, oh, man, that is going to be fun. That is going to be fun.
Speaker 1:Now, I don't pray on anybody to suck. I pray on the Bears to suck. So I guess I do. I pray on the Bears to suck and the Cubs. I think it's just a Chicago thing. So like Chicago, you know. But I don't you know.
Speaker 1:Looking at this Bears team, there's a lot of talent there. I'm not going to deny it. There's a lot of talent. But until it's proven it's just annoying, right? I mean you could load up the roster with anybody you want. If you don't, ibraflus is a bad coach. I hope people realize that. If Ibraflus ruins it, what do you do then? I mean it comes down to coaching too. You can have all the talent in the world, but sometimes it comes down to coaching. So I guess it's not as much as the Caleb Williams getting signed. I guess it's not as much as Caleb Williams and the Bears. It is more or less just the fans of the Bears just hearing about it. It is annoying. Like son of a gun. I get it. Great, you got Caleb Williams. Woo-hoo, let's throw a party.
Speaker 1:We actually did something. Maybe we might get out of the cellar. Maybe we might make it back to the NFC Championship. Maybe we might beat the Packers. Been struggling to do that, haven't you? Maybe we beat the Packers first, then we talk, right, and if you beat the Packers, so be it, so be it.
Speaker 1:We move on with life. Right, we move on with life. Well, we ticked off. We'll come up with reasons why we lost, just like every team will, but we move on with life, right, man, oh man, the Bears fans just get to me. They man, oh man, the Bears fans just get to me. They get to me. They annoy me, they just drive me up a wall. Sometimes they drive me up a wall.
Speaker 1:So that was the things that have irritated or made me sick this week. Just, I'm sick of hearing about. I'm sick of hearing about and actually it was only supposed to be three things, but I brought up that Harrison Bucker thing and that was driving me nuts too, because I saw that speech by Serena at the and not speech, but I saw her make a comment at the ESPYs and it just, it drove me nuts. It drove me nuts. It really did so.
Speaker 1:With that getting away from things that made me sick and tired of hearing about this week, I want to get into some Brewer talk. We got to get to the Brewers. We got to get to our part two. Part two is the pitching staff to the Brewers. We got to get to our part two. Part two is the pitching staff for the Brewers and how these guys have been faring, how the Brewers pitchers have been looking, and you know, are we going to say that the Brewers pitching staff has been phenomenal? No, I don't think so. I don't think I can say that Looking at their statistics on the season.
Speaker 1:Let's look at the stats. Let's look at the stats here for this Brewers pitching staff Team rankings right now. And according to the team rankings right now, they are third in saves 32 saves and earned runs. They're 10th, 7th in runs scored, 26th in home runs given up, 10th, 7th in runs scored, 26th in home runs given up. That's a big number to look at right there. That is a big number to look at right there.
Speaker 1:And the biggest problem for the Milwaukee Brewers in that pitching staff is the home run ball 116 bombs given up. They don't put guys on a lot, they just give up home runs. That's the biggest thing, no matter if it's Freddie Colin, ray, Bryce Wilson, hobie Milner, yoel Pions I mean I could keep going through a number of pitchers here the thing that eats them alive and I don't know why so much mistake pitches is the home run ball. It just tears them apart. Walks and home runs Walks. They're 17th in the league. Home runs. They're 26th in the league. That is close to deadliest in giving up bombs. Man, man that eats you alive, eats you alive.
Speaker 1:When you see that stat, because you're like well you know, hits giving up hits, they're 15th, so they're middle of the pack. So it's not just guys, single, single, single right. They've been beat that way, you know, a couple times, but it's not that, it's the home run ball. It seems like when teams score against the brewers, they're hitting bombs. It's usually in about a matter of an inning, or two too. It's not like the brewers are giving up sporadic runs all game long. It seems like it's like Freddy Peralta One blow-up inning.
Speaker 1:I've always said it If Freddy Peralta could avoid the blow-up inning, freddy Peralta would be for sure, in my head, a number one pitcher in a rotation, because Freddy's got good stuff. He's got good stuff this season. He's been struggling, but outside of that he has good stuff. Why does it change though? Why did that change? That's number one. That's number one on my list of guys to look at here today Freddy Peralta Fastball Freddy. Freddy, coming into this year, I mean he was a I'm not going to say he was an ace. He had the makings to be an ace, I thought, but he wasn't an ace. He always had Burns. He had Woodruff in front of him. You look at his ERA last season, at his 2022 stats In 18 games, 17 starts there he had a 3.58 ERA. There 27 starts. A year before that, in 2021, he had a 2.81 ERA. So Freddy Peralta has consistently had good stuff.
Speaker 1:Here's where the troubling thing comes in for Freddy and it all comes down to a location with that fastball where he thinks he can just overpower. Where he thinks he can just overpower a guy, leave it right down the pipe, let's overpower him. Location Doesn't matter if it's his breaking stuff, doesn't matter if it's his fastball. Location has continuously been a problem for Freddie, not just this season. Look at last season there, 2023, in 30 starts he gave up 26 home runs. Put that into perspective. That's almost a home run. To start right. That's a lot of home runs given up there. That's a lot of home runs. You look at this season of home runs given up there. That's a lot of home runs. You look at this season 14 home runs given up already, 12 short of his pace from last year there. Does that make you nervous? Does that make you nervous? That fastball Freddie is starting to lose some of that, a little bit of that edge For me.
Speaker 1:I think Freddie can be, I think Freddiedie's fine, I think he can be fine, I think he's gotta relax. You know, is it kind of a mental thing, a pressure thing, that he put on himself when burns was traded, when woodruff. He knew woodruff was down. Now he's got to be the ace of the staff. Was it a pressure thing that is affecting freddie peralta so much right now? Because I mean you look at his starts of the year and innings, innings that he's gone. I mean you're talking about a guy who in the month of june and july his longest outing was seven innings against the cubs. He had a six inning appearance against the Angels but outside of that he went five innings against the White Sox. Against the Tigers he went three and a third. Against the Reds he went five and a third. Against the Texas Rangers he went five. The Dodgers, he went four. And the Nationals, he went five innings In each one of those outings there. Nationals, four runs given up there, three against the Dodgers, two against the Rangers there, and then, looking back against the Reds, there's six earned runs against the Reds, three against the Detroit Tigers there, and then the White Sox. He gave up three runs, actually gave up three runs.
Speaker 1:What is it with Freddie that makes that just isn't something ain't right, and I think a lot of it has to do with location. I really do. I think a lot of it's leaving things over the plate for Freddie Peralta and walks. I mean you look at Freddie Peralta in the walk department this season and he's walked 36 batters on the year. That leads the team, that leads the entire starting pitching staff and everything You're talking about. Guys like Bryce Wilson. Colin Ray's got 31,. So another problem Walks, colin Ray, 31. Freddy Peralta 38. Or 36. My mistake there 36. And then Freddy with eight hit-by eight, hit by pitches on the year there, 14 home runs given up.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I mean man, it really it makes you nervous for the second half for freddie. What freddie's coming out? I mean you're talking about a guy with a 4.11 era right now. That ain't good, that ain't good, I think. Mean you're talking about a guy with a 4.11 ERA right now. That ain't good, that ain't good. I mean you're talking about a guy you know I always imagine the ace of my staff being the guy when the going's tough, the bullpen's taxed, the ace of my staff supposed to be that guy to give him that little bit of a day off right, give him that little bit of a breather there where they have, you know, the ability to. Maybe we just have to use a couple guys in the bullpen. We don't have to stretch it real long game. Freddie's not giving you that right now. The only one, there's only one guy who's giving you that kind of stuff at the moment consistently and that is tobias myers.
Speaker 1:Tobias myers has been nothing short of fantastic here in this first half of the year. I mean, if you look at Tobias Myers to start the campaign, to start the season, when he first came up, if you asked me at that point, I was telling you I don't know if this guy's ready to be a big league pitcher, I don't know if he's ready to go. Yet that changed and that changed fast for Tobias Myers. I mean you talk about a guy who is going through the month of May he had a 5.40 ERA. Then all of a sudden, that start against Detroit. There that was in May, june.
Speaker 1:On June 7th he had a start against Detroit where he went eight innings of one hit baseball. After that everything he just found it. He just found his stride. Had a couple of rough outings there, got through six innings against the Cubs, six innings against the Rockies, gave up seven runs between those two games. But you look at the rest of the schedule there Got that ERA all the way down to 3.13, heading into this second half.
Speaker 1:The only rookie to go eight innings and I mean he's done it multiple times. He's averaging above five innings per game for him there. His shortest outing was in the month of June to July. His shortest outing was five innings against the Padres. Outside of that he's six innings and above. He's six innings and above. He's six innings and above. That's good work, especially out of a young guy.
Speaker 1:When you're looking for stability in a rotation and you find it in a guy like Tobias Myers, that's great. That's great. That's better than what you could have expected, better than what you could have asked for out of Tobias Myers. Something that I did not expect whatsoever and we found it there in Tobias Myers. So I love that. I love that out of Tobias Myers. There. Bryce Wilson I mean. I'm glad he's back in the bullpen. I thought he was a better bullpen pitcher than a starter. Colin Ray's been solid. He's been solid. He's not dominant. You know that. 3.77 ERA yeah, that's okay with me. That's okay with me.
Speaker 1:Two guys that make me nervous, though, getting to the bullpen, two guys that make me nervous Hobie Milner and Yoel Pajams, both of them with ERAs shooting north of four Yoel with the ERA of 4.41, and Hobie Milner with that 4.91. Hobie's giving up five home runs. Yoel Pajams is giving up six. Looking at earned runs, 17 for Pye Ops there and 24 for Milner on the season. A lot of it those two is the same thing as I'm talking about with Freddie. Location is huge for those two. The Brewers need them. The Brewers need one of those two guys. I don't care which one it is. Preferably he'll be Milner because he's lefty. But outside of that they need one of those two guys. If both of them figure it out, fantastic, because then the bullpen gets even deeper. But outside of that, they need one of those two guys to start to figure it out there and try and bolster up this bullpen there from the inside, so the Brewers don't have to focus on looking for bullpen pieces come trade deadline time.
Speaker 1:The guys that have been unsung heroes for the Brewers in the first half in that bullpen Brian Hudson 1.49 ERA, 53 strikeouts, 48 innings, 24 hits given up. Only eight runs given up on the year six home runs. You see where a lot of those runs coming from him. Also, it's the home run ball that bites this team. I don't know what it is, but it's all of them. It's all of them throughout there he's been fantastic. Jared Koenig fantastic Also 1.66 ERA, 36 strikeouts in 38 innings. Those 11 walks with three home runs given up eight runs in total on the year, seven of them earned. I mean, jared Koenig's been fantastic. You just need him to come back from injury and do that same thing and this is a great long reliever for the Brewers. Great long reliever there in Jared Canning Also.
Speaker 1:I mean, looking down the bullpen depth, trevor McGill has been nothing but fantastic for the Brewers. Being in the role that he's in was kind of just forced into a closer's role. Wasn't really ready for it. I shouldn't say wasn't ready for it. You know, wasn't expecting it. Heading into this last offseason, into early spring, wasn't expecting it. And all of a sudden, devin Williams, bam, going on the IL going to be out for an extended period of time. Okay, now we have a close-by committee Uribe and Pions and Trevor McGill and then all of a sudden Uribe's gotten issues. So then we flip to Trevor McGill and McGill has done fantastic closing down games 2.05 ERA, 30 innings and 37 strikeouts. Nothing short of fantastic for mcgill there in that bullpen.
Speaker 1:Other guys that have contributed in the first half there jacob junis, coming back from injury 2.84 era in 19 innings he's got 16 strikeouts, 15 had 600 runs, three home runs. Dallas keitel gets dfa'd was okay for the brewers before that, nothing crazy, nothing dominant. But I mean can't leave them out of the contributor talk, I guess. Aaron Savali 3.97 ERA in. He's got 14 strikeouts for the Brewers there in those 11 innings 11 hits, 5 earned runs, 3 home runs given up for Savali. So we know where the problems are going to lie there for him. Guys at the Brewers are hoping to get back here. Dl Hall hoping to get him back soon, possibly for a bullpen role, we don't know.
Speaker 1:On Enoli Paredes when we're going to see him back? This is a guy that the Brewers loved in their bullpen. He was pitching fantastic, pitched fantastic in the minors, pitched fantastic in the majors. Pitched fantastic in the minors, pitched fantastic in the majors, got injured. No timetable has been set for Paredes but looking at the injury to his, I believe it was his elbow or forearm. So it could be a little bit there with Paredes before he comes back.
Speaker 1:But you're getting Devin Williams back here, hopefully close to or right after the all-star break there, and then DL Hall coming back, also Joe Ross potentially coming back at some point there. That's just going to add depth in that starting rotation. A guy who was solid for the brewers before going on the injured list. Nothing crazy with that 4.50 era 35 strikeouts, 42 innings, four home runs given up there. But another. But another arm is all you can ask for with Joe Ross there. So I mean the Calvary looking at it as a whole, the Calvary is on its way. I mean you're going to have Devin Williams coming back, dl Hall, joe Ross, jared Kanan, gary Sanchez all coming off.
Speaker 1:I'm really hoping that we hear some good news out of Paredes and he potentially comes back there. But good news for the Brewers is guys coming back from the injury report. That is going to definitely bolster up this team. Maybe that steers them in different directions when it comes to trade deadline time. Instead of focusing on bullpen arms and starters, they can focus on just starters. Do they need another bat? Need another bat? I don't know. I don't know. I guess it depends on your outlook of things. On your outlook of things. I mean, it's gonna definitely gonna be something I I'm gonna get to.
Speaker 1:We're running a little bit long today here in part two of the brewers first half recap. We're gonna get into the trade deadline tomorrow. Some of the moves I believe the brewers could potentially make, who might be on the trade block tomorrow, some of the moves I believe the Brewers could potentially make, who might be on the trade block, stuff like that with the Brewers and you know, get into that a little bit there. But I mean 3-7 leading into the break. There. Is that a concern for the Brewers? I mean it was a concern when I heard it was a mental issue for the Brewers leading into the break. They're just mentally drained. I mean, okay, yeah, they might have been, but doesn't that make you nervous for the end of the season, bear? Doesn't that make you nervous for the end of the season? That's going to be my number one topic coming into tomorrow Also talking about trade deadline topics and everything like that, who the Brewers could be looking at, who could potentially be on the trade block for the Brewers.
Speaker 1:Maybe some surprises, maybe some not so surprises, stuff like that coming up here tomorrow on the show there. But with that, that's about all I got for today. Fantastic day, great day to talk sports. I hope you guys enjoyed the episode there. If you did, I want you guys to be able to let me know.
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Speaker 1:I love to hear from you guys. I love to get opinions and everything like that and just continue to improve. Continue to improve every day and every episode with this. So with that, this has been Wisconsin Sports Time to Go with Trage. Thank you guys for listening. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Thursday, but until I talk to you guys again tomorrow, deuces, yeah, oh, my Lord, watch me sway. Darkness falls and we all pray, hoping for the light of day. Down to the river, I have held the devil's hand, felt the weight of my own sin Buried by the heart of man Down to the river. Down to the river.