Random Thoughts

I have not found an article to tear apart and mock today, but I have a constipation of opinions that I wish to share with myself and my reader(s?).

1. The Green Bay Packer's draft- I am not a "Green Bay Packer or a Brett Favre fan. I actually am among the "Favre is a tad overrated" crowd. I found it funny when I read that sports guy at ESPN's chat that his father mentioned how Ryan throws the ball up for grabs too much and that was a BAD thing to him. To the rest of the world when Favre did that he was just enjoying the game and playing like a little kid who did not have a care in the world. It made me think, "I don't think the throwing the ball up in the air is a problem, I think it really depends on who does it if it is going to be a problem.

Back to the Packer's draft and their overall strategy. It seems like, and this is not necessarily a bad idea, they could very well have the greatest depth on their QB chart of any team in the NFL in two more years. They have Aaron Rodgers and then drafted Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn in this year's draft. Personally I like all three of those QB's, not to be Pro Bowlers, but to be decent QB's and Flynn would be a suitable backup for a team. My problem is they have drafted themselves into a QB controversy. There are a couple angles for me on this one.

First, Aaron Rodgers was drafted to be Favre's eventual replacement because Favre did the annual game of retirement chicken so they had to get a QB never really knowing if/when Favre would retire. He sat the bench for three years, not complaining or bitching, and learning what little he could from Favre. He could have gone anywhere else in the league and gotten a chance to start, remember this guy was going to be the first pick up until the last week before the 2005 draft. Life's not fair and I realize that, but I think between Favre possibly coming back to play this year and Brohm on the roster, Rodgers is in a no win situation. There are TWO QB's that fans will be clamoring to start if Rodgers, God forbid, has growing pains in the position. I think he has gotten shafted personally and deserved a better opportunity than he is being given to prove he can play. If I am Rodgers, I am pissed.

Second, Brohm was pretty much the Aaron Rodgers of this draft. He was a player that at one point was considered a top 5 pick and for whatever reason he fell. I am not on the Brian Brohm fan club bicycle at all, but I think there is one system that was screaming for him to play in it, and this system would maximize his talents. That is the West Coast Offense and Green Bay runs a variation of this offense. So now, not only is he going to be fighting for playing time with Rodgers in training camp, he is also going to be pretty upset if he loses the battle. Rodgers is a young QB, so if he wins the QB battle in training camp like I personally expect him to, he could logically be the QB for the next five years. Brohm is also a young QB, so if he wins the battle in training camp, then Rodgers is going to want the fuck out of Green Bay, if not this year, but the year after that. Now, Brohm could fail miserably at the position, but the fact the Packers are giving Brohm time to grow into the position and make mistakes, something they did not give to Rodgers for three years, is going to piss him off.

Basically I am saying I can see a situation where the loser of that QB battle wants out either this year or next year. Maybe the Packers can forsee this situation and that is why they drafted Matt Flynn, I obviously don't know, but at this point he can't be any better than a backup coming out of training camp, so putting him in the starting position this year is pleading for disaster.

There is not a situation in Green Bay where you can yank any of these three young QB's in or out of the starting lineup. The Packers are going to have choose one starter and stick with them. This is potentially very similar to the San Diego situation with Drew Brees and that worked out well for them, so Green Bay is not sunk, but I just think signing a veteran backup and not drafting two QB's was the best move to allow the team a little QB flexibility and also plan for the team better down the road.

2. The Detroit Tigers trade for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis- I did not have a huge negative opinion on the trade. In my little brain, this was similar to the Red Sox trading for Beckett and Lowell, but my other problem was that this was not the Red Sox trading for Beckett and Lowell. Except this trade was a much better trade than that because even though they gave up more, they also got more. Why did I not like it that much? Here's my problem:

Willis' performance has been declining for a couple of years now and his numbers are reflecting this decline as well. He no longer seems to be able to fool batters and overall just seems more hittable. I did not look up any empirical data other than ERA, whatever that is worth, which has gone from 2.63 in 2005 to 5.17 last year. In the past three years his BAA has gone from .243 to .294, as well as his K/BB and K/9 have steadily gone down and up respectively. Throw all of those cherry picked numbers in with the fact his herky jerky motion was just screaming for him to get injured, and I was not as comfortable with him in the pitching staff of the Tigers as I would like to be. I realize he just got injured, so I am getting in on this after the fact and look like the sports guy from ESPN here, but I annoyed people with my opinion after the trade went down. I just thought that keeping Andrew Miller would have been a preferable option given the fact he is major league ready and a potential #2 starter. Throw in the move from the "inferior" NL to the AL and it seems even smarter to hold on to not acquire Willis.

Miguel Cabrera has not had any type of performance decline over the past couple years and he is actually a great acquisition. My two problems fell in two categories, the DT theory and he really had no solid position in the field to play.

It is a common joke among NFL fans that you don't pay a Defensive Tackle big money over a long period of time because they use that money to get fat and lose whatever effectiveness they had over that period of time. Whenever a DT wants a new contract, he slims down and some other sucker gives up a bunch of money. I heard Miguel Cabrera was losing weight this year and looked great, so my first thought was this is bad for the Tigers. Why? He was going to perform great, get a new contract and then eat his way out of the city like the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man (take that pop culture reference!). This has not happened yet and may never happen, but I genuinely felt like this was a possibility and still do. Old habits die hard and if a 24 year old has a weight problem, that problem will probably not get any better as they get older.

When the Tigers acquired Cabrera I also felt like the best position for him was DH, not 3B or the OF. Cabrera is not even an average 3B or LF, so you are losing defense at both positions when he is out there. Factor that in with the fact Brandon Inge is an above average hitter and an above average 3B, and would not appreciate being benched, which happened, and it seemed like LF is the best place for him. Now the problem is whether you really want Cabrera roaming around LF defensively. It sounds good with Granderson in CF, but you are almost negating Granderson's defense by having Cabrera put beside him. Now Granderson has to cover more field and Cabrera does not have the security of a Green Monster to stop a lot of the difficult fly balls like Manny Ramirez has. I just thought the best move for the Tigers would be to make a lower level trade to acquire a good young LF, which ironically is what a division rival of the Tigers, the Twins, did. I think Delmon Young would have looked good in LF for the Tigers, if they were willing to make a deal work, it would not have taken Andrew Miller to get the job done, in my opinion. I think a trade involving Bonderman would have gotten that done easily. Maybe not, but I think trading Andrew Miller and Maybin was a mistake in regards to what they got in return, which was a questionable pitcher and a player without a real position, but with a great bat.

I realize this is all in retrospect, but I did not agree with the trade from the Tigers point of view when the trade was made and there were the questions I had at the time and still do.