Sports On Deck 10-28 - The Curse Of The Brewers

None

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
You were listening to Sports on Deckwith Dave Gasper. Welcome to Sports on
Deck with Dave Gasper. It hasbeen a while, everybody. I am
Dave Gasper. You can follow meon Twitter at de Gasper twenty four.
It's been a couple of weeks.I know, I know, we've had
Badger football going on, and that'sbeen going on at the time of the

(00:34):
show, so we haven't been ableto get together and discuss and talk about
the things going on in the worldof sports outside of Badger Football. There's
a lot of great stuff going onwith Badger football getting the comeback win against
Illinois last week, fantastic. Nowtonight Wisconsin Ohio State under the lights at
Camp Randall. It is going tobe a fantastic atmosphere. I can't wait

(00:57):
for it. It should be agood game. Hopefully Wisconsin can can be
in it. Ohio State, thisis gonna be the toughest game on their
schedule, and there's just there's alot going on that we have to get
to in the world of sports rightnow, even even beyond Badger football,
as important as that is, there'ssome big news that did break this week

(01:19):
as well in the world of Baseball, even though the Brewer season is done
in the World Series is about tobe getting going here, and the Milwaukee
Brewers have given permission for the NewYork Mets to interview Craig Council. Now,
I know a lot of you arelooking at this being like, oh,
no, he's gone. Some ofyou may be looking at this being

(01:41):
like, oh, yes, he'sgone. That's that's I do not recommend
taking that stance. By the way, the grass isn't always greener on the
other side. I'll I'll just saythat. But the Craig Council situation,
what is going on? So let'slet's try to make some sense of what's
happening here. Because you're looking atthis seeing, Okay, he's interviewing with

(02:05):
the New York Mets, so theycan throw whatever money at him. He's
going to be gone. I'm worried. I'm sure a lot of you are
worried, But I'm not that worried. Here's why, because this whole time
Craig Council, he's been at homemanaging his hometown team, the Milwaukee Brewers.

(02:28):
He loves it here, his family'shere, he loves being a Brewer,
loves the city of Milwaukee. Idon't see him going to New York.
Now. What this is and whatwe've seen in the reports from the
beat writers across baseball, is thatCraig Council wants to reset the managerial pay

(02:53):
scale. Managers pay has been goingdown for the last couple of years while
player pay has been going up.Top paid manager this past year is around
four and a half million dollars.Craig Council is at about three and a
half. Craig Council's best manager inbaseball. He is, straight up,
He's the best manager in baseball.So for Counsel, he wants to get

(03:20):
paid like the best manager in baseball. Like any of us, if we're
the best at what we do,don't we want to get paid like it,
especially when there's so few people thatactually hold these MLB manager jobs.
So why would Counsel take whatever contractoffer the Brewers give him at whatever salary,

(03:40):
whatever little raise, when he caninstead be like, all right,
I'm gonna let my contract run out, I'm gonna make myself a free agent,
and I'm gonna see what other offersare out there. Because you know,
if your boss is offering you araise, and you think, hmm,
this raise still has me getting paidless what I'm worth, So why

(04:01):
don't I explore my options see whatother places would pay me, and if
they would pay me more, thenI can either go there or I can
come back to my boss and belike, hey, this other place is
willing to pay me more. Youhave to up my salary in order to
keep me. And that is whatI think is happening with Craig Council.

(04:23):
He is going out and exploring hisoptions. He's going to see what the
Mets are willing to pay him.The Cleveland Guardians have now requested an interview
with him as well, so he'sgoing to see what they're willing to pay
him. They had the highest paidmanager in Terry Francona before he retired,
so they're willing to pay their managers, so why not why not let a

(04:46):
counsel look around. He wants todo this anyways, so that's why the
permission was given, because they couldwait another couple of days and let his
contract run out on Wednesday and thenhave him do this. But then if
you leave, like it's delaying theprocess for everybody. Everyone wants to get
the manager job. Just filled outas soon as possible. They don't want

(05:06):
to leave it open, So let'sjust get this process rolling. So Counsel
is going out and exploring his options, seeing what he's what he's worth to
other teams, what they're willing topay him, and then in all likelihood
at the end of it, he'sgoing to come back to the Burgers and

(05:28):
be like, these were the offersI got. Match the top one or
come close to it or whatever,match it, beat it, something like
that, and I'll stay. Ifyou're not willing to then I guess I'll
go. But I don't think Counselwants to go. I don't think the
Bers are willing to let him go. And frankly, this is such a

(05:50):
small amount of salary relative to whatthe players are getting. Counsel is only
getting paid three and a half milliondollars a year, which for all the
work that he does, really isn'tthat much. Again, relative to the
players, the Mets reportedly, accordingto John Hayman, are not willing to

(06:14):
match eight million dollars for the salarythat Joe Tory had. They're not willing
to reach that kind of historic level. So, okay, you're going from
a raise from three and a halfmillion to less than eight. You know,
you're looking at maybe six maybe sevenmillion dollars a year for Council.

(06:38):
You're paying that much more in raisesjust for Corbyn Burns alone. This year,
Corvin Burns is going to be goingfrom ten million to fifteen million in
arbitration. He's getting five million dollarsin just a raise. That's Corbyn Burns
who only plays in thirty three games. Craig Council has an impact on all

(07:00):
one hundred and sixty two and frankly, his wins above replacement as a manager
that they don't have that as astat for managers, but his wins above
replacement would probably be the best inbaseball. A great manager is a difference
between a lot of wins. Okaythat they can get you a lot more
wins than other managers would get you. So that would totally be worth it

(07:23):
for the Brewers, whatever the salaryis, even if it is eight million
that they have to go to forCraig Council, for what he does as
a manager for this team, that'sworth paying. It's not a ridiculous amount
compared to what his players are making. It's not gonna be that kind of
a massive payroll investment where the Brewershave to cut payroll from the rest of

(07:46):
the roster in order to pay Council. That's not what it's going to be.
It's not that high of a salary. All of this is about leverage.
It's leverage. Counsel is going outlooking for leverage, and the Brewers
are fine letting him go out thereand look for it. They're being good

(08:07):
to him. He's been good tothem for a number of years. Sie,
All right, fine, you wantto take some time think about it.
Go ahead, we'll let you doit. We'll let you go out
explore your options, see what they'rewilling to pay you. But come back
to us, let us know whatthe offers are and give us a chance
to match. That's what's going onhere. That's what's playing out. Counsel,

(08:33):
whatever interview it is, whatever questionsthe other teams have, if he
wants that job, they're gonna giveit to him. Counsel has proven time
and again that he's the best managerin baseball. It's not a matter of
matter of the Mets or the Guardiansbeing like, hmm, do we think

(08:54):
you would be a good manager here. Yes, of course he would.
They're going to offer him the jobon the spot most likely. They recognize
also that he's probably not going toend up coming there. They're going to
put out their best offer and seeif the Brewers match, and if they
don't, then maybe they get them. If the Brewers do match, then

(09:16):
well they weren't expecting to get himanyways, and they move on to their
next candidates. That's the situation we'relooking at here with Craig Council. He
is going out looking for leverage andhe's going to find some and he's going
to reset the manager pay scale.Being the top paid manager and improving the
payscill for the rest of the managersacross the league is what Council's doing.

(09:41):
That's his priority right now. I'mfine with it. I'm good with it,
and and the Brewers they really don'tseem too worried about it. They
really don't. So if they're notworried, I'm not worried Council is going
to come back. Don't envision asituation where Steve Cohen and the Mets throws

(10:03):
so much money at him that heends up signing on the spot in New
York. I don't see that happening. It's just not so let that assuage
your concerns and just put those aside. I do believe Craig Counsel is coming
back to manage the Brewers next year. He's going to be getting paid a

(10:26):
lot more, but I believe he'scoming back. Coming up, what are
the Milwaukee Brewers going to be doingwith their starting rotation and with this team
this offseason as free agency and thetrade market are going to get underway shortly
across Major League Baseball. That's comingup here on Sports on Deck with Dave
Gasper here in thirteen to ten,WIBA. Well go back to Sports on

(11:07):
Deck with a Gasper here on thirteento ten, Wiba, and screaming from
the top of our lungs. What'sgoing on is exactly what pretty much everybody
was doing when they saw Jesse Winkeron the Milwaukee Brewers playoff roster and getting
an at bat in both Games oneand two of the Brewers postseason, and

(11:28):
there was no Game three because theBirds lost the first two and that was
it. They were eliminated in theWildcard round by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Who
are now in the World Series.Nine times, nine times out of nine

(11:48):
that the Milwaukee Brewers lost in theplayoffs to the team that eventually either made
the World Series or won the WorldSeries. Every single time the Bruise have
been a limit their opponent made theWorld Series. Nineteen eighty two, they
were already in the World Series.But still every single other time eighty one,

(12:09):
eighty two, oh eight, eleven, eighteen, nineteen, twenty,
twenty one, twenty three, everysingle time the team that eliminates the Brewers
makes the playoffs. It's a curse. It's a straight up curse. I
don't know what exactly the Brewers didto get cursed. I would love to
hear your thoughts on why why arewe cursed? Why are the Milwaukee Brewers,

(12:35):
of all teams cursed to this,to watching the team that eliminates them
make the World Series every single time? This is not just a matter of
making the League Championship Series every singletime, and well, whoever you lose
to there automatically makes the World Series, so duh. No. So many

(12:56):
times, especially these last four,it's been early. There have been other
chances for those teams to get eliminatedbefore the World Series, and they don't.
The Brewers are the good luck charmto everyone else. It's amazing to

(13:16):
me how this has happened, howthis is unfolded this way. The Brewers
are doomed to this doomed. Andit's not even a matter of the hottest
team. Every single time the ArizonaDiamondbacks lost their last four games of the

(13:39):
regular season, they had scored threeruns in those four games. Some Walkee
Brewers in their final four games scoredseventeen. It was not a matter of
who's hot. It's almost it's noteven a buzz saw that Arizona was.

(14:00):
Arizona just somehow won. The Brewersbeat themselves. Seemed like there were so
many opportunities that the Brewers should havewon that series. Arizona should not even
be anywhere close to this World Series. The Burers should have won the wildcard
round. They had so many opportunities. They were right there, they had
all the hits, they had everythinggoing for them, and they blew it.

(14:24):
The Brewers. I've seen so manypeople say this on social media too,
how the Brewers just need to justneed to play themselves and they'd be
fine in terms of making the playoffs. But I'll tell you what, the
Breers beat themselves pretty well in thepostseason this year, and that didn't seem
to get them anywhere. Like it'sit just hasn't. It hasn't gone well

(14:46):
for them, And it's it's morethan just luck. At this point,
it's nine times he has been absent, nine times, nine times, nine
times, nine times, the sameamount of times Ferris Bueller has been absent.

(15:11):
It's not luck. It's not luck. There there's there's something seriously wrong
here, and it's got to bethe curse. What is it? The
curse of? Though? You knowthe the Cubs had the Curse of the
Billy Goat, the Red Sox hadthe Curse of the Bambino. What is

(15:31):
the Brewer's curse? What is it? What is it? The curse of
That's That's what I'm trying to figureout. Why are the Brewers cursed?
And how can we fix it?Is Is it the Pedro Serrano idea of
sacrificing a live chicken? I don'tI don't think that's entirely gonna work.
But I am down for a bucketof KFC if we need that to help.

(15:52):
But I don't know I don't knowwhat it is. I do have
a couple of ideas, though,the curse of the Christian Yelich trade.
Now, I know this only startedin twenty eighteen, but Christian knowledg comes
over, and that was such alopsided trade first two years, I mean,
MVP level seasons from Yellwich and allfour of the prospects sent to Miami

(16:15):
did not work out. They wereawful. So perhaps this is the baseball
gods getting even on the Brewers,being like, look, you guys got
more than you ever could have outof that Yell's trade, and you gave
up absolutely nothing for it, sonow you are punished to not making it
anywhere in the postseason. Maybe that'sit. But this has also been going

(16:37):
on for a lot longer than ChristianYelch, so so I don't know.
I don't know if that fully explainsit. Perhaps it is the curse of
Big Blue. The crane that inthe construction of Miller Park now American Family
Field fell over, killed three workersand delayed the stadium by a year.

(17:06):
Perhaps it's a curse of Big Blue. Since then, the Birds haven't been
able to you know, they've madethe postseason but they haven't been able to
get there and continue to lose toevery single team that makes the World Series.
Prior to that, they only hadtwo playoff appearances. That's not really
you know, those two in eightyone eighty two don't really count as a

(17:27):
curse. So I don't know,Maybe I'm not sure if there's anything you
can do about that either. Thecurse of the small market. Now,
this is all entirely possible. Thatis just you know, every single time
this happens, the brus are goingup against Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Atlanta,

(17:52):
teams like that that they've just gotbigger and better teams, bigger market,
more money that they can throw attheir players. And that's just kind
of how it goes in baseball.It's not an even pay scale. Small
market teams find it very difficult tomake it to the World Series consistently and

(18:18):
win it. So perhaps that's justpart of the curse. Last small market
team to win Kansas City twenty fifteen. Since then, it's it's been rough
going. It's been rough going forthe small markets. You know, they
can make the playoffs, but canthey go anywhere in it? It's all

(18:42):
Houston has made seven Straight League ChampionshipSeries seven and they're taking on the Texas
Rangers or the New York Yankees orall these top teams, and it's just
it's just exhausting all all all thesetop markets. So maybe that's it.

(19:06):
But this year was Arizona. ArizonaDiamondbacks. They're not a big market.
They have a smaller payroll than theBrewers. They got a whole bunch of
rookies on that team, just likethe Brewers do. So that doesn't fully
explain this year. So huh huh. I don't know. Ah, I

(19:29):
think this might be it. Thecurse of Raleigh Fingers. Now, it's
not that Raleigh Fingers did anything badto to intentionally curse the Brewers, but
back in those Brewers first playoff appearances, they could have won it all,
but they didn't because they lost RaleighFingers to injury. It's the injury curse,

(19:53):
the Raleigh Fingers injury curse. Itstarted with Raleigh. The Brewers could
have won that World Series and eighties, they probably could have won it in
eighty one, but they lost Fingers. They didn't have their best pitcher on
the staff. They lost him andthat cost them series. That cost him
the playoffs. They could have hadit if he was healthy. So many

(20:15):
players on that team have said thatif he were healthy, we would have
won, We should have won,but they didn't. And ever since then,
in all these playoff appearances, theBrewers keep losing important players to injury
that seems to derail them. BenSheets in two thousand and eight. In

(20:37):
twenty nineteen, they lost Yelich becausehe blew up his kneecap with a foul
ball. In twenty twenty, CorbynBurns wasn't able to go in the playoffs.
Devin Williams wasn't able to go inthe playoffs. Twenty twenty one,
Devin Williams broke his hand punching awall. They lost him heading into the

(21:00):
playoffs. And then this year,right before the wildcard round is about to
begin, Brandon Woodruff gets put onthe shelf with a shoulder injury that's keeping
him out for the entire playoffs andnow keeping him out for all of next
season. So all of these teams, you could argue part of the reason

(21:29):
they fell short was because they lostkey players to injury heading into the playoffs.
When you lose a guy like Rollyfingers. When you lose a guy
like Ben Sheets, when you losea guy like Christian Yelich, when you
lose a guy like Devin Williams orBrandon Woodruff. These are top players on
your team. If you don't havethem all heading into October, it's going

(21:57):
to be incredibly, incredibly difficult towin, even more so than it already
is. So maybe that's what itis, the curse of the major injury,
the curse of the ill timed injury. That's I think what the Brewers
are facing. If they can getinto a playoffs with everybody healthy miraculously somehow,

(22:26):
then maybe they can do it.We all thought they had it this
year. They were healthy going in, they were healthy when the regular season
ended, and then all of asudden, the day before, Yeah,
Brandon Wodrof can't go. He's out, and now he's undergone surgery and he's
out for all of twenty twenty four. So now that this postseason is over

(22:51):
for the Brewers, now they gotto look ahead to next year and they're
gonna be without one of their bestpitchers. How are they going to be
able to fill that void? We'regoing to talk about that next coming up
here on Sports on Deck with DaveGasper here in thirteen to ten, WIBA

(23:15):
send no more counting dollars, willbe counting stars. We'll be counting stars.
Sports on Deck with Dave Gasper rollson here on another Saturday afternoon,
Badger football coming up against Ohio State. Pregame show there with Reed Magnum and

(23:40):
Ben Morgan is gonna be getting startedat about two point thirty right here on
WIBA. I'm here with you fora little bit longer here until about one
o'clock, and we're gonna be talkinga little bit about the Brewers off season
coming up, because there's just somuch talk about since their season ended,
and I haven't been able to bewith you guys a couple of weeks,

(24:00):
you know, been been off theair with Badger football going on. So
it's it's been tough, but gota lot to get through, so let's
get back into it. Brandon Woodroffundergoes shoulder surgery and he is out for
pretty much all of twenty twenty four. Maybe there's a slim chant that comes
back, but that was pretty majorshoulder surgery, so he is likely going

(24:25):
to be out for all of nextseason, and if you're the Brewers,
you have to plan for him notbeing there at all. You can't plan
for, oh, well, maybehe'll be back in September, so we
can you know, not take ittoo seriously in the off season here now
can't do that. So the Birdsare facing the problem of trying to replace

(24:47):
an ACE level starter in Brandon Woodrufffor one year. Now Woodroff's contract,
he has one more year of teamcontrol and he's not going to pitch in
it. If I'm the Burrs,I'm looking at a two year contrac extension.
Maybe lower the amount of money fortwenty twenty four, free up a
little bit more payroll for this yearwhen you know he's not gonna pitch and

(25:08):
back goad a little bit more moneyinto twenty twenty five. Keep him an
extra year that allows him to makehis return in twenty twenty five to the
Mound and he can rehab with theBrewers and he can and he can make
his recovery and come back in aplace that he's comfortable and familiar. Well,
also, you're not committing super longterm in case when he does come

(25:33):
back he's not the same as hewas before because there is a very real
chance that Brandon Woodruff is not thesame when he comes back from this surgery.
It's a very real and scary chance. So the Brewers have to plan
around this now, and what arethey gonna do. I've I've seen some

(25:56):
people try to tell me that thismakes a trade of Corp Burns more likely.
I don't see that happening at all, because you just lost your coace
to injury for the entirety of nextseason. The answer to that is not

(26:17):
trading away your other healthy coace tosomebody else. That's not the answer if
you want to remain competitive. TheBrewers can't lose Woodruff and then trade out
Burns and be like, yeah,we're gonna compete in twenty twenty four.
No actions speak louder than words,and those actions are saying that they're given

(26:37):
up and that they're punting on theseason before it even begins. So in
order for the Brewers to trade Burns, they would have to come out and
admit, hey, we're taking astep back in twenty twenty four after winning
the division and after saying for yearsthat they are going to remain continually competitive,
and they don't want to take anysteps back. They want to keep

(26:59):
pushing it and keep staying competitive.So I don't see that happening. I
just don't see it as possibility.So how are the Buds going to go
about and replace Brandon Woodruff. Theydo have some pitching prospects, some top
level pitching prospects that made it toTriple A this year. Robert Gasser was

(27:21):
one. He came over in theJosh Hater trade. He had an excellent
season. He is certainly gonna beworthy of a call up at some point,
and we're going to be seeing himin twenty twenty four. You can't
count on that. Though. Youcan't count on him. There's also Carlos

(27:41):
Rodriguez, who had an excellent seasonmade it to Triple A by the end
of the year, another highly toutedpitching prospect. You have Jacob Misarowski,
who maybe at best you could seehim late in twenty twenty four. But
those are the top pitching prospects ofBrewers have and they're fairly close. But
you can't go into twenty twenty fourbanking on these guys being the guys.

(28:07):
You need. Someone else. Theseguys are gonna pitch regardless. We saw
this year that you're gonna need alot of pitching depths to get through a
season because injuries can pop up outout of nowhere. The brus lost Brainon
Woodruff in April. They lost himfor four months, and they had a
scramble to get enough pitching depth.They were using Colin Ray, they found
Julio Tehron off the scrap heap.They don't want to have to do that

(28:30):
again. So you got to getsome more pitching depth and then maybe you
can rely on the rookies if itgets to them, but you got to
get someone else from outside the organizationto help, at least to start Matt
Arnold. The Brews GM said asmuch in his end of season press conference
that they are gonna aggressively look atpitching at adding pitching depths this offseason,

(28:53):
and that was even before he knewWoodroff was out for all of next year.
So they're gonna be looking to addsome pitching. So who can they
get show heyo toan he's a freeagent, but also he just underwent surgery
and he's not going to pitch itall next year. He could, he
would still be a great improvement withthe bat, but the Brewers are not

(29:15):
getting show Heyo Tony. I hateto break it to you. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry if if you had hopethat show Hao Tani was going to
be a Brewer. I hate tobe the bearer of bad news, but
it's not happening. It's just notso one of some of the other guys
look as Gilito, Sonny Gray,Jordan Montgomery, Aaron Nola, Blake Snell.

(29:38):
Those are really your your top tierACE level type guys that you could
go after. But those guys areall gonna be looking for long term,
multi year deals with very high salaries. You know, Aaron Nola, Blake
Snell, They're probably gonna be lookingat one hundred plus million dollars and in

(29:59):
terms of their contracts, I don'tsee the Brewers going into that tier,
even though that's the tier of picturethat Brandon Woodruff is, So if you
want to replace him talent wise,that's where you gotta go. I don't
see the Brewers actually getting into biddingwars and getting any of Snell or Nola

(30:21):
or Gray or Gilido. I don'tsee them getting any of those guys.
So you got to look further downon on the free agent market. There's
a Japanese pitcher Shota in Monaga.He's maybe someone that the Brewers could could
get, but you really kind ofnever know. It was some of those

(30:45):
pictures coming over, but you know, thirty year old left hander, he's
put up some really good numbers.Brewers have gone the international route before,
maybe they could do it again.Then you're like kind of guys like Michael
Lorenzen Kenta, Mayda Tyler, MollyFrankie. Montas is a guy that I

(31:07):
think is pretty interesting and maybe couldbe a guy for the Brewers, just
just with the type of guy thatthey like. You know, he's coming
off a season from injury, andperhaps the Brewers will will give him a
chance to return to form. He'sgonna be thirty one next year, so
maybe a one year deal to kindof re establish his health and productivity.

(31:30):
That can be a stop gap inthe Brewers' rotation and they can see if
Montess is back. Because if Montasis back and healthy in twenty twenty four
and he's doing what he was before, that's just about as good as Brandon
woodrif is. You're gonna find outon the open market and for relatively cheap

(31:52):
considering he's coming off an injury fromfrom this past year because he missed all
of twenty twenty three. So maybethat's where Montas could make some sense.
One year deal, prove it andand that way the Brews will will be
just finding the rotation and if Mantasisn't as good, then you can rely
on the rookies. James Paxton anotherone. You're looking at the at the

(32:15):
veterans here on the friger market JamesPaxton thirty five. You know, great
stuff, injury risks also, buthigh ceilings. If he's healthy, then
he could fill the production of aBrandon Woodroff, but you never know.
That's kind of where you're looking,you know, bringing back Wade Miley again

(32:37):
that's not really the same, butMiley had the second best era on the
Brewers team in the Bruis rotation thisyear, behind Brandon Woodroffe, So maybe
that's where you go. Otherwise,you got to find the trade market,
and you never know who's going tobe available on the trade markets. But
those are some of the names thatthat you're looking at to try to replace

(33:00):
Brandon Woodroff. So the Breds arenot gonna be able to adequately fully replace
Brandon Woodruff it with someone of hiscaliber in the starting rotation. They're just
not they're gonna have the big two. They're gonna have Burns and they're gonna
have Freddy Peralta, and they're gonnahave to fill that, fill out that
rotation with some solid pitchers. You'regonna find maybe a mid tier arm to

(33:27):
help you a stop gap, andthen you bring in those rookies as needed
and give them the opportunities as theseason goes along and be that and they
can be that depth filling in behindthe veterans in case they need it.
That's where you gotta go. It'san unfortunate situation that the Brewers are in

(33:50):
with Woodruff losing him. It's itcould not have been worse timed. Given
his contract situation. Woodroff now isprobably not gonna ever get at the hundred
million dollar deal that he was goingto get before, because if the Brews
signed him to that two year dealbackloaded his contract a little bit into twenty
twenty five, he's going to beentering the free agent market at thirty two,

(34:14):
which for a starting pitcher, especiallywith his injury history. Now it's
going to be very tough for otherteams to be willing to invest one hundred
plus million dollars into him. Evenif he comes back and he dominates,
maybe he could get one hundred million, but he's not going to be able

(34:34):
to get the pay that he wasgoing to get before. And it's very
unfortunate the Bres. I mean,they could just kind of re up him
on arbitration and let him walk.At twenty twenty four, he could very
well have thrown his last pitch forthe Brewers. I think it's in the
best interest to both sides to signa two year deal, backload it and

(34:57):
bring him back and have him dohis recovery in Milwaukee, have his bounce
back season here in a place thathe's comfortable. But he could also go
to the Frankie Montas route, takehis eleven million, twelve million, whatever
it's going to be for twenty twentyfour, and then hit free agency and
try to have a bounce back yearwherever, with whoever's gonna pay him the

(35:19):
most. It's it's certainly gonna beone year deal for twenty twenty five wherever
he goes, but it's it's notgoing to be the pay. It's not
going to be the payday that BrandonWoodriff was originally going to get before the
surgery. I feel just awful forhim for everything that he put into this
team and how it's just it's goneso sideways for him. It's it's truly

(35:42):
awful. Coming up, we'll wrapthings up here on Sports on Deck with
Dave Gasberg listening here on thirteen ten, Wiba. It is gonna be time

(36:10):
to jump around tonight at Camp Randall'sBadgers take on Ohio State. Welcome back
to Sports on Deck with Dave Gasperhere on thirteen to ten, WIBA.
I have just a few more minutesleft with you on this Saturday afternoon.
Is crisp fall Saturday afternoon. Theleaves are falling, and weather's getting colder,

(36:35):
and football is getting a whole lotmore exciting sconsin Badgers Ohio State tonight
under the lights kickoff at six pointthirty. Pregame starts with Reid Magnum and
Ben Wargle right here in WIBA attwo thirty. This is gonna be a
big game Wisconsin coming off the momentumof their win against Illinois last week.

(37:01):
The fourth quarter comeback the huge win. Luke Fickle jumping up and breaking a
ceiling tile in the locker room inIllinois. It was hype, man,
it was hype. It was abig win. Braydon Locke filling in for
the injured Tanner Mordecai played really well. He looked good. Braylen Allen playing

(37:24):
well. It's exactly what you neededto see. It gets the momentum,
it gets some confidence heading into thisOhio Stake game. Now, this is
gonna be the toughest game on theirschedule. Ohio State likely is looking at
this as just another game, justanother road, big ten game. They

(37:45):
had their big one against Penn Statelast week, another top ten team.
It was close, it was adefensive battle, but Ohio State won because
that's what they do. But here'sthe thing, though, Wisconsin or Ohio
States actually has not been as dominantas they've been in the past. They

(38:07):
got Kyle mccorr. They got anew quarterback in there this year, and
he's not quite to the CJ.Stroud level in terms of taking over a
game. He's been good, don'tget me wrong, but he's not been
that level. So Ohio State,even though they they're undefeated, They are

(38:31):
playing it a lot closer than theyhave with than they have in the past
against some of these teams, sothey're not as dominant as they used to
be. They're still a team tobe concerned about. And it's got to
be mistake free football for Wisconsin.And I'm sure Red and Ben and Mike

(38:52):
Keller and all the guys on thePregium Show are going to be talking about
this as well. You gotta bemistake for On the offensive side. You
cannot have any turnovers, Braidon Locke. You got to protect the football,
no interceptions, no fumbles, becauseif the Badger's turn it over, odds

(39:15):
are Ohio State's going to turn itinto points. And if they do that,
Wisconsin is not going to be ableto pull off the upset. The
Badger defense has to force kel McCordinto some tough decisions as well. They
need to be able to force aturnover or two if they're going to win
this game. It can't just beas straight back and forth. You have

(39:37):
to get some turnovers and you haveto get points off those turnovers. You
have to take advantage of the fewopportunities Ohio State's going to give you there's
not going to be that many.They won't make many mistakes, but whatever
few they do make, Wisconsin hasto take advantage, and Wisconsin cannot give

(39:59):
Ohio State any opportunities on their mistakes. Wisconsin can't make any of those mistakes
on offense. They can't, theycan't afford it. That's gonna be coming
up about an hour and a halfor so at the start of the pregame
with Reed and Ben on Badger's gameday. That'll do it for me.

(40:19):
I am out of time. Thankyou for listening. I know it's been
a couple of weeks since we've beenall together here, but enjoy your Saturday
afternoon watching college football and getting readyfor Wisconsin and Ohio State. Thank you
for listening. This has been Sportson Deck with Dave gasper here on thirteen
ten w I b A