Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Call Off the Search Party
Hello again, my friends. I've missed you so. Accept my apologies for disappearing unannounced for almost three weeks. Believe me, we all have our reasons. I, KP, was busy with final exams, projects, papers and holiday globetrotting. Captain Fantastic was preparing and delivering his keynote address for the National Diabetic Association. And Chuckie Oliver is enjoying the one month a year he gets at his time-share condo in Branson, Missouri. But now time is on our side, and we may decide to write on a more consistent basis. You can hold me to that bold statement, I won't let you down.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Cubs Broadcaster Ron Santo Thinks Former Cub Ron Santo Should Be In The Hall of Fame
The World Wide Leader in Sports reported today that former Cub Ron Santo is somewhat unhappy the Veterans Committee failed to elect him as a part of the 2009 Hall of Fame class. Santo perhaps is best known today for being the voice of disgruntled groans and irrational swings of emotions on WGN’s play-by-play coverage of Chicago Cubs baseball games. Before I sink my teeth into some of these delicious quotes from Ronnie, I will let my personal bias out of the bag in the case of Ron Santo v. The National Baseball Hall of Fame. Santo probably deserves to be in via the Veterans Committee, good career numbers in a tough era for hitters, multiple Gold Glove awards and All Star game appearances that voters love, and he’s become one of those “living legend” type figures (deserved or not) for the Cubs. Does he have the true numbers of a legit Hall of Fame baseball player? No, he doesn’t, but the Veterans Committee is a whole different meatball. Chew on this hypothetical teaching moment:
Note:
The following scene is taken from the screenplay and upcoming feature film entitled Captain Fantastic; Earth Saver.
Courtesy of Captain Fantastic.
Copyright pending.
[In this scene Captain Fantastic and Boy #1 are sitting at a local ice cream parlor sharing a strawberry malt. Captain Fantastic is trying to explain to Boy #1 the caliber of player selected by the Veterans Committee to become members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.]
Captain Fantastic: Close your eyes son. Now, imagine you’re watching the 2050 Academy Awards and you see Vince Vaughn or Charlie Sheen accepting an honorary lifetime achievement Oscar for acting.
Boy #1: [shocked] But, those guys are mediocre actors who would never get an Oscar for their acting abilities today, let alone even be seriously considered right?!
Captain Fantastic: [enthusiastically] Exactly! And this make-believe situation involving Vince Vaughn or Charlie Sheen receiving an honorary Academy Award is somewhat analogous to the caliber of baseball players the Veterans Committee selects to be members of the Hall of Fame.
Boy #1: [excited] I think I get it now! So what you’re trying to say is that in his time not many people considered Ron Santo to be a Hall of Famer, only a solid player who had a good career, but now that time has passed and Santo has remained relevant and become a fixture of baseball, very much like Vince or Charlie could do in the film industry, people think he should be in the Hall of Fame. Sort of like a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for baseball!
Captain Fantastic: Bingo!
Boy #1: Captain Fantastic, do you think robots will act in movies in the future?
Captain Fantastic: The future!? Did you see the last Keanu Reeves movie?
Boy #1: [laughs] Gee Captain Fantastic, you sure are great at teaching [pauses] and saving the Earth from destruction.
Captain Fantastic: [smiling] I only hope I am as good at saving the Earth from destruction as this ice cream parlor is at making strawberry malts!
Captain Fantastic and Boy #1 together: [thunderously laughing]
Scene.
I hope that cleared things up for everyone. Now to the good stuff courtesy of ESPN.com:
''It's a travesty,'' Santo said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. ''When I saw nobody got in again, I go, 'Whoa, this is wrong.' They can't keep going the way they're going. They've got to put a [different] committee out there.''
"It'll be eight years now that they've voted and not let anybody in. And personally, I feel like there's a lot of guys that should've been in, not just me," Santo said, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Fair enough. Maybe they could make some changes to the process by which players are selected by the Veterans Committee. Calling it a travesty is probably overkill though. Genocide in Africa is a travesty. Brain cancer is a travesty. No one being elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Not quite on the same level.
However, Hall of Fame chairwoman Jane Forbes Clark noted that the goal of the two-stage veterans' process is not to elect someone every time they vote, according to the Sun-Times.
''The process was not redesigned with the goal of necessarily electing someone, but to give everyone on the ballot a very fair chance of earning election through a ballot of their peers,'' Clark said, according to the report.
No argument here. Makes all the sense in the world. The Veterans Committee is in place to elect a player that may have been looked over by the Hall of Fame voters (BBWAA) while they were eligible for election after their retirement or when the Hall of Fame opened. A player does not have to be elected every year, in fact that would dilute the honor of being elected to the Hall of Fame. If someone is deserving they should get voted in and who better to do the voting than a committee of their peers?
"They have to change it," Santo said, according to the Tribune. "They're going to still have a Veterans Committee, but it should go back to where it was [in the '90s] when Bill Mazeroski got in. I think they should have a committee of maybe 12 guys that vote, that's the way to do it."
OK. Now I’m starting to lose you Ronnie. I am not quite sure where the Maz reference helps you here. Does Ron think Maz is a good comparison to himself? Bill James has said that Maz probably had the most impressive defensive stats of any player at any position. Now that is something which could have been overlooked by election committees in the past especially with the advent of more precise fielding statistics that didn’t even exist in Maz’s day. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve never heard Santo be referenced as possibly the greatest defensive player of all time. And Santo’s batting totals are much more impressive than Maz’s, maybe he should focus on that for his platform.
"Evaluate everyone, but instead of having all the [Hall of Fame] players vote, maybe just a couple players, a couple broadcasters, a couple writers -- a much smaller group. That's how [Joe] Gordon got in."
Why would they do that Ron? Joe Gordan got voted in by only 12 guys because he was elected by the committee of 12 people that selects players from the pre-WWII era. You played after WWII so you are subject to the vote of the living members of the Hall of Fame. Those are the rules. Not perfect maybe, I’ll give you that, but those are the rules. If you truly thought you were worthy of being elected by the Veterans Committee wouldn’t you rather have all your peers, the ones who you played with and against, have a say in the process? I guess Ron thinks he’d have more pull with only a couple players and his peers in the media sitting around in a room chewing Red Man exchanging stories about Santo beating up hippies back in the 60’s to let off steam after games. Ron Santo is probably right, that sort of system would probably work out better for Ron Santo, but I’m not sure if everyone else would be too happy about a smaller committee electing their old drinking buddies to the Hall of Fame. Well at least Ron didn’t sink to the level of bringing up his diabetes as a reason he should be a Hall of Famer. Oh? He did……
''Getting in or not getting in is not going to change my life at all. I'm going to be me, and that's it," Santo said, according to the Sun-Times. "But I feel I deserve this. I put up Hall of Fame numbers during the greatest era of baseball for pitchers, and I played with diabetes. Only diabetics can know what I went through. It would have just been satisfying [to be elected].''
I think that settles it. From hence forth the Hall of Fame will have a Committee of Diabetics to determine if former diabetic players are worthy of election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. So far committee members include: Wilford Brimley, the horse from Half Baked, Jay Cutler, Mike Huckabee, Adam Morrison, Mick Fleetwood, and Ron Santo.
Oh, and one last thing Ron. Maybe next time before you try to pull out the ‘diabetic card’, keep in mind that Ty Cobb and Catfish Hunter were both diabetics and were both elected by the BBWAA to the Hall of Fame.
Better luck next year Ron.
Note:
The following scene is taken from the screenplay and upcoming feature film entitled Captain Fantastic; Earth Saver.
Courtesy of Captain Fantastic.
Copyright pending.
[In this scene Captain Fantastic and Boy #1 are sitting at a local ice cream parlor sharing a strawberry malt. Captain Fantastic is trying to explain to Boy #1 the caliber of player selected by the Veterans Committee to become members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.]
Captain Fantastic: Close your eyes son. Now, imagine you’re watching the 2050 Academy Awards and you see Vince Vaughn or Charlie Sheen accepting an honorary lifetime achievement Oscar for acting.
Boy #1: [shocked] But, those guys are mediocre actors who would never get an Oscar for their acting abilities today, let alone even be seriously considered right?!
Captain Fantastic: [enthusiastically] Exactly! And this make-believe situation involving Vince Vaughn or Charlie Sheen receiving an honorary Academy Award is somewhat analogous to the caliber of baseball players the Veterans Committee selects to be members of the Hall of Fame.
Boy #1: [excited] I think I get it now! So what you’re trying to say is that in his time not many people considered Ron Santo to be a Hall of Famer, only a solid player who had a good career, but now that time has passed and Santo has remained relevant and become a fixture of baseball, very much like Vince or Charlie could do in the film industry, people think he should be in the Hall of Fame. Sort of like a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for baseball!
Captain Fantastic: Bingo!
Boy #1: Captain Fantastic, do you think robots will act in movies in the future?
Captain Fantastic: The future!? Did you see the last Keanu Reeves movie?
Boy #1: [laughs] Gee Captain Fantastic, you sure are great at teaching [pauses] and saving the Earth from destruction.
Captain Fantastic: [smiling] I only hope I am as good at saving the Earth from destruction as this ice cream parlor is at making strawberry malts!
Captain Fantastic and Boy #1 together: [thunderously laughing]
Scene.
I hope that cleared things up for everyone. Now to the good stuff courtesy of ESPN.com:
''It's a travesty,'' Santo said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. ''When I saw nobody got in again, I go, 'Whoa, this is wrong.' They can't keep going the way they're going. They've got to put a [different] committee out there.''
"It'll be eight years now that they've voted and not let anybody in. And personally, I feel like there's a lot of guys that should've been in, not just me," Santo said, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Fair enough. Maybe they could make some changes to the process by which players are selected by the Veterans Committee. Calling it a travesty is probably overkill though. Genocide in Africa is a travesty. Brain cancer is a travesty. No one being elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. Not quite on the same level.
However, Hall of Fame chairwoman Jane Forbes Clark noted that the goal of the two-stage veterans' process is not to elect someone every time they vote, according to the Sun-Times.
''The process was not redesigned with the goal of necessarily electing someone, but to give everyone on the ballot a very fair chance of earning election through a ballot of their peers,'' Clark said, according to the report.
No argument here. Makes all the sense in the world. The Veterans Committee is in place to elect a player that may have been looked over by the Hall of Fame voters (BBWAA) while they were eligible for election after their retirement or when the Hall of Fame opened. A player does not have to be elected every year, in fact that would dilute the honor of being elected to the Hall of Fame. If someone is deserving they should get voted in and who better to do the voting than a committee of their peers?
"They have to change it," Santo said, according to the Tribune. "They're going to still have a Veterans Committee, but it should go back to where it was [in the '90s] when Bill Mazeroski got in. I think they should have a committee of maybe 12 guys that vote, that's the way to do it."
OK. Now I’m starting to lose you Ronnie. I am not quite sure where the Maz reference helps you here. Does Ron think Maz is a good comparison to himself? Bill James has said that Maz probably had the most impressive defensive stats of any player at any position. Now that is something which could have been overlooked by election committees in the past especially with the advent of more precise fielding statistics that didn’t even exist in Maz’s day. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve never heard Santo be referenced as possibly the greatest defensive player of all time. And Santo’s batting totals are much more impressive than Maz’s, maybe he should focus on that for his platform.
"Evaluate everyone, but instead of having all the [Hall of Fame] players vote, maybe just a couple players, a couple broadcasters, a couple writers -- a much smaller group. That's how [Joe] Gordon got in."
Why would they do that Ron? Joe Gordan got voted in by only 12 guys because he was elected by the committee of 12 people that selects players from the pre-WWII era. You played after WWII so you are subject to the vote of the living members of the Hall of Fame. Those are the rules. Not perfect maybe, I’ll give you that, but those are the rules. If you truly thought you were worthy of being elected by the Veterans Committee wouldn’t you rather have all your peers, the ones who you played with and against, have a say in the process? I guess Ron thinks he’d have more pull with only a couple players and his peers in the media sitting around in a room chewing Red Man exchanging stories about Santo beating up hippies back in the 60’s to let off steam after games. Ron Santo is probably right, that sort of system would probably work out better for Ron Santo, but I’m not sure if everyone else would be too happy about a smaller committee electing their old drinking buddies to the Hall of Fame. Well at least Ron didn’t sink to the level of bringing up his diabetes as a reason he should be a Hall of Famer. Oh? He did……
''Getting in or not getting in is not going to change my life at all. I'm going to be me, and that's it," Santo said, according to the Sun-Times. "But I feel I deserve this. I put up Hall of Fame numbers during the greatest era of baseball for pitchers, and I played with diabetes. Only diabetics can know what I went through. It would have just been satisfying [to be elected].''
I think that settles it. From hence forth the Hall of Fame will have a Committee of Diabetics to determine if former diabetic players are worthy of election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. So far committee members include: Wilford Brimley, the horse from Half Baked, Jay Cutler, Mike Huckabee, Adam Morrison, Mick Fleetwood, and Ron Santo.
Oh, and one last thing Ron. Maybe next time before you try to pull out the ‘diabetic card’, keep in mind that Ty Cobb and Catfish Hunter were both diabetics and were both elected by the BBWAA to the Hall of Fame.
Better luck next year Ron.
Monday, December 8, 2008
What I Assume Will be the First of Many Colletti Posts
We all knew this day would come, but I didn't expect it would come so quickly. That's right, today marks the first edition in a 3,767 part series entitled "Ned Colletti is an Idiot " (expected to be completed in a week and a half). Today, the brilliant Dr. Colletti declared to the world something shocking and completely unknown to the rest of mankind: CC Sabathia, a native of California, would like to play in California. Shocking link below:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3755609
Easily the best part comes when it is revealed that:
Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark on Monday that he ran into the free agent on Sunday night in a hotel lobby and the left-hander told him that he wants to be a Dodger.
Did it really take this man, who replaced a Harvard graduate, has been said by several morons to be Executive of the Year, and is entrusted with the well-being of a multi-million dollar organization a chance meeting with CC Sabathia to realize that the top free agent pitcher on the market would like to play in the state he grew up in? This is particularly shocking since I, and everyone else I know, was well aware of this fact. I can't believe this is even true. I bet the Onion wrote this. Here are some other things that I would bet Ned Colletti recently unearthed:
ATM Machines
His car has a cassette tape player
Cassette tapes
Hotel Lobbies
Chapter books without pictures
Sweatshirts
The tooth fairy is ficticious
He is the general manager of a baseball team
How to protect self from the SARS epidemic
How to operate a vending machine
Refrigeration
Key rings
Alright, I think I have probably exceeded the smug limit for a single post, so I'm going to go calm down and pretend I have a life outside of reading and writing about baseball.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3755609
Easily the best part comes when it is revealed that:
Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark on Monday that he ran into the free agent on Sunday night in a hotel lobby and the left-hander told him that he wants to be a Dodger.
Did it really take this man, who replaced a Harvard graduate, has been said by several morons to be Executive of the Year, and is entrusted with the well-being of a multi-million dollar organization a chance meeting with CC Sabathia to realize that the top free agent pitcher on the market would like to play in the state he grew up in? This is particularly shocking since I, and everyone else I know, was well aware of this fact. I can't believe this is even true. I bet the Onion wrote this. Here are some other things that I would bet Ned Colletti recently unearthed:
ATM Machines
His car has a cassette tape player
Cassette tapes
Hotel Lobbies
Chapter books without pictures
Sweatshirts
The tooth fairy is ficticious
He is the general manager of a baseball team
How to protect self from the SARS epidemic
How to operate a vending machine
Refrigeration
Key rings
Alright, I think I have probably exceeded the smug limit for a single post, so I'm going to go calm down and pretend I have a life outside of reading and writing about baseball.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Seattle Just Got a Little More Muscular
I wanted to take this opportunity to bid happy trails to two term Milwaukee Brewer slugger Russell Branyan who signed yesterday with our old pal (the man who should be General Manager of the Crew) Jack Zduriencik and his Seattle Mariners. Last season Russell ‘The Muscle’ (I always hated that nickname, it seemed so obvious, but I guess it worked) became an instant fan favorite after being called up from Nashville and subsequently littering Miller Park with some of the most prodigious homeruns Milwaukee fans had ever seen. For a stretch last year Branyan was posting Ruth or Bonds-esque numbers with an astonishingly low rate of AB’s between homeruns (I don’t recall exactly what the number was at its peak, but it was pretty eye-popping). As Ponyboy said it best, “Nothing gold can stay” and the shine wore off Branyan and injuries and Major League breaking balls caught up to him, but personally two of Branyan’s homeruns provided me a couple of my better Brewers memories from the 2008 season.
1) Saturday June 14th against the Twins Russell pinch hit with the Brewers down by a run facing closer Jeff Nathan; two outs, bottom of the 9th and Branyan takes Nathan deep to left field to tie the game and send it to extra innings.
2) Tuesday July 28th, first game of the disastrous 4 game sweep by the Cubs at Miller Park, Branyan pinch hits in the 7th and provides the only real pleasurable moment of the series by taking Bob Howry deep to left to tie the game and swing the momentum in Miller Park back to the Brewers fans.
Unfortunately, both these exciting memories provided by Branyan came in Brewers losses (the bullpen ended up blowing both games mentioned above).
I’m sad to see Branyan go. He was a very solid pinch hitter to have at your disposal. And it is always exciting to have a guy at the plate who you know could take the next pitch deep to potentially tie or win the game in a late inning situation. Watching three-true-outcome hitters at the plate is just downright fun in this guy’s opinion. In the end Branyan is probably no better than a homeless man’s Adam Dunn, but thanks for the memories and when the Brewers send Tony Gwynn Jr to the plate to pinch hit in a one run game in the future I will think of Russell Branyan fondly.
1) Saturday June 14th against the Twins Russell pinch hit with the Brewers down by a run facing closer Jeff Nathan; two outs, bottom of the 9th and Branyan takes Nathan deep to left field to tie the game and send it to extra innings.
2) Tuesday July 28th, first game of the disastrous 4 game sweep by the Cubs at Miller Park, Branyan pinch hits in the 7th and provides the only real pleasurable moment of the series by taking Bob Howry deep to left to tie the game and swing the momentum in Miller Park back to the Brewers fans.
Unfortunately, both these exciting memories provided by Branyan came in Brewers losses (the bullpen ended up blowing both games mentioned above).
I’m sad to see Branyan go. He was a very solid pinch hitter to have at your disposal. And it is always exciting to have a guy at the plate who you know could take the next pitch deep to potentially tie or win the game in a late inning situation. Watching three-true-outcome hitters at the plate is just downright fun in this guy’s opinion. In the end Branyan is probably no better than a homeless man’s Adam Dunn, but thanks for the memories and when the Brewers send Tony Gwynn Jr to the plate to pinch hit in a one run game in the future I will think of Russell Branyan fondly.
Arbitrary Meditations
I present for the approval of the MidNight Society a meandering collection of thoughts/opinions on the Brewers’ arbitration proceedings. So with no further ado:
1) CC Sabathia- No brainer, the club guarantees itself two draft picks, which in all likelihood is the best case scenario for the club; and perhaps if Sabathia’s agents have a momentary lapse in judgment and check “Yes” on the form (I’m not sure how the process works, but I imagine a sheet of paper with two boxes, one with “Yes” next to it and the other “No”; I believe this is the same process by which the Pope is selected) and the ball club gets Sabathia for another year for about 20 million. And not to rattle any cages or rustle any feathers, but I’m still very skeptical that signing the man for 5 years at $100 million is a slam-dunk. The Brewers are NOT the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, etc etc and could not deal with the very real possibility that CC breaks down in the near future and the team is starting the 2010 season in Milwaukee with Sabathia sitting in Southern California sipping on a tropical drink and rehabbing his shoulder while the Brewers have 20% of their payroll tied up in him. Realistically, this is exactly how the collective bargaining agreement is meant to work for Major League Baseball and the Brewers. Brewers build through the draft and a strong farm system, talent develops and comes together for the one, two, or three years before rookie contracts begin to fade into the Milwaukee night, talent crests and Brewers make a run at the playoffs and bring in high class free agent midseason (see Brewers 2008 season and CC Sabathia), high class free agent leaves for New York, Boston, Los Angeles, etc etc, Brewers get multitude of compensation draft picks, repeat as necessary. Circle of life for the Milwaukee Brewers organization. I think at this point we should thank Mr. Sabathia for the memories he provided Milwaukee and know that he will always have a place in the hearts of Milwaukee Brewers fans. The man deserves and should receive a standing ovation whenever he comes back to Miller Park no matter what uniform he may be sporting. And somewhere in our minds we will hope Matt LaPorta doesn’t turn into the next Manny Ramirez.
2) Ben Sheets- It’s been reported this evening, December 3rd, that Sheets has turned down arbitration from the Brewers, so similarly to Sabathia this is a win/win situation. Call me a dreamer or crazy, but I really would not mind seeing Benny as a Brewer in 2009. I know, even as a write this, I can hear the multitudes yelling “But what happens when he gets injured!?”. Well my answer to that is, “What if he doesn’t?”. I am an adamant defender of Sheets, call me bias because I was there when he got introduced as a conquering hero post Olympics at the closing of Country and I was there to witness his 18K CG against the Braves in 2005, but when healthy, Sheets is a Cy Young caliber pitcher. Look at his 2004 numbers, the man was magic. Glory fades, and in the past couple years one could set their watch to a Ben Sheets summer injury, but I guess my biggest defense of possibly resigning Sheets is this: 1) maybe the free market will do us justice and other potential suitors will be scared away from an aging injury prone pitcher and 2) what are the other real prospects at this juncture for a #1 starter for 2009? Sabathia, as mentioned above, not going to happen and maybe that’s for the better, or going out and throwing a lot of money at Derek Lowe or AJ Burnett, another injury prone pitcher whose numbers are very comparable to Sheets and probably not as good. What do I see the Brewers doing if they don’t resign Sheets or Sabathia? Overpaying for a middle of the road starter, one that is far from a #1 (maybe a Looper, Garland, Ryan Dumpster). Can anyone say….Jeff Suppan all over again? Hardly an open and shut case for paying for Sheets, but maybe he’ll go out, test the waters, and realize he didn’t have it so bad in Milwaukee and come back for reasonable price. At this point, I’d take him over the alternatives.
3) EDIT- Caution: It is not wise to sit down and write 400 words about a baseball player being up for arbitration because you think you read about it in the newspaper over your morning bowl of Apple Jack's. Check your facts, then write. But I still stand behind my pro Seth McClung and Apple Jack's agenda.
4) Eric Gagne- Good riddance to bad rubbish. No need to beat a dead horse or throw gas on the fire here, but I think no one in Milwaukee will be sad to see him go; although I did hear he tipped delivery men $100 each time they brought food to his dwelling which is pretty cool, but if that’s the best thing one can say about a 10 million dollar closer then that is not saying much. The whole Gagne fiasco makes me sad actually. On numerous occasions I became an object of ridicule publicly, most notably a few times on WSSP 1250’s postgame show, because I wrote and called in multiple times saying it was fruitless and mind-boggling as to why Brewers fans insisted on booing Gagne when he would come out of the bullpen in save and tight game situations. Not to get started on Brewers fans booing habits in 2008, but still to this day it makes me furious to think we booed our team/players when we were winning games. I know they’re professionals and all, but didn’t we want Gagne to do well? I guess he became the scapegoat (pre Ned Yost) for all our frustrations , but Gagne and I will always share that scorn from the 2008 season. Maybe him a little more than myself.
Well, I didn’t set a 1,300 word goal for my inaugural post, but here we are. Damage done. I’m not much for goodbyes so I’ll just say; Bring on the winter meetings!
1) CC Sabathia- No brainer, the club guarantees itself two draft picks, which in all likelihood is the best case scenario for the club; and perhaps if Sabathia’s agents have a momentary lapse in judgment and check “Yes” on the form (I’m not sure how the process works, but I imagine a sheet of paper with two boxes, one with “Yes” next to it and the other “No”; I believe this is the same process by which the Pope is selected) and the ball club gets Sabathia for another year for about 20 million. And not to rattle any cages or rustle any feathers, but I’m still very skeptical that signing the man for 5 years at $100 million is a slam-dunk. The Brewers are NOT the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, etc etc and could not deal with the very real possibility that CC breaks down in the near future and the team is starting the 2010 season in Milwaukee with Sabathia sitting in Southern California sipping on a tropical drink and rehabbing his shoulder while the Brewers have 20% of their payroll tied up in him. Realistically, this is exactly how the collective bargaining agreement is meant to work for Major League Baseball and the Brewers. Brewers build through the draft and a strong farm system, talent develops and comes together for the one, two, or three years before rookie contracts begin to fade into the Milwaukee night, talent crests and Brewers make a run at the playoffs and bring in high class free agent midseason (see Brewers 2008 season and CC Sabathia), high class free agent leaves for New York, Boston, Los Angeles, etc etc, Brewers get multitude of compensation draft picks, repeat as necessary. Circle of life for the Milwaukee Brewers organization. I think at this point we should thank Mr. Sabathia for the memories he provided Milwaukee and know that he will always have a place in the hearts of Milwaukee Brewers fans. The man deserves and should receive a standing ovation whenever he comes back to Miller Park no matter what uniform he may be sporting. And somewhere in our minds we will hope Matt LaPorta doesn’t turn into the next Manny Ramirez.
2) Ben Sheets- It’s been reported this evening, December 3rd, that Sheets has turned down arbitration from the Brewers, so similarly to Sabathia this is a win/win situation. Call me a dreamer or crazy, but I really would not mind seeing Benny as a Brewer in 2009. I know, even as a write this, I can hear the multitudes yelling “But what happens when he gets injured!?”. Well my answer to that is, “What if he doesn’t?”. I am an adamant defender of Sheets, call me bias because I was there when he got introduced as a conquering hero post Olympics at the closing of Country and I was there to witness his 18K CG against the Braves in 2005, but when healthy, Sheets is a Cy Young caliber pitcher. Look at his 2004 numbers, the man was magic. Glory fades, and in the past couple years one could set their watch to a Ben Sheets summer injury, but I guess my biggest defense of possibly resigning Sheets is this: 1) maybe the free market will do us justice and other potential suitors will be scared away from an aging injury prone pitcher and 2) what are the other real prospects at this juncture for a #1 starter for 2009? Sabathia, as mentioned above, not going to happen and maybe that’s for the better, or going out and throwing a lot of money at Derek Lowe or AJ Burnett, another injury prone pitcher whose numbers are very comparable to Sheets and probably not as good. What do I see the Brewers doing if they don’t resign Sheets or Sabathia? Overpaying for a middle of the road starter, one that is far from a #1 (maybe a Looper, Garland, Ryan Dumpster). Can anyone say….Jeff Suppan all over again? Hardly an open and shut case for paying for Sheets, but maybe he’ll go out, test the waters, and realize he didn’t have it so bad in Milwaukee and come back for reasonable price. At this point, I’d take him over the alternatives.
3) EDIT- Caution: It is not wise to sit down and write 400 words about a baseball player being up for arbitration because you think you read about it in the newspaper over your morning bowl of Apple Jack's. Check your facts, then write. But I still stand behind my pro Seth McClung and Apple Jack's agenda.
4) Eric Gagne- Good riddance to bad rubbish. No need to beat a dead horse or throw gas on the fire here, but I think no one in Milwaukee will be sad to see him go; although I did hear he tipped delivery men $100 each time they brought food to his dwelling which is pretty cool, but if that’s the best thing one can say about a 10 million dollar closer then that is not saying much. The whole Gagne fiasco makes me sad actually. On numerous occasions I became an object of ridicule publicly, most notably a few times on WSSP 1250’s postgame show, because I wrote and called in multiple times saying it was fruitless and mind-boggling as to why Brewers fans insisted on booing Gagne when he would come out of the bullpen in save and tight game situations. Not to get started on Brewers fans booing habits in 2008, but still to this day it makes me furious to think we booed our team/players when we were winning games. I know they’re professionals and all, but didn’t we want Gagne to do well? I guess he became the scapegoat (pre Ned Yost) for all our frustrations , but Gagne and I will always share that scorn from the 2008 season. Maybe him a little more than myself.
Well, I didn’t set a 1,300 word goal for my inaugural post, but here we are. Damage done. I’m not much for goodbyes so I’ll just say; Bring on the winter meetings!
Introduction
Welcome to Just a Bit Outside-
I figure that you might be wondering exactly what the purpose of this blog is. Sometimes I wonder the same thing myself. Basically, this is a way for a group of friends who are spread across the country to discuss the Milwaukee Brewers and baseball. Our Ann Arbor field reporter might start to make some "Fire Rich Rodriguez" posts; I don't condone it, but I feel it might be inevitable.
So feel free to read what we have here and either: a)agree wholeheartedly and name your children after us(KP is a beautiful name for a boy or girl), or b)disagree entirely and write us e-mails telling us that we are assholes. I'm sure there is a third option out there somewhere, but I can't even think of what it might be.
With that said, this is sort of a work in progress so I don't know exactly what the future holds in store for us here. We don't have any real plans or aspirations, but we really do like baseball and the Brewers. Writing this introduction is boring me, and I'm sure reading it is even more painful; lets get to the good stuff.
I figure that you might be wondering exactly what the purpose of this blog is. Sometimes I wonder the same thing myself. Basically, this is a way for a group of friends who are spread across the country to discuss the Milwaukee Brewers and baseball. Our Ann Arbor field reporter might start to make some "Fire Rich Rodriguez" posts; I don't condone it, but I feel it might be inevitable.
So feel free to read what we have here and either: a)agree wholeheartedly and name your children after us(KP is a beautiful name for a boy or girl), or b)disagree entirely and write us e-mails telling us that we are assholes. I'm sure there is a third option out there somewhere, but I can't even think of what it might be.
With that said, this is sort of a work in progress so I don't know exactly what the future holds in store for us here. We don't have any real plans or aspirations, but we really do like baseball and the Brewers. Writing this introduction is boring me, and I'm sure reading it is even more painful; lets get to the good stuff.
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