Yount On Steroid Talk

We all know Yount was a hell of a ballplayer, but he's also a pretty good man. Well spoken words on the recent McGwire bashing.

To paraphrase some of his commments, it's easy to take the high road when you no longer play the game, but situations reversed, no one can say what they would or wouldn't have done to keep up with the Joneses. Do I like that some great baseball memories from the last 10-15 years are shrouded in doubt? Of course not. But that's the place we are now as fans of the sport. Does it change my love of the game? Heck no. Besides, I'm about done with the steroids b.s. When the Steelers win the Lombardi Trophy, do they qualify it with "but a lot of the team was on 'roids in the 70's"? It's long overdue to move on.

History will put this era in context, as it always does in MLB.

McCalvy on Fielder

Interesting story at Brewers.com, basically outlining the current status & speculating on Fielder's free agency in '12.

I've been back and forth on the issue myself, as Braun & Prince make a heckuva couple, but regardless of what the Crew reinvests into the team, I just don't see any way they don't flip him in '11. Unless they're in serious contention in 2011 & say damn the torpedoes and take the draft picks at year's end (a development I highly doubt would occur). I suppose they could pull another 2-year deal to buy out one season of FA.

Much has been made of Fielder's "body type" in the past, which traditionally breaks down as the clock turns 30. Could the Crew try to lock him up until age 29, then part ways? Would Boras allow himself to break from past processes and do another 2-year? I wish I knew.

Coffey Signs

The Crew avoided arbitration by signing Todd Coffey today. The deal essentially settles at the mid-point of the exchanged arby figures (which is usually how these things turn out, making the arbitration process one in which teams overspend to stay out of the panel process).

Coffey was outstanding for the Brewers in '09, but one has to wonder about a repeat since they rode him like a whipped mule much of the time.

The bullpen now sports quite a bit of money between Hoffman, Riske, Hawkins, & Coffey. I'm left to wonder if there were more cost-effective pieces already in the system.

Sharpie Back With MIL

Welcome back, Double-D.

This puts the rotation at Gallardo, Wolf, Bush, Davis, Manny/Soup. Does Bush get packaged? Does Manny go down to AAA (I believe he has options left)? Does Soup go in a salary dump-ish move? Or none of the above.

Regardless, Melvin & Co. have done an admirable job of adressing the Crew's biggest weakness from a year ago.

Brown Wins in MA

Well said.

Pushing agenda's through against the will of the people is never a good idea. I've long said this health care reform should be more about overhauling the health care system, not socializing the country. Costs are running rampant to the point that those with health care can barely afford to use it, much less those without it.

I guess we'll find out why our founding fathers settled on 4-year terms. Obama has the chance to bring about change, for both himself and the USA. Let's hope it's good change.

Overfluffing Your Ben Sheets

Let me say this up front: I don't think Benny is necessarily injury-prone. He's had some of the strangest injuries; an inner-ear infection, then a recurrence of the same thing later, the torn latissimus dorsi muscle, the torn finger tendon.

But I can't imagine the flavor of Kool-Aid he and his agent are consuming if they're asking for this. $10 mil with incentives, then a player-controlled option? Yikes! Now, obviously, this is out of the Brewer's range and I don't get the feeling the two sides left on the best of terms, but, again, I'm sure one of the large market teams may actually acquiesce to these demands.

We all know Sheeter can be dominant, but I only see a handful of teams being able to swallow that cash if the deal goes bad.

8. Brewers. For all the second-guessing over the near $30-million, three-year contract Randy Wolf, he is just what they needed. Though, they probably need one more pitcher. They remain in the hunt for Jarrod Washburn or Doug Davis and probably will also give former A's star Mark Mulder a shot, as well. - Heyman's top 10 offseasons over at SI.Com.

I agree the Crew has gotten better on the pitching end. Whether a Mulder signing will pay any dividends is fractional. One of the trio of Washburn/Davis/Garland may be out of the price range. Plus, with no one willing to take on Suppan, that may mean Bush would be part of a swap (hopefully, his arm is healed after that microtear last year).

What Heyman doesn't mention is the loss of Cameron's power from the CF spot. One thing is for sure, though: The Crew will be sporting some team speed (Gomez, Hart, Weeks, Braun, Escobar). Whether or not Macha chooses to use it, and use it correctly, is another question.

Brewers Held Up As Example

This, ladies & gentlemen, is why Mr. Attanasio is has quickly become a WI favorite.

"To make their point, they have cited the Milwaukee Brewers, whose owner Mark Attanasio has taken their payroll to over $80 million the last couple of seasons - and been rewarded by attendances of more than three million for the first time in their history the past two seasons. Not bad for the smallest media market in baseball." - New York Daily News

I, for one, would like to thank you, Mark.