I'm sure that's what Joel Hanrahan and Lastings Milledge are thinking despite the fact they play for a worse team.

What in the name of Forbes Field is going on in Pittsburgh?

Now on its way to a record setting 17th straight losing season, the Pirates are like a shelter for wandering vagrants. It seems that every season near July 1st they begin their annual drive to expel players for what it seems like whatever they will get for them.

What's so surprising this year is that the team is actually competitive in a tight NL Central race. Going into tonight's game against the Cubs, the Pirates are in last place but with a respectable 35-41 record.

Let's take a look at who's been in and out through the revolving door since last July and what they've gotten in return.

Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss for Jason Bay
Andy LaRoche part of 3 team deal in order for the Dodgers to get Manny Ramirez
Steven Jackson for waiver price.
Evan Meek    Rule 5 draftee
Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady for Jeff Karstens, Ross Ohlendorf and 2 minor leaguers
Nate McLouth for Charlie Morton and 3 minor leaguers
Ramon Vasquez   Free agent
Two minor leaguers for Eric Hinske
Joel Hanrahan and Lastings Milledge for Nyger Morgan and Sean Burnett
.
As their current record indicates, these moves have been moderately successful.  But if you have been on this team for awhile like Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, Zach Duke, Paul Maholm or John Grabow, you can't help but wonder if you'll be next when the Grim Reaper comes calling. All indications are that Wilson will be gone before the trading deadline.
If you've been shown the door, you can't help but be gleeful (Bay, Nady, McLouth, Hinske) with perhaps the exception of Morgan and Burnett who go from bad to worse.

But while trying to purge salary and "improve the team" these moves have sent dissension through the clubhouse and whatever die-hard Pirates fans are left have to be perplexed.  The others have abandoned ship without much hope of ever returning despite the ambience of one of the best new stadiums. After all, who can they hope to see and follow for more than a few years without their loyalty being crushed.

It's not easy to be either a player or a fan in the slough that is Pittsburgh.

As the season nears the All-Star break, I'm sure the Milwaukee Brewers are pondering what to do with their dreadful starting pitching. As I mentioned in my pre-season analysis, starting pitching will make or break this team and in the last month or so it has been downright ugly.
The stats for the past ten starts:

                               W-L/IP/IP per G/ERA/WHIP
Jeff Suppan            4-3/55.1/5.5/4.05/1.78
David Bush            2-4/55/ 5.5 /6.22/1.38
Braden Looper       3-4/55.2/5.5/6.35/1.37
Manny Parra          3-6/50.1/5.0/7.34/ 1.97

                    AND
Yovani Gallardo      4-3/55.1/5.5/3.09/1.37

I separated Gallardo because he has remained consistently better than the others and has respectable numbers, although his walks allowed could be lower. Further, he has been matched up with the opponents' ace more often than the others and his holding his own. Over his past 10 starts, he has pitched against Paul Maholm (team won 7-4/ND), Wandy Rodriguez (team lost 6-4/ND),  Chris Carpenter in perhaps the best pitched game in the majors this year (team lost 1-0 in 10 innings/ND), Jair Jurrgens (team won 3-0/ W/ 2 hitter), Aaron Cook (team lost  5-4/L) and Justin Verlander (team lost 3-2/L).

Parra was so bad he is now in Nashville. Bush declined rapidly from a stellar April and is now on the DL. Looper has no consistency and has been hammered of late. Suppan's numbers over the past 10 games have been decent, but this followed a truly repugnant April. We should expect more from the $12.5 million man.

Note that the starters on average barely make it into the sixth inning, which is low even in this era of rare complete games. This puts additional stress on the bullpen.

So where should GM Doug Melvin turn for help?  The farm system is not the answer. Indeed, the last three call-ups have been retreads from other teams, Chris Narveson (Cardinals), Chris Smith (Red Sox) and Mike Burns (Houston, Boston, Cincinnati).

Chris Cody, a lefthander at AAA Nashville has looked good enough to be considered and may get the call soon, especially if Melvin is unsuccessful in the trade market.

He has vowed not to trade his top prospects like last year when Matt LaPorta and Michael Brantley were sent to Cleveland for CC Sabathia.

There is no CC on the blocks thus year as yet and the names that have been thrown out so far all carry baggage: Erik Bedard - injuries,  Jarrod Washburn - age and salary, Jake Peavy - strict no trade clause, Mark Hendrickson - no way, Carl Pavano - the same,  Gil Meche - big salary
There may be three possible options. The first is Arizona LP Doug Davis whom Melvin has mentioned regretted trading. The second possibility is Oakland LP Dallas Braden, who is putting up decent numbers on a team whose GM, Billy Beane, is always listening to offers. The third is Boston RP Brad Penny who may be expendable when Diasuke Matzuaka comes off the DL.

Any of the three will help bolster the rotation. If none of these scenarios play out, then Melvin might have to seek a blockbuster on the scale of the CC deal. It may mean having to sell the future for the present, which is why Melvin is probably wishing hard that this recent collapse is an aberration.

Don't count in it.

I doubt that the team will do anything big, but you can bet that they will listen to all offers especially if the team continues to lose traction in the NL Central. The fans had a taste of winning last year and the team has been in first place longer than any other in the division this year. What a shame it would be to sit and hope things get better while watching other teams pass us in the standings.

As I get ready to watch the first game of this weekend's interleague series between the White Sox and the Brewers, I'm getting geared up to listen to Manager Ozzie Guillen. No other skipper is as frank and brutally honest about his team and players.
He must be a delight to the press, dishing out comments after each game that are provocative and emotional. His passion for the game and his team is evident.
Here are a few Observations from Ozzie :

"I wish whoever I put in the leadoff spot will do their job, because I'm tired of the same questions. I've been answering the same questions since spring training."      
 April 9th , 2009 lost 2-1 to KC

"He's (Jose Contreras) got to figure it out. It was a pretty bad game, walking people, not getting guys out. He walked the leadoff guy in like three different innings."
  April 21, 2009 lost 10-3 to Baltimore

"He (Bartolo Colon) was not throwing strikes. The ball was not moving. You got to throw strikes. Every time he put the ball in the middle of the plate, he got hit."       
  April 23rd, 2009    lost 6-2 to Baltimore

"When you take your glove to the plate and you take the bat to the field, you are not going to have much success in this game. I don't like what I (saw) today, not because of the error, I'm making it clear, I (didn't) like his (Alexi Ramirez) attitude today. He was kind of head down and feeling sorry for himself."
  April 24th, 2009  lost 14-0 to Toronto

"Most of the time when you're going to talk to the players, myself, I wait for them to do something good. Make sure they don't take it the wrong way because they had a bad game. All of a sudden, (they're) in the principal's office."
   April 25th 2009 won 10-2 against Toronto

"It's a pretty ugly 4-0. He's always the same. It doesn't matter whether he's 8-0, he does the same job." (on Mark Buerhle)
   May 1, 2009 won 4-3 against Texas

"Some people on this team better check (themselves), They better think about the way we're playing--I'm talking about everyone. They better be careful. I'm not afraid to move people. I'm not afraid to make changes."
    May 5th lost 8-7 to KC 11  innings

"He's umpire (Barksdale) got a point. I don't think he liked what he saw. If that guys score than I think I should be the worst manager in the game. I'm not that crazy."
    May 9th, 2009 commenting on Booby Jenks' inside pitch to Texas outfielder David Murphy.  White Sox 3, Texas 2

"In the big leagues, if you don't throw a strike, I don't care how good you are, you're going to get killed. He (Gavin Floyd)  couldn't throw his curve for strikes because he couldn't throw his fastball for strikes. You have to command your fastball to make the other pitches work."
    May 11th Cleveland 9, White Sox 4

"Offensively we're really, really bad right now. We have to be better than that. How? It's my job to figure out how. We're going to make maybe a few changes in the lineup to see if that works. But when the manager changes the lineup every day, that's not a good sign of a winning ballclub. I don't think I'm doing my job," My job is winning games and that's the last thing we're doing right now."
    May 15th Toronto 8, White Sox 3

"There's so many different ways to lose, you can't describe each of them."
    May 18th Toronto 3, White Sox 2

"We did everything wrong we could do. You name it, we did it wrong. I always think positive, Colon will be real fresh for his next start."
    May 21st Minnesota 20, White Sox 1

"It's kind of hard for me, I have to play him (inf Wilson Betemit). It seems every time we play him he makes an error. "
    June 2nd Oakland 5, White Sox 0 Betemit was released the next day.

"Really bad. He struck out, what am I going to say? He was good?" ...on top rookie prospect Gordon Beckham's debut.
    June 4th Oakland 7, White Sox 0

"People are going to be struggling at the plate, but we got a man on third base and no outs and we can't get him in. We swing at back-to-back changeups in the dirt, it's just a lot of bad things happening right now. A lot of bad ugly things, embarrassing things happening now."
    June 5th Cleveland 6, White Sox 0

We don't know what to do. Everything we try doesn't work. Maybe if I go crazy with the media and (rip) my team ... I might wake them up. But it's wasting my time."
    June 7th Cleveland 7, White Sox 4

""If this was the 1980s, (none) of these guys would be in the big leagues right now, because if you hit .210-.230 and you can't execute, I don't think you should be out here. When you can't bunt, hit-and-run, squeeze and move the guy over, you better hit 40 home runs and drive in 140. Somebody has to change because if we don't do what we're supposed to do, I'll take the blame because that's my job."
    June 8th Detroit 5, White Sox 4

It's the 7th inning of the opener and the Brewers lead 6-2 after a 3 run 6th and a 3 run 7th. There ought to be some interesting comments after the game. Come on, Ozzie, don't disappoint me, I've waited all year for this.

The Washington Nationals are expected to take highly-touted San Diego St. pitcher Stephen Strasberg with the first pick in tomorrow's draft. That's a bold move.

As everyone knows, he is represented by the notorious Scott Boras, who will use all of his tools to insult the Nationals for not being "forthright" in negotiations. It is said that record breaking dollars for a #1 draft pick will be necessary to sign him. How much? Over $10.1 million upfront plus an additional $40 million over the life of the contract. This for a pitcher, arguably the best prospect at that position ever, who has yet to throw a professional pitch.  To put this in perspective, $50 million is more money than the entire payroll of three mlb teams and nearly as much as the Nationals 2009 $59 million payroll.

Now I know he won't get this in one lump sum but it is still beyond comprehension. Say Strasberg signs and is in the Nationals' rotation by September, which many are predicting. Does that justify the $1millon plus bonus, which is more than anyone else on the team makes? That will create animosity for sure.

Pitchers, by the nature of the position, are more prone to elbow and shoulder injuries. If Strasberg eventually faces the dreaded Tommy John surgery before the completion of the contract, the Nationals will be paying him star money for doing nothing but rehab.

The Nationals as an organization is revenue-challenged. This is because there is a certain level of fan apathy due to the dumb moves the team has made leading to the 74-141 record since the start of the 2008 season. So where are they going to come up with the money to pay him? A bank loan? Right.

Boras has already threatened to take Strasberg to the independent leagues or to     Japan if the Nationals play hardball. Wait, doesn't the client and his family have any say in this?

Give the team credit. They are not going to back away. Yes, there will be lengthy and acrimonious talks and it will be nearly impossible to sign Strasberg. But the Nationals' fans should laud this move.

Will this madness ever end? Not as long as there are bloodsucking agents like Boras around, or as Nationals President Stan Kasten says, " "I used to think [agents] were a necessary evil in sports. Now I just think of them as evil."

Commissioner Bud Selig is urging owners to push back during the next labor negotiations in 2011. They will fight to reduce the bonus "slots" now being routine in the draft. But there is nothing routine about the audacity of Boras' relentless pursuit to bankrupt the game which by then he will have enough money to form his own league using his own players. Let's see how much he would pay them then.

Trust that the Nationals will do the right thing, which will be to tell Boras to take a hike. Nobody, no matter how talented, is worth bankrupting a franchise. Maybe after all of this drawn out drama ends, they will join other teams who won't even consider signing any player represented by him.

Now, I know that there will be some who defend Boras' for representing the best interests of his clients' and to that end, they are correct. But he has taken this to a whole new fantasy land level.

Yes, this is the Land of Make Believe, ruled over by a King who pillages teams and shares the spoils with his faithful peons. What will he have to rule over when the teams' are ravished and forced to disband?

There was almost universal outrage when the Braves announced that they were releasing Tom Glavine rather than risking paying him up to $3 million if added to the roster.

The only outrage was the shoddy way the Braves handled this. They waited until Glavine reached Turner Field before yesterday's game to tell him. Although I will never come close to the money he has made in his career, I do know the feeling of coming to work without having a clue that the ax was going to fall. Trust me, it's not a good feeling.

Glavine was one of the stalwarts of an Atlanta rotation that was key in the team's remarkable 14 straight division pennants. With John Smoltz both starting and saving games during this period and Greg Maddux' dazzling array of pitches, this trio was the best in MLB history.  The last time a rotation was so dominant was the Baltimore Orioles trio of Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and Mike Cueller. In 1970, Palmer went 20-10, McNally 24-8 and Cueller 24-9. In 1952, the Indians' trio of Bob Lemon (22-11), Mike Garcia (22-11) and Early Wynn (23-12) also accomplished this feat. But this was in only one year, certainly not at the sustained level as the Braves' trio.

From 1993 when Maddux joined the Braves until 2003 when Glavine left via free agency, they won 498 games.  In 2002, Smoltz went to the bullpen and saved 55 wins. In that 11-year span, the Braves won an incredible 1,245 games including the strike-shortened 1994 season. That means that the Glavine/Smoltz/Maddux combo won 40% of these games and would've won even more had Smoltz not missed a year and spent 2002 in the bullpen!
It was a dominant pitching performance like no other. All three will go to the Hall of Fame. Smoltz will certainly go in as a Brave, as will Glavine. Maddux has to choose between the Braves and the Cubs.

 But the real subject of this piece is about when a player should leave the game. Many hang on way too long and go out not on their terms but on managements. Some great players who recently fall into this group include Frank Thomas, Pedro Martinez and Kenny Rogers.
Current players who are on the verge of falling into this sort of humiliation include Jamie Moyer, the aforementioned Smoltz, David Ortiz, Ken Griffey, Mike Sweeney, and, yes, Randy Johnson. Since Glavine stated that he has no intention of retiring, he will also join this team.
Now that Johnson has his 300 wins, maybe he will finally give in to Father Time and admit he's lost much of his effectiveness.

Too many players hang on beyond their usefulness. That's because there's always a team willing to fork over money for marginal returns.

So I don't blame the Braves for this decision. It was bold and unpopular. But it was the right choice. More teams need to let veterans know their time is up because most will never admit it.

The chaos currently going on in Washington includes the major league baseball team, possessors of the majors worst record and showing little sign of changing.

The main culprit has been the bullpen, which stinks as much as pen full of crowded hogs. It has the worst save ratio and the highest bullpen ERA.

There has been more movement in and out of the Nationals bullpen than crowds rushing to get in line for the next Wal-Mart sale.

Right now it is a hodgepodge of mostly inexperienced kids and enough geezers to qualify for the senior meal at Denny's. To wit, the pen currently consists of Joe Beimel 32, Julian Tavarez 36, Ron Villone 39, Jesus Colome 31 and Kip Wells 32.

That's 5/7 of the bullpen over 30.

When fans shout "Warm Up the Bus", these guys head for the locker room to get good seats. Combined they would have 3 memberships to AARP.  They don't run to the mound they amble wishing they could climb aboard a golf cart instead. Their entrance theme is "Blame It on the Bossa Nova".

I don't know what the team's plan is but right now it is as clear as pea soup. Recently fired GM Jim Bowden was in his second round of incompetence, having wrecked the Reds so much that they are now just starting to recover.

At least they have committed to a youth movement in the rotation - Detwiler, Lannan, Scott Olsen, Shairon Martis and now Greg Stammen. They can only get better and it's not a bad idea to let them get some meaningful exposure now.

It's a shame, because offensively the team can hit as evidenced by Ryan Zimmerman's recent hitting streak and Adam Dunn's tape measure blasts.

With a spectacular new ballpark and a relatively small payroll, the Nationals should be in a good position to get more competitive. But the park is usually less than half full which puts a severe strain on revenue. That's par for the course in today's Washington's environment.

If they don't get any better soon, look for yet another government bailout.

In early April, I submitted an article comparing some of the game's best pitchers who were 

making less money than the $12,750,000 being paid to Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan.

Now, with the season seven weeks old, it's only fair to compare how he is actually stacking 

up against them.

In general, it is not good as the list below indicates.  Of the 17 pitchers mentioned, 

Suppan ranks second last in wins tied with Dempster, Johnson, Maholm  and Cook. 

Only two pitchers had a higher ERA than Suppan's 4.71 (Scott Kazmir who just 

went on the DL with 6.75 and Josh Beckett at 5.01).

Finally, Suppan's WHIP (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched) ranked second last 

tied with Beckett at 1.53 and ahead of only Kazmir's 1.95.

John Lackey, Brandon Webb, Hiroki Kuroda., and Daisuke Matzuaka were not included 

because of injuries.

Here are the results, listed by salary:

 

Pitcher              Team                    Salary                  W            L              ERA            WHIP

Jeff Suppan      Milwaukee Brewers  $12,750,000            3            3            4.71            1.53

Hiroki Kuroda    Los Angeles Dodgers $12,400,000                        injured

Gil Meche         Kansas City Royals   $11,400,000           2           5            4.55            1.50

Josh Beckett     Boston Red Sox       $11,166,666            4            2           5.01            1.53

Jake Peavy       San Diego Padres    $11,000,000            4            5           3.48            1.10

John Lackey      LA Angels               $10,000,000                        injured

Aaron Cook        Colorado Rockies     $9,375,000            3            1            4.68            1.44

Ryan Dempster  Chicago Cubs           $9,000,000            3            3            4.47            1.29

Daisuke Matzuaka Boston Red Sox    $8,333,333                          injured

Eric Bedard         Seattle Mariners     $7,750,000            2            2            2.64             1.13

Rich Harden        Chicago Cubs         $7,000,000            4            2            4.74            1.37

Brandon Webb    Arizona D'backs      $6,500,000                        injured

Scott Kazmir      Tampa Bay Rays     $6,000,000            4            4            6.35            1.95

Cliff Lee              Cleveland Indians    $6,000,000            2            5            3.04            1.37

Zach Greinke       Kansas City Royals $3,750,000           7            1            0.82            0.91

Matt Cain           San Francisco Giants  $2,900,000         5            1            2.40            1.32

Paul Maholm      Pittsburgh Pirates      $2,500,000          3            1            3.41            1.28

Josh Johnson     Florida Marlins         $1,400,000            3            1            2.67            1.10

 

Remember, young phenoms like Lincecum, Price, Felix Hernandez and Cole Hamels 

were not included because they have not been in the majors long enough.

The only thing one can look forward to is that his salary comes off the books next year 

and that there's a real possibility that Jake Peavy could be in Milwaukee still this year if

 Trevor Hoffman is convincing enough.

We can only hope.

Well I wonder how Frank McCourt is feeling these days. After an acrimonious off-season negotiating session, which saw Scott Boras extract over $100 million for his client, Manny Ramirez, McCourt must now realize how bad he was taken. Not only were the Dodgers the only team left pursuing Ramirez, they, through deferments, will be paying him millions a year into the foreseeable future for NOT playing.

I cannot add anymore to what has already been written and said about the 50 day suspension. When most of these players get caught, they are like 12 year olds who try to use the "I didn't know" excuse. Right. And Tony Soprano works in waste management.

Here's Manny's statement: "Recently, I saw a physician for a personal health issue," Ramirez said. "He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy, that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing: I have taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons." As if that is supposed to absolve him.

Manny knew darn well what he was being prescribed. The players have a list of all banned substances. All he needed to do was to cross-reference the list. This latest episode is another example of what is so malodorous about today's game. Greedy and, yes, dumb, owners shilling out millions of dollars beyond my comprehension for spoiled, narcissistic players. These actions continue to soil the game.

And what about the Dodgers players? How will they respond?

"This is a team. This is not the `Los Angeles Mannys,"' said injured first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, who played with Ramirez on Boston's 2004 World Series team. "Manny's a big part of our team. But as far as the team goes, this is a tremendous opportunity for us to prove to people that we're not just Manny and 24 other guys."  Well-stated.

Next time you wonder why your time didn't sign that superstar free agent, think Manny, Jason, Alex and Miguel. You're better off without them.

What do the following pitchers have in common?
John Lackey, Ryan Dempster, Rich Harden, Dan Haren, Brandon Webb,  Hiroki Kuroda, Matt Cain, Cliff Lee, Eric Bedard, Josh Johnson, Jake Peavy, Paul Maholm Scott Kazmir, Aaron Harang, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matzuaka, Aaron Cook, Gil Meche and Zach Greinke.

All are making less money than the $12,700,000 being paid to Brewers staff "ace" Jeff "Sordid" Suppan. The list does not include young stars like Francisco Liriano, Tim Linceum, Cole Hamels, Chad Billlingsley, Felix Hernandez, John Danks and Edinson Volquez who have not been in the league long enough to be included.

Now, which of these pitchers would you NOT take instead of Suppan? There, my friends, lies the story of the 2009 Brewers. Suppan's line over two starts reads like this: 0-2 7.2 IP, 11ER, 7BB, 2K, 12.91 ERA. Ouch!
While he certainly is not the sole reason for the Brewers 2-5 start (Braun, Fielder and Hardy need to start hitting), he symbolizes the kind of year it's going to be for the club. Everyone who knows anything about baseball knew the pitching on this team was going to be challenged.
 
On Sunday against the Cubs it was downright painful watching walk after walk. The Cubs scored 4 runs off Suppan in one inning with only one hit. That includes a four pitch walk by Jorge Julio to the first batter he faced.
 
It took the Brewers 20 years to be on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. After that pathetic showing it will be another 20 years before they are on again.

The early season topic among baseball talking heads is the alarming increase in the number of walks being issued.  It's too soon to discern the reason for this epidemic but if the trend continues all year be prepared for two things: long game times and the Brewers pitchers leading the league in this dubious area.

While the season is only a week old, the shortfall of pitching will have the club out of the race by the All-Star Game if something isn't done to fix it.
On a sidenote, Milton Bradley pulled up lame during Sunday's game. It only took six games for him to first opt out.  No one should be surprised. I refer to an earlier article (The Curious Case of Abreu) that documents Bradley's history of walk-in clinic ailments.

Also, the tragic death of Nick Adenhart and the heart attack suffered by legendary announcer Harry Kalas took excitement out of the start of the season and sent a profound message about the mortality of all of us. RIP.

As Brewers' General Manager, I would grade Doug Melvin a B+. Now I'm sure that some will figure that this is way too high but being a MLB GM is quite a complex assignment in this day of high salaried free agents, risky long term contracts, arbitration and evaluating prospects.

It's like putting together a new jigsaw puzzle every year, trying to fit all the right pieces together. It's like plugging a hole using a sieve. It's like trying to balance the national budget when spending a billion dollars a day.

Moves are made based on a number of criteria, the most important for a team in a market like Milwaukee is, of course, money. Without a salary cap, the revenue streams between top and bottom are as wide as the National Debt.

Many critical off-season decisions need to be made. It would be much easier if all the decisions could be made at once, then you would limit your costly contracts while still improving the team.

But this is the real world and risks need to sometimes be made. Limit your mistakes and you'll be around a lot longer. Make boneheaded moves every year and you're in the unemployment line trying to survive on meager benefits and living on a diet of Beenie Weenies.

The genesis for this particular topic stems from an idea that my daughter threw at me the other day. Why not, she asked, pick up Pedro Martinez? He pitched well enough in the WBC to prove he still has something in the tank. This future Hall of Famer said that he would be willing to play for any club so long as the salary begins at a million a year. Quite a bargain today.

The point she was trying to make was that while long in the tooth, Pedro would still be a better risk than the Brewers recent signing of Braden Looper for $5 million a year. This all makes economic sense.

The problem is Melvin's recent moves have left him with no wriggle room. Last year when Francisco Cordero decided to go to Cincinnati, Melvin wasted $10 million on a washed up Eric Gagne.  When Gagne couldn't make it past May without imploding and being banished to the DL, everyone knew what a colossal mistake it was. Strike one?

This year, when Solomon Torres retired and there was no better alternative, he signed Trevor Hoffman who will, you guessed it, open the year on the disabled list.

The Brewers bullpen may be worse than their rotation, which is saying a lot.  The substitute closer, Carlos Villanueva, was hardly giving the club any confidence with a horrendous spring.  There's an old Chinese proverb that says "Behind every man is another man". Obviously not referring to the Brewers bullpen. Strike Two?

Then there was the questionable signing of the aforementioned Looper. True, he has been a durable pitcher albeit mainly mediocre since becoming a starter. This is the best he could do for $5 million? Already saddled with the ridiculous $12.5 million Jeff Suppan will be paid this year and stubbornly refusing to negotiate with Ben Sheets (maybe he knew about his aching elbow?), the Brewers go into the season with one of the more challenging rotations in the league. That's two starters we've taken off the Cardinals' hands. Will it be Kyle Lohse next year when he proves that last year was a fluke? Strike Three or Wild Pitch?

The crux of the matter is that even though Melvin can be calculating, his recent panic attacks have denied the club the opportunity to sign a pitcher like Martinez for even a year because the club has a history of not eating  contracts (not even Derrick Turnbow's.)
 
"....all men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his
 course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride."
-- Sophocles

Will someone mention this to Melvin?