Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Nutty Buddy

I saw this in the paper today, and I had to share it. There is a man in Phoenix named Mark Littell, formerly a pitcher for Kansas City, who has designed an anatomically correct athletic cup, called, you guessed it, the Nutty Buddy.

Apparently it offers better protection for "your boys," and he even tested it on himself with a pitching machine. See the video below.

Follow Up

Well Eric Gagne is officially a Brewer. If he returns to 2002-2004 form, everyone in the NL Central better look out! If not, we can watch $10 million go down the drain. Knowing what Mike Maddux and Billy Castro can do, I'm voting for the former!

Back to the Cordero discussion. I was talking to a friend of mine last night, and he feels the same way as I, that Cordero had no intention of staying in Milwaukee. It's a shame too, that players are so fickle. The fans loved Coco, he could have made just as much money here in Milwaukee, and he would have been playing on a team with legitimate playoff hope. But anyway, good riddance. I don't want someone on my team who doesn't want to be here.

On to happier thoughts. How cool is it that Milwaukee is actually getting in the hunt for these big free agents? First Jeff Suppan, now Eric Gagne. Two consecutive World Series winners. Granted, we are still considered a "small market," but when big names start looking at this small market, and we start performing up to our capability, just imagine what this team can do.

So those are my thoughts for the day. 110 days till Opening Day. Until next time, go Brewers!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Money Talks

Hello again Brewer fans. I know it's been a while but I just haven't had much to say until recently. The deal with Francisco Cordero and the Reds really chapped my ass, so I need to vent.

As the title says, money talks and bullshit walks, apparently to Cincinnati. I can't say that I was shocked to read that he left Milwaukee. It was fairly apparent when he said, "I'd like to stay in Milwaukee, but it's not up to me," that he would go wherever he got the most money. But come on, $42 million, with an $13 million option, for 4 years, versus $46 million with a $12 million option? There is virtually no difference, and if he really wanted to stay in Milwaukee, wouldn't his agent have gone to Doug Melvin and given him a chance to beat the Reds' offer?

According to Doug, he was never asked to beat the offer from Cincy, which implies to me that Coco wanted to leave. If he really wanted to stay in Milwaukee, I believe he would have given Doug every opportunity to match Cincy's offer.

But on the upside, barring new developments, the only decent starting pitching Cincy has is Aaron Harang, which means that Coco will get to work every five days. Maybe that's why he left. Maybe he wanted to "earn" his money sitting on the bench. Maybe we wore him out forcing him to set the club record for saves in a season. Maybe he didn't enjoy being an All-Star and would rather take the four days off.

He'll get plenty of rest next season. And he must have been on crack when he said he thought Cincy could get to the World Series. Ha! Six teams in MLB had worse records than Cincy last season. Six out of thirty. And they're going to go from that to the World Series? Keep dreaming Coco, and enjoy spending next season picking splinters out of your ass.

On to other pitchers, Doug Melvin has been busy signing other pitchers to fill the void Coco left. I think I'm most encouraged by David Riske. He has virtually the same stats as Scott Linebrink for a lot less money. And let's face it, Scott kinda stunk up the place once he left San Diego. I remember him shutting us down when we played in San Diego, but something happened once he got to Milwaukee. Oh well. He's Chicago's problem now.

And then there's Eric Gagne. I'm not too sure about this one. $10 million for a guy who hasn't had a decent season in what, three years? If he can come back, he'll be huge for us, but we don't need another Ben Sheets on the team. One big pussy is quite enough.

So anyway, that's my rant for the moment. I welcome any and all comments and criticisms, as always. Oh, almost forgot, major congrats to Ryan Braun for winning Rookie of the Year. Take that Troy! So until next time, go Brewers!