Big Reed

on the other side of the coin, vegetables and fruit also have a lot of drugs and chemicals pumped into them. so they are not entirely as healthy as people think. When I lived in Tampa I would get hives because of the chemicals sprayed over the nearby orange grove . oranges are not naturally orange. they put a dye into the tree and fruit to ensure the orange comes out orange rather than green. As I pass by the corn fields here in Illinois, I am amazed at the chemicals put into the ground to make our corn grow bigger and faster. Do we want to talk about all the chemicals sprayed over lettuce, cabbage and tomatoes to ensure the local vermin don't eat our crops? Trust me, it's not the non toxic deer away spray they sell at walmart. I'm not sure we want to talk about the toxic stuff they spray on our fields to kill off the weeds. Ever look at a bottle of water lately? There's a lot more stuff that goes into that bottle of moutain fresh water than just mountain fresh water. Some of those chemicals make drinking a coke or mountain dew look healthy. I had lunch at Ryan's steak house. I noticed the lettuce seemed to be in a pool of water. I made notice of this to the attendant. He informed me it wasn't water, but rather that famous clear liquid preservative that keeps their lettuce looking fresh and not brown. Half of the bowl was that preservative. The more I eat vegetables and fruits, and the more I live in the country, the more I learn about all the bad chemicals and preservatives used to bring those fresh vegetables and fruits to you. There's a reason you only find dead worms in apples. it wasn't the apple that killed the worm. Think about it. what killed the worm, could kill you. Today's fruits and vegetables are no more healthy than today's meats and pastas.

the brewers don't really play traditional NL style of baseball. they play for the big innings just like the traditional AL teams do. Ned Yost doesn't think very much. I'm not sure he knows the meaning of strategy. I'm not sure why so many brewers fans like the NL style of play since the brewers have very seldom if ever played it. the brewers have never been a team to win games using speed and defense. Then again, that's the way they played when they were in the Al. Their dh was a singles hitter with speed and batted lead-off. The brewers have always been a contrast in styles. First- make a decision on the Dh either abolish it or incorporate it for all teams. Standardize it. Second - either expand and have 2 more teams, or have two leagues of 15 teams each with three divisions. Play more interleague games to make the schedules work. The Yankees and red Sox should not be playing the rays 17 times a year. That's a crime! the max should be 12 times a year. let some NL teams play the rays and KC more often. let some Al teams play the pirates too. the long history and tradition in football was not hurt at all by the incorporation of increased interleague play. take a cue MLB - follow the NFL's lead. No baseball games should be played in March or November! period! The opening game should be played in the US not Japan, Australia, Mexico City or London. You play exhibition games in foreign countries, not ones that count. if you need to play more double headers or have fewer days off, then so be it. Playing baseball in March and November is stupid! the world series should be completed in 7 days max! Create a level financial playing field. Create an acceptable financial salary cap. rather than teams like boston and new york spend ing $200 million, there should be more revenue sharing among baseball teams so that all teams could spend $100 million. get rid of the baseball union. get rid of salary arbitration. get rid of guaranteed contracts. do HGH testing sililar to what is being done in the olympics. or allow all supplements and not worry about players using them. people liked all the homers and higher scoring games the steriods era created. Ban Jose Canseco from writing any future books. Allow Buck O'Neil, Shoeless Joe and Pete Rose into the hall of fame. I think it's safe to say if Pete bet on games as a manager, he probably also bet on games as a player as well. MLB just doesn't want to admit it happened, so they looked the other way. Paul Horning bet on games as a player. he's in the NFL Hall of Fame. make public all documents on Bonds and Clemens and all other testimony. Either force all patrons to sing God Bless America, or stop playing it. Equal time should be given to those patrons who like to sing Rubber Duckie and Gimme dat ding and Wierd Al songs. I hate insincere patriotism. Give Reed Bigelow a 0.005% commission on all the hot dogs and dip-n-dots sold in MLB ball parks. Eliminate all cooking fires in parking lots. Eliminate tailgating. Force all LA Dodger fans to stay and watch an entire baseball game and not leave early. Let teams trade draft picks before the draft. have the player draft in the Winter to generate more interest in the off season just like the NBA and NFL do. let the fans vote for the starting pitchers in the all star game. The fan voting for the position players has bee n pretty good. Give them the opportunity to select the startoing pitcher as well. Force the red Sox to place big poppy on the all star ballat at the position he plays - Dh and put Youkillus on the ballet as a first baseman. Force Sporting News to go back to it's newpaper format and include boxscores again in it's magazine. Force USA Today Baseball Weekly to stop covvering other sports besides baseball and change its name back to baseball Weekly. Force yahoo to make its stattracker free to yahoo fantasy players. have a celebrity pro am baseball game like Golf does and have celebrities and other sports stars play a baseball game. Rather than having the legends game, have a celebrity game. MTV does it, so why not MLB? I may not be a popular commish, but I've got some ideas.

I look at spending money differently. as they say in the movie Robots- See a need - fill a need. if the money is spent to fill a need, then it is not spent foolishly. rather than looking at how much money the brewers would have to pay to obtain Roberts, the more important question would be, does he fill a need? does he improve our team? if the answer is yes, then you worry about the money later. Take out a loan like the Dbacks did and won a championship as part of it. have the dbacks paid back that loan yet? I doubt it. if the brewers percieved starting pitching as a need I would rather they went after the best starting pitcher to fill that need than to go after the one who will only cost them $500 k a year. if a guy like pierre fills a need, then I would say while his contract is rather high, it was money well spent. I would argue the money spent on Suppan was money well spent. The question becomes, what is the brewers' most glaring current need? That's where you need to spend your money. money is only wasted if it is spent on something that is never or seldom used. Spending $10 million on a pinch hitter is a waste. if the brewers perceived their need as wanting a lead-off hitter who could steal a lot of bases, then acquiring roberts, or Pierre or brian Roberts would fill that need. If the brewers perceive that they are only looking for a 4th outfielder then players such as pierre or roberts would not fill that need. a better player to fill that type of need would be lofton or a second year player - such as gwynn. lofton would be a great 4th outfielder as would gwynn. Acquiring Gagne filled a need. Acquiring Riske and Torres also filled a need. I have no problems what amount of money was spent to acquire those three players. They filled a need. Kendall filled a need. I would have paid him more if necessary. if on the other hand, I was the reds GM, and had guys like Bruce and Votto waiting for their chance to shine, I would not go out and acquire guys like patterson or keep hatteburg because they fill no need. Spending money to acquire patterson even at the minimum is a waste because he fills no need and is blocking the path of Bruce. it's one thing to spend money and another to spend it wisely. I have confidence melvin can spend money wisely. So if he is interested in acquiring a guy like roberts or rolen, I'm confident he has already looked at the brewers' financial books before engaging in the discussion. if Melvin is pursueing a guy like roberts, I have to believe he's already looked at the salary requirements and he's ok with them. They are a non-issue. Or, they are a part of the trade negotiations. a question I would ask is if mr A was a very foolish owner and spent his money foolishly for three years like the orioles owner, would brewer fans be less of a fan? would we hate Mr A for foolishly spending his money? Would we hate him if had a payroll over $100 million? Do people hate Bud for foolishly spending his money on players like larry Hisle, Ben McDonald, Teddy Higuera and hammonds? The brewers almost acquired Tejada over the Winter. Rather than saying he's paid too much money, a better question would have been does acquiring tejada fill a need? would he improve our team? needs and improving the team should take priority over cost and salary. I don't think the brewers really need roberts. Roberts at $1 million would be a waste. The brewers really need an Oswalt.

I just thought of an important issue. I realize brewers fans always look at salary first before looking at a player's potential contributions. it's as if brewerfans are all accountants and it's our money Mr A is going to spend. I say if he wants to blow his money and acquire another veteran outfielder at a huge price, let him do it. it's his money to use or to waste. For all I care, he could trade for juan Pierre. I'm sure the Dodgers would give him to us real cheap talent wise. They'd probably trade him for Dillon or Gross or McClung if we agreed to take on his salary. Ok, now that I'm off my soapbox about fans being overly concerned about players' salaries, if this rumor actually did have some truth to it, it tells me one thing whic h is a very good thing. that is the brewers have a little more cash in the kitty that they could spend down the stretch if they needed to. A lot of us have felt the brewers' payroll is already maxed out and the brewers can't really afford to add any more veterans down the stretch. but if the brewers were thinking of adding Roberts, I think it's possibe they may have more financial flexibilty than we may be led to believe. and this is a very good thing. then again, this rumor may have been before the brewers signed Cameron. This entire trade idea makes sense if it was before the brewers signed Cameron. and a lot of times, rumors such as this surface about 3 months after the fact of when they were first made.

I'm begining to find it harder to believe with all of these little scheduling quirks, that the AL and NL can't have 3 divisions of 5 teams each. I'm tired of people who say it can't be done, and then they go and make horrible schedules. i think if you apllied the information to a computer schedule making software, you'd probably find a schedule made out that is very similar to what MLB currently has. You could use a slight increase in interleague games as a buffer to make it work.

with all the accolades teagarden is receiving, I have to believe texas will be asking a lot for him. on the other side of the coin, perhaps salty-mafia may wear out his welcome in texas and be available cheaper than expected. then again, he seems to be not the catcher he once was and has a lot of 'issues". what is the opinion of that catcher the brewers drafted a couple of years ago? Jonathon Lacroy from louisiana - Lafayette?

Toolivebrew - it's nice to know people read my posts. I don't know what i was thinking using OBP to actually make my point. That's so totally not me. I've been using this drug to combat a bad case of the flu last week. they said the drug had strange side effects. maybe me using OBP was the drug talking and not me. Golpher does make a good point that teagarden hasn't caught many games in the past 3 years. I went back and looked and saw he caught only 14 games at AA last year and 30 games at High A. admittedly catching only 44 games in one year doesn't look that impressive. However, in breaking it down further, teagarden caught 14 games at AA but only played in 29 games. So you could say he played catcher in half the games he played in at AA during the second half of last year which is a good omen. Baseball America named him to the second team Minor league all star team as a catcher. the Cubs' Soto was first team. So Obviously, baseball America still considers him as a catcher. Admittedly, that honor was probably due to his offensive production rather than his arm. Teagarden also participated in the Arizona Fall league leading the Surprise Rafters to the championship game. he was listed as the 10th best prospect and ahead of seattle's Clement who many suggest is not really a catcher either. LaPorta was listed as the 4th best prospect in the same league. Teagarden has definitely proved he can hit - both for average and power. Just think if he can catch.

Teagarden put together a tremendous year last year after his tommy john surgery the year before. he split time between A and AA and ended up with 27 homers. he had an OBp at A ball of .450+ and a slug > .600. he had an obp of >. 350 at AA. What I found very interesting was that at AA, he had a BA of about .297 and his right/left splits were also basically .296/7. I have read several reports that his injury problems are well behind him and he's showing very little sign of ever haing the surgery. i've also read reports that his game actual catching and throwing out runners is great. but on the down side, looking at what catching prospects usually command in a trade, I would suspect the rangers would be asking for somebody like Sheets or Hart in return for him. I like La Porta. perhaps the rangers might like to swap a catching prospect for a first base prospect.

I actually like the brewers' raotation better. I like Suppan a lot more than most people do. his stats won't back me up. but he's a very consistant pitcher. I noticed nobody included cappy. he's injured now, but he may return later this year. Cappy is on par with Marquis. I also noticed nobody mentioned Sheets may leave after this year. Without Sheets, our rotation does not stack up very well. With him, we can project pitchers against comparable pitchers. I would not want to compare Gallardo against Zambrano. I don't have much confidence in Dempster as a starter. He looks like he'll give you 4 1/2 t o 5 innings per start. And frankly, you need your starters to be able to give you 6 - 7 1/2 innings to have an effective rotation. what the brewers really need is a second ace like Schilling and Randy johnson used to be or like glavin and maddux used to be. Maybe Gallardo will be that guy. In 1982, the brewers had very good trio of Vuke, Caldwell and Sutton. They were not the best in the league, but they were very good and probably the best trio of their era.

I would place this under the perspective that Barry Bonds has for all intent and purposes retired. As such, I would think the Giants should have as many images and memories of Bonds on display as they do of Mays, McCovey and Marichal. If the Giants have a hall of fame ring or use numbers to honor their retired players, it would be an injustice if Bonds is not included among the other Giants greats. But with that said, I do not believe the Giants should have all of their walls plastered with images of Bonds. Peds or no peds, stats or no stats, I would still place Mays above Bonds when it comes to all time great Giants outfielders. I can't really use stats to defend my opinion. I just liked Mays more.

I'm moving again . In two months we will be living near Carbondale / Marion Il. They have a brand new stadium and a team that's one year old and plays in the independent Fronteir league. I noticed Rockford and some other familier name teams also play in this same league. I also noticed El Paso is now an independent minor league team. I t would appear that the teams in this league used to be part of other minor league systems, but have lost their major league sponsorship. I would think a tea m like marion built its new stadium with the hopes of becoming a minor league team for some system. but then again, they look to be fairly profitable as an independent team. I was wondering how these independent teams acquire their players? and what happens to the ones who become stars? The league looks like it is either Low A or High A. I could see where the local SIU players might try out after their college days are over. if a team like the brewers had two catchers a t the same Class A level, would they loan out one catcher to an independent leageu team so that both players would get their fair share of at bats? Do independent teams make trades with other minor league teams or major league organizations? I recall huntsville acquired an independent pitcher a couple of years ago, but I forgot the details. Do independent team players tend to stay the entire year? or do they get called up and sold to other teams in mid season? Do the independent teams als o go down South for Spring training? Do they compete against the minor league camps? Is a team like Rockford or El Paso better off as an independent team? or are they just biding their time trying to latch back on with a major league farm system? I was kind of wondering what would have happened to the Beloit Trappers if the Twins hadn't signed them. Would they have become an independent team? or would that have just folded and gone out of business? Whatever became of the Madison muskies? I remember them being a farm team for Oakland a long time ago. Did they just fold?

I don't recall him burning any bridges when he left. I don't recall him bad mouthing the organization on his way out the door. he might be a guy like wright and cirillo that would welcome a return and be willing to accept a minoe league dea l for the opportunity of working with our pitching instructors. We're kind of short on left handed pitchers. he would add some depth as others have said at AAA.

I'm not sad we allowed Vargus to leave. We all knew he was not one of our 5th best starting pitchers. What I'm most sad about is that melvin didn't trade his #3,4 or 5 starter for some quality player when we had the starting pitching depth to do so. Parra and Villenueva and possibly bush would have actually brought us back a nice , decent posion player two months ago. . Now we cannot afford to trade our #3-5 starters for anybody because we no longer have the pitching depth to do so. I' m sure glad we got Mota and McClung or else, we'd be lost on a subway to duluth.

Are we not still on tap to pay his $3 million salary even after waiving him? if so, what was the point in waiving him? the post by rickie weeks jr above makes it sound as if vargus already went through waivers and went unclaimed and no club is going to pick up that $3 million slary, and can now sign him for the minimum leaving the brewers responsible for paying his actual salary. have the waiver rules changes anY? or are we still on tap to pay him his entire salary even though waiving him? if so , this was not our smartest financial move ever made.

we've done the same thing for several years now. last year it was graffy, mench and jenkins.. I keep hearing the statement, that we can't trade him in October - December timeframe because his value is too low, or because he was injured, and we want to showcase him and his health in Spring training and then trade him to a team in need. Well the problem is that the team in need always finds a cheaper solution and stays with him rather than trading for our excess guy. All this showcasing in spring games goes for naught. I' m begining to be of the opinion that it's smarter to trade the guy for possibly less value and at least get something in return for him. I would have loved for the brewers to have traded mench and graffy to anybody at the begining of last year than to just waive good bye to them. Surely, somebody would have given us somebody for mench at the 2006 Winter meetings. The same should apply to Gross and tony Gwynn Jr. We should have traded one of these two players 3 months ago when we had received inquiries. We will receive nothing for either player at the end of this year. .

a question i have is how much does a rehabing mediocre major league pitcher take away from the progress of other up and coming minor league pitchers? The Cardinals are probably going to start the year with both Carpenter and Mulder rehabbing somewhere. Is their minor league system ruined because they have a couple of veterans taking up minor league pitching slots? it may take bartolo Colon 1/2 to 3/4 of a season to get in shape pitching for boston's minor league system. By signing him, is he going to block the progress of some other great boston minor league pitching phenom? What's the RISK? are posters here trying to say we have no room at the inn and we don't want to try any reclamation projects? Do we have 58 5 star phenom minor league prospects that all need to pitch 12 innings a game? again I ask, what's risk? money?

Don't hang up that phone melvin...... there is this guy named teagarden you should be asking about while you're still talking about catchers. A Teagarden would look real nice behind the plate in Miller Park. We need a Teagarden.

i like lofton as a fantasy player. i've never met the guy. he seem like a nice guy to have on a 25 man roster. I recall when we had that pinch hitter delux harris (?) on our team and we were giving him $2-4 million for just pinch hitting. I would think lofton would fit into that same type of role. i can't see where lofton is going to find a starting role anywhere. like Piazza, he probablt just didn't want to play in Spring training and will sign somewhere this week. I'd like the brewers t o sign him, but I won't be sad if he signs elsewhere. what would make me mad though is if the brewers keep McClung over lofton.

If i'm the Cubs, I'd ship Pie off to baltimore as quick as possible for brian roberts. his value is never going to be any higher. The only problem is the orioles now have Adam Jones and no need for Pie. the Cubs will regret not completing the brian roberts deal.

this is kind of like last year. we played our cards, and teams read our bluff. just like graffy last year, we held onto Vargus too long and got nothing for him. Admittedly, we weren't going to get much to begin with. other teams saw our abundance of mediocre starting pitching depth, and just sat back and waited. I'm not sad the brewers waived him. What i'm more sad about is that the brewers could have traded bush, Cappy or vargus at the winter meetings, and used the pitcher not traded to fill in the gap. The brewers could have traded one of their surplus starters 3 months ago, and gotten something, but we elected to stand pat and ask for too much in return. We could have acquired a crede or Glaus, or rolen or blalock, or feliz or somebody. Vargus will give some team 8-10 wins.

I think we are concentrating on the wrong thing here. forget about the reds and who finishes second or third. the main thing to worry about is the Division crown. because second place in this division is not going to garner the wild card . i don't want to be following the team in a wild card chase in September, because like last year, we won't be close. We need to stop trying to finish second, and start trying to win the division. if we can't win the division, all of the rest doesn't really matter. We need 90+ wins! anything less , and we'll be watching Dancing with the Stars and Badger football in October once more..

my yearly projection just went down two wins with this move. it's not because we waived vargus, but rather , we had al l Winter to try to obtain something albeit not worth much in return for him and got nothing. i would have been happy to spend his salary on patterson or lofton rather than just waiving good bye to vargus. That trememndous pitching depth went back to zero. many people, myself included have suggested the brewers are way over budget and looking for ways to cut back. This does not bode well for mid season, as I don't believe the brewers will be in a position to add salary or a quality guy via trade for the stretch. if the brewers make a trade, they'll also be giving up a quality player rather than a PTBNL. I hate to sound like a Chicken little. but if you've seen the same thing happen 36 times before, and it gives you bad vibes of bad things to come, I'm not sure that's a chicken little scenario.

trent Durrington? can somebody refresh my memory. Was he that white guy with the beard in Lost? or Survivor? I don't recall him being a baseball player. Was he in those chain saw movies. that name escapes me. Was he a brewer in the 90's? Would anybody object if the brewers' sausage was allowed an atbat?

Golpher, I'll let you look up the links for pettite. In 2006 before the mitchell report came out, Clemens and pettite were both linked to a rumored report of taking peds. it was a FO news / National Enquirer type of rumor. they both denied it. Pettitte denied taking peds on several occasions before the mitchell report was released. His first lie. after the Mitchell report came out, pettite said he only took them twice. his second lie. Then he admitted he was lieing and said he took peds a third time, and it was his father who had the prescription for them because of his illness.. his third lie. his father said he got the drugs from pettitt's friend for pettite, not for himself. then pettite has another news conference to say he had lied in the past to protect his family, but this time he was telling the truth. And you bought that? I'm sorry, but I didn't believe much of what pettite said in his last press conference. it sounded too much like a script Roger and marion Jones had used before him. I did it for the good of the game. yeah sure. I'm sorry golpher that you can't follow what I'm saying. To me it's obvious about my inclusions of Gagne, Hamilton, Aaron and Giambi. They are four examples of athletes who did not want to divulge their personal issues to the public. Yes Aaron and hamilton eventually told their story to the public, but it was long after the fact. Aaron never said anything about his off the field hate problems when he was a player. Hamilton never talked about his drug addiction until it was already a well known fact. My posts are long enough. Do you want me to include every player and what they haven't divulged? Should I have included Paul Laduca and Mike Morgan and Estrada? Evry time an athlete comes clean, I have to wonder if he is doing so of his free will, or if some SPY/GOSSIP spy magazine is blackmailing him that they will print the story unless they publically come forward and admit it. Would Michael Vick ever have come forward if the press had not first nailed him? The press had more evidence on Vick than the FBI did. He was convicted by the press long before he ever went to trial. I don't recall Cameron ever going public and admitting to what substance he took that resulted in his suspension. I've read a lot of reports as to what it was. I don't recall Cameron informing the public about it or being honest or forthcoming about it. I've read it wasn't for steriods. By the MLB rules, if not for steriods, then a suspension resulting in 25 days would be a second offense. I don't recall Cameron informing the public what his first offense was. I just don't see Cameron as being as honest and truthful and candid as you are making him out to be. Where are all these admissions of his past drug use? I will admit I'm naeve about drugs. I don't take drugs. I didn't realize isulin can act as a masking agent for steriods. I didn't realize how blood doping can be so effective for cyclists. I didn't realize that HGH if taken in huge quantities can also be a masking agent for steriods. I didn't realize so many baseball players suffered from ADD - and only in the past 5 years. I didn't realize how many ways people can cheat a urine drug test. I didn't realize how many pro athletes can lie but sound so convincing in their lies. I didn't realize how many athletes took uppers and downers as if they were jelly beans and how readily they were available. I didn't realize how many doctors had no morals and would write a subscription for illnesses that were not true. I didn't realize how easy it is to obtain prescriptio n drugs online. I didn't realize how long this has been going on. until this year. Just because guys like Randy Johnson, Sosa and Jenkins never tested positive, it makes me speculate that they either had medical exemptions or better masking agents than the other ball players. the vast majority of the players mentioned in the Mitchell report were not included because of positive drug tests, but rather because of financial records and testimony by several dealers. I've noticed nobody has offered to take truth syrum or a lie detector test to prove their innocence. yes, a very small sample has given a very large sample a very bad name. I'm led to believe that the NFL has an even greater problem of usage of HGH than baseball does. The entire Carolina panthers' defensive line was reported to be using peds during their super bowl appearance. as for doctors and their ethics, most of the drugs and prescriptions athletes receive are made by team doctors and personal trainers. it's in the best interest of that personal trainer to write those type of prescriptions lest they lose their sugar-daddy. if Bonds' personal trainer was ethical, and didn't provide him with the peds he wanted, bonds would have found a new personal trainer. I will admit I'm naive about personal trainers. how many athletes have personal trainers? 10%? 20%? I trust personal trainers even less than athletes. As for Cameron wanting an exemption and using post concussion syndrome as a reason, doesn't anybody else find it odd that he has waited this long after the concussion to seek treatment? if what he says is ttrue, I would have thought he would have been seeking these medications 6 months ago. it's very hard for me to believe these symptoms just started surfacing now. I' m quite confident that doctors alerted him at the time of the collision of what possible post symptoms might occur and that he should alert them immediately. I do not doubt that cameron is experiencing some type of post concussion syndrome. But the timing of his seeking an exemption seems a bit off. If my back starts hurting 6 months after my auto accident, could I say it was a result of my auto accident? most doctors would say why didn't you report this earlier. Should I give Cameron the benefit of the doubt that he's being truthful? I gave that benefit to McGuire, Bonds, Clemens and Sosa. I've got no more benefit to give out. I used to think pro wrestling and rollerball derby were real, and that the kansas City bombers won so many times because they were good. I used to think TV news reports were truthful. I've come to realize it's all about spin and entertainment and money. and now I found out Jed Clampett didn't get his money from oil, but rather he used GEICO. What's the next lie to come out? Barney Fife cheated on Thelma Loo? that there really isn't an Easter Bunny? That's it's just Santa dressed up as the Easter Bunny? I often wondered why the Easter Bunny was so big and fat. or that lepprichons don't have a pot of gold anymore? it's all just mutual funds, bonds and reits? or that rabbit feet are not lucky? unfortunately, at least for me, basball players are now viewed by me as guilty until proven innocent. Their word holds little value. the game is no longer clean. it's also no longer a game. it's become a business just like Wal Mart.

I'm implying the reasons are the same, but unfortunately the White Sox are not named the yankees. the white sox wanted minosa to play as purely a publicity stunt to draw fans to the game. that's the same thing the Yankees wanted- publicity. However, since the White Sox are not the Yankees, the commish said no. i have no problem with garth brooks or Crystal playing baseball. But by allowing them to play, the commish should open the door for other clubs to have their own celebrities play for them as well. how about bret favre playing a game for the brewers? or how about YI? Think of the world media attention having YI play a game for the brewers. if all this was just a publicity stunt, then why not allow every team to also have their own publicity stunt? melvin - get on the phone with YI!