owbc

He'll face some consequences for this but it is better than committing a more serious crime or taking steroids. It will be interesting to see how the public/media reacts to this compared to the Michael Phelps case.

Yeah, this weekend is going to be about as good as you can get this time of year. Dry Friday-Sunday with temperatures 15 degrees above normal.

I think some people are missing/mitigating a few concerning points here. 1) Lots of teams have made the World Series in the past 15 years. There was at least some competitive balance then. Most of my concerns are about the present and future of competitive balance--teams like the Brewers are at their maximum possible payroll, which is 1/3 of the Yankees payroll. The Yankees are so popular that they could probably go even higher with their payroll, especially since TV revenue sharing quietly decreased significantly in the last CBA. 2) Every team "buys" its championships--the Brewers' players are not volunteers, they get multi-million dollar paychecks just like everyone else. However, the smaller market teams will always be stuck with less money and be forced to build through the draft. Occasionally, some of these younger teams go deep in the Postseason, but they usually fall back to earth the next year because in order to get there, about 5 players needed to have a career year and half the young pitchers on the team ended up throwing way too many innings. 3) There are some unwanted side effects to every form of revenue sharing. A hard salary cap would likely mean more mediocrity--but that certainly isn't the case in the 2009 NFL. There are plenty of other solutions to the problem--but all of them will essentially be aimed at reducing the market power of the larger teams. There are also a number of side effects to the current system, which I argue are detrimental to the overall health of the game. Bud Selig's plan to boost small-market revenue with new stadiums worked well, but now that the Yankees and Mets have new stadiums as well, that advantage is also lost. 4) Nobody was going to beat the Yankees in the Postseason this year. They were far superior to any other team.

I feel disgusted that 2009 ended this way. It was nice that the Phillies put up a fight, but the Yankees were by far the superior team. Only injuries and bad luck can stop them from repeating...and probably three-peating.

I agree with Ajay. Players like Barry Bonds used steroids to gain an unfair advantage over the competition and rewrite the record books. The 2009 Yankees used copious amounts of money to gain an unfair advantage over the competition and win a championship. Both were legal at the time...and there really is not much of a difference between them.

Temperatures should be above normal for the most of the next 2 weeks (normal is about 50/35)

This is starting to look really one sided. The Phillies are probably going to fall in 6 games or less.

Virtually every team in the majors has at least one bad contract. In addition, Suppan was signed after having dinner with Mark A, so you can't blame Melvin completely for that one. Both the Brewers and the Cubs have some bad contracts. The difference is that the Cubs' free agent signings are better than the Brewers, so even if Soriano, Fukudome, and Bradley do not live up to their paychecks, they still have more value than Suppan, Hall and Gagne. The Brewers simply can not afford to take risks like the Cubs can. Look at Trevor Hoffman. We spent $6 million on him this year and we will spend even more next year--on a 42 year old. That could easily backfire in 2010. Should we have gone with Coffey instead and pulled up more prospects, since they represent a lower risk and cost less? Why should we even be faced with that choice? Hoffman's $8 million contract for 2010 represents a full 1/10 of our payroll. That would only be 1/17 of the Cubs' payroll. You also mention the word "luck". The lack of competitive balance means that the Brewers need much more "luck" (and of course smart decisions) than the Cardinals/Cubs in order to compete. The Yankees needed virtually no luck or smart decisions this year. They just signed the top 3 free agents and did some minor tinkering. Had a few things gone wrong, they could have settled for the Wild Card, which happens to be the best thing that the Brewers have accomplished in a quarter century. The Mets had virtually everything on the planet go wrong this year...but with a healthy team in 2010, there is no reason why they can't win 20 more games without a single trade. The Brewers are nowhere near the level of the top teams in terms of ability to make trades and signings. Maybe it will become clear when the top 5 teams interested in signing Prince Fielder does not include the Brewers, since the other teams could pay him $50 million more.

How much does he need to spend? Were the 2009 Cubs or Mets "truly great" this year ($135 million payrolls)? Even the Astros have $100 million+ payroll. How is it fair to Mark A. that he can make smart personnel decisions, develop players through the draft, and make smart contract offers, and yet still lose on a consistent basis to a teams that have incompetent management. We all agree that the Brewers have better management than the Cubs, right? But the Cubs are a better team than the Brewers, or at least they were in 2009, 2008, and 2007. The only reason that the Cubs continue to beat the Brewers is because the Cubs have more money to spend. The Brewers will likely continue to only finish ahead of the Cubs in the standings every 3-4 years due to the $50 million payroll discrepancy and Mark A. can do nothing about it unless he wants to go bankrupt.

I also love having 2 great teams go at it, but if that is the case, then I want to know when it is the Brewers' turn to be truly great--or is that a right that only certain cities get to have?

I always thought the Bucks got screwed out of an NBA finals appearance in 2001. This confirms my suspicions. I suspect that most of what Donaghy says is correct--or at least an exaggerated form of events that happened. The NBA has never taken an aggressive stance on officiating, and this is the consequence.

I drink a few Mountain Dews or Vaults when I am studying for an exam or staying up late. Otherwise, I try to avoid caffeine entirely. I've found that eating a big breakfast and eating fruits are both just as effective as small doses of caffeine...plus, when you eat complex carbohydrates, you avoid the high/crash that soda gives you. When I frequently got ~6 hours of sleep/night, then it was harder to avoid soda--especially when it tastes so good. Still, a 20 minute nap around midday was more effective than caffeine ever was. Of course, drinking just plain water can also crank up your metabolism--that has worked for me especially when combined with frequent exercise. I thought running would make me tired but it actually does the opposite. I used to drink Red Bull but I found out it might give you kidney stones and that was enough to quit. As mentioned, soda is really bad for your teeth, although you can negate it somewhat by drinking the soda really fast and then swishing your mouth with some water after you are finished. Another issue with soda is that the price has gotten really expensive (probably due to the high fructose corn syrup--which I would ideally completely eliminate from my diet). Good luck to those trying to quit. My fiance quit her 6 diet coke/day addition cold turkey and it was not a pretty sight for the first week. Definitely make sure you quit when you are on vacation or have a week with little work/stress.

I've had plenty of complaints about this year's postseason, but I am really enjoying tonight's pitcher's duel.

Not necessarily, because the 2nd highest payroll is $30 million under the cap. The threshold keeps going up every year, it used to be $135 million and it will be up to $175 million by 2011. That implies that payrolls of $150 million are not a "luxury".

Bud Selig is right. Baseball is more popular than it ever has been. TV ratings are sky high. The Yankees blew away the NY Giants on Sunday. Even the small market teams that have been losing for years are getting 20,000 people per game. No team is in even moderate financial trouble, despite the recession. This is generally the case because of Bud Selig's policies over the past 15 years. It is because teams like Milwaukee, Colorado, and Florida got into the playoffs with the Wildcard. It is because he got new ballparks built that make going to the game fun even when the product on the field is bad. It is because steroids brought back the game's popularity. You don't hear people saying "baseball is boring" like they did in the 1990s. That's all good, but the lack of competitive balance has always been a big elephant in the room. In the current system, the Yankees will be World Series contenders every single year. They signed contracts in one offseason that totaled the money that the Brewers will spend on all 25 of their players over the next 5 years. The contracts that the Yankees are paying to 3 players, or 15% of their roster, are worth more than the entire value of the Milwaukee Brewers franchise! In 2000, the Yankees also had the highest payroll in MLB. However, there were 21 teams that had a payroll at least 50% of what the Yankees had. In 2009, there were only 7 teams with a payroll at least 50% of the Yankees. I think that is really concerning. It might not be obvious based on the past 10 years, but I predict that (without a better CBA), the next 10 years will feature an elite class of the same teams making the playoffs year after year, with other teams only occasionally making the playoffs and then falling off after a year or two. I guess the bottom teams could occasionally make the playoffs, so if you want to call that competitive balance, then go ahead. I'm not necessarily in favor of a salary cap, but how about a luxury tax that actually works. In 2009, the threshold was $165 million. Thus, the Yankees were the only team that paid. Instead of a solid number, I would like to see at least the top 1/3 of teams pay into the luxury tax. Plus, the tax should not be based on payroll, but on net revenue. That requires more open bookkeeping as well.

Prince will get a Teixiera-size deal if he wants it. I think teams will be a little hesitant on the 8th or 9th year due to his size, so I see something around 7 years, $160 million. That really has nothing to do with Boras. The Brewers have absolutely no chance if he gets to free agency, the only possibility is if he agrees to something like a 5 year, $120 million extension in the next year or so. They should definitely market him at the deadline this year. The Brewers never had any intention of resigning Sabathia...the offer was purely symbolic.

Ben Sheets could have thrown it at least twice that high.

No more playoff spots. That just ensures that the Yankees and Red Sox will make the playoffs every year instead of 80% of the time. I am sick of the playoffs as it is--every year the only question is, will the Yankees and Red Sox be upset or will they make it to the World Series as usual? Out of the last 15 World Series, the Yankees and Red Sox have appeared in 9 and the rest of the AL has made it to 6 of them. The only reason that the top payroll teams do not make the playoffs is if they shoot themselves in the foot. Out of the top 15 payroll teams, 11 finished over .500. Only 5 out of the bottom 15 payroll teams finished over .500. Even scarier is that many of the top teams have discovered player development, so the one advantage that the small market teams had is going away. Same thing happened with the Oakland A's. The Brewers reward for smart player development and a timely trade should have been signing CC Sabathia to a long term extension. Instead, we had our 3 months in the spotlight and then Sabathia went off to the rich team to help them win for the next decade. What happens when Prince Fielder reaches his contract year? It doesn't matter how much he likes Milwaukee, he would have to be an idiot to resign here when someone is going to offer him a $175 million contract. Yeah the NFL has some problems, but if the Packers played under MLB's system, Brett Favre would have been traded to the Giants in about 1997 and the Packers would have gone back to obscurity. I was ok with this system for awhile...it was fine when the Brewers were poorly managed and would have been losers under any system. Now we have a decent core of players and I have to watch them leave to the rich teams one by one. Good luck convincing me to go to 20 games at today's prices+30% in 2012 when Fielder is gone and the Brewers lose 90 games again. I hope they cancel the World Series again if it brings change, but I know it won't because even the small/middle market owners will give in because there's just too much money involved to cancel games, no matter what the benefit to the fans could be. Maybe I'm just upset because of tonight, but I expect a nice, peaceful contract negotiation at the next CBA. Why would it be any different? The current system benefits the owners AND the players--they both are bringing in record dollar amounts. No wonder they keep bringing Selig back. The fans speak with their pocketbook and as long as ticket sales and TV ratings are high, nothing is going to change. I can already give you my predicted World Series winner for 2010...and 2011...and 2012...and 2013...and 2014. There is at least a 33% chance and probably a 50% chance that I will be right. Yes, the Yankees haven't won a World Series since 2000, but those Yankees didn't have Sabathia, Teixiera, and Burnett in addition to a lineup that helped them make the playoffs 14 out of the previous 15 years. With that new stadium and the YES network they are now nearly completely unstoppable. They can have any free agent that they want...and what baseball player wouldn't want to sign a contract that nearly guarantees a World Series ring? They have a $200 million payroll this year, I'm sure it will be even higher next year. I'll still cheer for the Brewers...but the competitive balance situation is likely to get much worse in the next 5 years.

I also agree with Ajay. I do know the details of the deal, but I am guessing that MLB took a slightly larger amount of money (vs. ESPN) in exchange for moving their games to some network that I can never even remember what channel number is. The NHL did the same thing...they should be a seeing huge resurgence right now due to their young stars, but instead nobody hears about them until the playoffs start. MLB finally has exciting postseason games to show, but they are plagued by being on an obscure network, long game times, poor umpiring, awful announcing, starting games at 3:00, etc. Seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Great interview. I learn so much more about baseball through these than I do through anything on TV. It is always nice to hear things from the players' perspective, and it seems like due to all the various pressures of being a big league, an important perspective in many of those incidents gets withheld for many years. The interview with Brooks Kieschnick seemed to have many of the same themes--Brooks had issues when the Cubs changed management and Jeff got pushed around between a number of organizations. It is important to keep this in mind when the Brewers bring in players who have bounced around through a number of organizations--it isn't easy to keep adapting to different managers, coaches, philosophies, etc. As for the stories with the altercations, especially with Pedro Martinez, it is really the statistics of the players involved that is going to determine management's decision, not who was actually to blame for the issues. Jeff clearly wanted to win and perform in the big leagues, but his methods of dealing with the pressure (playing guitar) didn't always rub off the right way on his teammates. There seem to be lots of internal dynamics in big league clubhouses that are hard to diagnose--and you can't expect to get any honest answers through the media as the events are unfolding. We never really got the whole story on the resolution to the Manny Parra incident from 2008...I'm sure there was some sort of lasting effect. So I guess that's my interpretation, maybe it helps answer Ajay's questions. Best of luck to Jeff in the future!

Looks like not everyone on the Dodgers was disappointed with tonight's result: "I feel great. I feel like I accomplished all I wanted to accomplish." -Manny Ramirez That should be a fun storyline to follow next year and I will enjoy every second of it.

I worry that the big teams are winning more and will continue to do so because they are figuring out the tricks that the small market teams were using to beat them. The Yankees (and every other MLB team) should win a pennant every 15 years and a World Series every 30 years. A playoff birth should come about every 3-4 years. I just feel like the Brewers are missing out on their window of opportunity while these other teams suck up all the great free agents and will not readily give away their prospects anymore. We had a great farm system and the reward for that was getting CC Sabathia...but we couldn't resign him due to money. The Cardinals can resign Matt Holliday. I agree that the playoff games have been really exciting, but everyone will always be an underdog to the few rich teams.

I used to be against all forms of instant replay. I am now 100% in favor of all forms of instant replay, including ball/strike calls. It can be done just like in tennis. The batter or pitcher challenges, the result is instantly displayed on the scoreboard, and everyone moves on.

I really enjoy the drama and storylines involved in the postseason, but the games are borderline unwatchable. This is generally due to greed and money interests over the good of the game. -The games take way too long and nobody cares as long as the ratings are better than whatever would otherwise be on TBS at the time. There should be fines and rules against delaying the game. The games are going 45 minutes to an hour longer than they should. -The announcers are absolutely horrible. It has to be scaring people people away and I'm sure they would have already dumped these guys if not for some contract requirement or that the people making the decisions are as brain dead as the announcers. -I really, really hate the Yankees, but their moves are completely logical given the economic climate that persists in baseball. The Phillies are actually the easiest team to root for, because at least they got Cliff Lee because they had a solid farm system, not because they outspent everyone. I agree that there have been some classic games, but some of the fun is taken out knowing how bad the economic situation has gotten. I would take a full season work stoppage if it means that the Yankees can't spend triple what the Brewers do and get away with it.

I wonder who makes the decision to allow these horrible announcers to continue broadcasting. You think that these media companies would eventually realize that the overwhelming majority of baseball fans would prefer someone else to be announcing. Even casual fans must realize how bad these guys are. I definitely watch less of these games because I can't stand the announcing. Another complaint is that the games take way, way too long. Every pitcher turns into Claudio Vargas in the postseason. I do not have 4 hours to watch a baseball game. There should be a limit to how often they can call time out in a particular at bat. That being said, the games themselves have been great. It would be nice to see both series go to at least game 6.