The Audacity of Heirs...

Now, I am not making a venting whining post about the Sabathian experience. The Brewers did, as the good doctor would say, buy the ticket and take the ride. The Yankees had the money and the inclination, and while the schadenfreudist in me will enjoy any initial struggle, I do not hate the player.

In fact, if there was bad blood, why would the lone buyer for Mike Cameron be those selfsame Yankees? It couldn't happen. At least, until today. Today comes with bad blood. The bad blood from when you realize that the person you are dealing with is simply irrational. Like the time you tried to engage a youtube commenter in debate. Only on a grander scale.

You know the rumor. Mike Cameron for Melky Cabrera. Straight up? This is nothing but a joke right now. Melky was awful last season, and Mike Cameron is still the above average Mike Cameron in the days of old. So, the Brewers are asking for another prospect. Their dream? Something in a Phillip Hughes. The player Hank Steinbrenner is allowing to be added? Kei Igawa or some such nonsense.

(Note: I didn't actually know that was true when I wrote that last sentence, Hank Steinbrenner must have learned his negotiationary tactics from a bad fantasy football GM.)

Now, this is an area of compromise. Ian Kennedy seems a happy medium (as he at this point has had no Big League success). I am sure a Cameron for Cabrera and Kennedy can get done. But for one little thing.

The Yankees want salary relief.

The Yankees, who are currently after Derek Lowe, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettite and Ben Sheets, are asking for salary relief on one player whose salary actually makes sense in this new economy. The logic behind this is easy. You make one crack about C.C.'s affinity for the sausage meats and you are done.

But in what sort of a world does Hank Steinbrenner think that a move like that is nothing short of bullshit? You cannot make a move that gives a pitcher the largest contract ever than cry poor? That sort of logic may work in the Halls of Congress, but it's nothing more than wasted breath here.

Fiscal responsibility only goes so far when you are trying for a rotation of four free agents and Joba. A flaky personality only works well when you're trying to bring a positive force into the world. You are not going to find a desperate GM here. Above average does not come cheap everywhere you go.

In closing, while Hank Steinbrenner may want to damn the man, if Doug Melvin stays strong, he can save the fiefdom.

Also, I just wanted to thank C.C. Sabathia.

I hope you do well in New York. No regrets. Enjoy the New York City Cuisine. Brazillian food is awesome, am I right?

Hey Doug?

I appreciate that you are willing to roll up on the Sabathian with an extra year. That's fine. But saying that you're willing to go all the way up to 110 million dollars if you have that extra year is just intelligence insulting. I mean it.



"Yeah, we know you may not be thrilled with 20 million dollars per year. How's about an extra year and 18.3 mil per?"

Yeah. No. Offer 5/110 or 4/90 if you want it to look like a raise. That's around one million less per year than the Yankees offer. And CC would at least agonize about it.

At least he would have before that whole 6/110 bullshit.

Anyone who thinks this is a well-deserved MVP Award for Pujols?

Is wrong. Flat wrong.

Nobody was more valuable to their team this season than C.C. Sabathia. He broke through the wild card glass ceiling. I can say this with a safe distance, because nobody is going to look it up. But his value over replacement player? Prorated? Best in the NL.

But writers are idiots. So fuck you BBWAA. You had no right having Sabathia fucking 6th.

I love C.C. Sabathia...

I hate working at fairs and festivals. Unless I see a shirtless drunk guy trying to break up a fight between a dude and a lady. Then it's like I'm watching COPS Live!

CC Sabathia is God.

A complete game. 9 strikeouts. And he went yard off of Homer Bailey!

TINY GIANTS!

The Search for Inspirado...

I never should have installed the sitemeter. The sitemeter means desperation. The sitemeter means you know what you had at WordPress. And it was a lot of people googling Kim Kardashian...



Yeah, the wordpress readers are a bunch of traitors.

I'm just saying. It's hot. I'm cranky. I have a nascent idea of how Murderball is proof positive that Juno is hack. I have a zygote of a premise on why ESPN is killing me because Brett Favre can't hit Ted Thompson on the two way.

But I can't even connect the dots with a confusing Bob Harris style. But if you want a chuckle? Google Tony Armas and Hello Kitty.

If I'm free, I'll liveblog the Sabathia debut. It is the greatest thing of all time in Wisconsin's history. And I may just watch as a fan.

C.C. Built my Hotrod.

This is literally Christmas in July for Brewer fans. Heck, I'll go as far to say that the great state of Wisconsin just got itself a reason to live. Really. The Brewers strode up to the big boy table and got themselves a Cy Young Award winner all by themselves.

Did they overpay? Yes. While the pitching is likely ballast, Matt LaPorta is the truth. Is Sabathia gone by the end of 2008? Likely.

But none of that matters. I may be marking out like a puberal fanboy in regards to his first Comic-Con Booth Babe, but I'll offer you context. In 1982, the Brewers lost a hard-fought series to the Cardinals. Guess how may other teams have made the playoffs since?

All but one. And the Brewers don't even have the what if scenario that the ExpoNationals had in the tragedy that was 1994. Our history can be boiled down into 1982, a win streak, and Pat Listach. Not to say that the Brewers have been incessantly bad? But the mediocre don't make history. And consistency at a 75-87 level gets you nowhere.

This means Sabathia is under minimal pressure for a merc. Getting there will be the hard part. Anything beyond the Wild Card round will be gravy. And he'll get his desired 20+ million a year.

And if he gets Milwaukee a ring? We will love him even if he never makes another visit to Milwaukee.

I'll be honest. By 2012? This trade may look really stupid. If the Brewers don't make it to the NLCS or worse yet, if they miss the playoffs? Matt LaPorta becomes our Jeff Bagwell. But that's down the road. Leave the whys and wherefores for when they come.

Today's about basking in the glow. My baseball team's taking a shot at glory. My baseball team's renting a superstar. This is Andrew's manic pop thrill.

Sabathia, Sheets, and Parra/Suppan. That's a playoff rotation that can make you break yourself.

Can you tell I'm in love with the world?