Greinke, Real World, Bennett Ball

A few quick, untimely rants and thoughts from your favorite aquitted double murderer.

GREINKE

There is nothing that pisses me off more than when a professional athlete gets injured doing something they don't get paid to do that prevents them from doing something they get paid MILLIONS to do. Especially when that player is on my team. Jeff Kent "slipping while washing his car"= funny. Zack Greinke breaking a rib while playing basketball = not funny.

I realize that these guys are all (well not JaMarcus Russell) hypercompetitive twenty-somethings, who are incredible athletes. They shouldn't be expected to sit and play vids all day long when they aren't working out. But perhaps you could take up something that you are a little less likely to break a rib in. Now, you are still going to get paid millions while the Crew runs Mark Rogers (or (Sports Bottle's) god forbid Manny Parra) out there for two or three of your starts.

REAL WORLD LAS VEGAS

The latest Real World season premiered last week, and I gotta be honest, other than the "I don't ride cars, I ride boys" quote from the commercials, I wasn't that excited. I felt like it was a little played out going to Vegas for the third time. And then I watched it. And it was AWESOME. Here are some highlights:

-Guy who (is not gay mind you) is worried that his roommates are going to find out that he was in some web show where he ran around naked with a bunch of other dudes who were also not gay, and based on the blurred out clip, there were showers involved. But yeah, he isn't gay at all.

-Guy who started experimenting with drugs in high school, one thing led to another, and yada, yada, yada, someone got shot and he spent three years in juvy.

-And a ridiculous and surprising amount of Sun Drop product placement. I was unaware that Sun Drop HAD an ad budget. I thought their entire budget was sponsoring the scoreboards at Shawano High School. I legitimately thought it was produced and bottled in Shawano, and it didn't exist outside of Wisconsin. But I guess I was wrong. Good on Sun Drop. On a side note, Sun Drop out of a glass bottle is like crack.

BENNETT BALL

That game on Friday was the worst basketball game I've ever seen. And I lived through Bennett Ball, which while it got us a Final Four appearance, also led to the worst basketball ever played. The offense consisted of playing really tough D, and then throwing it around for 34 seconds and hoping you made a 3. Games were routinely in the 40s for like 5 years. The sad thing about Friday is that is wasn't even GOOD Bennett Ball. The Badgers should have lost by 40 because they didn't play good D either. Terrible. This is exactly the kind of game that Bucky plays every five games or so, and loses. Here's my prediction: Bucky will get a 6 seed, take the first round game down to the wire and win, and then lose in round 2. Book it.

I will be back later tonight/early tomorrow with bracket stuff.

I've Got Wood

I never thought I'd get a repeat on the excitement that was generated when the Milwaukee Brewers acquired C.C. Sabathia a few years ago en route to an, albeit short, playoff berth. Mark Attanasio must have a huge anus, because it can't feel good pulling Zack Greinke out of your ass. This is going for broke, especially if the Brewers are in relative contention when the trade deadline passes but don't make the playoffs. That is the worst case scenario. If that happens they won't trade Prince Fielder and they will get nothing for him. That would blow because Prince is out like Juice in dodgeball after this year.

I do have to express my sadness about getting rid of Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain, more Cain though. Cain is gonna be a stud. Escobar is a unique defensive talent but his bat is a dime a dozen. Betancourt is pretty much an older version. His numbers at the plate last year were more productive. But with Cain gone, and I suspect he was our starting center fielder for the next dozen years, does this mean we get Carlos Gomez in center? I have done zero research about this, but no one else comes to mind. If this is the case, that is going to hurt. Gomez is a the rare player with a body type for one thing (power hitter) but raw skills for another thing (speedy leadoff hitter). In other words, he tries to slug but can't. If he can learn his identity, maybe he can be a consistent contributer, because he's faster than shit and is very good defensively.

Be very careful with your enthusiasm. It's understandable to be thinking playoffs but I'm getting the feeling of a slow start because expectations are going to be so high. Every article is talking about the Brewers' great offense, but they're not consistent, which cost them a ton of games last year. Great pitching can't rescue an offense that doesn't produce consistently.

Ted Thompson, take a cue from Attanasio. You do what you need to do to win. Thompson simply will not pull the trigger on a big move. When Ryan Grant got hurt he needed to get out there and find a suitable replacement (i.e. Marshawn Lynch). Now the Packers play the Patriots with no running game AND no passing game, unless Matt Flynn also has a huge anus. Patriots favored by 14.5. Hmmm, Patriots at home, hottest team in the NFL, Aaron Rodgers out, Matt Flynn in...... Patriots 27-10.

College Bowl Pick 'em is starting off decently. A thank you goes to Juice for allowing me to continue my degenerative ways by spending $20 on a pick 'em pool. Fuck Troy.

More Quick Brewer Thoughts

The question probably needs to be asked: Were the Brewers one pitcher (albeit a very good one) away?

A really good pitcher is nice, but the Brewers defense was really bad last year, which didn't help the pitching staff at all. I think it is a valid question.

I asked my wife this very question. Her response? "No, they're terrible." I guess we will find out.

OMFG

The hands you see above are those of Brewers owner Mark Attanasio. He and his GM Doug Melvin have decided that the window on a small market team competing is slamming shut. And Attanasio has stuck his dick in it. Completely out of the blue and/or my brother's wet dreams, the Crew has traded for Zack Greinke. (I should note that this was somehow scooped by "Bernie's Crew", which is AMAZING work.)

This is a move that is a total all in moment, and one that is worth it if it gets the Crew within reach of a championship. The Crew traded starting CF Lorenzo Cain, starting SS Alicides Escobar, and top prospects Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress for Greinke and SS Yuniesky Betancourt.

The Brewers rotation has gone from one of the most average on paper (and one of the worst in reality) in the NL last season. To one of the best. The previous addition of Shawn Marcum and now a recent Cy Young winner in Greinke puts them right up there with the San Francisco Giants as far as the rotation goes. Greinke, Gallardo, Marcum, Wolf, Narveson. If everyone stays healthy, that is NICE.

This means that it is all-in with Prince too. Now they a) don't need the pitcher they were trying to get, b) need his bat to make this worth it. Another positive of this on the Prince front is that if this doesn't work out for whatever reason, they can unload him at the trading deadline for prospects to fill the farm system that they just completely emptied. This is not the preferred scenario, but they haven't traded him yet because they were trying to get a young MLB ready pitcher for Prince, which nobody would give up. But I bet that even for a two month rental they could get prospects similar to Odorizzi (who is still a year or two away, and projects as a number 2 or 3 starter) and Jeffress (a troubled SP turned probable reliever with a big fastball). So we have options.

With Prince going, and nothing coming back for him, this also means that the best chance is probably this year. While Prince could be somewhat replaced because he is bad on defense, it is tough to replace the hitting completely. The lineup this year looks competitive on paper, even with the loss of Cain and Escobar. Lucroy is solid at C. Prince at 1B. Weeks at 2B. McGehee at 3B. The Hammer in left and Hart in RF. Those are really decent players at all of those positions. Escobar had been a disappointment at the plate, and we are replacing him with a slightly older version of him in Yuniesky Betancourt .692OPS, 1.3 WAR. While Betancourt's numbers aren't great, they are slightly better than Escobar's right now, so there isn't much of a step back there (Ecobar: .614 OPS, -.7 WAR). Maybe Escobar figures it out, but that is a risk that needs to be taken. I'm alot more worried about the Carlos Gomez experience in CF, because I hate him. But you probably aren't going to have 8 competent hitters in every lineup.

So this move is ridiculous and awesome and surprising, and completely made me forget that the Pack is going to lose by 50 and have their playoff chances ended this weekend. I may not choose the most painful method of death now!

I'm sure someone will have a little better analysis than me, and I look forward to reading it. I hope that this is the summer of '08 all over again.