Quick Shots: Prince Ready For Prime Time
- For baseball fans outside of Milwaukee, Prince Fielder is a guy who looks like he should be playing in a Tuesday night beer league. But if you watch him play everyday, you realize that he's a pretty decent player and one who will reap the benefits of being selected the All-Star game MVP. Fielder's contract is up at the end of this year, and he's looking to cash in. Unfortunately, the Milwaukee Brewers are a small market team with a limited revenue stream and cannot afford to entertain negotiations with Fielder and his agent Scott Boras. Based on Fielder's performance so far this season, Boras probably would want the deed to Miller Park, the Allen clock tower, the entire third ward and the secret recipe for Johnsonville Brats. It's really sad because the Brewers are a pretty good team this year, but will suffer greatly next year when Fielder is gone.
- Perhaps stealing the headlines from Fielder last night was Brewers GM who helped the cash strapped Mets out by taking Frankie Rodriguez off their hands. K-Rod will also walk at the end of the year, but he could be the stabilizing force that gets the Brewers over the top in the NL Central.
- One team that probably won't go to the playoffs is the Chicago White Sox, who, after a 2-5 week during a must win home stand, may have to play .600 the rest of the way to even whiff a division title. If you are an optimist, you believe that Adam Dunn will have a big second half. If you are a realist, you already know that Dunn is a first half player. The bad thing about all this is with all the money the White Sox have committed to bad contracts (Dunn, Alex Rios, Mark Teahen) they may not have the funds to re-sign Mark Buehrle, who is in his walk year. Buehrle is the Paul Konerko of the pitching staff and losing him will not be positive going forward.
- If the White Sox wanted to do something rash, they could dangle Gavin Floyd and Edwin Jackson to perspective suitors. Floyd is just too soft for my liking and Jackson is the model of inconsistency. Jackson, who is in his walk year, would be a nice rent a player and perhaps help a contender while Floyd is under team control for a couple of more years and would be a nice number five guy somewhere. Trading Carlos Quentin is also an option, although he's one of the Sox top performers this year.
- Isn't it ironic in a year where the White Sox can't get two out hits, Paul Konerko makes the last out of the all-star game with runners on base?
- For those of you that are screaming for the Cuban Sandwich, hang in there for a couple more weeks. If the Sox come out flat after the break, Kenny Williams will make some hard moves that will open a spot for him on the roster.
- Sometimes, even if you do the right thing, you get screwed. The guy who caught Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit could have kept the ball and auctioned it off for thousands. Instead, he did the right thing and gave the ball to Jeter. As a reward, the Yankees, gave him some luxury seats. Unfortunately, that is considered a gift or a prize and the IRS is going to be calling soon to extract what could be a $5,000-$10,000 tax bill. Since the government is desperate for cash, this is like finding coins in the couch cushion.
- Chicago Bulls forward Derek Rose was so devastated that the Bulls lost to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals, he locked himself in a room for a couple of weeks. It's nice to see an athlete that still gives a damn about winning or losing instead of just getting paid. And, while his behavior may not be healthy, he at least showed that he will be primed to win next season (if there is one.)
- .The Mike Leach book excerpts were very telling yesterday. I thought Craig James was a d-bag, but now I am sure of it. The real d-bags in this whole, sad deal are the trustees who decided that making James happy was more important that keeping Leach. And you wonder what threats real or imagined James may have used to influence the trustees to can Leach so he could get revenge against the coach. All this from a man who helped bring SMU football to its knees in the 80's.
- Speaking of Leach, would you rather hire a coach with a winning record who ran a clean program or a coach like Jim Tressel or Rich Rod who brought down the two biggest teams in the Big Ten? I'd hire Leach in a heartbeat. And here's a prediction: If Houston Nutt doesn't have a good year, watch for Leach to re-emerge at Ole Miss.
Posted by Chip Ramsey at 7/13/2011 9:11 AM 
Categories: Minor League Baseball, Pro Baksetball, Chicago White Sox, College Football, Baseball
Tags: Cuban Sandwich His Name Is Rios Life Behind The Cheese Curtain The Big Donkey
Categories: Minor League Baseball, Pro Baksetball, Chicago White Sox, College Football, Baseball
Tags: Cuban Sandwich His Name Is Rios Life Behind The Cheese Curtain The Big Donkey
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