WestEddy

Okay, looking this up, I don't believe he had a contractual clause that stipulated how the Brewers would use him. Conversely, there don't appear to be any rules or penalties that disallow Civale from asking for a trade. I didn't even pay attention to whether the Brewers' front office was blind-sided by a request in the press, or if he just had his agent ask the team, then alluded to it in locker room press availability. My main point is that I don't really see how Civale requesting a trade should be seen as some sort of "bad behavior" on his part that other front offices might want to steer clear of. GMs are used to dealing with big egos, or guys who have routines they believe ensures their success.

Beyond Benintendi, we've kind of cleared out all our 1B/DH's, haven't we? I don't consider Noda or Elko to be viable major leaguers, at this point.

All Civale did was exercise his rights under his contract and the players' agreement. Pretty much like players exercising a deadline opt-out on a minor league deal or even declining a player option at the end of a season. There's a huge gap between that and players who are headaches to be avoided. If teams scouted Civale's last 3 starts, they'll see three strong outings where he was left in too long for one of them.

Altavilla and Alexander have the best ERA and WHIP in the bullpen.

We want Quero to play against RHP even though he OPS's .549, because that's the only way he'll get better. But we don't want Leasure to pitch in leverage. Don't we want Leasure to get better in high leverage time?

Okay, it's a 3-inning ballgame, now. We're good at those.

Appropos of nothing, I still hold firm that Lenyn Sosa will be a surprise trade candidate.

They called me this time.

You don't say...

No Robert, again. The drinks will flow, and the hugs will spill.

I firmly believe that trading for ranked dudes with options, or better yet, not due on a 40-man for a year, is classic "buying high".

Vientos/Vargas could rotate 1B/3B, although Vientos is not good, defensively, at 3B. His bat plays at 1B better than Vargas'.

They know him, for one. They're all just "depth". The Amaya remark was a joke. I would imagine that between the TDL and draft, the sox need to make some room on various rosters. They could even get assets undervalued by their presence on the 40-man and lack of options.

For some reason, Mark Vientos of the Mets is getting a lot of Twitter oxygen in this discussion.

I think an extra hour or so of drinking is just what this crowd needs to get in the proper mood.

I wonder if this actually means a Bergolla or Gonzalez promotion to AAA.

Makes room for Jake Amaya to bring his 1.000 OPS back to the Rate.

He's in for a lotta lovin'.

Cash Considerations