Brewers At Trade Deadline: Stand Pat Or Wheel & Deal?

 Were you one of those fans who jumped off the Milwaukee Brewers' bandwagon after the squad stumbled into the All-Star break with a three-game losing skid (to the Pirates, no less)???

Did you forget the team was 59-37 and leading the NL Central? Or are you just spoiled with the success that manager Pat Murphy has produced?

The squad wrapped up July on Friday with a win and a 16-10 record, and now stand at 69-41 with a 6.5 game lead over those hated Chicago Cubs.

That was then, this is now. The trade deadline is 5p on Monday. Will the team go all in? It made a pretty minor trade on Saturday, sending OF Blake Perkins and RHP Craig Yoho to the Cleveland Ind...oops, Guardians for 26-year-old catcher Bo Naylor and 30-year-old relief pitcher Codi Heuer, then sent the pair to AAA Nashville.

The big fish in the trade pool, tho, would be pitcher Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers. He's a two-time AL Cy Young winner. That's the upside. He's in the last year of his contract and will no doubt command beaucoup bucks when all is said in done.

Yes, the Brewers have the best minor league system in baseball and the prospects that could entice the Tigers. That, along with a young already-in-the-majors player could be packaged.

Question is, DO they rent Skubal for the rest of the season or fish elsewhere for the starting pitching they could use?

Well, that became a moot point in a hurry.  Was working on this yesterday (Saturday) and this morning learned the Los Angeles Dodgers sent three prospects to the Tigers for Skubal. 

Next, LA will just park the Brinks truck in front of his house in the offseason. Why not change the team logo to a dollar sign as well?

Getting more and more obvious that baseball has to do something to level the playing field a bit. Granted, players don't want to give up their right to get more (and more and more....) but eventually this is going to backfire on all of us.

If the owners and players can't come to a middle ground that benefits both, you can expect a lock-out and no 2027 season.

The Grass Is Seldom Greener In The Other NFL Stadium

 Didn't watch every match, but did see a number of World Cup games. Interesting that no matter where the games were played, be it Mexico or Canada or in the US, the pitch was always grass.

That includes the NFL stadiums that hosted World Cup matches, with said stadiums tearing up their artificial turf and installing grass. Why? Because the players demand it. That's right. World Cup soccer players, well, professionals in Europe, etc., say the will only play on grass. And NFL owners said OK.

And right after the World Cup wrapped up, said NFL owners tore up the grass to go back to artificial surfaces.

Huh?

Never mind that  92% of NFL players would much rather play on grass, and want that to extend their careers.

Nope. In the NFL, 16 of the 32 stadiums are turf, while the other 16 are grass (14 fully grass, 2 hybrids of 97% grass).

The reasoning from NFL owners who have turf? It's done so they can use their stadiums for other events, like rodeos and monster truck rallies.

Too bad those owners won't listen to their employees, the players, and follow the lead that soccer has provided.

LaBron James took a $50 million pay cut to sign with Philadelphia. You read that right. He was making $54 million last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, this year will make $4 million with the 76ers -- part of a two-year contract worth $8 million.

Talk about a bargain!

Going back to the World Cup, which was so successful -- and hats off to Spain for their dramatic win over poor-loser Argentina. In the wake of the tournament, FIFA head Gianni Infantino said that they should turn FIFA into a commercial venture and sell a stake in it. 

According to the New York Post,  that plan was to raise up to $4.2 billion by selling about a 20% stake in a new unit, valuing it at $20 billion. (And, what a coincidence, leading one of those major investors would be a guy who happens to be the brother of a son-in-law of a certain head of state....)

The move was quickly rejected by controlling bodies in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Europe, and it's 55 members, going so far as to say they would boycott FIFA events. Of course, that would probably impact the upcoming women's World Cup as well.

Even Infantino's senior advisor termed the plan "a bad deal for football" and resigned. He also said "It is a bad deal for FIFA's Member Associations...and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game."

Infantino finally read the room and said "oops, never mind..."

Won't surprise me if there's a major shakeup coming at FIFA after the "peace prize" and all the other sucking up was done.