MVN: Most Valuable Network

The Wisconsinians have declared the Milwaukee Brewers the 2009 National League Central champions:

Tear down that silly Wild Card pennant, here comes the big boy - the real deal. It's gonna happen. The Brewers WILL win the NL Central this year, and here's 5 reasons why.

Our friend Brad goes on to list four reasons (he forgot the all important No. 2).

Speaking of No. 2, they can tear down that "silly Wild Card pennant" from 2008, but they'll have to pry the Commemorative DVD of the 2008 Wild Card out of Wisconsinians' cold dead hands.

For those over-the-hill columnists and Cubs fans (and White Sox trolls) who believe the Cubs are better off trading Carlos Zambrano for a "bag of balls," let's take a look at what they are advocating giving up.

Over the last seven seasons, there are nine pitchers who have won 90 or more games (wins being a statistic the angry hordes can understand and usually cling to): Johan Santana (107), Roy Halladay (104), Roy Oswalt (100), Carlos Zambrano (95), Andy Pettitte (94), CC Sabathia (94), Derek Lowe (92), Josh Beckett (90) and Mark Buehrle (90).

Of those, only Sabathia is younger than the just turned 28-year-old Zambrano - by 50 days.

Of those, only Lowe (218) and Buehrle (214) have started more games than Zambrano (206).

Of those, only Santana (2.88), Halladay (3.18) and Oswalt (3.26) have a lower ERA than Zambrano (3.41).

Of those, only Santana (1,462) and Sabathia (1,151) have more strikeouts than Zambrano (1,141).

Of those, only Santana (.217) has a lower batting average against than Zambrano (.228).

Of those, none have a lower slugging percentage against than Zambrano (.351).

In short, Carlos Zambrano has easily been one of the best pitchers in baseball since he entered the league. And Phil Rogers and his pitchfork-wielding followers are looking to run him out of town because he finally has gone too far by plunking two White Sox batters.

(Previous "In Defense Of" posts can be found here.)

Carlos Zambrano doesn't much care what you think:

PITTSBURGH -- Carlos Zambrano had some fun with an unscientific Tribune fan poll in which 57.2 percent of respondents said he should be moved, as Phil Rogers suggested in a column Monday.

"Fine, trade me to Boston," Zambrano said.

Last weekend Zambrano said he would play for only two other teams than the Cubs -- Boston and the White Sox. But apparently he changed his mind about the White Sox now that he knows pitching coach Don Cooper doesn't care for him.

In truth, the Cubs can't send Zambrano anywhere without his approval.

"Got the no-trade clause, man," he said.

Any other team in the National League he would consider being traded to?

"The Dodgers," he said.

Why the Dodgers?

"Can you see me in Hollywood?" he said. "Me and (Sylvester) Stallone? Rocky VI."

Zambrano then began shadow boxing in the middle of the clubhouse. Very strange, this Cubs bunch.

If Paul Sullivan thinks you're strange, well, that's saying something I suppose.

Sports Illustrated correspondents in every city interviewed 380 players in May for the poll, though many players declined to answer that particular question, even while knowing they would remain anonymous. SI did not break down the exact vote totals, but listed Piniella first with 26 percent of the vote, followed by Guillen at 21 percent. St. Louis' La Russa (10 percent), the Dodgers' Joe Torre (4 percent), and Cleveland's Eric Wedge (4 percent) rounded out the top five. Players could not vote for managers from their own team.

Lou Piniella, .521, one World Series titles and six division titles
Ozzie Guillen, .531, one World Series titles and two division titles
Tony La Russa, .536, two World Series titles, five pennants and 11 division titles
Joe Torre, .540, four World Series titles, six pennants and 12 division titles
Eric Wedge, 502, one division title

I have been in the minority of those who felt the Cubs made a mistake by cutting their ties to Prior in December. Those feelings are even stronger now.

If Prior can get himself right, he has the potential to fill one of the team's biggest needs -- a No. 2 starter behind Carlos Zambrano. The Cubs could have invested another $3 million in Prior -- and, yes, hundreds of man hours by trainers and coaches -- and given themselves the possibility that he could follow Zambrano in a playoff rotation. General Manager Jim Hendry picked the exit ramp instead, and this could prove to be a very bad decision, even if Prior was going to leave as a free agent after 2008.

If you are going to make your bloggy living by being a blowhard, you should at least get your facts right - lest the busy, busy fact checkers of the world, well, fact check you.

Rob of Goat Riders lets loose on the Cubs today and includes this sentence:

He has three first basemen, four (or five if you care to chuck Theriot in the mix) backup middle infielders, two catchers hitting below .230, and three corner outfielders who combined make more money than many teams, and combined cannot match the homer and RBI production of Brad Hawpe, not to mention Albert Pujols.

We're focusing on the back end of that sentence "three corner outfielders who combined make more money than many teams, and combined cannot match the homer and RBI productoin of Brad Hawpe, not to mention Albert Pujols."

Presumably he means the starting outfield of Alfonso Soriano, Milton Bradley and Kosuke Fukudome, last year's right fielder. Otherwise, I'm not sure the point he's making.

Let's start with the salaries for 2009 to examine the claim they "make more money than many teams":

Alfonso Soriano: $16 million

Kosuke Fukudome: $11.5 million

Milton Bradley: $5 million

Total: $32.5 million

Here are the lowest Opening Day salaries in baseball:

Florida Marlins: $36.8 million

San Diego Padres: $43.7 million

Pittsburgh Pirates: $48.7 million

So, if Rob means "combined make more money than no teams" he has a valid point. Or "combined makes 88 percent of the Marlins' team salary." That would make sense, though a bit clunky.

Let's move on to "combined cannot match the homer and RBI production of Brad Hawpe" (who has 12 home runs and 55 RBI):

Alfonso Soriano: 14 home runs and 32 RBI

Kosuke Fukudome: 5 home runs and 23 RBI

Milton Bradley: 5 home runs and 16 RBI

Total: 24 home runs and 71 RBI

Now, checking my math ... wait a second, carry the one ... yes, 24 is greater than 12 and 71 is greater than 55.

There are very reasonable points to be made on how the outfield - and the team as a whole - is underachieving. But those points are best made using facts.

Otherwise, you're too easily dismissed as someone who has no idea what he is talking about.

Yes, this is a sterling idea, Phil:

Get Carlos Zambrano out of here, even if the Cubs have to give him away. He's not the guy you want as the ace of a curse-busting team, and at this point, it's wishful thinking that he'll ever mature into that guy.

Proving that I did not attend Kellogg, Wharton or even the Acme School of Business, I offer this proposition for Jim Hendry: First thing Monday morning, put Zambrano on waivers. If anyone claims him and the $62.75 million left on his contract, which runs through 2012, immediately trade him for whatever is being offered, from a bag of balls to a 32-year-old minor-leaguer.

Perhaps we should put Z's record up against Phil's. As we know, Phil Rogers is wrong about absolutely everything.

(By the way, we would write more on the utter foolishness throughout his column, but it just isn't worth it. Read it yourself, if you are inclined to subject yourself to such things.)

Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild confronted a White Sox clubhouse employee Saturday over an alleged leaking of the Lou Piniella-Milton Bradley argument. He was told no Sox employee who worked in the clubhouse spoke to the media about the incident, though Bradley and the Cubs believe otherwise.

"We have some snitches, some White Sox staff snitches," Bradley said. "But that's how people keep a job for a long time. That's what you have to do. I wouldn't do it."

How fascinating that Europe has caught on to what I call John Elway/Eli Manning syndrome -- punky demands by athletes who want to circumvent the draft system and refuse to play for a certain team. The thing about Elway and Manning was, we had an idea of their track record and assumed they could play. Who in the hell is Ricky Rubio?

"It's the first time I've seen a manager fight with a player, get mad with the player," Soriano said. "Sometimes you can get mad, but not like that.

"I hope [Bradley] comes back and he can help the team to win. If he's not that way, we don't need him. We have 25 players, we have to be on the same page. If he's not 100 percent to help the team to win, we don't need him. If he's 100 percent and he comes and wants to play, he's more than welcome."

"Look, I have smoked dope one time in my life, and it didn't do a damn thing for me, and I never tried it again," he said. "And I'm fortunate because of that. But a lot of people do [smoke marijuana]. You can buy it in California from a pharmacy."

Paul Sullivan, this morning's paper:

DETROIT -- Lou Piniella sat Milton Bradley against the Tigers on Thursday and said he probably won't play Friday against White Sox right-hander Jose Contreras .

"Let's just call it a day off for today," Piniella said, adding Bradley will play Saturday and Sunday.

Rest assured, Bradley is being benched.

The Cubs lineup card, today: Bradley bats third. Off just one day.

So, on Paul Sullivan's say so, I rest assured that Bradley was benched. But he's back in the lineup today. So my assured rest should not have been so assured.

Will I ever be able to assuredly rest assured again?

The 2009 LSU baseball team are the NCAA College World Series National Champions, the school's sixth.  Congratulations to Coach Mainieri and his staff and to all the players that gave us LSU fans one hell of a season.

Maybe this will inspire Fontenot.  Jebus, something needs to.

Mark Buehrle has no use for Wrigley Field, which is understandable. But the news is he's openly musing about playing for other teams:

"I mean I can't speak for them (critics of Wrigley), but I dislike Wrigley that much," Buehrle told Dan McNeil on the Danny Mac Show on WSCR-AM 670. "I joked around with somebody the other day, saying I don't know if I could even sign with the (St. Louis) Cardinals, as much as everybody knows one day I want to play for the Cardinals.

"I don't know if I could because that means I'd have to go to Wrigley three times, and that's how much I hate going over there."

I don't pay enough attention to Buehrle or the White Sox to know if this is common, but one would think it would some day place him smack dab in the middle of the White Sox jihad against former Sox players.

Forgive us this brief NBA mention, but Larry Bird's comment on new Pacer Tyler Hansbrough is telling:

Bird brushed aside the notion that Hansbrough has something to prove.

"I always see the comparisons to Jeff Foster, but I don't get it," Bird said, referring to the Pacers center known for hustle but a 5.1 career scorer. "This guy can score and he will score."

In other words, "The guy who has played 618 games for us over the last 10 years sucks."

It turns out that the Cubs underachieving catcher is just high. At least that's the word from Chris DeLuca via Twitter (and elsewhere now):

ChrisDeLuca Cubs catcher Geovany Soto tested positive for marijuana during 2009 World Baseball Classic. MLB and Cubs will not discipline Soto.

Marijuana is listed on Major League Baseball's banned substances as a "drug of abuse" under its Drug Treatment Program. But how did they find out he was using? From MLB policy:

Except as set forth in Section 3.A or Section 5.B (as to Stimulants) or Section 3.C or Section 4.E, Players shall not be subject to testing for the use of any Drug of Abuse.

So, what are sections 3.A, 5.B, 3.C or 4.E?

3.A applies to stimulants, 4.E deals with back-end treatment programs, and 5.B covers follow-up testing to a failed stimulant drug test.

That leaves us with 3.C, which governs "reasonable cause testing," which means that the league had "reasonable cause to believe that (Soto) had, in the previous 12-month period, engaged in the use, possession, sale or distribution ofa prohibited subtance" and therefore was "subect to immediate testing."

Update: Carrie Muskat's blog seems to imply that he was tested as part of the World Baseball Classic and is ineligible for international play for two years. Odd. I was under the impression the WBC was an MLB vanity project. Instead, it was created by Major League Baseball and sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation.

And here's an interesting tidbit from Wikipedia (so it must be true):

Owners, notably New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, had been concerned about their star players being injured in international play before the beginning of spring training, and the professional season. This was a concern for the MLBPA as well, but their primary objection was with drug testing. MLB wanted the stricter Olympic standards in place for the tournament, while the union wanted current MLB standards in place. Eventually, a deal was reached on insurance for player contracts and a fairly tough drug testing standard.

Back to original post: So why isn't Soto suspended or somehow other punished? Perhaps international tests don't apply to MLB rules - which would seem to be a gap in allegedly "tough" drug-testing policies. Or, judging by Section 4 of the program, it appears he would be placed on a "clinical track," under which first-time violators enter a treatment program that they must cooperate with and not get into any more trouble - lest they be transferred to the "treatment track."

Treatment track=suspension.

Then again, Soto could be a glaucoma patient and be skating by through Section 3.G:

A Player authorized to ingest a Prohibited Substance through a valid, medically appropriate prescription provided by a duly licensed physician shall receive a Therapeutic Use Exemption ("TUE").

Probably not. But the fact we're talking about this, though, leads me to believe that someone somehow has run afoul of good old Section 6.A (if MLB disclosure standards were in place):

Except as provided in Section 7 below, the Commissioner's Office, the Association, the Treatment Board, the IPA, the Medical Testing Offcer, Club personnel, and all of their members, affiliates, agents, consultants and employees, are prohibited from publicly disclosing information about an individual Player's test results or testing history, Initial Evaluation, diagnosis, Treatment Program (including whether a Player is on either the Clinical or Administrative Track), prognosis with a Treatment Program.

Then again, we've all seen just how confidential those tests really are.

If you're not reading Tommy Craggs on Deadspin, you should be.

And if you don't? Well, we can't be friends.