Causes For Concern

Those people you see turning blue now are Milwaukee Brewers fans.  They are painting their faces to express their fanatacism, they are turning blue holding their breaths for disaster to strike.

The concern isn't so much about the performance on the field.  The team this year is pretty much what we expected: an offense that either explodes for a bunch of homers and runs--or struggles to score at all, starting pitching that will at least keep the team in the game, the worst baserunning in all of the majors and a bullpen that guarantees fans from both teams have no reason to go home early.  The real concern is what's going on off the field.

The first point of concern is the huge contract extension given to Ryan Braun.  Let's just say the Brewers haven't had the best of luck when it comes to signing guys to big money deals.  The usual result is a serious drop off in production (Jeff Suppan), are constantly hurt, or they become surly and demand to be traded (Gary Sheffield).  Braunie has already had some nagging injury issues in his brief major league career--tight hamstrings, sore wrist, pulled rib muscles--so fans will now have to cover their eyes everytime he tries to leg out a triple or dives for a ball in the outfield.  Unlike the Yankees or the Red Sox, the Crew doesn't have the financial resources to just dump a big contract like Braun's and find another high priced free agent to take his place.

And speaking of financial resources, Brewers fans should be keeping a VERY close eye on the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership drama.  MLB has stepped in to take over the financial operations of the franchise as owner Frank McCourt's divorce and money woes keep getting uglier.  Brewers owner Mark Attanasio is already being touted as a potential buyer.  Attanasio is a Hollywood guy--and while he is saying how much he loves being the Brewers owner--you know that he has to have some desire to stay closer to home to watch his team play.  His family still lives in So Cal--and the local TV and radio contracts for the Dodgers can dwarf those in Milwaukee--so the temptation to "trade up" has to be great.

If Attanasio is to take his deep pockets to LA, Brewers fans can expect to return to the days of Jeff Cirillo and Richie Sexson being the "major off-season acquisitions"--and dreams of playoff and World Series games at Miller Park will disappear faster than the smoke from tailgate party grills.  Unless Mark Cuban wants to give baseball one more chance to tell him to take his billions and get the heck out.  Maybe Bud Selig could make an appearance on Shark Tank and beg him for money this time around.