It's Not the Crew's Fault... This Time | giddyupzil's Blog

In regard to the comments on the last post: Think what you will, but I strongly believe that the Packers match up well against the Cowboys. I think our cornerbacks are physical enough, although Charles Woodson will have to play hurt on Thursday if we have any chance of winning. I haven't heard this said anywhere else, because maybe it's common knowledge, but if you give the Packers a Sunday night matchup against the Cowboys, I'd assure you Woodson would play because of the extra time. The stat to watch is Brett Favre's record in Dallas, which is 0-8 including two playoff losses.

There's this quote from those montages of Favre and Holmgren where Holmgren is staring at Favre as he walks off the field and the coach turns to Favre and goes, "No more rocket balls, please." I think that this mentality is that the Packers need Favre to play right. They need him to not turn the ball over, and keep doing what he has done this year and they're going to be in the game late, and that's where Favre thrives.

Moving on, let's focus on a rather large story, the Cincinnati Reds gobbling up Francisco Cordero for four years, $46M with an option for the fifth year. This absolutely baffles me and reaffirms my belief that when all the dust has settled, it's always about the greenbacks.

Time after time, you heard about how Cordero "loved the city and the team" in Milwaukee, and he felt at home here. This is with good reason, considering the Brewers are competitive and Wisconsin is not just a bunch of rednecks (although I'll certainly tell you we have more than a couple dozen, eh). But here's how Milwaukee's deal compared with Cincinnati:

2007 Record:
Milwaukee: 83-79
Cincinnati: 72-90

Offer (Years - Millions):
Milwaukee: 4 - 42
Cincinnati: 4 - 46

Option for Fifth Year (Millions):
Milwaukee: 13, buyout for $1M
Cincinnati: 11, buyout for $1M

Looking at those numbers, those deals are basically identical, save a few more guaranteed by the Reds and a little more on the fifth year for the Brewers, which doesn't mean much considering it's five years in the future and anything can happen.

Whatever happened to loyalty in this sport? While this is nothing out of the ordinary, for the fans who were enthralled by Coco's every pitch and nine pitch, three strikeout ninth innings, there's a big blow to the image of Cordero to Milwaukee fans.

Hopefully the word gets out to the fan base about how poor Cordero treated the Brewers, first by refusing to negotiate a deal mid-season so he could wrack up the saves and garner more money--something I didn't have too much of a problem with--but turning out to take $4M over a team that's on the up-and-up.

Expect nothing more than boos when the Dominican Thunder steps onto the Miller Park mound this year. Unfortunately for Brewers fans, Cordero's going to be pitching in the bottom of the ninth whenever he pitches in Miller Park.

I don't fault Doug Melvin, in fact I credit him for actually offering Cordero a competitive offer in a field that's over-inflated. There was obviously probably some push from Mark A. to give Cordero top dollar, but the cap must've stopped somewhere. I think that people like Cordero give baseball a bad image, and professional sports, bolting for the money. That is the obvious reason why he is in Cincinnati--or maybe it's for the prospect of 38-year old Ken Griffey Jr.?

Again, there's a lot of fan bias in this, and I'm sure that you've got your own fan bias as well. Hopefully you'll voice that below. I'd be interested to see what you have to say about this deal.