1. Prince Fielder is fat.
Obviously this has been true since Prince took his home run staring show to the majors, but watching the replay of his homer tonight against the Cubs (which I don't get why he showboated so much for, since they were down 9-2) I was reminded that Prince is fat. They don't have enough X's on jersey sizes to hide that kind of thing either. For his future as a DH's sake, I do hope Prince can control his weight and not eat himself out of baseball. Miguel Cabrera seems to not be as bad as he was in his Marlins days, perhaps a trip away from the land of cheese will do Prince some good.
2. There is a dilemma brewing in St. Louis
Albert Pujols is on fire down in the land of the Cardinals. He now has 30 homers on the season and is on pace for 61. Which means all the Mark McGwire loving fans down there have to decide. Do they crown 62 homer Albert as their single season homer kind and make finally turn on a former hero to benefit a new one, or do they stay the course and acknowledge Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire? Something tells me McGwire would get tossed to the wolves to make Albert more of a hero, of course in this day and age who says Albert is clean? I certainly don't.
3. Can the Reds hang around?
I think they can, despite numerous injuries and generally bat hitting the Reds are right there in the NL Central race. If Volquez can come back, who knows. Joey Votto is back and hitting, but who knows if he will have a relapse and return to the nuthouse. Jay Bruce has to be better and they need production form more people, but they do have a solid closer and a strong top of the rotation. I still think they finish in third this season, but they have a bright future.
4. I was wrong about Derrek
After his 2 homer 7 RBI night, I have to admit that I was premature in thinking Derrek Lee was finished. Especially since I have such a patient approach with Alfonso Soriano, I should have known better. Derrek was bound to finish with a Derrek Lee season, and that is exactly what will happen, perhaps with 25 or so homers. Sorry D-Lee, now just don't turn back into DPLee as the season goes on.
5. Some irony about Milton Bradley
Turns out my hate for Jim Hendry is greater than my love (admittedly irrational) for Milton Bradley. How funny is it that the guy who was brought to be the left handed power guy can only hit from the right side? Honestly Milton is going to have to give up switch hitting next season I think. Combine that with that fact Lou wanted Raul Ibanez and I have to think Jim Hendry feels dumber by the day.
6. Lets quit the Sam Fuld thing right now
Give it up. Wonder Jew isn't the answer and as soon as Reed Mantle is ready to play Fuld will be back in AAA. Its nice that he has put up two nice games while Soriano sits, but don't be stupid. This team needs Soriano to make the playoffs no matter what some Soriano haters think. Naturally these are the same people who will be loving Soriano when he carries the team for a two-week stretch. Just because a guy has a nice two game stretch doesn't mean we have to become stupid.
7. Aramis coming back
Monday should mark the return of Aramis, and thank goodness. Aramis warns us that he will need days off and that his shoulder isn't going to be 100% all season. That is probably why the team got Jeff Baker today, though I think Jake Fox has done a fine job at third. Hopefully Aramis' two weeks of awful don't make too many Cubs fan upset.
8. Blanco/Fox dilemma
When Aramis comes back the Cubs will probably send Andres Blanco down to AAA, or Jake Fox. Either way we lose because Mike Fontenot needs to be the one to go. Fontenot isn't the plus defender with an occasional hit that Blanco is, or is he the power bat that Fox brings. Too bad that Hendry has a lot of eggs in the Fontenot basket which means we have to see one of these guys go.
9. Here comes Houston
Right on schedule the Astros are back in contention in the Central, which says way more about how bad this division really is. Houston has the hitting to keep in the race, but they lack the pitching. Wandy Rodriquez is a solid starter, but he can't be the number two guy on a playoff team. Especially since Houston hasn't had the injury troubles that other teams in the division have had. They might stick around, but if the Cubs go on the run that they should, Houston will be back out of it quickly.
10. The Brewers are who we thought they were
They can hit like crazy, Fielder and Braun are stars. The Ricky Weeks injury really hurt them because he was coming into his own as a hitter and was producing from the leadoff spot. The thing is, the Brewers can't pitch. Gallardo is a nice pitcher, but even he is flawed. The Seth McClungs of the world just aren't going to get it done. The Brewers will continue to fade away as the season goes on, more than likely finishing in fourth place.
11. Skip Schumaker at second is a failure
I understand Schumaker's value as a hitter to the Cardinals, but moving him to second base never made sense. He is a better hitter than Chris Duncan (and a better left fielder too) and it should have been Duncan who was benched rather than make Schumaker play second. He is the worst defensive second baseman in baseball. His UZR/150 is -15.8, right now his UZR is -7.6. Simply put the guy can't field his position. His poor fielding is making his bat practically useless. His value this season is right around zero dollars.
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