My Fan

Funny thing about weekends: I’ve got more free time, but less time, it seems, to write here. I’m off today, and I’ve got some time now to make up for my absence.

Today began with an email announcing a trade by the Cartel to the Busch Leaguers of Luis Ayala for Chad Fox. On the surface, this is pretty ugly, and I was going to write that until I got an email from Mr. Cartel himself. He said he had just caught up on reading the blog and thanked me for keeping it up. I happened to have my email open, and immediately responded that I appreciated the compliment but that he might not like what I was going to write today about the trade.

We started one of those telephone conversations via email (we’ve all done that on occasion) in which he explained he just needed the open slot, and the Fox slot was the only one reasonably available. At any moment there are usually not too many slots open, despite that the Bums pitching staff is no longer frozen in its entirety. Greg wants to activate Borowski and keep Brower, and was willing to sacrifice Ayala to do so. I get that. Of course, Borowski is coming along slowly, but with the Giants closer situation in a total mess, he has to protect Brower.

Unfortunately, the beneficiary is Mr. Leaguer. We had a deal like that with Jeff last year. He needed an open spot, and we had Tankersley in the minors, so he offered Col. Luis Gonzalez. We said ok. Jeff actually reserved Tankersley, who he never activated again – 10 bucks down the drain. Well, $6, since he got back about $4 by winning the league.

It does make me think that it’s a little stupid to need an open spot. Why not just let Greg keep Brower and waive Ayala. Of course, since he’s in 10th right now, Jeff might have gotten him anyway. I’m sure we’ll be discussing ties at some future rules meeting.

Anyway, I’m writing this partly to say I do appreciate that a few of you are reading this stuff. I’m reminded of a great movie that many people have never seen: “That Thing You Do.” This was Tom Hanks’ first movie as writer and director. It’s a gem, and it’s been playing lately on HBO. Early in the movie as the local rock band is starting to get some notice in Erie, PA, one of the band members refers to one college guy as “our fan”. In the same way, I now think of Mr. Cartel as “my fan”.