I'm venturing into Doug Pappas territory here, with a side order of Art Bell ...

With the Brewers under orders to cut payroll to $30m OR LESS, Ulice Payne is negotiating a graceful exit. Now, with this payroll, the team is dooming itself .. or is it? Is it so bad to go from a bad team to a REALLY bad team if the focus remains the same - a winning team a couple years down the line? The Brewers have a lot of good prospects like Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, and JJ Hardy. Other than Ben Sheets, I dont see a guy on that roster that I'd really want to keep around and I wouldn't hesitate to see what Sheets might bring me from a team that could use him.

But what if contending isn't really the plan? Baseball has hesitated so much on the Expos question that many think MLB is just waiting for the CBA to lapse so they can contract the Expos without challenge ... along with one other team. Concurrent with the Expos, Bud Selig is saying he'll leave his position as commissioner. I have it stuck in my head that he's said he wants to teach somewhere, but I couldn't find anything on that. Wouldn't the Brewers be the perfect contraction partner? Both are NL teams making it even nicer. The Selig family would get some nice estate planning done, Bud moves to Arizona to retire, and ...

... I still doubt this will happen. Bud's intent on leaving his mark on every phase of the game. I don't think his last act will be to piss on the town he brought baseball to back in the day. But it's possible ...