Another walk off headline straight from 1930! Man, I find my true calling in life and I'm 80 years too late. It's like finding out you're good at Jacks in 2010. Just doesn't fit the time period. Like in 1985 the ladies would be falling all over themselves watching you pick up all ten jacks with the ball in the air. In 2010 you're more likely to be handed a shot glass if you ask someone to play jacks.

Anyway instead of obsessing over another Brewers meltdown yesterday I wanted to discuss an issue that has been prevalent in the Brewers community since spring training started. So we won't talk about the fact that Dave Bush was robbed of a victory again. Or that Ken Macha refuses to warm somebody up when clearly the pitcher on the mound is running on 'e.' Nope. Don't want to think about it.

Instead let's discuss the revelation two days ago that Prince Fielder may want up to 200 million dollars in his next contract when his current one wraps up after the 2011 season. This has been the source of much consternation for Brewers fans, with many feeling like Teddy KGB up here and wanting the Brewers to just find the money somehow someway and keep him here for years to come. And  I want to preface my feelings by saying that, yeah, I want Prince to stay too. Who wouldn't want a near .300 average, 40 bombs and 120 RBI a year? But the bottom line is that this discussion feels EXACTLY like one we had last offseason while trying to sign CC Sabathia. In fact I could probably just find the blog I wrote then, use search and replace to remove 'CC' and add 'Prince' and repost it. Bottom line is that unless Mark Attanasio is willing to up the Brewers payroll from around 90 million to around 110-115 million and lose money every year, this move just doesn't make sense for our team.

So for the sake of argument let's say you keep him. Sign him for 200 million and 10 years. 20 million a year on a 90 million dollar payroll is like 78% of our money. Roughly. Seriously though, 1/5 of our entire payroll on one player? Then there's this:

The Brewers scored 785 runs last year. Prince batted in 141. Let's say Prince leaves and we have an average 1st baseman who bats in 75 runs. A difference of 66 runs. Subtract 66 from 785 and you get 719. Divide each by 162 games and you go from 4.8 runs per game to 4.4. Look at that math baby! Seriously did I just invent a theorem? I broke out my TI-82 calculator and everything. And after playing tetris for 15 minutes that is what I came up with. 20 million dollars for a difference of .4 runs? Listen I learned a valuable lesson early in life from a game called Monopoly. Better than any economics course I ever took. And that game showed me that if you own Boardwalk and spend all your money loading it with hotels, you're still taking a risk that your opponent will randomly land on that one spot. Meanwhile you're being bled to death with the Baltic and Pacific avenues of the world. Point being that if 200 million is indeed the STARTING point, the Brewers are better off trading him at some point and getting some decent pitching prospects. Bonus word: trade.

On second thought.....

Prince can pitch! Pay him! Pay him his money!

PS: Is there a more perfect father/son combination to be spokesmen for Mickey D's in 1992? Talk about a lay up for McDonalds.

PPS: I want a triple cheeseburger.