No, Felipe Lopez can’t throw a curveball. Nor does he bear any resemblance to Roy Halladay, who’s this year’s version of CC Sabathia, minus about 70 pounds.
But if you’re a Brewers fan, Lopez’s acquisition should put a smile the size of Sabathia’s generous waistline on your face. Because anytime you improve your big-league club without trading away big-league talent or big-time prospects, then you’re a winner.
So take a bow, Doug Melvin. You’ve just acquired a legitimate leadoff man, and a switch-hitting one to boot, while filling a defensive need at second base. And you practically got him for free.
Yes, technically, Arizona gets Triple-A outfielder Cole Gillespie and Single-A pitcher Roque Mercedes. But neither minor league player was going to help the Brewers this year or next. And that’s the extent of Milwaukee’s window of opportunity for its core group of players.
Better yet, salary-wise, Lopez costs the Brewers less than $2 million. That leaves plenty of room left on Mark Attanasio’s payroll to collect more talent this season. Say, somebody who does know how to throw a curveball.
Bottom line, it’s a no-lose situation for the Brewers. Normally, you have to give something to get something. But this time, Melvin found a loophole.
So anyone who was worried that Milwaukee’s mini-slump would turn the Brewers into trade-deadline sellers can forget it. Melvin just gave you all the proof you need that he’s still quite serious about this season.
This remains a quality team that simply hit a rough patch. It happens to everyone. Just ask Tiger Woods. And don’t think that Melvin’s done yet. He’s not going to get Halladay, but there’s an advantage to having a friends in the Seattle Mariners’ front office. Melvin and Mariners’ general manager Jack Zduriencik are surely chatting regularly, and not in reminiscence of Jack Z’s days as Milwaukee’s scouting director. If Vegas posts odds that Erik Bedard or Jarrod Washburn will pitch for Milwaukee this year, take the bet. Because with Lopez, Melvin’s simply setting the table. Which makes complete sense. That’s what leadoff hitters do best. Milwaukee’s PGA Future You had a favorite son receiving a hero’s welcome when he reached the 18th green. You had Bo Van Pelt winning his first PGA tournament (after 229 tries, no less), and unabashedly weeping at the enormity of the moment. You even had a decent crowd on Sunday, and weather to match, which was more than you could say about the first three days of the U.S. Bank Championship. Maybe they finally heard about the free massages that Elements offered all week. Judging by the waiting list for Jon and Tracy’s fingers, that alone was worth the trip. So it was, by most accounts, a heckuva finish to Milwaukee’s PGA weekend. Even if it couldn’t compete with Tom Watson’s British Open drama a few thousand miles away, the 2009 U.S. Bank Championship had a little bit of everything. Except, of course, a concrete future. Because as of now, there remains no definitive answer to the biggest question of all: Will the PGA Tour’s annual Milwaukee stop return in 2010? Jerry Kelly, aka the favorite son, sure seems to think so. After thrilling the gathered masses with a final-round charge that came up one stroke short, Kelly reiterated his confidence that the tournament wasn’t dead. After all, as he’s mentioned before, he’s the man with the plan. OK, one of the men. Kelly and fellow Wisconsin native and PGA touring pro Steve Stricker have hatched this plan together. But with Stricker playing in the British Open this weekend, it fell to Kelly to champion the plan on their home turf. So he shouted to the crowd at the 18th green that he’d see them next year. He told the media that he was 90 percent certain that something would get done to save the tourney that just lost its title sponsor. But there were plenty of things he wouldn’t tell the media. Though pressed on a timetable, Kelly remained noncommittal, other than to say that something would have to happen soon. OK, then. So I asked him what exactly must be done to make it happen. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Kelly laughed, then went on to the next question. But wait a second. Yes, we would like to know. And the longer we don’t know, the harder it is to believe that things will come together. This isn’t to say that we doubt Kelly’s intentions. His love for Milwaukee’s PGA Tour stop was obvious just by watching him on the final hole. As he walked up to the green, perhaps for the last time, he removed his hat and gave a personal round of applause to the cheering throngs. He brought his hat to his chest and pounded his heart, an “I Love You” moment. It’s obvious that nobody wants to save this tournament more than he does. “If I won here, I would actually think, hey, I can win a major,” Kelly said on Saturday. “Because that’s the kind of pressure I put on myself, you know. I want one of these bad.” But the fact that Kelly still couldn’t share any details of his plan, even when Milwaukee’s golf spotlight was shining its brightest, is cause for concern. There is no better venue to discuss a golf tournament’s future than the tourney itself. So while Kelly may be 90 percent certain that something will be worked out, it’s obvious that the deal isn’t 90 percent complete. A lot of work remains to be done if the tournament is to remain here. Still, perhaps we can take a lesson in faith from this year’s winner. Van Pelt has been a pro golfer for a decade, but he’d never won a PGA event until Sunday. He’d had game plans. He’d had close calls. But none that connected. He even admitted that his wife had to talk him out of quitting. But he persevered, and on Sunday, he joked about drinking some Miller Lite from his new crystal vase of a trophy. “Every Sunday is somebody’s Sunday,” Van Pelt said. But will Milwaukee still host those special Sundays? The man who wouldn’t quit basically said Milwaukee should follow his lead. “I’ve got a feeling we’re gonna be playing in Wisconsin next year,” Van Pelt said. Feelings. Plans. Hope. It worked for Van Pelt. Now we’ll see if it works for Milwaukee. That Other Golf Tourney Yes, Watson winning the British Open at age 59 would’ve been the best sports story in decades. And it would’ve been a great Geritol commercial, too. Still, it’s a shame that the greatest moment in Stewart Cink’s golfing career won’t be remembered for what he accomplished, but for what Watson didn’t. Charie V: All a-Twitter Detroit Pistons fans rejoice. Because you can take Charlie Villanueva’s tweets out of Milwaukee, but you can’t take them out of Charlie V. No ballgame to watch? No problem. Check out our new TV Guru columnto get the lowdown on your remote control options. Feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I tweet as howiemag. And tune in every Tuesday morning at 6:25 when I join Doug Russell and Mike Wickett on SportsRadio 1250 AMfor Tuesdays with Howie. You can also find the segments in their Audio Vault.
