Round ‘em Up: Wednesday

Sorry to have a late start on the Round ‘em Up this morning, but here’s what I have for you.

• Obviously, the release of Claudio Vargas is the big news of the day.

  Tom Haudricourt talks about how the move was surprising, even to Carlos Villanueva.  This move shows the team’s commitment to youth and talent.  The “win-now” mode has realized that talent will win out over experience.  I didn’t realize that Chris Narveson made such a push for a starting job.  It now looks like he and Zach Jackson will be the first two pitchers that will be called up in the event of an injury.  After Yovani Gallardo gets back on track, however, that list will change.  I’m still shocked the Brewers couldn’t get anything for Vargas.  Not even a Single-A player?

  The Yost Infection gives a little insight on the Vargas release.  It’s very funny.  The Yost Infection is always good for a good read and a good laugh.

• Tom Verducci from SI.com has an NL Central preview.  Not only does he have Chicago winning the division.  He says that they will win the division by more games than any other division winner.  Nothing like a slap in the face.  Tom, like everyone else, thinks that the Crew does not have the pitching to win the division.  My guess is that he counted Chris Capuano and Claudio Vargas into those pitching stats.  Oh, and he probably has Derrick Turnbow blowing 20 games, instead of dominating 85% of the time.  Standard SI bias, from what I’ve read this off-season.
• There has been much talk about J.J. Hardy and his bacterial infection.  J.J. has been cleared to play Opening Day.  Ned Yost thinks that he should be ready for March 31, but he’s still fairly weak after losing 10 pounds due to the illness.  All in all, J.J. will be fine, and we’ve gotten to see Alcides Escobar more this spring.  I personally enjoyed watching Alcides play more.  He’s a genius with the glove.
• The Baseball Analysts believe in Rickie Weeks and have picked the Brewers to win over 85 games this season.  Seems like a good choice to me.
• Dugout Central has 17 Bold Projections for the ‘08 season.  Shockingly, the first prediction is that Ben Sheets will be hurt, and Jeff Suppan is not a good pitcher.  Seems like someone doesn’t like the Brewers too much.
• The Sports Bubbler has a preview of the NL Central bullpens.  It’s nothing that new or shocking, but it does say that Chicago and Milwaukee have the best and deepest bullpens in the Central.  There are not many bold predictions though.
• I understand that Doug Melvin does not like trading within the division, but it is very difficult to think that the St. Louis Cardinals couldn’t have had any interest in Claudio Vargas.  After all, they did put six pitchers on the DL to start the season.  That’s a rough way to start the season.  Perhaps they couldn’t match up on a trade because the Cardinal’s farm system is depleted.

Vargas released by Brewers

I must admit that I did not see this coming at all.  The Milwaukee Brewers released Claudio Vargas today to save money and solidify the starting rotation.

Tom Haudricourt reports that the Brewers made this move today to save $2.7M on his contract.  Doug Melvin said that there was limited trade interest in Vargas, but not enough to make a productive move.  Melvin decided that it would be better to save the $2.7M than to make a trade for Vargas.  Doug said that Claudio was the seventh best starter on the team, and thus expendable.  I am not going to miss Claudio, but I still believe that Doug should have made a move.  The only thing that I can think of is that other teams wanted Milwaukee to pick up some of his contract.  Regardless, this shows a supreme commitment to youth for the Crew.

This move not only saves the Brewers money, but it solidifies the starting rotation until Yovani Gallardo gets back from his stint on the DL.  Here’s how it will shake out:

RHP - Ben Sheets
RHP - Jeff Suppan
LHP - Manny Parra
RHP - Dave Bush
RHP - Carlos Villanueva

Monday’s Round ‘em Up

I have today’s Round ‘em Up for you.  The final one before the regular season starts tomorrow in Japan.  Lets see what we have:

• Tom Haudricourt breaks down some of the roster decisions that Milwaukee will have to make.  Most of them I completely agree with, but I do wish that Carlos Villanueva could make the starting rotation.  I don’t know who he would replace though.  Claudio Vargas needs to be in the rotation because he has no options left.  I would say that he should be the long man in the pen, but Seth McClung seems to have that spot wrapped up.

  It will be interesting to see who gets bumped out when Yovani Gallardo gets back into the rotation.  I feel like Manny Parra may be the victim, as Ned Yost seems reluctant to send Dave Bush anywhere.  Ned does want a lefty in the rotation though, so I’m not completely sure what will happen.  If Manny pitches well for the first couple starts, he’ll be in the rotation when Yo comes back.

• Beyond the Boxscore thinks that Derrick Turnbow is one of the most unlucky pitchers in the bigs.  The stats say that his WHIP goes way up after runners get on base, and apparently that makes Derrick unlucky.  To me, that simply means that Derrick gets ungodly worse when a runner gets on first.  He’ll obviously have to work on that.
• Seamheads.com has an NL Central preview.  The problem?  They forgot to pick a winner.
• If you are interested, RealGM Baseball previews the Chicago Cubs.  Apparently, Kosuke Fukudome and Jon Lieber are going to make a very big difference.  In fact, they think that Fukudome should bat third.  I know the Cubs will be good, but it’s obvious that a Cubs fan wrote this.
• Are you confused about Chris Capuano’s injury?  Baseball Digest Daily breaks down the injury and explains what Chris will need to do to rehab his elbow.  It does not sound fun.

Round ‘em Up: Knuckleballs, Pitching Duel, Narveson

Sorry about the lack of a Round ‘em Up yesterday all.  I was swamped yesterday and just did not have much time to get to the computer.  Here are some of today’s reads:

• Squawking Baseball has a cool idea for an article.  They have an “over-under” projection for every team.  The Milwaukee Brewers are predicted to win over 84.5 games.  In fact, they predict “over” for pretty much every team…
• Remember R.A. Dickey?  He was a starter for Triple-A Nashville last season.  The Seattle Mariners liked the knuckleballer so much that they swiped him in the Rule 5 Draft this season.  Here’s ESPN.com writer Jim Caple with Dickey, and he’s trying to catch his knuckleball.  It’s quite humorous.
• Dugout Central has a March Madness bracket for baseball infielders.  It’s a little goofy in how it is set up, and it seems to be completely arbitrary.  Nonetheless, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun match up in the first round.  The winner?  Ryan Braun.  The author then goes on to say that Ryan Braun will pass Alex Rodriguez sometime in the next couple years.  That’s quite the prediction, but I could see it.
• A couple days ago, I linked to The Baseball Analysts graph on starting pitching and how they categorized them.  It was very interesting stuff.  Today, they have the same categorizing system, but they focus on relief pitchers.  The Brewers have a couple relievers that check in on the list.

  Derrick Turnbow: Above-average strikeout and ground ball rates.  Now if we could just solve his walk problem, he’d be one of the best relievers in the league.
  Eric Gagne: Above-average strikeout rate, but below-average ground ball rate.  Exactly what the Brewers expected when getting Gagne.  He does need to get his change-up working, however.
  Carlos Villanueva: Above-average strikeout rate, below-average ground ball rate.
  Brian Shouse, Guillermo Mota, AND Chris Spurling (yes, that Chris Spurling): Below-average strikeout rates, but above-average ground ball rates.  It’s nice to see Guillermo in that category.
  David Riske: Below-average strikeout and ground ball rates.  This really surprised me, and it does worry me a bit.  He’ll have to get one of those up if he’s going to find success in Miller Park.  It’s not necessarily the most pitcher-friendly ballpark in the MLB.

• Chris Narveson has been brilliant this spring.  He’s only given up one run in 15 2/3 innings (0.57 ERA).  In years past, Chris would be pushing for a starting job, but the Brewers are just too deep now.  He did say that he understood that coming in though.

  With that said, he’s putting himself in position to be one of the first Triple-A call-ups if he continues pitching as well as he has.  His cut fastball has been his best pitch this spring, and coaches have been raving about his command with his offspeed stuff.  I have to say that I’ve been very impressed with Narveson.  He may even get a call to be the long man in the bullpen in a couple months.

• Tom Haudricourt handicaps the likelihood of each starter getting a job in the rotation.  Because of the injuries to Yovani Gallardo and Chris Capuano, the field has slipped to just four men to fill three spots.

  Tom has Claudio Vargas and Dave Bush as “locks” for the starting rotation.  Vargas’ lock comes mostly from the fact that he has no options left, so he needs to make the big league squad.  My response to that is that he could be the long man in the bullpen.  Manny Parra is slated to be the fifth man in the rotation, which was nice to see because he’s been absolutely dominant this spring.  That leaves Carlos Villanueva as the odd man out.  People may say he should go back to being a reliever, but Ned Yost said that Carlos is a starter.  The Brewers organization wants to treat him as a starter.  If he does not make the starting rotation, he will be sent back to Triple-A until he is needed.  I guess experience won out over performance after all.

Round ‘em Up: Braun, Previews, Prospects

I apologize for taking a couple days off on the Player Profile series, but I’m working on a full-out bullpen preview. That should be up in a couple days. In the meantime, here are some links to keep you busy while you’re at work:

• Ryan Braun still has the tight Achilles tendon, and he will be sitting out for a couple more days. This may just be me overreacting, but I’m beginning to get nervous about this situation. Tom Haudricourt says that the consensus seems to be that Braun got this tight Achilles because he wore a new pair of shoes. Let’s hope that Ryan is back and ready for action sometime soon. If he needs a week off, give it to him.
• Need another dose of those ever-popular NL Central previews? I have you covered. ESPN.com has their preview. The news is simply the same…the Brewers do not have enough pitching, but the Cubs have enough. Apparently, 8 major league caliber starters does not qualify as “enough” depth. Oh, and Ben Sheets needs to stay healthy. I forgot he was important. Thanks for reminding me.RealGM Baseball has the Brewers taking 3rd place in the Central, finishing behind the Cubs and the Reds. This preview does not even have Milwaukee posting a winning record this year. I don’t have too much to say about that other than…really?
• Baseball Digest Daily has their Top 100 prospects. Three Brewers make the list. Matt LaPorta checks in at number 44, Manny Parra is the 75th best prospect, and Jeremy Jeffress makes the list at number 77. Manny is quite low on this list, in my opinion. Jeffress may be struggling with a marijuana addiction, but he still has the physical tools to be a fantastic pitcher. LaPorta continues to receive high praise after only playing a limited amount of time in professional baseball. Hopefully the new draft class later this spring will infuse Milwaukee’s system with more high-ceiling prospects.Please look at the video for Clayton Kershaw in the #7 slot. That curveball is just nasty!!!!
• Anthony Witrado writes a complete fluff piece on Jeff Suppan. Give it a look if you want to read about how Soup keeps his life centered.
• Doug Melvin and Ned Yost will have some very difficult decisions ahead of them concerning the pitching situation. Claudio Vargas and Seth McClung are both out of minor league options. This would mean that another team could pick them up if the Brewers try to send them down to Triple-A. Yost mentions that he might fight for a 13-man pitching staff if he does not want to lose one of his veterans. Of course, this could all be solved if Melvin moves one or two pitchers before Opening Day. It feels like something is going to happen in a week or so, but I have no confirmed source to tell me that. I’m starting to think that Vargas may be the one to go.
• Aaron Shinsano from MLB Trade Rumors mentions that the Los Angeles Angels could come calling the Milwaukee Brewers for starting pitching help. If you do not remember, I mentioned that exact situation in yesterday’s Round ‘em Up after I saw that John Lackey got injured. It seems likely that the Angels will stay in-house to find their answer, but Doug Melvin’s phone could ring a couple times.
• (Hat Tip to KL Snow for the find on this one) It looks like Kerry Wood will be the Cubs’ closer in 2008. I understand they like his veteran leadership and experience, but Carlos Marmol is flat nasty. Nobody could hit him in ‘07. Perhaps Kerry Wood has impressed ol’ Lou this spring. Either way, Howry-Marmol-Wood will be very difficult at the end of games. Wood does have the injury-prone bug to get over still, however.

Fielder goes deep in Brewers win

The Milwaukee Brewers continued their solid play this spring, beating the San Diego Padres 6-2.  The win helped them stay in first place in the Cactus League standings.

Records: Brewers (11-6); Padres (8-7)

Batting

Much has been made about Prince Fielder and his switch to a vegetarian diet.  Would it affect his power?  Some fans were getting antsy because Prince had not hit a home run this spring.  Some were calling for Prince to go back to the carnivorous diet.  Prince Fielder quieted the crowd today when he hit a solo home run in the sixth inning off of Cla Meredith.

Mike Cameron had a very fine day today, going 2-3 with two singles and a run scored.  Craig Counsell continued his hot streak this spring.  He went 2-2 with an RBI and a run scored.  Craig is now hitting .444 for Spring Training.  So much for those who said that he didn’t have the offensive capabilities to make the big league squad.   Bill Hall helped himself by going 2-4 with a triple and a run scored.

Pitching

Today was a very nice day for the Brewers pitching staff.  Claudio Vargas pitched five very strong innings.  He gave up three hits and one run, while striking out three.  He’s making a very strong case for a starting job.  And I never thought I would say that…

Stop the presses!  Guillermo Mota actually gave up a run this spring.  Callix Crabbe, the former Brewers prospect, connected to launch a solo shot off of Mota.  Guillermo still pitched two innings and only gave up one run, striking out one.  Besides Mota, David Riske and Mitch Stetter pitched scoreless innings a piece.

On Tap

Dave Bush and Manny Parra are scheduled to pitch about five innings a piece tomorrow against the Kansas City Royals.  Wait.  Doesn’t that equal 10 innings?  Yes, yes it does.  The Brewers and Royals are scheduled to play a 10 inning game tomorrow, even if the umps leave the game after the ninth.  The game will start at 3:05pm CT.

Player Profile: Claudio Vargas

The Milwaukee Brewers acquired Claudio Vargas in the trade with the Diamondbacks that sent LHP Doug Davis to Arizona for C Johnny Estrada. He’s mainly been a end of the rotation type of pitcher, and he looks to rebound on less-than-stellar numbers from last season.

‘08 Stat Line

11-6 W-L, 5.09 ERA, 134.3 IP, 54 BB, 107 K

Strengths

Claudio’s main strength last season seemed to be his ability to get out of seemingly impossible situations completely unscathed. I cannot even count the amount of times that Claudio loaded the bases with less than two outs and gave up zero runs in the beginning of the year. He is very calm and collected on the mound and does not let one or two hits against him get him out of his rhythm. In fact, he seems to bear down more when put in a tough situation.

As many people point out, he simply wins. He may have had a 5.09 ERA last season, but he still posted a winning record for Milwaukee. He has a very nasty slider that is his out pitch. When he is able to locate that down in the zone, he can really put together some good innings for the Crew. You can look at his peripheral stats all you want, but the fact remains that he still put together a winning record.

Weaknesses

Unfortunately, the list of strengths of Claudio is fairly short. As I said above, you can look at the peripheral stats all you want, but he’s still a winner. You can also take a different approach to look at his stats. You can see his record as a fluke because he received the highest run support of any Brewers starter last season. The fact remains that his WHIP was obnoxiously high last season (1.541). He lets too many baserunners get on base, and his run total suffers because of it. He mainly relies on a fastball and a sinker to get ahead of the count, and he cannot always locate his pitches very well. Big league hitters do not miss mistakes very often.

Speaking of control issues, Claudio’s walk rate is quite high for a pitcher with his style. Unlike Yovani Gallardo, he does not strike out tons of people to make up for his walk rate. Claudio puts a lot of pressure on his defense by giving away unnecessary free trips to first base, and the team is playing from behind very early in the inning. His command severely needs to improve for him to be successful this season, and it stems from his refusal to use his slider early in the count. He needs to establish his slider earlier in the count to keep batters off-balance.

The starting pitcher’s inability to pitch deeper into games was a main reason why the bullpen caved in down the stretch. Claudio Vargas was a perfect example of that tendency all season. In his 23 games started last season, he only pitched past the sixth inning twice. Twice! That may seem like a big deal, but when the bullpen needs to use three pitchers every five days throughout the entire season, it can get taxing. Claudio needs to keep his pitch count down in the early innings. That is probably the biggest reason why Brewers fans got tired of him late in the season. I personally was sick of seeing him throw 100 pitches in five innings. And it happened every 5 days.

Arsenal

Claudio has three pitches: a fastball, a sinker, and a slider.  His fastball generally sits in the 88-90 mph range, and his sinker is a few ticks below that.  His fastball has a good amount of movement to it, but he does not control it very well early in the count.  He likes to work high in the zone with his fastball, which can be very dangerous in Miller Park.  His slider is by far his best pitch.  It hovers in the 80-82 mph range, and it has a very late, sharp break to it.  He does not throw it nearly enough, however, and he has control issues with that pitch as well.  If he can develop that a little more, he could become a much better pitcher.

Projections

ZiPS - 8-11 W-L, 4.99 ERA, 146 IP, 57 BB, 113 K
The Hardball Times - 7-9 W-L, 5.05 ERA, 142 IP, 53 BB, 106 K

These projections are pretty right on in my opinion.  They collectively think that Claudio will struggle again this season.  I do not expect Claudio to make the starting rotation to start the season, even though he has pitched well this spring.  I expect his ERA to drop a bit, but that is not saying much as it was 5.00+ to begin with.  His slow-motion routine and his tendency to let up tons of baserunners will annoy Brewers fans enough anyway.  I would not be surprised to see Claudio start the season in the bullpen, if he is not traded.  Either way, he is not one of the top five starting pitchers on the team.  In fact, I expect him to be the worst in ‘08.

Projected Stat Line: 8-10 W-L, 4.94 ERA, 140 IP, 58 BB, 105 K
Projected Season Rating (out of 10): 6.5

More News: 3/10

I promised you all earlier that I would have some more news for you.  Here’s what I’ve got:

• Baseball Musings does an analysis of the Brewers starting pitching staff.  It uses the Marcel Projection System, which is very simplistic and just uses averages to predict what is going to happen.  I wouldn’t put too much faith in what these projections have to say, but it is still very interesting.

  There are a couple interesting things about this evaluation though.  First, it has Manny Parra in the starting rotation, along with Dave Bush.  This leaves Carlos Villanueva out to dry, presumably in the bullpen.  Secondly, the article notes that the success for the Brewers starters is going to depend on the amount of innings the youngsters get.  The author seems to think that Yovani Gallardo and Parra are going to be instrumental to the success of the rotation this year.  I would agree with that, as Parra will give Milwaukee the best chance to win this season, but I would put Villanueva in the rotation before Bush.  It may just be favoring young upside over proven big league experience, but Bush and Chris Capuano have shown that they cannot get away from the big inning.  I still maintain that Claudio Vargas will be traded before Opening Day.

• Adam McCalvy checks in with a mailbag and an article about the progress Eric Gagne has made this spring.

  In the mailbag, McCalvy says that the Brewers will have more speed in their lineup than they’ve had in the past few years.  It should help the defense immensely in the outfield, and you can expect the Brewers to run a lot more this season.  Oh, and we get the standard Jason Kendall cannot function in the big leagues comment from a fan.

  Eric Gagne is working at his own pase, just working on his fastball and getting his pitching motion in a repeatable rhythm.  He says that as long as he doesn’t get hurt, it will be a successful spring.  He knows that his stuff will be there come April.  Also of importance, Eric says that knowing his role on the Brewers helps more that people know.  He does not have to switch focus or try to prepare for everything.  I think he’s referring to his stint in Boston, when he had to switch out of his comfortable role as a closer.  It may just be talk, but I would imagine that having a set job would be very comforting to a pitcher.

• It’s not Brewers news, but this article is very interesting.  Apparently, baseball has another “no-name” pitch.  We already have the Gyroball, but this new pitch does not have a name yet.

  Baltimore’s Rule 5 draft pick, Randor Bierd, is throwing something that neither his coaches nor his catchers can understand.  It is a mix between a change up, but somehow has the characteristics of a forkball.  Someone else said that it is a mix between a splitter and a change up.  One of his catchers said that it is “Johan Santana” type of change up.  I want to see this thing.  A splitter, forkball, and a change up in one?  Impressive.

• I know I’ve asked this before, but do we have any more takers for a BrewersNation Fantasy Baseball League?  We need more people to make this a possibility, so let me know!!!!

Brewers pitchers shine in wins

Since Milwaukee had its first split squad games today, this will be the first time that I put both games into one post.  In case you didn’t see the scores, Milwaukee beat Seattle 2-0.  Milwaukee turned the tables on the Mariners from last week and only allowed them to put two hits on the scoreboard.  Oakland also fell to the Brewers, 5-2.

Records: Milwaukee (7-4); Seattle (4-6); Oakland (8-3)

Batting

There was generally no offense to speak of in the Seattle game.  J.J. Hardy recorded a two-RBI double in the third inning to score the only two runs of the day.  Rickie Weeks continued to struggle at the plate today.  He went 0-3 with a strike out.  He is now hitting only .130 this spring.  It looks like those “breakout” projections are going to be a little off unless he can pick it up sometime soon before Opening Day.

The Oakland game gave Brewers fans a little more offense, but most of it came from minor league players or reserves.  Tony Gwynn Jr. continued his fine play at the plate, going 2-4 at the plate.  Cole Gillespie played in his first Spring Training game of the year, and he started it off in a big way.  He went 1-1 with a three-run bomb in the 8th inning to put the Brewers up on Oakland for good.

Pitching

In the Seattle game, Claudio Vargas pitched brilliantly.  Claudio threw five scoreless and hitless innings, while only allowing one walk.  He had the best pitching performance by a Brewers starter so far this spring.  This certainly gives him a strong case for a starting rotation spot, or perhaps he simply increased his trade value.  We’ll have to see.

Also in the Seattle game, Derrick Turnbow seems to have found a nice groove, as he pitched another scoreless inning.  He struck one batter out and did not allow a batter to get on base.  Seattle’s first hit came against Eric Gagne in the seventh inning, but it didn’t much matter.  Eric shut the door on the rest of the batters he faced and also posted a scoreless inning.  It’s very nice to see those two have a couple nice outings in a row.  Minor leaguers Erasmo Ramirez and Tim Dillard also pitched scoreless innings to hold Seattle scoreless for the game.

Now to the Oakland game.  Non-roster invitee, Chris Narveson, also had a very successful outing for the Crew.  He pitched four scoreless innings with two strike outs, while giving up two hits and a walk.  The 26-year old used to be a prospect in the St. Louis organization before needing surgery on his arm.  It looks like he’s bounced back rather nicely and could provide some quality depth in Nashville this season.

Mitch Stetter worked one scoreless inning and struck out two A’s.  Luis Pena continued his fine spring by throwing another scoreless inning.  He may make a charge for a bullpen spot if he continues to pitch like this.  Everyone that’s seen him pitch this spring has said that he’s looked extremely good.  Seth McClung gave up one run on two hits, while striking out one.  That is certainly not a bad outing, but compared to all the scoreless frames Brewers pitchers put up, it does look that way.  Fantastic work by Brewers pitchers today.

On Tap

Dave Bush gets the start tomorrow against the Chicago Cubs at 3:05pm CT.  Dave looks to rebound from a couple rough starts.  Ned Yost called him out yesterday and said that Dave needs to show some major improvement to secure a spot in the starting rotation.

Today’s Reads: 3/7

Hope everyone’s doing well this morning, as always.  Hopefully this will make work go by a little faster for all of you:

• Tom Haudricourt asks whether or not the competition for the two spots in the starting rotation is really a competition.  Ned Yost says that past performances in the rotation will also count for something, which implies that no matter how badly Dave Bush pitches this spring, he’ll be in the rotation.

  Lots of people have been saying that it is a good thing that Yost is doing this.  10-15 innings of good pitching does not warrant a starting job.  It is experience and proof over time that you can do it.  Veteran pitching trumps young pitching.  Call me naive, but it seems that the past experience of Chris Capuano and Bush seem to show a bit of inconsistency.  Perhaps it’s time to give a couple of the youngsters, like Carlos Villanueva and Manny Parra, a shot to help the team win.  The team is not afraid to give young players a chance in any other position, but they are tentative to give a spot to an “unproven starter.”  Both Parra and Villanueva pitched in the starting rotation last season and outperformed Claudio Vargas, Capuano, and Bush.  If past performances count for something, the last couple months of last season should also count.  It’s tough to say Milwaukee’s in “win-now” mode if they do not put their best five on the mound.

• Bugs & Cranks gives its season preview today.  It’s nothing incredibly new, but I’m including it because of this quotation.  It says, “But, if it truly is an open competition, I just hope the best two get the spots regardless of who it is… except Vargas.”  True story.
• Dugout Central talks about the overlooked transactions of the past week or so.  The retirement of Scott Cassidy makes the list.  It may seem like minor news, but I had heard that many in the Brewers organization were hoping he could rebound to his 2006 form with the Padres.  It just wasn’t meant to be…
• If you are like me, you are sick of hearing news pieces done about Prince Fielder and his frustration with his salary.  It’s just the media jumping on something and trying to make it a bigger deal than it really is.  Sure it has implications, but Prince is not going to play any differently than he did last season just because he’s unhappy with how much he’s making.  In fact, he could play harder.

  But…if you’re not like me and you want something else about it, here you go.