Ryan Howard's Contract Doesn't Look So Bad Now

Will the contract Joey Votto eventually signs make the Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols deals look obsolete? Will it put an exclamation point on how prescient the Rays and Rockies were when they locked Evan Longoria and Troy Tulowitzki up to long term deals so early in their careers? How will Tim Lincecum’s decision to bet on himself and take short-term payouts rather than long-term security and wait for his free agency look?

Criticism of a contract at the time it’s signed is easy but the power of hindsight puts them into greater perspective and diminishes the impact.

Ryan Howard’s contract extension looked atrocious when he signed it because it was done so far in advance (almost 2 years) of his potential free agency and the market was going to be flush with other, better options—Pujols and Fielder among them.

Howard’s extension begins this season and, if he were a free agent this winter and signed it, the criticism for his representatives would be loud and endless.

5-years and $125 million?

Fielder is 4 1/2 years younger than Howard and is a more productive hitter, but they’re in the same realm and Fielder received 9-years and $214 million.

Of course, in reality, the deals are pretty much the same thing. But agents don’t want to hear about age and other factors when hawking their players to the highest bidders. Fans and analysts with an agenda don’t want to hear about the breakdown of the dollars equating identically. They’ll focus on $214 million vs $125 million as the common denominator even if it’s not so common.

The final number is the way they keep score in spite of it being inaccurate and twisted.

Pujols is another story.

He received the $240 million contract from the Angels—a contract that will pay him $30 million on 2021 at age 41—coming off of his worst season in the big leagues. In fairness, Pujols’s worst season still landed him fifth in the NL MVP voting in a season in which his team won the World Series, but that doesn’t alter the fact that it was his worst season.

As much as Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. is lambasted for the way he lavishes long-term contracts on his players, signs free agents and has gutted the farm system to try and win immediately, I’m starting to think he’s savvier than any of us realize.

The market was going to be stacked with first baseman this winter. Had Amaro waited Howard out, Howard might’ve wanted a contract commensurate with Pujols—not close to what Pujols received, but certainly not half the guaranteed money that Pujols received either.

For Howard, he got paid, is staying in one place for essentially his whole career and the Phillies didn’t have to enter into protracted and contentious negotiations to keep Howard or consider alternatives.

It’s idiotic to savage the contract based on Howard’s torn Achilles tendon suffered—adding injury to insult—when he made the last out in the Phillies’ NLDS loss to the Cardinals. This isn’t a degenerative injury to a joint that was known to be a potential issue before he signed; it was a freak occurrence that could happen walking down a flight of stairs or getting out of bed. It happened and it’s no one’s fault.

The simplicity that outsiders place on running a club is astounding. To believe that front office people are “stupid” because they make a decision that some disagree with is the height of arrogance and I’ve done it myself.

Perhaps both sides weighed the pros and cons and made the conscious decision to avert what happened with the Cardinals and Pujols where a negotiation that was fait accompli (“Pujols isn’t going to leave the Cardinals”—something I also said repeatedly) and turned out to be completely wrong.

Putting a financial value on a player in an open market is a fruitless endeavor. Few teams stick to a stated budget if they have a choice and as Fielder and Pujols proved, there will always be that one owner who has a reason to spend a perceived loony amount of cash to get the player he wants. The best a GM can do is to make his recommendations to his bosses, come to conclusions of the best way to move forward and deal with the fallout if it fails or accept the accolades if it works. No matter how many people try to find a way to calculate what a player is “worth”, it has little to do with what he actually winds up getting.

Market dictates salary. Not the other way around.

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Leyland’s “Principled” Charade

It’s best to take what a manager says in January and pretty much ignore it. Because of that, when Jim Leyland insists that Miguel Cabrera is going to move to third base---his tone signifying no ifs ands or buts---you should nod politely and expect it to be proved as “baseball”.

That’s not a lie.

It’s “baseball”.

Jim Bouton wrote in Ball Four of the episode in which teammate Mike Marshall received two different stories regarding his demotion to the minors from the manager and GM---both of them nonsense. Bouton explained Marshall’s view of this in the following line:

Now, some people would call that a contradiction. Others might call it a lie. Mike Marshall called it baseball.

Is Leyland “lying” or is he giving Cabrera time to get used to the idea of sharing first base and DHing before he has to report to spring training? Will he give the player a chance to lose a few pounds and have a look at him at the position in March before bowing to the inevitable reality and figuring something else out?

Initially, I felt that was the case, but Leyland is insisting that Cabrera’s going to play third.

Anyone questioning him on this decision will be subject to Leyland’s cigarette-ravaged voice in an extended, “I’m a baseball guy and you’re a dumb writer” tirade. With Leyland being so adamant that Cabrera’s going to third base, Tigers fans should be concerned that Leyland’s going to ignore his eyes and the entreaties of his pitchers and put Cabrera at third base for the sake of being contrary.

That’s not managing. That’s being arrogant and difficult for no reason other than ego and it’s going to hurt the team if he follows through on it.

I still don’t think Leyland will do it, but when listening to the rhetoric and considering the involvement of his “principles” of saying something and sticking to it, I’m not so sure.

But principles are floating just like Marshall’s interpretation of lies.

It’s not going back on them to accept that Cabrera can’t play third and to react accordingly.

It’s baseball.

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Ghosts Of 2007 Or Just A Late-Season Slump?

• Nationals 1-Mets 0:

Without last season's collapse, the perception of this September's version of the Mets

would be that they're in a slump; that their bullpen coughed up a couple of games they should've won; that they ran into two pitchers in Washington that shut them down; that they're still in a great position to make the playoffs via the division or Wild Card with twelve games left. But that's revisionist history. Until they exorcise that ghost by making the playoffs (and I don't think it matters all that much if they go in and, as the Phillies did last year and is so conveniently forgotten, flame out and get swept away in the first round before they even have time to blink), no one's going to forget what happened in September of 2007; and more importantly, no one's going to let the Mets players, old and new, forget what happened either. Nor should they.
The two seasons are so vastly different that there's no way to compare the team and the way things played out, but it's the result that's going to create this vision of the Mets as a team that collapses every September. It's easy to ignore that it was a hot streak of 21 wins in 30 games that got them ahead of the Phillies to begin with. It's easy to ignore that the Phillies ran roughshod over a team in the Brewers that is collapsing in an even worse fashion than the Mets have for a second straight year; it's so bad in Milwaukee that they fired their manager with twelve games remaining to save their season.
As easy as it is to compare the two seasons, the Mets can only tip their hats to the Nationals, who've played and pitched very well over the past two games and beaten them. The only thing they can do is go on the field and worry about themselves. If they take care of their own games, they won't have to watch the scoreboard and wonder what the Phillies and Brewers are doing and whether or not they're going to get help from other teams.
Much like the questions about former manager Willie Randolph's job status (don't be surprised if he ends up in Milwaukee after the season as their new manager, by the way), the Mets players are distracted by ancillary things over which they have no control. As I said yesterday, a big chunk of the 2008 nucleus weren't members of the team in 2007, but with all the repeated inquiries about the collapse, it must feel as if they were. It would be refreshing for Johan Santana or Brian Schneider to say, "Look, I wasn't here then; how do I know what

went on?" They're feeling the pressure; gripping the bats too tightly; trying to throw too hard and each player is trying to win games all by himself. That's not the way to win in any month, not just September.
If the Mets make it to the playoffs, they'll be so relaxed and playing with so little pressure that they're a good bet to make it all the way to the World Series; they just have to stop worrying about 2007 because in the end, as much as it's mentioned as a ghost, it has nothing to do with what's happening now.

• Cubs 5-Brewers 4:

Much like the curveball from Adam Wainwright that struck out Carlos Beltran to end the 2006 NLCS, there's no way to give Prince Fielder a hard time for striking out against Kerry Wood last night to end the game. After battling his way to a 3-2 count and fouling off one 96 mph fastball after

another, Babe Ruth himself couldn't have hit that curve that Wood broke off to end the game. (The pitcher-batter battle reminded me of the Reggie Jackson-Bob Welch, 1978 World Series duel of power vs power.)
With all the nonsensical talk of "must wins" for the Mets, this was a "must win" for the Brewers. They had their ace in C.C. Sabathia on the mound and Sabathia had been all but unhittable since joining the team; this was their first game for new manager Dale Sveum; and to get things off on the right foot and appear as if they weren't still in the fog that led to the devastating sweep at the hands of the Phillies, they had to win this game; but they didn't. Now, the Brewers are in even deeper trouble than the Mets. There's nothing much else they can do to try and win this season. They made bold maneuvers to improve the club; they fired the manager when things were crumbling; and they still lost another game.
It would be stunning if they were able to regain control from this tailspin, but they've got their second ace pitching tonight in Ben Sheets; they're facing a very hittable pitcher in Jason

Marquis whom they pounded earlier in the season. If they're going to turn things around, tonight's the night----but they won't. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see Sheets pull himself out of the game somewhere between the third and fifth innings with one of his maladies. It's become a nightmare for the Brewers and no amount of top-tier starting pitchers or desperation managerial changes are going to prevent their car crashing into the canyon as if it were being driven by Toonces the driving cat.

• Reds 7-Cardinals 2:

Tony La Russa must be ready to boil over because of his front office's failure to act and do something to try and help the team win. With the Brewers and Mets stumbling and the Wild

Card there for the taking, what would have happened had it been the Cardinals who made the bold move for Sabathia; or had they made some kind of a deal to shore up their bullpen? It's gotten to the point that La Russa is in a similar situation as his friend Lou Piniella was with the Devil Rays and asking for some help to try and keep the team in contention.
The Devil Rays management at the time tried to placate Piniella by acquiring...Randall Simon. Piniella left the team in a huff and is now closing in on his second straight playoff appearance with the Cubs. The Cardinals didn't even put forth the pretense of making such a negligible deal like for the aforementioned Simon; they literally did nothing. I wouldn't take it as any great shock if La Russa asks out of his contract to go elsewhere. I'm not sure if his contract would allow him to manage another team if he leaves with a year remaining, but that could be the genesis of this idea that La Russa would be willing to be a

GM; La Russa doesn't want to be a GM, but his contract might stipulate that he can leave for what would be seen as a promotion and a GM job would be seen as such; then he could simply name himself as manager while having someone else run the front office as his underling. Seattle might be a good spot for such a maneuver.
He has a right to be irritated as well. At his age and with his resume, does La Russa need to be banging his head into walls to try and get his front office to bring in one player to make another run at a title; hear mollifying statements that are designed to keep him quiet and are never followed through upon; and see his hard work go down the drain when things could have been vastly different? With everything he's done for the Cardinals organization, I think he's earned more than that and would be better off if he followed Piniella's lead and left for a better situation; one in which he's not going to hear one thing only to see his team do another.

One Realm In Which The Phillies Will ALWAYS Win And The Brewers Will ALWAYS Lose

• A gut check separates the Phillies from the Brewers:

The main difference between the Phillies and the Braves is that the Phillies, for all their

mouth-flapping and obvious flaws, are never going to quit; they're never going to let a small bit of adversity stand in the way of fighting to win. It was what led them past the Mets in 2007 and provided the catalyst to steamroll the Brewers this weekend and into a likely playoff spot.
The tone of the series was set on Thursday when Ben Sheets allowed five runs and nine hits in six innings and the Phillies won the game 6-3. It was as if the Brewers, knowing that they didn't have C.C. Sabathia pitching in any of the four games and already having lost with their secondary ace pitching, simply accepted the fact that they were overmatched and went through the motions knowing they were not only going to lose the series, but that the foundation of 2008 was crumbling beneath their feet. This is the fault of the manager Ned Yost and, by proxy, the front office for keeping Yost after last season and during this season.
For all of his strategic mishaps, overuse of his relievers and ill-timed ejections, Charlie

Manuel's players have never quit on him; if the Phillies take a punch, they always hit back. The Brewers on the other hand have a glass jaw; they're fine when Sabathia and Sheets are making hitters look like little leaguers; when their potent offense is piling up huge run totals or they're rolling along like a sure lock for the playoffs, but when they face any adversity, they collapse; this, like the public in-fighting and lack of hustle when things look bleak, stops directly at the manager's front desk.
The onus for this could be placed on the clubhouse leaders for the Brewers. They do have some players who are respected and well-liked by their peers like Mike Cameron, Sabathia and Jason Kendall, but if star players like Prince Fielder (who sulks and throws tantrums when things aren't going his way) are jogging out ground balls instead of trying to prevent

double plays, what are the rest of the players supposed to think? What can Cameron, Sabathia or Kendall do with Fielder other than to try and get him to take an active role as a leader and set an example by running hard to first base? There's only so much a player can do to get his teammates to behave appropriately; Derek Jeter is respected throughout the league and revered in his clubhouse, but the lack of hustle by both Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera has proven that there's only so much even Hall of Fame players can do. This is the responsibility of the manager.
Charlie Manuel has publicly benched his MVP shortstop Jimmy Rollins because of such transgressions and the rest of the team supported him without fail. What would happen if Yost said that he was benching Fielder for two games because of his attitude and lackadaisical behavior? Would they stand behind him, or would the dissension permeate the clubhouse and make the obviously poisonous teamwide attitude even worse than it is?
My guess is that Yost is being openly mocked by certain players as he tightens his already stifling grip on his team and they know that despite the fact that they're still in position to make the playoffs that they won't. They know that things are coming apart at the

seams in the clubhouse and on the field and their window is closing rapidly because they're going to lose both Sheets and Sabathia to free agency. What makes things worse is that the front office is quite probably ruing the fact that they kept Yost when they could've fired him at anytime dating back to last season, but didn't. They have to live with the decision knowing that they're unlikely to have this opportunity----a weak National League, two dominating starting pitchers and a run scoring lineup----again for quite awhile, if ever. The pieces were in place for a run at a World Series, but that's disappearing into the abyss of Yost's rage and inability to control his team. The elapsed time between Brewers playoff appearances is repeatedly mentioned in the press at 25 years; it's about to be 26 and the front office needs only to look into the mirror to understand why.

• The Barry Zito article by Pat Jordan in the NY Times sports magazine Play:
  

For anyone who hasn't seen the story, here's a link----Article----it makes Barry Zito look like a real jerk

The Unhinged Rantings Of The Baby Boss

• Hank Steinbrenner prepares the alibis:

In what can only be seen as a psychological attempt to prepare himself for the sheer possibility that his team won't make the playoffs in his first season as Yankees "Boss", Hank

Steinbrenner affected a melancholy and resigned tone in his statements regarding the rest of this season and 2009----ESPN Story. Among other things, Steinbrenner praises the efforts of his players and adds the caveat that "they're not supermen"; he compares his team's injury struggles with the plight of the Red Sox, saying pitching is "70% of the game" (I'm not a stat-guy but I find these capricious percentages pulled out of one's butt absurd), and claiming that the Red Sox would be in a similar position as the Yankees had they lost Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. Last time I checked, the Red Sox had to deal with the Manny Ramirez mess; an injury to David Ortiz that can recur and put him out for the season at any time; lost Curt Schilling for the year before the season even started; and have Tim Wakefield on the DL. Every team has their problems.
There have been nostalgic fantasies of a return to the days of George Steinbrenner; when money was no object; when there wasn't a tirade too nonsensical; when there wasn't someone to fire; when there wasn't a prospect to trade for a fading veteran; but those that are dreaming of a return to the days of George are only remembering the years of 1996-2007,

when even winning wasn't enough and there was still a potential crisis and everyone's job was in jeopardy. They forget the days of shuttling Dave LaPoint and Andy Hawkins out to the mound; of trading Willie McGee for Bob Sykes, and Fred McGriff and Mike Morgan for Dale Murray; of firing and hiring at random after a bad week; of, like his son, saying things that even a casual baseball fan would frown and say, "What is he talking about?"
It's also conveniently forgotten that the late 90s dynasty in which the baseball world relived the era of Yankee dominance was largely built while George was suspended and unable to interfere with Gene Michael's development of the young players that formed the nucleus of those championship years. Had George been able to run interference, would Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera among others,

been around to anchor those championship teams?
If anything, Hank has proven himself to be more bark than bite and that's a positive thing for the future of the Yankees even if they don't make the playoffs this year; Brian Cashman has not seen himself undermined in his contract year and forced to do things he doesn't want to do, which makes it likely that he'll want to return; the team still has money to spend and won't make some desperate trades to appease an angry fan base based on the owner's ranting and raving. He may order a ton of money to be spent, but that's better than trading youth for fading veterans and so far he's kept his hands to himself and bellowed when angry; that's better than taking a pitcher like Ian Kennedy and saying, "get him out of my sight", leaving the GM no choice and seeing the pitcher traded for the likes of Paul Byrd to try and win two or three extra games in what might be a hopeless cause.
Even as Yankee fans are probably angry that the Yankees are fading out, they can be happy that the new owner isn't revisiting the days of the early 70s and all of the 80s in which it was clear that the father----who is being feted now and is a likely and worthy entrant into the

Hall of Fame----didn't know much more about baseball than his son does and demanded that his judgment be acquiesced to even when his baseball people advised him against some of his impetuous, bullying, rage-fueled reactions if things didn't go as he expected them immediately. Having an owner who screams, shouts and explodes, but then calms himself down and doesn't make demands that won't work is better than having one that does the same thing and insists on his mandates being followed whatever the cost. The one thing about the Yankees this year, win or lose, is that they haven't panicked; Hank deserves some credit for that even if the rest of the organization has had to talk him down from the ledge numerous times to keep the raving dictator that is the father from infecting the son, driving him to make similar mistakes that have faded into memory.

• Is it luck or is it numbers?

Rob Neyer credits luck with the Twins sudden leap into contention with their amazing clutch hitting and .312 batting average with runners in scoring position. I don't know how lucky or unlucky they've been; I just find it fascinating when the stats-obsessed see that the numbers don't add up and attribute the result to luck. Just last year, the same thing happened

as no one was able to explain the Diamondbacks division title with such a weak record under the Pygmalion Win Theorem; now it's being done with the Twins. Attention to fundamentals could be seen as just as much of a contributor to the Twins leap into first place as luck has been. Some teams----the Angels and Twins----make their own luck by schooling their players from the time they join the organization on the correct way to play. Pitchers throwing strikes; catching the ball; hitting cut-off men and situational hitting may be part of the equation as well even if the numbers don't fit. The following words uttered by a manager or coach: "play the game right or you're not gonna play" may be just as effective as being lucky, but that's my non-mathematical mind at work.

• Red Sox 19-Rangers 17:
  

Al Del Greco missed a 48-yard field goal with time running out to save the win for the Red Sox.

• Brewers 5-Padres 2:

While it probably has just as much, if not more, to do with playing the Reds, Nationals and Padres, is it lost on anyone that the Brewers have won every game since Prince Fielder almost shoved Manny Parra through the dugout wall?
Speaking of the Padres, with the talk that owner John Moores's divorce may require the Padres to scale their payroll down to the $40 million range, what's the difference going to be in the team's results next year? They're going to lose close to 100 games this year and likely the same next year if that story's true. At least they'll have a chance to be better without some of the dead weight they're carrying this year; and I don't want to hear any comparisons to the Marlins tear-down and leap into contention because the Marlins have something the Padres don't----competent scouting and management.

• White Sox 9-Royals 0:
  

Although I wavered during his yearlong string of excellent pitching, can we now admit that Brian Bannister has settled into what the eyes of many (me, the Mets front office) saw when we watched him in 2006? He's a mediocre journeyman and (at best) a back of the rotation starter who's lucky to be in the big leagues. Period.

• Astros 12-Giants 4:

The Astros have gotten blazing hot since owner Drayton McLane ordered the series of bewildering moves to bring veterans Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins to a non-contending team, but those moves had little to do with this hot streak. A team like the Astros, built on a powerful lineup, has these types of hot streaks because they run into bad pitching and hitting is contagious. Even with that, it has to be said that if the Wild Card or the NL Central were to require 85 or so wins, the Astros would be right back in the thick of things. With this string of good play, they've gained

virtually no ground in the division and have no chance of getting back into Wild Card contention, so it's pretty much wasted effort except to validate McLane's meddling and saving the jobs of GM Ed Wade and manager Cecil Cooper, who deserves a better fate than being ridiculed after waiting such a long time to get the chance to manage.
I mentioned luck earlier and am starting to believe it's as important to be lucky as it is to be good and/or smart. McLane made his money in grocery distribution continuing his father's business and made a fortune. Part of that is due to being smart, but part of it must be due to being lucky; it appears he's running his baseball team the same way and with the failures of the more "thoughtful" teams and the overall success of McLane's team since he purchased it despite the criticisms, he may be onto something in terms of luck and not giving up no matter the circumstances.

• Athletics 2-Rays 1:
  

The scoreless inning run that Brad Ziegler is on is amazing and a great accomplishment, but there's no way to compare what Ziegler's doing to what Orel Hershiser did in compiling his 59-straight scoreless inning streak in 1988 as he almost singlehandedly carried the Dodgers to the World Series title. It's way harder for a starter to compile a streak of this kind and if Ziegler approaches the record, that has to be put into proper context.

The Angels Way Of Doing Business And Other Stories

• The benefits to the use of K-Rod for player and team:

The Angels are one of the best run organizations in baseball for numerous reasons----they spend money intelligently; they focus on pitching and defense; they develop their own players;

they have a chain of command----but one of the most important factors for the Angels is that they treat their players the way they like to be treated. This couldn't be more evident in the way they've used closer Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez in what is probably his final year with the team.
As freely as they spend money, the Angels aren't capricious; they look at every aspect of their investment----statistically, historically, on and off the field----before coming to a conclusion and they don't pay closers huge amounts of money to remain with the team when they approach free agency. They wisely allowed Troy Percival to leave after grooming a young K-Rod in 2002,3 and 4 and now they have two in-house candidates to replace K-Rod next year with sublime

set-up man Scot Shields and young Jose Arredondo. I would think that Shields will close for at least 2009 and 10 and Arredondo would set-up and prepare to close in 2011.
The reason the Angels have been so consistently good in recent history is that there's a plan in place and they rarely deviate from that plan. The difference between the Angels and many other teams is that the Angels treat their players right on the way out the door. It's a mutually advantageous relationship. Some teams would use the fact that K-Rod is becoming a free agent as a reason to abuse him with overuse, but the Angels have kept his workload similar to what it's been his whole career. K-Rod usually appears in around 70 games and pitches 75 innings; this year, despite his record-setting pace for saves, will be no different. But the Angels aren't just using K-Rod to do

his job this year, they're actually doing him a favor by letting him accrue all those saves.
It would be one thing for K-Rod, a very good although sometimes adventurous closer, to put up his usual numbers of 45 saves or so in addition to the appearances, innings-pitched and other stats, but the Angels have K-Rod on pace to set the record for saves in the walk year of his contract. For every team that diminishes the value of a closer to something that can be created, there will always be a few teams that

are hypnotized by the shady "save" stat and will pay for the guy with the gaudiest numbers. The Angels aren't going to give K-Rod $13-15 million annually especially with his stressful, over-the-top motion and heavy workload over the years, but someone will, and the 60 or so saves he garners in 2008 will assist in that as both he and the Angels try to

win now, and plan to move on after the season.
This is just one example of an organization that knows what it's doing; how they work within a budget; within parameters of finding players that fit into what they're trying to create and cut the cord when the time is right. Even though they don't get the respect or attention they deserve because they've faltered in the playoffs in recent years, the Angels are a template for other teams to copy if they want to build a successful franchise, run correctly in all aspects.

• Rangers 9-Yankees 5:

The loss of the game for the Yankees was secondary to the possible loss of Joba

Chamberlain. After leaving the game in the fifth inning with shoulder stiffness, a terrified shudder was felt throughout Yankeeland. Manager Joe Girardi is confident that the problem is muscular and not structural (ligaments and tendons); they'd better hope that that's the case because with the way they've babied Chamberlain, it would be a huge glitch in all the research they did in the optimal use of a young pitcher and how to keep him healthy over the long term if he's really hurt.

• Reds 6-Brewers 3:

Prince Fielder shoved pitcher Manny Parra several times in a dugout scuffle after Parra was removed for a pinch hitter----YouTube Clip; there have been references to last year as the Brewers stumbled and several similar incidents occurred involving manager Ned Yost among others. For

Fielder to get angry enough to confront Parra in such a way, Parra must have said or done something to really hack Fielder off; pitchers can be obnoxious so until some context is revealed, we won't know who's to blame. (Trust me when I say pitchers are obnoxious, I was one and there were plenty of people who wanted to attack me at one point or another; but then it's the same way in my current activity, so maybe it's just my sterling personality.) The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is saying that Parra was heading to the clubhouse after being removed and Fielder wanted him to stay in the dugout to watch the Brewers bat. The only reason I can see Fielder getting so angry is if Parra said something like: "No fine sir, I must go and ice my arm to prevent soreness due to the tearing of microfibers used during strenuous activity, use the facilities graciously provided by the club and have a refreshing beverage", only in more colorful and succinct language like: "FUCK YOU!"
Yost is going to get the blame for not having control of his players and clubhouse, but I'm

not going to blame Yost for this. I don't think he's a particularly good manager; nor do I think the Brewers are going to make it to the next level with him in charge, but these incidents happen all the time in the clubhouses of every team and it's just the few that happen under a camera's watchful eye that get attention and focus on managerial "control", but he can't be standing between each and every player who doesn't get along with teammates or loses his temper in a flash and does something like what Fielder did. Sometimes these things end up being positive anyway because they clear out some bad blood and create some energy to wake things up. The Brewers haven't been playing very well lately and if things turn around after this, it might be perceived as a turning point.