Hey Braunie, It Could Be Worse… A LOT Worse…

Ryan Braun let it slip earlier this week that he’s anxious for Doug Melvin to pull the trigger on a deal for a pitcher. Well, as hard as it must be for him to wait to see what the Moustached Marvel does, it could be worse. Green Bay radio personality Chris Havel of The Fan 107.5 FM could be the Brewers GM…

I don’t know why I listen to The Fan during baseball season, but I do. Therefore my rides to and from work usually result in me yelling at my radio in disgust about the most recent incredibly uninformed, stupid statement someone on The Fan says about the Brewers. To be fair, the station’s Packer coverage is pretty decent, but they are so epically horrible at talking about the Brewers that I wish they’d just give it up. As bad as Rookie and Bill are at discussing the Brewers and baseball in general on the morning show, the afternoon show takes it to a whole new level. Havel was borderline tolerable as a Packers writer for the Green Bay Press-Gazette (if you could ignore the blatant Favre ego stroking as he tried to dry hump no. 4 to respectability) before he got fired (or “parted ways” as he paints it). As a radio host, he’s a thin-skinned, know-it-all prick, who actually knows very little. And he is the baseball fan equivalent of a 6 year old. If J.J. Hardy gets three hits in a night, he’s the greatest player to ever don a Brewers uni, until he goes 0-4 the next night and then he should be cut. Afterall, there’s some prospect “knocking on the door” in the minors whose name Havel will butcher before failing to cover up the fact that he knows absolutely nothing about said prospect. Sadly, Havel seems like Tim Kurkjian next to the guys the station partners him with — former Packers Harry Sydney and Johnnie Gray. I’m convinced neither has ever watched the Brewers play, or possibly even ever watched a single baseball game at all.

A week or two ago, RFB Joe told me that Havel was on the air suggesting a trade of Corey Hart and J.J. Hardy to the Boston Red Sox for Brad Penny. The trade idea was so dumb there was a part of me that didn’t believe even Havel would suggest it. But Havel must think it’s a doozy of an idea because he was trumpeting it on air again yesterday… So, let me get this straight… The Brewers should trade their starting shortstop (who was an All-Star in 2007) and their starting rightfielder (who was an All-Star last year) for an injury risk back-of-the-rotation starter they could have signed this offseason without giving up anything? Oh yeah, and they can just replace those guys with an unproven rookie and an underperforming bench player. Genius! But common sense aside, the point Havel repeatedly beat into the listeners ears is that the Brewers need “another ace” to compliment Yovani Gallardo. And Brad Penny is an ace? He’s a somewhat serviceable starter for the Red Sox (6-3, 4.67 ERA), but he’s a lot closer to a no. 5 starter than an ace. Hart, who is arbitration eligible for two more seasons, and Hardy, who is arbitration eligible for one more season, would be too much to give up for a season and a half of Roy Halladay, much less half a season of Brad Freaking Penny.

So, yeah, it could be worse, Braun. You could watch your promising young teammates get traded for reclamation projects. Or, even worse, you could diligently tune into a mind numbingly horrible sports radio talk show day after day after day for no apparent reason…

Vent over.