Cincinnati Chili.

I bought it when Kevin originally recommended it on the podcast. Last year, I was a volunteer for my daughter's home gymnastics meet, and I was responsible for timing team warmups. When they tried to assign me one of their cheap orange stopwatches, I politely declined and produced my own green Accusplit. It did not provoke the type of reverential response I anticipated, but the stopwatch worked beautifully.

I'm putting an 80 on this article for TNC. Total nerd content. I'm curious for your take, Larry, on a current evaluation of the Brewer trades that netted Grienke and Marcum. I understood the strategy of going "All In" while they had Prince, but considering the sacrifice of the future (Lawrie, Cain, Odorizzi, etc), and where the Brewers are this season, I'm guessing Melvin may take a hit on the evaluation of these trades. Thoughts?

Great article, Jason. Good to see some optimism in the broken hearts column. Were he with an organization with a lesser track record of pitching development, there could be more reason to worry about Teheran. Am I correct to assume the Braves are comfortable with his development?

Some of this article plays out like the first three minutes of "Unbreakable"- a very underrated work of inspiration before the harvest of crap that is Shyamalan's filmmaking career, with Bruce Willis brooding when it actually looked like acting. Tossing a match on the burning gas-fire Welke lit, here is a tip: As you rack up points on cheapie airlines (I fly Southwest almost exclusively): Cash in points for stacks of drink tickets, and choose a nice long flight to hand out the tickets to fellow passengers in your immediate vicinity (particularly the ones with good bone structure). By the time you land, Jason, you have a decent shot to be voted Most Handsome Passenger.

I know the point is to focus on prospects, but there is a Mike Kekich/Little Bill comp somewhere around here.

There will be nothing better than this article on the internet today.

My kind of article for a Monday morning.

Less analysis and more creative writing please. Just kidding, of course.

I have to believe "P-Bo" is being held in reserve for Indians 2011 draft pick, Bryson Myles.

MLB The Show is fantastic for trying out fictitious baseball names. Currently building a power-hitting 1B named Norwegian Wood.

Love your tales from the road, Jason. I also travel for business, and I've collected enough character encounters to fill a Carver-esque short story collection. My territory seems over-populated with former Division I athletes, Navy SEAL wash-outs, and women who dated Tony Romo in college. Your writing accurately describes the slog of travel, and how brief interesting encounters can be better than shots of five-hour energy. Cheers.

My uncle played in a band mid/late 80's that was featured at Mabel's nearly every week. They were called The Basics, and they had a brief brush with popularity on MTV's Basement Tapes. Alas, they were destined to be the Jeremy Hermida of the Central Illinois New Wave scene.

Little bar in Champaign = Mabel's?

Great piece. When I was 15, I had tickets to the first Farm Aid concert in Champaign-Urbana, and was forced to give them away because I got suspended from high school. The scar that remains is knowing I missed what was essentially Steve Earle's intro to the gen pop, and a young, live voice tossing out songs from Exit 0. Last year, when I watched Zach Lee pitch to Nick Castellanos in Western Michigan, I felt like I was somehow making up for missed opportunities,

My wife uses Erik Bedard's "Lightening In A Bottle" to give her hair that sun-touched glow.

Curious if ROY, Ron Kittle, would qualify for this particular award.

Would you feel more comfortable in the pool if there were cucumbers floating on top?

Between Darvish's "not as mysterious to children" body compaction, and the ice cream dispensing GMC van, this wonderful journal entry has a sinister under current. It's like Roald Dahl is scouting the Rangers.

How anyone can read the hypothetical description of spontaneous religion at the cages, and then ask "where is the baseball info?"', is puzzling to me. That paragraph is 32 ounces of spring baseball served as an espresso shot.

Rushmore is my favorite Wes Anderson film. And possibly my favorite soundtrack of any movie. Step back?

"Obviously, the Cubs could have done this much smarter..." Honest question... How? I'm an outsider, so I don't know how these deals play out between teams. I know in business NDA's are fairly common on inter-company deals. Would it have been possible for the Cubs to hold the Red Sox to an NDA, prior to receiving permission to speak to Theo? I'm having a hard time imagining that would work.

Kevin, I hear your criticism of the Cubs counting chickens while they are still eggs in one basket and all, but if they were counting quietly behind closed barn doors like they promised, what are you criticizing? To an outsider, it appears nearly ALL of the information being leaked is flowing from East to Midwest. All of which creates much of the Red Sox leverage. Is there another approach you believe the Cubs should have taken? Most of the criticism I'm reading about this current situation begins from a history the Cubs organization has of executive level ineptitude and failure (lots of rotten eggs in the broken basket). We all know the history. What I'm interested in is how the Cubs are overcooking THIS chicken.

I hate losing DLR from my NL-only roster. But boy, do I feel good about my decision not to contract him.

As someone living amongst "Cardinal Nation" in downstate Illinois, I have always attributed their claim to be "the best fans in baseball" to the pride they take in not being Cubs fans.

This is an excellent companion to your podcast work during this period. I don't think I'm the only listener who was getting a little concerned for you. Each episode you sounded more depressed and drained. It's great to be able to read this piece and get a more in-depth account of what you were experiencing. This line: "I spent 60 percent of the first three hours staring into space and the other 40 percent thinking about what I'd like to think about in the last two hours of the flight." Man, I've been on that flight at the end of a week of non-stop biz travel. Too burnt to turn on a Kindle. Nice work, Professor.

"from my home in central Illinois"... Don't you live in DeKalb? Home of NORTHERN Illinois University? Down here in Champaign-Urbana, we don't cotton to no carpetbaggers from north of I-80 claiming residence in "central Illinois". Obviously I'm kidding. Thanks for the article. Looking forward to catching a couple games in Omaha this season, when I'm scheduled there on business.

Can anyone blame Cubs fans for being miserable when there hasn't been an article written, or video segment produced, about the team in nearly a decade that didn't mention Steve Bartman or goats? Instead of blowing up the Bartman ball, the Cubs should blow up Wrigley and all the mythology, put up a modern stadium in Schaumburg, and turn the team over to some "Extra 2%" gurus who know how to build a baseball club. My only reason for optimism? Mike Quade.

Did I actually read an endorsement for Crane Kenney in these comments?

A beautiful article. Nice work. (For an interesting enhancement, read the final paragraph in the voice of Vin Scully.)

Well, if Lastings Milledge were ever to find a power stroke, The Cell would be the place to find it.

PECOTA does not share my affection for DLR.

Just got my subscription this week. And already I feel it has paid for itself with this. Many thanks.