Good to see Christian Lopez getting a break as the Miller Brewing Company has offered to pay any potential taxes incurred from the swag the Yankees gave him for Derek Jeter‘s 3,000th hit ball.

It’s a smart campaign for their “High Life” brand that is positioned for the “everyday man,” which Lopez certainly is.

In a time where big companies find a way to exploit consumers and employees so they can save a few pennies to impress the “cry with a loaf of bread under the arm” Wall Street crowd, it’s nice to see some companies trying to do the right thing. Even if there is a selfish marketing reason behind it.

Modell’s and Steiner Sports are also going to put some money towards Lopez’s student loan. Topps Baseball Cards is even going to produce a card for him in an upcoming set.

In the end, it was never about questioning Lopez’s decision. It was about criticizing the Yankees for putting the kid in this position in the first place. I still believe this would have never happened if George Steinbrenner were alive and running the team.

I am very happy for Lopez, and shocked that these conglomerates did the right thing. It’s very odd behavior in today’s corporate environment.

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Unbelievable the stupidity of the WFAN callers in regards to the K-Rod trade. All you heard was whining about giving up on the season. A vast majority of the callers either didn’t want to give up K-Rod or thought Sandy Alderson could have fetched more for him. Do they not realize this guy is due $17.5 million dollars and other teams know that? Do they understand leverage? Do they understand the financial situation the Mets are in? Do they see how average K-Rod has been as a closer this year? Do they know the value of closers in the modern game?

Of course they don’t because for years WFAN has allowed hosts to play “Debbie the Time Life Operator” and take calls. That’s fine, but these same hosts have one or two boring talking points. They rarely read anything outside of the few major newspaper stories and have no idea of the business side of the game. They are customer service reps with a stale script that allow the callers to drive the content. A death knell in an era where the fan is more sophisticated than ever.

You now have hosts like Adam the Bull, Evan Roberts, and Marc Malusis who “get it” and are trying to advance the stations talk show format into a new era.

This will take some time since behaviors don’t change. WFAN management is a results oriented bunch. They never look at the process until the ratings suffer, not realizing that ratings are a residual of the process. The process continues to be bad at the station and will result in bad outcomes over time.

There have been times I have been embarrassed for them regarding the lack of knowledge of some hosts (Tony Paige, Richard Neer, Steve Somers come to mind). If you are the self proclaimed New York’s #1 you have to back that up with the best talent. They don’t do that.

Hopefully, more hosts continue to step up their game like Roberts, Malusis, and the Bull.

***

Will Carroll lists in Sports Illustrated ten front office assistants that could be in line to become General Managers. One of the names on the list is Yankees VP of Amateur Scouting Damon Oppenheimer. It appears the two big concerns with Oppenheimer is his age (50) and whether he really wants to leave his scouting role to take the big chair with another organization. Carroll lists “ambition” as one of his weaknesses.

There is a quote from an anonymous Assistant GM who told Carroll that ”These kids from the Ivys all come in willing to work 20 hours a day for 20 bucks a week.”

You have to love the mentality of people today. They want you to work hard for no pay. It’s an amazing business model that sports has mastered from the beginning and is now seeping itself into mainstream society.

Yes, I would work 20 hours a day if I were in the front office of a big league team. But for proverbial $20 buck salary? I think I will pass.

That might go down as the “quote of the year” here at NYBD.

***

What did everyone think about Showtime’s “The Franchise?” In case you don’t know, it’s the baseball version of Hard Knocks where the crew follows the San Francisco Giants around for the entire 2011 season. The first episode takes you through the All Star Break. They did a nice job allowing us to get to know players like Matt Cain and Jeremy Affeldt personally. You saw some of the challenges players face being away from home, getting sent to the minors, and recovering from injuries.

Overall, I thought it was entertaining and well done. I think the casual fan will want to watch because it doesn’t get too heavy into the industry. It takes a turn into the lives of the players, their kids, and wives. A good balance for the baseball junkie and Joe Fan.

***

What would the Giants give up for Carlos Beltran? I have heard San Francisco is notorious stingy with their prospects and probably will want to do a fifty cents on the dollar type of deal. There are reports as many as 7 teams are interested in Beltran. This could create a nice bidding war if the Mets decide to deal him.

Would you do a straight up deal of Brandon Belt for Carlos Beltran? The Giants would be trading a future middle of the order hitter for two months of Beltran. It’s a risk, but you don’t have tons of opportunities to make the postseason. When you do, I always say you go for it within reason. Belt hasn’t done much during his brief big league stint (.211 batting average, .609 OPS), and you have to believe if he were ready the Giants would have called on him. It’s not like Aubrey Huff is blocking him with a huge offensive year (.236/8/44). Remember, Belt is already 23 years old. In comparison, Carlos Beltran already had won the Rookie of the Year by that age.

Belt is tearing it up in Triple-A Fresno where he is hitting .323 with 6 homers and 27 RBI. His career MILB OPS is 1.057. Belt could take over in right field for the Mets and team up with Ike Davis to give the Mets two power left handed hitters. The fact he is major league ready would allow them to have a low cost starter for 2012, which obviously is important if they want to give Jose Reyes a big money contract.

Another name you hear fans talk about is Zach Wheeler. I don’t think Alderson can get both Wheeler and Belt (I don’t think the Giants would have done that for Reyes), but if I had the choice I think I would roll the dice on Belt over Wheeler.

Everyone talks about how special Wheeler is, but again this year he is walking over 5 batters per nine with an ok 3.76 ERA. Of course, those are outcome stats, which doesn’t tell me everything about the process. I do know he is 21 years old and very raw.

Belt fits the Mets needs in the short and long term. He may become even more important if Jose Reyes decides to leave via free agency.

The 2012 middle of the order could be David Wright, Ike Davis, Jason Bay, and Brandon Belt. Not bad.

***

You probably have already seen this, but Justin Timberlake did a drunken interview with the FOX booth during the All Star Game on Tuesday.

You can read the transcript on Amazin’ Avenue.

***

Want to see how far pitching has made a comeback in baseball? Watch this short Bloomberg Sports video.

***

Regardless of what era we are in, the old adage that good pitching beats good hitting seems to apply. Going into Tuesday night’s All Star Game, Tim McCarver informed us the combined batting average for both leagues in the history of the game is .247. When the best hitters face the best pitchers its clear who comes out on top.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

Mike Silva

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Tags: Adam The Bull, Arizona Diamondbacks, Bloomberg Sports, Brandon Belt, Carlos Beltran, Chicago Cubs, Christian Lopez, Damon Oppeheimer, Derek Jeter, Evan Roberts, Jeremy Affeldt, Jose Reyes, Justin Timberlake, Justin Timberlake with Mark Grace, K-Rod, Marc Malusis, Matt Cain, Miller High Life, Modell's, New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Showtime, Sports Illustrated, Steiner Sports, The Franchise, Tim McCarver, Topps Baseball Cards, WFAN, Will Carroll, Zach Wheeler