Tuesday Notes
A good Tuesday to you, I hope that you had a great President's Day. I'm not sure how that holiday is supposed to be celebrated, but whatever you did I hope it was in honor of past American Presidents. Now let's get to today's news.

Barry Bonds Will Report to Spring Training
Barry Bonds, who is recovering from surgery on both knees, will arrive at Giants' camp today. Typically Bonds speaks much more with reporters during Spring Training than he does during the regular season. Bonds is going to be bombarded with steroid questions, and frankly I can't wait to see him snap. How long will Bonds go before he starts getting an attitude with all of the reporters? Well, I'm sure he'll show up with an attitude, but how long before it gets bad even for Balco Bonds? I'm betting that you can just throw out the idea that he's going to have a Jason Giambi-esque press conference where he apologizes fourteen-thousand times.

Jason Giambi At Yankees Camp
Speaking of Giambi, he arrived at Yankees camp yesterday and was greeted by tons of cheers from the fans as he walked onto the field. This proves Jerry Seinfeld's claim that "all we are really doing is cheering for clothes" to be true. I remember this happened when Sammy Sosa was caught corking his bat...Cubs fans cheered louder when Sosa came up to the plate after the corked bat incident than they cheered when he used to hit a shallow fly balls to center.

Oregon State Players Try to Pay Cabbie With Weed
Switching gears for a moment, Oregon State football players Jimtavis Walker and Star Paddock didn't have enough money to pay a cab driver, so they tried to pay the cabbie with marijuana. The two football players were charged with assault, robbery, theft of services, harassment and attempted delivery of a controlled substance.

Paying a cab driver with weed? What, no good? Weed isn't a form of currency? Well, it might be on some college campuses, so I can see how Walker and Paddock were confused, but they have to realize that the entire world doesn't function like a college environment.

This is a funny story. It reminds me of hearing stories about pizza delivery people being tipped with hits from a bong. Unfortunately, I'm guessing a cab driver is a little older and probably isn't down with getting paid in weed. He'd probably rather just have his $14. Plus, since he's a cab driver, he probably all ready has weed on him. Either that or meth.

Brewers Notes: Doug Davis
While Ben Sheets is getting all the headlines--and deservedly so--the Brewers are hoping that Doug Davis starts to get some run nationally. Davis had as many quality starts as Sheets had in 2004 (24). I'm not going to try to tell anybody that Doug Davis is better than Ben Sheets, but I think it is fair to say that the gap isn't as far as previously believed.

The fact that Davis and Sheets both can have success as pitchers in the Major Leagues proves just how many ways that a guy can get people out. Sheets is a power-pitcher. He has a 93+ mph fastball and a devastating power curveball. Davis throws mid-to-high 80s and features a cutter as his money pitch. Both guys are built differently, one is lefty and the other righty. Just completely different make up but both are successful.

Ned Yost explains in the Journal that he felt some reservations about Davis at first because his stuff isn't overpowering and because he had been a castoff from a few different organizations.

"You hear that all the time in our game: Somebody gave up on this guy, so there must be something wrong," [Brewers GM Doug] Melvin said. "I hate to hear that, because guys do change. Guys do get better."

First of all, it is human nature to think "well if this guy is so good, why does everybody keep getting rid of him". It's good to know that Doug Melvin sees though that and understands players can change. This is a cause for another "scouting vs. SABR" debate, because now and then a team will sign a player or trade for a player that has poor statistics. Sometimes a player's swing has been worked out or a pitchers' mechanics...Utilizing scouting in these areas can help you find a player on the verge of a breakout season, but when it fails leaves you open to a lot of second guessing.

Thanks for checking in to Against the Grain today. Have a good day, and we'll see you back here tomorrow. Out.