Brant's Rant: Post Holiday Summary

We're back from Thanksgiving with controversy galore. Let's handle it with bullet points and comments:

• Rex Grossman. Bench him or stick with him? Lovie says Rex is the man, which is generally a kiss of death for any athlete or coach. There's no doubt in my mind that Brian Griese could minimize the turnovers to two or three instead of Rex's current pace of five per game. But if Rex is pulled, is the Grossman era effectively over? I say yes. You can't commit to a young QB and change your mind. His confidence is already shattered. We either ride it out with Grossman and win a couple playoff games, or we go for the title with Griese and draft another QB. From what I hear, the fans are 50/50 on this. Your thoughts?
• Alfonso Soriano has asked the Cubs' permission to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic. First, I think this is great. It shows that he's not the kind of guy to sign his fat contract and then sit around like King Shit. The guy wants to get better, and is now open to whatever position the Cubs want him to play. Obviously though, there is the injury risk. Wouldn't they have the foresight though to put something regarding winter ball in his contract? Or is that too obvious? Ultimately, I'm sure the Cubs will insist he doesn't play, and hopefully this doesn't get the relationship with our new money man off to a bad start. On the other hand, 20+ games in center field wouldn't hurt.
• The Astros signed Carlos Lee to a six-year, $100 million deal. Nearly $17 million per year. For a guy that was just average after his trade to Texas? A number of teams were lined up for his services, but you can't blame him for taking that kind of money and running. The Soriano signing certainly tweaked the market. It probably would have made more sense for the Astros to trade for Manny Ramirez than bog down their payroll with Lee. Hey, at least Bagwell is off the books.
• Anything else I missed?