NO PITY PARTIES FOR THE SABRES

James Mirtle is calling BS on the knee-jerk reactions to the likely possibility that the Buffalo Sabres will deal co-captain Daniel Brière rather than may him the $5 million US salary that he was awarded in arbitration.

Namely, he wonders why that salary "is considered too hefty for the Sabres when only a few weeks back, GM Darcy Regier dumped a $10-million contract in Jaroslav Spacek's lap. There's $3.33-million right there that could have went to Brière's deal."

In other words, the Sabres may have put too many eggs in one basket -- Mirtle points out the club already has a surfeit of offensive defencemen. That's exactly what the new salary structure was intended to do -- make teams spend their money wisely. Spend money on all areas of the team -- scorers, grinders, defencemen, goaltending.

Maybe it means teams will have a lack of continuity similar to what's plaguing the NBA and NFL, but that will take at least a few more years to become apparent.

By the way, does anyone wonder if the Sabres may fall back in the standings next season? The club is losing Brière, and it hasn't found a stay-at-home defenceman to replace 10-year veteran Jay McKee, who signed with St. Louis. They may miss McKee much more than many people realize.

OTHER BUSINESS

• This is no surprise to anyone who's been to Rogers Centre this season, but Baseball Musings notes it shares the distinction of being the least-likely park in the majors to see a shutout game. There have only been two -- one by A.J. Burnett and the other by Baltimore's Daniel Cabrera, who's now pitching for the Ottawa Lynx. (Yes, I recalled that from memory.)
  
  What is surprising is that Coors Field is the second-most likely park to see a shutout -- Canada's own Jeff Francis made it nine with his 129-pitch complete-game effort last night.
• Visit ArmchairGM -- and not just because my writing is archived there. Also check out what Greg Hughes is up to these days.
• Note to readers: Yours truly has an article in next month's edition of Quill & Quire. It should be on newstands around the second or third week of August.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.