Maybe my John Axford advice on Tuesday ("pick him up if he's dropped in your league!") was somewhat untimely, as the embattled reliever gave up three runs on two walks and a hit against the Cubs Tuesday night. But I'm sticking with the analysis and picking up the scraps as owners drop him.
Just to clarify -- I wasn't saying start him. I wasn't saying he'd be awesome immediately. I wasn't even saying I like him a lot. I was just saying that the Brewers' plan -- for all the world to see -- is to fix Axford, then reinstall him as the closer. I figured it would take a couple weeks; it may take a little longer.
Axford is, for lack of a better comparison, the boomerang from The Legend of Zelda. And not in the corny "he will come back around" way. Yes, you may have a white sword now (even one that shoots other glowing swords from it), as well as a candle and a bomb (say, Addison Reed and Kenley Jansen) but that doesn't mean you just throw away the boomerang. You keep it in your arsenal, because it may come in handy later. If you never use it again, such is life. But there's no reason to think that something helpful early won't be helpful again. That is John Axford right now. Wholly useless, but worth hanging on to just in case.