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1. Yankees: the evil empire spending money for spoiled brat wishes
2. Cubs: Theo Epstein's first step to rebuilding Cubs by eliminating rival's biggest threat.
Maybe Albert could be Steve Bartman's guardian for that purpose.
1. Yankees: the evil empire spending money for spoiled brat wishes
2. Cubs: Theo Epstein's first step to rebuilding Cubs by eliminating rival's biggest threat.
Maybe Albert could be Steve Bartman's guardian for that purpose.
Grats to one of the best comeback seasons in the history of baseball. 10.5 games back and somehow win the wild card and beat the mighty phills, brew crew and now defending al champs. Props to all the players. Texas just blew it, and i blame washington. Remember that time in game 6 where it was bases loaded 2 outs and they have COLBY LEWIS bat? He got out and HE DIDNT EVEN PITCH THE NEXT INNING. A display of one of the worst managerial calls in history, i mean endy chavez can beat out a ground ball or even have ANYONE bat, but that was just atrocious. I want albert to stay in St Louis, and after this storybook season i think he will http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/10/28/2520194/world-series-game-6-rangers-manager-ron-washington
1. Yankees: the evil empire spending money for spoiled brat wishes
2. Cubs: Theo Epstein's first step to rebuilding Cubs by eliminating rival's biggest threat.
Maybe Albert could be Steve Bartman's guardian for that purpose.
Other teams that have the money/need a 1B/DH:
Red Sox (really though this would be retarded, same with the Yankees)
Orioles (apparently they're interested in Fielder so Pujols wouldn't be that much more of a stretch even though he's older and more expensive prolly)
Dodgers (pipe dream, only could happen if Bud Selig forced McCourt to sell to someone with huge cash reserves like that Garvey + Hershiser group or Mark Cuban. they also need to extend kemp, eithier, and kershaw)
Brewers (depends on how much they wanna spend and they would probably rather keep Fielder)
Rangers (intriguing but their main focus needs to be keeping CJ Wilson/prying CC Sabathia away from the yankees. they also have a severe logjam of 1B/DH/C types)
Braves (Freddie Freeman would be an interesting piece of trade bait...)
Mariners (ditto for Justin Smoak, though he's slumping hard and they need a lot more offense than just one impact player)
Nationals (dark horse but they're willing to spend money, a lineup of Harper/Pujols or Fielder/Werth/Zimmerman in some order is quite frightening)
Red Sox and Yankees are not getting Albert Pujols. the Yankees are spending $140M~ on Mark Teixeira and have a need for the DH slot (aging Rodriguez, Jeter, and a 1B/C/DH Jesus Montero). and i'm even sure even the Yankees could afford another 10/$275M contract. the Yankees also need to be getting younger, not tying up (another) $200M+ in a 32 year old player for 10~ years. it just wouldn't make sense.
Sox in the same boat -- they just devoted a ton of money to Adrian Gonzalez. though they could use the DH slot, at least part of the value of the two players is that they play very good 1B...plus there is the negative effect of becoming a full-time DH player. plus the matter of money; they have a ton of it already tied up in so few players.
the only teams realistically with a shot (based on reports) seems to be the Rangers, Cubs, Nationals (this may not even be serious, though by all accounts, they are looking to spend money), and Cardinals. my money is that he's back with the Cards.
Yeah, Red Sox are not spending for Albert... We are tired of long term, high payment deals and Big Ben knows it. Plus, him and A-Gon are way too close in talent and age...
I see us going after Yu Darvish HEAVILY, Carlos Beltran or Grady Sizemore, and Bill Hall if the price is right. For pitching, I don't see any real big moves besides Darvish. I see the Sox making a bid on Oswalt if and only if it is only a one or two year deal with a player option and an injury clause. I also think Jackson would be a good pickup, but he may want a long or large contract. If that is the case, the Sox will pass.
Ching Ming Wang, Rich Harden, Paul Maholm, Armando Galarraga, and Zach Duke are all possibilities if Oswalt and Jackson get better offers. I think the Red Sox will also look at re-signing Bedard, as he was pretty good. We can also convert Aceves back to a starter to fix our rotation if need be.
I think Papi is going to explore the market, and if he has no good bidders, the Red Sox will give him a 2 year deal. But I'll consider him done with the sox because I personally believe that someone will bid pretty big like Baltamore did with Vlad last year.
I'm also thinking Paps stays because he loves this city and wants to win another championship. I also see Mike Gonzalez, Joel Zumaya, or David Aardsma joining the Sox to bolster the pen.
And that's about it really. We look pretty good with everything said and done.
Let the Yu Darvish sweepstakes begin. Who will throw more money at him?
If I got the process correctly, teams must bid in a silent auction for the rights to sign him, and then sign him to a contract. From what I've heard, the Blue Jays, Yankees, Rangers, Mariners are all interested. Yankees, Mariners and Blue Jays have already scouted him. I don't see Yankees signing him though since they've had some bad experiences with Japanese pitchers (Igawa).
Now that Tony La Russa has retired, here's what I now hope for in order for the Cardinals' future:
1. Promote 3rd base coach Jose Oquendo to manager
This will actually increase Pujols' chances of staying with the Cardinals.
2. re-sign Albert Pujols
The thought of having Pujols go anywhere else will be quite devastating or make it much harder to be as competitive again. Look no further than the past careers of Vince Coleman or Jeff Weaver as they were never the same again.
Rangers getting pujols? Interesting..... I do not think it would happen, because they already are a mid-high market team and simply would never afford the king. Last year vlad didnt stay because he simply was too much $ for them to handle, which he probably wanted 12-17 Million? As i stated pujols will at least get $25 Million and that is far more. The only logical outcome would him stay in stl. Although i can only imagine what kind of pitches Hamilton would see if pujols was 4th in the lineup!
2. re-sign Albert Pujols
The thought of having Pujols go anywhere else will be quite devastating or make it much harder to be as competitive again. Look no further than the past careers of Vince Coleman or Jeff Weaver as they were never the same again.
i don't know what you're trying to say here. one the one hand, you say it will be really hard to compete without Pujols, which makes sense. on the other, you are telling me to reference the careers of Vince Coleman, who was a decent OF for the Cards, and Jeff Weaver, who was with the Cards for half a season. what do they have in common with Pujols? Coleman sucked when he left the Cards...but he was never any better than decent anyway. Jeff played half a season with the Cards and was not very good there.
Pujols, on the other hand, is a first ballot Hall of Famer today. are you suggesting he would not perform well if he were to leave the Cards and using the careers of two averageish players (one of whom only played for the Cards for half a season...and wasn't very good anyway) as evidence of that?
Jeff Weaver: below-average pitcher that rose to the occasion in the 2006 World Series, tried to capitalize on free agency and flopped miserably with the Mariners the following year.
Vince Coleman: Best leadoff hitter back in the 1980s led the Cardinals to the World Series, usually got on base, stole second to get into scoring position. Once he became a Met things went drastically downhill from there.
Now with Pujols the question is whether he'd be able to handle the media pressure if he were a Cub, Yankee or Met for that matter as was evident in game 2 of the World Series. True he's got Hall of Fame credentials, but wherever he goes other than the Cardinals I don't feel he'd ever be the same again elsewhere.
Jeff Weaver: below-average pitcher that rose to the occasion in the 2006 World Series, tried to capitalize on free agency and flopped miserably with the Mariners the following year.
Vince Coleman: Best leadoff hitter back in the 1980s led the Cardinals to the World Series, usually got on base, stole second to get into scoring position. Once he became a Met things went drastically downhill from there.
Now with Pujols the question is whether he'd be able to handle the media pressure if he were a Cub, Yankee or Met for that matter as was evident in game 2 of the World Series. True he's got Hall of Fame credentials, but wherever he goes other than the Cardinals I don't feel he'd ever be the same again elsewhere.
you realize that you are spouting nonsense? rose to the occasion? he pitched a good game or two in the postseason. can you say 'small sample'? he was never any more than average to begin with. as for vince coleman and "best leadoff hitter in the 80s" did you forget rickey henderson existed or something? i'm not qualified to say how good coleman was outside of looking at his numbers...but they look pretty pedestrian to me.
you seem to be playing armchair psychologist in attempting to reason with yourself that Pujols HAS to remain a Cardinal (which i think he will anyway). he's not going to lose his immense talent just because he goes to a different team.
Buddy i'm pretty sure rickey henderson was the best leadoff hitter of the 80s... He was first in sb's 9 times in the 80s, so correct me if i'm wrong but the purpose of a leadoff hitter is to get on base, steal and cause chaos for the defense, plus include a small amount of power (had alot of leadoff homeruns). To state that Albert will fail to excel without the cardinals is laughable, but to compare his fate to a crappy pitcher and someone who never hit 300 in his career is absurd.How many times did he hit at least 299 with 100 rbi's and 30 homeruns? He is obviously an all century player, regarded as one of the best hitters ever, and a hall of famer if he retired today. Did babe ruth fail when he got traded from a hitters galore park into yankee stadium? No, he became one of the best players in history. I am pretty sure that anywhere he would go, even oakland (saying in terms of the ballpark), he would still jack 30 with 100 rbis and a 300 avg. Albert's god-given talent would stay wherever he goes.
Buddy i'm pretty sure rickey henderson was the best leadoff hitter of the 80s... He was first in sb's 9 times in the 80s, so correct me if i'm wrong but the purpose of a leadoff hitter is to get on base, steal and cause chaos for the defense, plus include a small amount of power (had alot of leadoff homeruns). To state that Albert will fail to excel without the cardinals is laughable, but to compare his fate to a crappy pitcher and someone who never hit 300 in his career is absurd.How many times did he hit at least 299 with 100 rbi's and 30 homeruns? He is obviously an all century player, regarded as one of the best hitters ever, and a hall of famer if he retired today. Did babe ruth fail when he got traded from a hitters galore park into yankee stadium? No, he became one of the best players in history. I am pretty sure that anywhere he would go, even oakland (saying in terms of the ballpark), he would still jack 30 with 100 rbis and a 300 avg. Albert's god-given talent would stay wherever he goes.
RBIs are team dependent but you have the right idea. Albert is going to succeed where ever he goes (although i do think he wants to and will stay in St. Louis).
in other news, McCourt selling the Dodgers. curious to see if they deal Kemp or Kershaw, as they have huge surplus value now and if the selling process takes too long, they may not have a long enough time to hammer out extensions.
now that i think about it, LAD actually finished above .500 and a positive run differential last year. they were buoyed by otherworldly performances from Kemp and Kershaw but they could compete with some changes made to the roster; the NL West isn't too strong. of course, the additions necessary may require ownership to be resolved. if they had money, they would easily be the best team in that division with Fielder.
sucks for Dodgers fans. they should be locking those two up long term, not fretting over funds they may or may not have. i can sympathize!
The Dodgers in my opinion were not made to win in 2011. The moves in the offseason did not make much sense (as always...), their back end of their rotation was ancient, and Casey Blake and Marcus Thames as starters was a very very questionable move.
Dodgers NEED to make a move at Jose Reyes this offseason to solidify that lineup.
I dont see jose going to dodgers. They have enough financial stuggles, and paying for him would make no sense. However i think he will go to the giants, need some speed, shortstop, and leadoff hitter. Reyes is all that.
I dont see jose going to dodgers. They have enough financial stuggles, and paying for him would make no sense. However i think he will go to the giants, need some speed, shortstop, and leadoff hitter. Reyes is all that.
I didn't say that the Dodgers will sign Jose, I said they need him to be competitive...
I personally see Jose going to the Red Birds if Albert leaves. It would be a good place to use that extra cash if Albert demands an unreasonable contract. If Cards get Albert, I see Jose going to the Mariners. They need offense and a replacement for the ever declining Ichiro. They also have some cash to spend.
Oh yeah, I'm all for Dale "Wave Um' In" Sveum as Boston's manager next year.
Can anyone else really not wait to see ozzie leading such a young talented team on a clean new slate/ballpark? Oh man hanley better step his hustle up or he may be sitting on that bench!
Can anyone else really not wait to see ozzie leading such a young talented team on a clean new slate/ballpark? Oh man hanley better step his hustle up or he may be sitting on that bench!
So this was lost in the shitstorm that is Penn State, but apparently Wilson Ramos was kidnapped at gunpoint in Venezuela? This is pretty frightening considering this guy has a really bright future in Washington (good hitter, good defensively, and Harper doesn't project as a catcher anyway). Hopefully he gets found/returned safely!
Sadly it's not too uncommon in certain parts of the world. A few years ago, the cousin and mother of retired MLB pitcher Victor Zambrano were both kidnapped. The cousin was killed but the mother was rescued. Poorer parts of the world just see the money potential, they don't care about what you do to earn that money.
