Here are some notes from baseball's only six-team division…
- Cubs owner Tom Ricketts was very vague when asked about the possibility of Albert Pujols becoming a Cub according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun Times (on Twitter). Chicago has been speculated as a potential landing spot for Pujols if he does in fact become a free agent after the season.
- Ricketts did however say that there will be "a little more financial flexibility" at the end of the season and he's open to "mega" contracts for certain players, according to Bruce Miles of The Daily Herald and Gordon Wittenmyer of The Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter links).
- Ricketts also told Cowley (on Twitter) that the team has some room in the budget to add at the trade deadline, though revenue in the first few months of the season will be key.
- The Pirates have not yet extended GM Neal Huntington's contract according to Rob Biertempfel of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Team president Frank Coonelly said "it's our expectation that Neal will be here for a long time." Huntington's contract expires after the 2011 season.
- MLB.com's Adam McCalvy reports that right-hander Mike Jones, the Brewers first round pick in 2001 (12th overall), is retiring. The 27-year-old never reached the big leagues, and owns a 3.75 ERA in 623 1/3 minor league innings, all in Milwaukee's system.
Well, let’s see… the Cubs are open to mega contracts for certain players? I would say that means if Albert hit FA they will be in. Not THAT vague.
That could also mean Fielder though.
As Plan B, maybe. No sane GM… oh wait.
Hendry is bad at signings, but an excellent at trading.
Arguably an excellent at trading (I personally feel he gave way too much for Garza, for example), but Albert and Fielder would be signings.
Ya, I agree. I hated the Garza trade, but otherwise he’s been great at trading. I know they’d be signings, just saying that he is sane.
Can we meet in the middle on “sane-ish” or “not completely inept”?
Will Ohman and Omar Infante for Jose Ascanio
Hey, that was a GREAT trade… oh yeah, I’m a Braves fan, too.
That’s more like a fluke year by Infante not a bad trade.
I meant to press reply.
Braves got:
A good year out of Ohman
Three good years out of Infante, who was then flipped for Uggla
Cubs got:
Nothing.
If your’re in the bidding, shoot for the Cadillac, not the Steak Knives.
Pujols= Cadillac
Fielder= Set of Steak Knives
3rd place is “you’re fired”
like the comparison, but the same can be said on Pujol’s end…
Cardinals = Cadillac
Cubs = 1908 Model T
I still believe that Pujols resigns with the Cardinals and Fielder goes to the AL. A lot of what the Cubs do next season hinges on how well Pena does and/or how well Colvin looks at 1B in his opportunities there.
Ya I agree, I honestly think Pena is a perfect fit for the Cubs and will tear it up out there. I think Chicago fans will fall in love with this guy and resign him to a multi year deal. Fielder to the Angels, Cards keep Pujols.
Only way I can see that happening is if Pena doesn’t get injured and has a year like his 2007 year. If he hits .230 with around 30 homers and strikes out 150 times…I would think the Cubs go for Fielder or Pujols.
Revenue in the first few months will be key? The Cubs sell out all the time. A high school baseball team could play there and fans would still pack the seats.
(cue: the “A high school baseball team DOES play there” comment)
That’s a common misconception; it was true years ago, but not any longer. Cubs have raised their ticket prices over the last 3-4yrs to such a level that the bleachers don’t sell out anymore, and their attendance numbers show it:
’08: 99% capacity
’09: 96%
’10: 92%
’10 was their worst season in 9yrs. They’re still in the top 5, but even a small drop in attendance can mean millions in lost revenue over the course of a season.
Mhm…
Wow. An owner was vague about whether or not he WANTED TO SIGN A PLAYER UNDER CONTRACT WITH ANOTHER TEAM? Stop the presses! It’s almost like there’s a rule against it!
Sometimes I wonder if reporters are really this stupid or they’re trying to invent stories out of thin air.
If Pujols hits free agency, of course the Cubs are going to be seriously in. Whether they ultimately meet the asking price, nobody can say — because nobody knows what the asking price will be, in dollars or years, much less what the Cubs would be comfortable with.
Can we drop this crap until the end of the year now?
I like your statement, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and answer the last part with a “nope.”
I wouldn’t be so certain the Cubs are interested at all. Us Cardinal fans watch Pujols more than anybody and I’ve become confused on which Pujols everybody keeps talking about, the one 4 years ago, or the one we’ve seen for the last 2 seasons, the guy that’s been around for the last 2 seasons has gone though some horrible slumps that he didn’t in his 8 previous seasons. I’m a huge Pujols fan, but I’m not convinced that A) he’s worth anything close to 30 million a season, and B) He’s even the most valued player in the League. If last year taught us anything about the NL its that deep pitching staffs with legitimate ace pitchers like Lincecum and Halladay are where the value is. Add Johnson with Florida and Wainwright with St. Louis to that list.
Chicago has got bitten with huge contracts in the past, mainly Soriano, Fukudome and Rameriez. I can’t see them at all interested in getting into another huge contract for a First Baseman that will be 32 when he starts 2012, that’s much different than 27 or 28. when they already have a decent first base prospect as well as a much cheaper option playing for them in 2011 in Pena. and C) Nobody seems to be entertaining the possibility that Pujols has no interest in playing for Chicago. He’s stated that he wants to win, and the cubs don’t have a long historic tradition of doing that since 1908.
I don’t think half the teams that everybody thinks are going to be involved in this are going to be in it. Most of these teams like the Red Sox, Yankees and Angels already have quality first baseman that are no where near as expensive. Teams that are going to take a serious look at Pujols are the Cardinals, and then teams that don’t get any production out of the position. Teams such as Texas.
I don’t know what team you follow, but from what I’ve seen, the Cub fans are more intrested in getting Pujols just to stick it to St. Louis as opposed to really considering the long term ramifications of a contract that size. Especially when Chicago does not have a quality pitching staff at the moment that’s able to come close to teams like Philadelphia, St. Louis or San Francisco.
Personally, I don’t really see much of a chance for Pujols to go to the Cubs. Albert Pujols is a classy guy who cares about people and he knows that if he leaves the Cardinals and goes to the Cubs, he will be hurting the city and the fans that he has always said were the best in baseball and that he wants to play for for his entire career. He has too much class to do that to Cardinals fans. At least I hope so…
Sports stars are all so classy. Just look at LeBron.
Lebron was/is widely regarded as a spoiled brat. For the USA team last time around they put jason kidd on him to mentor him and keep him in line, they didnt want him on the team because the first time he was an arrogant spoiled brat, and still is.
I never hear anything bad about pujols, so comparing him to lebron is just dumb.
This isn’t an NBA blog so put away your gold chains.
….or he is a professional athlete about to sign his last big money contract. If the cards are not in the ball park of what other clubs are offering Albert is gone.
Cards will be in the ball park.
Its not wise to tick off a city with one of the highest crime per capita rates in the country.
Regardless of whether or not albert has any intention of signing elsewhere his agent will use other teams as leverage to drive up the price. No matter what, you can count on the cubs to make an offer for no other reason then to at least drive up the price enough so the cards have a tough time building around him in the future or forcing them to pass.
If he was so classy, he would have accepted the $200+ million contract, instead of attempting to financially handcuff the organization for the next 20 years
There is no reason that the best player in baseball should be the 4th highest paid player at his POSITION. If the Cardinals want to disrespect him like that, he’s free to walk.
The classless part of that offer was the Cardinals. Albert Pujols is the greatest player in the game and he has a damn strong case that he might be the greatest player in the history of the game. ~$20MM a year? Really?
The Cardinals should have started at $25MM. It would put him #2 in baseball behind A-Rod (in AAV), which you could at least try to argue was an aberration and a contract that may already have turned bad. If nothing else, it would be a fair offer and a good starting point instead of an insult. Pujols has been underpaid his entire career, giving the Cardinals a discount his entire career — and their offer says “more please.”
They also offered him a stake in the Franchise. Nobody knows how much, but 1% of the Cardinals is worth about 4 or 5 million dollars. I don’t think Pujols will leave STL, but if he seriously wants to stay here, he’s going to have to come down on either his AAV for 10 years or his contract length. No team is going to pay a player until he’s 42, simply isn’t going to happen. not at the money he’s said to want. The Cardinals can give him his 30 million if that’s what he wants, but its suicide to stretch that much money over that long a period. Most players 38 years of age or older don’t even play in 100 games a season. Pujols will be that old halfway though the contract. 24 to 28 Million AAV at about 7 years and a piece of the franchise and he’ll stay in St. Louis, if not for even less than that.
Some people on here keep bringing up Ryan Howard’s contract, the difference is the length, that contract is 5 years. that’s more reasonable.
Except that it is against MLB rules to be a player with a stake in a team unless the commissioner approves.
Albert asked for a piece of ownership, and the team looked into and didn’t like the idea. It could definately be re-visited when the Cardinals start feeling more pressure, but as the other guy said, it would have to be approved through the Commish and it would be quite complicated.
Dont see how the Pirates do not resign GM Neal Huntington, they know they are probably not finishing above 500 this year so they should not be exspecting to much. They would have to make alot of stupid trades and finish with a worse record than last year to have them not resign him.
Of course, you’re assuming that Coonelly was telling the truth when he said he hadn’t yet extended Huntington’s contract.
He isn’t. Neil’s improvements are miles ahead of than those of previous GM Dave Littlefield’s tenure. He’s restocked the farm system, made some nice deals in exchange for average talent, and he’s given the organization financial flexibility and avoids sunk contracts like Jeremy Burnitz’s 3yr, $33 million deal.
I was being sarcastic. Have you already forgotten that Coonelly essentially lied about Huntington’s and Russell’s contract statuses last offseason?
When asked about Huntington’s and Russell’s contratcs last year, he said he preferred not to comment on contractual discussions. Not sure how that is essentially a lie.
As a Cubs fan, I really miss Dave Littlefield. (Even though he works for the Cubs now, for some reason.) Is there any way he could be the Pirates GM for a few months before the trade deadline, so he could give Jim Hendry McCutcheon, Tabata, and Neil Walker for Jeff Baker and Augie Ojeda?
Albert se vas para chicago por 30millones Por Años Y 7Años De Contrato…
WHO IS MIKE JONES????
So the player was a first round pick, with presumably a good signing bonus, the rapper was a true one-hit wonder.
Who had the better career?
Who?? Mikes Jones Who?? Mikes Jones Who?? Mikes Jones Who?? Mikes Jones Who?? Mikes Jones Who?? Mikes Jones Who?? Mikes Jones Who?? Mikes Jones
All in all I think Mikes Jones had the better career.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but even if the Cubs wanted to announce their future plans about signing star players on other teams, they can’t. Wouldn’t it be looked at as contract tampering?
Thats what I thought…lol. Same thing with the Carmelo Anthony thing and the Nets going on right now in the NBA.
That’s why he wouldn’t say much. Aramis Ramirez, on the other hand, has answered about Pujols.
Pujols in Wrigley = a lot of homeruns
Yeah thats why we love to watch Cards Cubs games…
I like to watch them to see terrible players below replacement level start for the cards! And then I cry when those same replacement level players (with Pujols and pitching) beat the Cubs.
Damn it.
Remind me, when was the last time the Cubs won the Series and the last time the Cards won?
A win in 2006 is worth the same as 1908. The past doesn’t matter, especially when he is referring to the present.
Overall, the Cubs have a better C, 3B, SS, 2B, and arguable LF since Berkman is playing there now with Holliday in right. Pujols is the major disparity.
I believe that Molina is a better catcher then Soto. Molina is a gold glove winner, and Soto had a softmore slump.
Great, Soto had a sophomore slump IN 2009. In 2010, he bounced back and actually had the best offensive season of any catcher in the Majors.
Molina is the best defensive, but can not hit. Soto is the best offensive catcher, and is an average fielder.
I’d take Soto, and I’m not biased. I know that the Cubs aren’t great.
Molina though have a connection with Pujols. That is why so many base runners get tag out at 1st base. I think Soto will not be as active as throwing to first base like Molina.
Here is a clue, pitching and defense wins baseball games, and not if Molina hit 5 home runs and Soto hit 15. If the 2 bat between .250 and .260, Molina will be win games with his defense. Also I will not compare Berkman with Fukodome if I am you. It was a bad signing for Handry.
Except that Soto batted .280, not .260. And OBP’ed almost .400.
And it is Soriano I am comparing to Berkman. Even though Sori is overpaid.
Maybe you should pay attention instead of just trolling. Berkman will be in right, Holliday will be in left.
I’m not trolling. When they signed him, I heard the other way around.
Molina can hit, he just can’t run and he doesn’t have power. If the Cardinals offered Molina for Soto the Cubs would think they stole him from the Cardinals… and oddly enough the fans would start saying the same thing,
No, they really wouldn’t think that. Soto’s 3.5 WAR vs. Molina’s 2.6 WAR, and that takes defense into account. But sure, it would be a steal for the Cubs, right?
yea but it was one year look soto will be back to his old way this year
CF for the Cubs with Byrd
The Cardinals have managed to win 10 since then though…
Molina is a better catcher hands down, hitting doesn’t matter, if we wanted a hitting catcher we could have one, instead we have the best defensive catcher in the league who’s excellent with the pitching staff. I’ll settle for a .220 hitter if I get that out of catcher, but Molina bats much higher and hardly strikesout.
Holliday is still in left, Berkman is in right, Berkman still plays better defense in the outfield than Soriano, but then again, Molina could probably play left field as well as Soriano. But Holliday is the left fielder, so he wins.
I love answering this one…. 2006 for the Cardinals, as for the cubs, early people were still painting pictures of livestock on cave walls when they last won a World Series.
Oh, that’s just lazy criticism. Lazy. At least get topical. Let’s see like . . .
What does the Eiffel Tower and the Cubs have in common? Last team either was the best/tallest was 1908.
Seriously these jokes write themselves people. Just try.
Kudos to Ricketts for being vague in his answers about Pujols. He’ essentially saying that yes, the Cubs will be there, checkbook in hand, should the Cardinals fail to sign him before the end of the season. If nothing else it adds a bit of anxiety and urgency on the part of the Cardinals to get something done, perhaps even something stupid, just to keep him around. And if Pujols happens to fall in the Cubs laps then all the better!
I said this on one of the other stories and I’ll say it again, no matter what happens it will be good for the cubs, either 1) the cards trade him out of the division at the deadline, 2) they resign him for stupid money eating so much payroll they can’t afford to build a team around him and he declines long before the contract ends 3) a team outside the division signs him for stupid money or 4) the Cubs sign him for stupid money (but they can afford to) and he goes into the hall of fame wearing Cubbie Blue after leading them to their 1st world series in over 100 years…. Seriously, cards fans if Pujols was to sign with the Cubs and lead them to a WS win, MLB would forget everything he did as a Card and they would honor him as a Cub for eternity…..it would be to historic not to!!! Wow that would suck for you guys, pretty sweet for us cub fans though.
He won’t be traded. But if STL gets him, they will have to pay more since they’ll have to bid with other teams in FA (and they don’t improve at all, they remain the same team since they already have him). The Cubs get him, and we get a GREAT player. Washington gets him and he is out of the division. An AL team gets him, and he’s out of the NL entirely. So the Cards helped the Cubs big time by not extending him by the deadline, I agree.
anyway you look at this pujols situation, it is a win for cubs.
1.huge distraction for cards team with holes and improved division
2.cubs sign him next year
3. cardinals had an exclusive negotiating window which they blew, meaning even if they manage to keep him, will pay way more
4. at least out of division and hopefully nl if doesnt sign w/ cubs.
Anyway you look at it, its a loss for the Cubs.
1 – Pujols is a Cardinal in 2011
2 – Cub fans get their hopes up, just like they do every single season only to be crushed again when Pujols resigns with the Cardinals.
3 – Cubs have 10 more years of Pujols with the Cardinals.
4 – Cubs continue to not win a World Series year after year after year.
Problems with your theory…
1) its not a distraction, that’s why they aren’t talking about it.
2)Not going to happen,
3)Cardinals still have exclusive negotiating window with him from the end of the Cardinals season, (which unlike in Chicago, often times ends during the month of October) until players can file free agency. But I’m actually hoping he goes to Free Agency because that’s going to help the Cardinals because nobody is going to offer him anywhere close to what he’s asking, bringing his price down.
4) As a Cardinals fan, I’m certain we’ll resign him, but if we didn’t, I can only imagine how wonderful it would be if he signed with the White Sox. which is probably more likely than the Cubs, but never the less, I would enjoy that.
1. if he remains a cardinal they are going to pay a premium
2. i almost hope it doesnt, because good for 4-6 years not 8-10
3. if he signs for 10 i would love it, as it will put a financial burden on your team. cards overpaid matt and could lose albert over it, either way you look at it last year of albert or carpenter in st louis
4. the thing nobody knows is what albert wants, in a cards dream scenario what do you wanna see contract look like.
I love how people forget about the West coast teams specifically San Francisco and LA. But honestly I don’t see Pujols signing with Chicago out of respect for STL and their fans. If LA gets their ownership issues fixed they could be in the running for Pujols as much as I wouldn’t like it. The Giants have Aubrey Huff at first and Brandon Belt coming up but both are versatile, with Cody Ross, Mark DeRosa and Pat Burrell becoming free agents after this season, Huff and Belt could cover the corner outfield in 2012. Aaron Rowand likely won’t be back after this season either. I think the teams who would be in the running(that have a shot) would be STL(obviously),Texas,Washington,SF,Baltimore,Boston(if Adrian isn’t re-signed) however I don’t think he wants to DH so he may sign with an NL team to make sure he plays defense.