The Cardinals lead the NL Central by one game over the Reds. A link for each of the six teams:
- The $680MM deal to sell the Astros to Jim Crane's group "could be completed as early as next week," report Zachary Levine and Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle. Ownership of the club could be tranferred to Crane "as early as July," they write. Crane is believed to prefer having an agreement in place before the June 6th draft, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
- Pirates reliever Jose Ascanio's rehab period ends today, reports Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the team must decide whether to add the out of options righty to the 25-man roster or risk losing him to another team. The 26-year-old has been battling shoulder and elbow injuries, but MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch wrote Monday that adding him to the big league bullpen is the most likely move.
- You read yesterday about the hug heard 'round the Midwest, as Cubs GM Jim Hendry embraced Albert Pujols before the game at Wrigley. The hug means next to nothing; as CSN's Patrick Mooney points out, Hendry has tons of connections throughout the industry. Still, it can't hurt to note that Cubs owner Tom Ricketts shook hands with the free agent to be as well.
- Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has begun an "open-ended convalescence" in the words of Joe Strauss' source, as he recovers from shingles. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter says La Russa "will miss the rest of the team's current road trip and perhaps significantly more time."
- Despite allowing five runs and nine hits in six innings, Brewers offseason acquisition Shaun Marcum picked up his fourth win yesterday. Marcum is showing no ill effects from his springtime shoulder stiffness; his 4.17 K/BB ratio ranks sixth in the NL. With a strong season I can see him getting close to $10MM for 2012, his final arbitration year.
- Aroldis Chapman won't be sent to the minors to work out his issues, Reds manager Dusty Baker told John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The hard-throwing lefty has allowed at least one run and two walks in each of his last three appearances.
Get well soon TLR
Let the Pujols rumors begin. Honestly, I’d love to see Pujols stay a Cardinal and go into the hall as a career Cardinal player, but if he doesn’t want to play here, it’s his perogative. The Cards are showing right now that they will be ok without him, should he decide to leave. I just don’t want to hear him say “It’s out of my control” again.
Even as a Cubs fan, I like Pujols as a Cardinal. The phenomenon of big-market players playing for small-market teams, e.g. Pujols, Mauer, etc., is good for baseball and creates more competition.
That being said, if Pujols does leave St. Louis, I’d like to see him go to the Blue Jays. Toronto’s got a lot of great pieces already, play in a large market, but are often seen as insignificant up against the titans of the AL East. It’s about time for them to start competing again.
Also, I don’t want Hendry to give him a 10/300 contract with the aim of saving his job.
I don’t know if you were hinting at either of these teams, but the Cubs and Cardinals are definitely not small markets.
Why do people consider StL a small market team? They are not even in the conversation with likes of Kansas City, Tampa, San Diego, etc.
In fact StL has the 11th highest payroll this season, with several big money deferred contracts on the books for several years to come.
This “small market team” propaganda is generated TLR (the dictator) himself. He loves when people feel sorry for him and his team. He is a master manipulator and plays the “us against the world” card perfectly with his team. In doing so, he forces the same message down the throats of the media and the fans as well to the point where everyone actually believes the Cardinals are struggling to compete financially.
Why don’t all the members of MLBTradeRumors scrounge together their money and buy a team? We can hire Tim Dierkes as our GM and see if our collective knowledge is legit or just the unmitigated ramblings of a bunch of clueless fans.
Ha! Not sure I’d be up for the long hours.
I just found a five in my pocket, count me in.
For $5.00, I think you can buy the Bucs…
I hear Cardinals fans screaming
I see Cubs fans living in fantasy land.