Pujols leaving, a Cardinal Sin

Contract negotiations were halted yesterday for St. Louis Cardinal slugger Albert Pujols after an agreement was not made over an extension. Pujols has decided to stop talking an extension because he doesn’t want a distraction for him or his team during spring training or the regular season.

When he retires, Albert Pujols could go down as the best player to ever play the game. The 3 time MVP simply wants to be paid for his performance on the field. He is currently making less than Cardinal Left Fielder Matt Holliday.

Through 10 seasons with the Cardinals Pujols has 408 home runs. If he stays on this pace he will be the youngest player to ever reach 500 home runs. He is also top 5 in the history of the game in his first 10 years in RBI’s, Run’s, and slugging pct. So why wouldn’t the Cardinals want to keep him and have him retire a Cardinal?…They do, but may not be able to afford him.

(As I am writing this I can only apologize to one of my only subscribers, please don’t stop reading my stories!!)

Pujols wants to sign a 10 year deal worth upwards of 250-300 million. The problem that teams run in to is that they are scared to fork over 30 million to a 38-41 year old man who is not putting up near the numbers he did when he received the contract. The Cardinals have made it pretty clear, either they don’t want to sign a 10 year deal or they simply can’t afford to pay what Pujols wants to be paid. Now the fun starts…

There are a bevy of teams who would be stupidly brilliant enough to cough up 300 million over 10 years. Lower market teams like the Nationals and Angels could have some money stashed away to pay him. The Mets are talking about bringing up a AAA 1st baseman to play this season so NY could be a possible destination. The good thing for the Cardinals is the teams who could afford him don’t need him. The Reds have MVP Joey Votto. The Red Sox just signed Adrian Gonzalez. The Yankees, who seem to have every all-star on the American League ballot, have Mark Teixeira. The Phillies could afford Pujols but they just signed their 1st baseman Ryan Howard to a 5 year 125 Mill deal. Howard is half the hitter and fielder Pujols is and Pujols is being paid a fraction of the price. It is teams like the Phillies, Red Sox, and Yankees who are running Albert out of StL.

Although I wanted to point out those little details, there is only really one team that is “stupidly-brilliant” enough to cough up the money Pujols wants.

Catchy right?? I think so.

First off, Albert Pujols going to the Cubs would be like Reggie Miller going to the Knicks; Coach K taking the head coaching job at UNC; Favre to Minnesota…oh wait.

Here are a few reasons why this won’t happen.

1. The Cubs are the Cardinals biggest rival, they would never let the best player in the history of the game slip through their fingertips. Besides the Yankees/Red Sox, the Cubs Cardinals is the nastiest rivalry in baseball. Remember when Jim Edmonds came back to StL in blue pinstripes? And Edmonds has done half of what Pujols has/will do in his career.

2. Albert is rejoiced in StL. He is the prototypical guy a city wants for the face of their franchise. He is what Cleveland thought LeBron was. Albert has already said he wants to retire a Cardinal. If you don’t know how much this city loves The Machine, take a look at a video of the 5 minute ovation he got in his first at bat of the 2009 all-star game in StL.

3. Last but not least, you would think that if Albert is any sort of competitor at all he would hate the Cubs so much that he would never want to put on a jersey right?

4. He will be 42 when the contract would expire, are the Cubs that stupid?

Of the small number of reasons why he would never become a Cub, here are many reasons why he would.

1.  The Cubs are not a new comer to gigantic deals. They locked Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, and Carlos Zambrano into multi-million dollar deals and would be ready to cough up the 300 million that Albert wants.

2. The 1 goal for the Ricketts family when they bought the Cubs was to bring a championship to Chicago. This would be the first step in showing Chicago how bad they want to win.

3. Although the Cardinals are not a “small-market” team, they are not up there with the Cubs. Pujols would  be good for the city of Chicago and baseball as a whole. The face of one of the most storied franchises in all of sports, he is also very marketable…

4. Maybe the most important of all, Imagine Pujols power numbers hitting in the windy city. The Machine is in his prime for the next few years and will probably be producing some of his best numbers ever. Busch Stadium in StL is only 330 to the Left line, but 372 in the gap and 402 in center. Busch Stadium is also a pretty close aired stadium. Whereas Wrigley Field is only 368 in the gaps and 400 to center. It isn’t a big difference but couple that with the gusting wind think of how that could bolster Puljols’ numbers.

I know right now this is a far fetched idea but as the season progresses St. Louians will grow more wary and Cubs fans will grow giddy with excitement. Pujols could be the spark the Cubs need to get that first World Series in over a century. Only time will tell.

 

 

Follow me on twitter

@DT2332

Crying In Baseball?

Growing up playing baseball I was always told, “There is no crying in baseball.” If I got hit by a pitch, rub some dirt on it. If i lost, get over it. If I dove into the left field wall, next time recognize the warning track. I never knew why people said there was no crying in baseball until I saw Penny Marshall’s 1992 hit, A League of Their Own about ladies playing major league baseball while their husbands were off at war. Tom Hanks had a line that became famous the instant it hit theaters. After a girl made a bad play Tom Hanks did what any manager would do and yelled at the girl for messing up. She began to cry and then he said the most famous line in the movie, “Are you crying?! There’s no crying in baseball!”

v=rWoD2sQ9LiU

But I’m writing this post to respectfully disagree with my father, my past coaches, Tom Hanks, and anybody else who thinks that there is no place for crying in the game of baseball.

Last night during the atrocity Fox called a Super bowl halftime show, I was skimming the channels looking for something to forgive my eyes and ears for what they had just seen. I came across ESPN’s renowned series of documentaries 30 for 30. If you have never seen one of these sports documentaries I suggest you watch one, or all of them. I have seen 12 of the 16 that were made and have not been disappointed once.

For those who don’t know, back in 2004 the Boston Red Sox broke an 86 year world series drought and the curse of the Bambino. It was not that the Red Sox won the World Series, it was the fashion in which they chose to get there. In game 4 of the ALCS the Red Sox were on their death bed clinging to life support when 86 years of bad breaks and bad luck was finally washed away. The Sox were down 3-0 in a best of 7 series against their hated rivals, the New York Yankees. Nobody in the history of baseball had ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit to win.The Sox were down 1 run in the bottom of the 9th inning and Mariano Rivera had come into the game. The second Rivera left the bullpen the people of Boston had a shiver run up their spine as they knew that the end was near. Rivera will go down as the best closer in the history of the game because he never lost, ESPECIALLY to the Boston Red Sox. Here is a little 4 minute segment of the 30 for 30 documentary titled 4 Days in October. The walk to Kevin Millar kept the series alive.

The Sox ended up scoring the game tying run in the bottom of the 9th and won by a walk off hits from David Ortiz in games 4 and 5. The Red Sox then beat the Yankees in the Cathedral of Yankee Stadium in games 6 and 7 to close the book on the best sports comeback of all time, the biggest choke job of all time, and the best sports story since Hoosiers.

Throughout this movie there was multiple times I got choked up with how the story played out. Hearing all these people had been through, 86 years of failure, for this one great moment. Pastors and priests who never asked God for anything that dealt with sports begged him for this one moment. Grown men on their knees outside Fenway Park as the Sox beat the Yankees in game 7. The movie also showed multiple elderly people, who had been with the Sox for all 86 years of failure, rejoicing saying, “Now I can finally rest in peace.”As a true baseball fan I couldn’t help but let that get to me. The only other time baseball has gotten to me like that was in the 1999 film, For The Love of The Game as Vin Scully called Billy Chappel’s 9th inning.

I saw an entire city rally around a team who never gave the city anything but broken hearts and the city forgave that team for the 86 years of agony. The Red Sox were like a cheating boyfriend and the city of Boston was the stupid girlfriend who always took them back.

I wrote this story not because I am a Red Sox fan, nor did I write this story to show that I am a wimp and should be chastised for crying over a sport. I wrote this story because I am one of the biggest Cubs fans that I know and unfortunately being a Cubs fan has made me age a little faster. laying in bed last night I was giddy with excitement at the thought that one day that movie would be the city of Chicago and the fans of the Cubs. When the Cubs win the World Series I will forgive them for the times they have wronged me in 1998, 2003, and ’08. I will forgive them for all the miserable rides home after a loss. I will even forgive them for putting my grandpa through the ’69 and ’84 seasons. If the Cubs could win a  World Series, just one, I would be content for the rest of my life. Seeing a city embrace a team who has wronged them for over a century would be enough for me to be a happy man for the rest of my days. Throughout the movie 4 Nights in October a common question was asked by Red Sox nation. “Why not us?” I seem to wonder the same with the Cubs, Why not us? What have we done to deserve this pain? Gary Smith said it best in his 2008 Sports Illustrated. “If the Cubs win it all I will cry like a baby and laugh like a hyena for a week.”

One of the best stories SI has ever written

Sometimes I wonder why I chose to love teams like the Cubs and Purdue who never seem to win. I think about it though and I like being the eternal underdog. I love never having any expectations. With no expectations there is no disappointment. Call me crazy but I would trade 1 Purdue National Title for the 5 that IU has any day of the week. As would I trade 27 World Series titles for that 1 opportunity to see something done that hasn’t happened in over 100 years.

Like all Cubs fans will say, next year is here and who knows what we are going to get. Pitchers and catchers report to training camp in less than a month and it is almost time to dig out old hats and jerseys. The ivy will turn green and the W flag will fly. The organ will shower Wrigleyville with elegant tunes and the Cubs will once again try to close this chapter in the history books and start a new one. Please hurry though, my Grandpa doesn’t have many “next year’s” left.

Follow me on twitter(DT2332)

Boilers, Hoosiers to renew storied rivalry

Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. Mackey Arena will be host to one of the best rivalries in college basketball. The Indiana Hoosiers will take on the Purdue Boilermakers in a game that could mean more than some may think. IU, who still has one more tune up game Saturday against Iowa, is trying to bolster their resume to make a NIT birth. Meanwhile, Purdue is in a virtual must win situation 3 games behind Ohio State with only 8 to play.

The Rivalry started back in 1901 and Purdue holds a commanding series lead at 110-84. Both schools have dominated the Big 10. Purdue has a Big 10 most 22 conference championships while IU is in second place with 20. IU has brought home 5 National Championships while Purdue has only had one in 1932. Any IU fan will be quick to note that in 1932 there was no NCAA Champion and the national champion was voted on.

IU comes into this game hot, winning two of their last three, two in a row against ranked opponents. Purdue, on the other hand, skids into the match up losing 4 of their last 7 games.

The last two years, the games have not been as meaningful for the teams as in the past but that is soon to change. The Hoosiers are playing better basketball right now than any team Tom Crean has courted in his time at IU and any smart fan should know that records can be thrown out the window when these two teams battle. Until Crean came to IU, Coach Matt Painter virtually had the state of Indiana, a recruit hotbed, to himself. From 2007-2009, Painter has only recruited two kids not from the state of Indiana. Some think the only way to win championships is to recruit nationally but(before the injury to Rob Hummel) Purdue showed that they could be a top 5 team with almost all in-state talent. The 2009 Indiana All-Star game featured 3 Boilermakers and no Hoosiers and Coach Tom Crean began to catch some flak for not recruiting the state hard enough. He quickly silenced those who doubted him. In 2011 IU has 2 Indiana All-Stars and, the probable, Mr. Basketball in Cody Zeller. In 2012 Matt Painter has a top 15 recruiting class nationally but is getting no recognition because of the job that Tom Crean has done for that class. Crean boasts the #1 recruiting class nationally for 2012 with four players committed,(three from Indiana) one more soon coming. Most thought that with Crean bringing in the 2012 recruits, Painter would get the upper hand in the class of 2013, but that isn’t the case right now. Crean has landed two players from Indianapolis that are top 50 recruits in the nation. Painter is close behind with one commit who is also a top 50 national recruit. Coach Crean has also landed verbal commits from the class of 2014 from Indiana kids who are the #1 and #7 ranked players in the nation in their age division.

It will be interesting to see where this rivalry goes when IU gets back on their feet. With two young, fiery coaches, this rivalry could go down in history with the likes of those like, dare I say, Bob Knight and Gene Keady.

Although some may say it is just another hard nosed Big 10 game, both Purdue and Indiana know it’s more than that. The game will mean bragging rights for a few weeks(until PU visits IU on Feb. 23) for the fans. It will be for Indiana to show that they are on the road back to greatness. It will be for Purdue to show that they still own the state. It will be for those in attendance to show why Mackey Arena is one of the hardest places to play in the Big 10. It could also be the drop of water that could tip the cup toward one school over another for a recruit.

As much as Purdue fans love to kick Indiana while they are down, both schools need this rivalry to mean something again. The state of Indiana needs this rivalry mean something again. The Big 10 needs this rivalry to be good again. In a few years, this game could determine the outcome of the Big 10.

Regardless of the outcome, Tuesday will be a night for the state of Indiana to enjoy. Both teams will show grit and toughness that is bred from playing basketball in the state of Indiana. If somebody from another state questions why we care so much about nights like this, there is nothing else to say to them but…

It’s an Indiana thing

Follow me on Twitter(DT2332)

The Jay Cutler saga knee-ds to be put to rest

As many may know, Jay Cutler has been the headline of local and national news since being pulled from the NFC Championship game Sunday at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Most have lashed out at Cutler via twitter and other social networking sites about his heart and whether or not he could have come back and finished the game. Former and current NFL players have openly called Cutler out for the early exit. Now, stories are being released on why Cutler should be benched next season, traded, and even cut.
Sitting at BW3′s watching the game I was with every other beloved Bears backer when I saw that Todd Collins, who is older than a Betty White nightie, enter the game. I was more angry than a catholic on Friday’s during lint. I had heard that Cutler suffered some sort of knee injury and that his return was “questionable.” To me questionable means a player can come back in if he wants to. I was clearly mistaken. Cutler suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament(mcl) in his left knee. A sprained mcl also means a partial tear that, assuming it gets no worse, will heal itself without surgery in just a couple of weeks. Cutler wanted to go back into the game, and even tried to lead his team in the second half. The coaching and medical staff made the decision to bench Cutler because he would have been a detriment to himself and his team if he would have continued to play.
I don’t quite understand how people can question ones toughness in football. It takes a tough man to suit up week in and week out so there is no question Jay Cutler is tough. There is also a difference between toughness and stupidity. Brett Favre had a little bit of both but in 15 years it will probably  be more stupidity than toughness. People can lash out on others and it is easy to do until something of the same nature happens to them. Most people would be sidelined for months with a sprained mcl and Cutler played on it for a few series. He is also a diabetic, and any diabetic will claim that it takes some mental and physical toughness to be a diabetic.
Cutler was sacked 52 times this season, more than any other quarterback in the NFL. Not one time did he call out his offensive line after a bad game. He kept his mouth shut and went back to business taking 100% blame for offensive linemen lacking blocking skills and receivers cutting short or overrunning routs. He also was blamed for the interceptions that hit off a receivers chest and bounced into the chest of a defender. Now Cutler did make some mistakes but he never called his teammates out.
In his 5th year in the league, on the team with the worst offensive line in football Cutler managed to be a 3000+ yard passer averaging 7.6 yards a completion, a career best. For the first part of the season Cutler had no running game and was, most of the time sent back to be decapitated(as seen in the NYG loss.) He has been criticized since he got to the league for being a prick and a hot head, which may be true to those who don’t know him. He has taken public scrutiny from national journalist Rick Reilly. He was publicly abused for having an organization for diabetes research and not speaking of it. After the Bears loss Sunday Cutler, leaning over his crutches, was asked if he knew about other NFL players questioning his hears. With a tear in his eye and a quiver in his mouth he said, “Next question please.” From a man who seems penetrated by nothing shows me enough to believe that he is genuinely hurt physically and mentally.
Only Jay Cutler will know if he gave up on his team and 2 things can happen from this. They could give up on Cutler, send him to Washington to re-unite with Mike Shanahan (the coach who drafted him). They could send him to Cincinnati in exchange for Carson Palmer, or simply make him second string behind Caleb Hanie. Any of which I think are the wrong moves.
When looking at the steps that this team took this season, any Bears fan wants to see the exact same team  next year. The Bears were picked to finish 3rd in the NFC North behind Minnesota and Green bay and go 6-10. They silenced the critics, went 11-5, won the north, and received a first round bye in the playoffs, most of which was on the arm of Cutler. The Bears need to make sure they do not let go of Mike Tice, Rod Miranelli, and especially Mike Martz. Cutler has been in 3 different systems in 3 years, switching again could be detrimental to his progress as a quarterback. The Bears need to tend to their needs of offensive linemen and defensive backs and try to sign a big name free agent wide receiver like Vincent Jackson or Plaxico Burress who know the game and can stretch a defense if nothing else. For the better part of the year this past year Cutler was throwing with his eyes closed, running around the backfield like a chicken with its head cut off. One can only imagine how good he’d be if he had more than .03 to get the ball off.I believe that Jay Cutler will use this incident, wherever he ends up, to silence all who doubted him, and will become one of the NFL’s best for years to come. I just hope he is wearing a Bears helmet along the journey.

Follow me on twitter (DT2332)