Sammy Sofa

That's all well and good, but it's difficult to operate as if prospects panning out and the right FA being available line up more often than not. Many times you need to take the real opportunity that presents itself lest you be stuck in a "well, I guess Soriano is the best option out there"-type scenario because the team was sitting around hoping another prospect or two pans out. If true impact players are available in a position of need and you have the money it's likely a good idea to take the plunge instead of hinging on the crapshoot of baseball prospects to pan out when the timing is just right for whoever the next big FA is down the line.

Huh. I had never seen that pic until now. Now I need a bigger version for my desktop. SOMEBODY HELP ME.

Seems like there's plenty of room to add a video board the same size as the scoreboard, or even larger, immediately to the RF side of the current scoreboard, without obstructing any rooftop views. http://vineline.mlblogs.com/2009/03/24/wrigley-field-at-work/ Works for me. I'd love to see it happen.

Man, I hate Wrigleyville.

I said add it to their offer. If that offer was $200 over 9 or whatever, now it's $200 + x. That still seems like it would put them too far apart, at least over a contract the length of what Pujols reportedly wants. I dunno what it'd take for the Cards to get Pujols to re-sign, and neither do you. What we do know is that they have more money in the bank now than if they had missed the playoffs. Using that extra money to boost up their offer sure seems reasonable to me. :shrug: Ergo, winning the WS does change the equation in the Cards' favor. No. Winning the WS does not improve their long-term financial resources to retain Albert Pujols. I seriously doubt you're suggesting they'd offer up some kind of absurdly front-loaded contract, so let's just nip this silly tangent in the bud right now.

http://static.sportressofblogitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/farewll-sweet-prince.jpg

Man, I'm a little bummed I'll likely never see Aramis play for the Cubs again.

I'd like to see them keep the scoreboard, but also figure out how to install a video board (or boards) without the rooftop vultures keeping it from happening.

I said add it to their offer. If that offer was $200 over 9 or whatever, now it's $200 + x. That still seems like it would put them too far apart, at least over a contract the length of what Pujols reportedly wants.

And the money they're making due to this WS translates to them paying his entire new contract....how exactly?

IMO you're grossly understating the size of MLB's casual fan pool... that group that will tune in if their interest is sparked a bit, but will flip to something else otherwise. Now whether the whole HFA thing provides that spark is certainly debateable, but MLB has a huge "undecided" audience they're trying to capture. And they're not going to capture it with most of the ASG's. It's a fool's errand.

Mainly b/c ownership may realize what a bad PR move this will be. The WS win only underscores the importance of AP in the line up, team player, community, etc... He's a future HOF'er and the modern day Gehrig. Also, whats the market for him? Looking at the list of top payrolls (ranging approx. from $118M - $200M) - the 2 NY teams, Boston, us, White Sox, Phillies, Tigers, LA Angels - there is either no need for a 1B or the no appetite to increase payroll. The next tier of team payrolls begin at $90M and of those teams - who would increase payroll 28% for a period of 8 years? (assuming he signs in the neighborhood of $25M/year). The bottom line is that there are teams out there that can and will pay either what he wants or at least close to what he wants (last year's top payrolls do not sum up everyone who could pay him if they chose to do so). So far the Cardinals have not demonstrated a willingness or ability to do so. Basically this is all on the Cardinals. Seeing as how much production he's given them for well under market value he's likely going to expect at least 8 years from them, and probably the 10. I can see him technically given them a "discount" (ie-coming down from the $30 million per), but not to the levels that they've been reported as offering. They're going to have to at least match and likely technically exceed Howard and Arod's annual salaries to keep him.

Gonna be pretty funny when they end up with Jeff Baker + spare part.

Why do you think the WS makes him more likely to return to the Cardinals? Or make them more likely to pay so much more?

i'm not sure this is correct. when the cubs were really good (2008), the ASG game thread was 112 pages. that's ridiculous. if it were just an exhibition game, even with a number of cubs playing, the game thread would not have been nearly that long. we cared about it because we (foolishly) thought it could matter to the cubs. now i still think it's a dumbass way to decide HFA, but i'd argue that it definitely builds interest among fans of the handful of teams that are serious world series contenders. It's true that they often (but not always) draw more when big market teams are good are have at least several AS players and a stake in winning, but overall the ratings are still typically abysmal (this year's was the worst ever); making it "count" made little difference in that regard.

And most of the people who would tune out are still going to choose something else over the ASB (or most of it) despite the change; anyone should have realized that, set Selig and co. stubbornly and stupidly went ahead. The ASB already had it's built audience. Changing it like they did wasn't going to bring in anyone new (at least not of long term significance).

I never understood the "fixing" in the first place; it's not like there's other baseball for people to watch during the ASB.

Ethier would also be turning 31 at the start of his hypothetical Cubs career. Not that that's a dealbreaker, but if they're looking at the Dodgers' OF I'd rather go with the 28-year old Kemp (yes, I know the tangent was Ethier for 1B. Pass).

Seems to be a weird year to be braying for a salary cap. The Cardinals came in around $105 million and the Rangers were around $95 million. And personally I don't see a need to shorten the season by chopping games. I would, however, like to see doubleheaders brought back so they can finish things earlier.

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/restaurant-pager-motorola.jpg http://cbswxrt.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/lee-elia.jpg?w=385&h=240 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NdT9gU8zNPY/Tmepi_cdJWI/AAAAAAAAFto/1U9lYSrpNcw/s1600/generic+playground1.jpg

Because when all else fails, resort to name-calling! Durrr.

GET TUFFY RHODES ON THE PHONE, STAT.

Nobody is implying anything like that. I am! It all makes sense!

In fact, I'll bet it was knowing they had been granted such a merciful boon that motivated them to fight their hearts AND guts out last night and overcome!

Right.