The Football Fan Spot

Albert Pujols is set to become a free agent after the 2011 MLB season. His noon deadline on February the 16th has come and gone. Pujols maintains a policy that he will not discuss contracts midseason, so it’s not a distraction, and I fully believe him when he says that. He also says he will use his full no-trade clause to block any mid-season trade, and, again, I fully believe him when he says that. This means, Pujols will be a free agent after this season and if he leaves, the only compensation the Cardinals will get will be two draft picks.

The Cardinals are being unnecessarily cheap here. Is he worth the 300 million dollars over 10 years he wants? Maybe. Maybe not. If anyone is, it’s him, and even if he isn’t, they should still give it to him. He’s Albert Pujols. He’s the face of that franchise. He’s the best player in the league, a perennial MVP candidate in the NL like Peyton Manning is in the NFL. He already took one paycut to stay with the team, signing an 8 year 116 million dollar contract in 2003 that left him extremely underpaid. Now it’s time for him to get his money.

If he signs with a big market this offseason, fans will be pissed, especially if it’s Boston or New York. But they shouldn’t be pissed at the Sox or the Yankees or the Mets, or even the Cubs or the White Sox. They should be pissed at the Cardinals. They had their opportunity. They blew it.

As for fans of any other team in the league other than the Cardinals, this day is great. This is like when that one extremely hot girl breaks up with her boyfriend. Everyone thinks they have a chance, even if they don’t (Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Baltimore) and even if she’ll probably end up back with her original boyfriend (St. Louis) at the end of it.

Even as a Red Sox fan, I hope he does resign with the Cardinals. I hope they realize that he’s worth all that money, as the face of the franchise and someone who’s taken a paycut before, and give him what he deserves. If he doesn’t, as much as I’d like to see him come to Boston to DH, I think the most likely destination for him is Chicago. He could help the Cubs win the 2012 World Series and shortly afterwards, doomsday 2012 would happen and the world would end. I mean if the world really ends in 2012, it’s going to take something like the Cubs winning the World Series to do it. Right?

 Minnesota vs. NY Yankees

I do believe that any team can beat any beat in a best of a 5 series if the momentum is right, and I would like the see the Yankees lose, but I don’t think the Twins have enough firepower, before pitching and offensively, for me to legitimately predict them in this series. The Twins are an excellent small market small ball team, but the Yankees have the big names and assuming they produce (A-Rod?), they should win this series.

NY Yankees in 4

LA Angels vs. Boston

You can’t underestimate the Red Sox’ success against the Angels in the playoffs in years past, but also you can’t underestimate their success against the Angels in the regular season this year. The Angels can give the Red Sox a lot of trouble if they get on the basepaths and start running, but Red Sox pitching has kept them off the basepaths this year and I believe they will continue that here and win a good series.

Boston in 4

Colorado vs. Philadelphia

I don’t want to count the Rockies out because they seem to prove people wrong when people count them out, but I don’t see them having the starting pitching to hang with the Phillies. The Phillies have the advantage in the starting pitching matchup in pretty much every game this series and you can’t forget about their deadly offense as well. The only thing that can hurt the Phillies is their bullpen and Brad Lidge at the end of it.

Philadelphia in 4

LA Dodgers vs. St. Louis

The Dodgers have a good team, but they’ve kind of been stumbling into the playoffs. They haven’t been much more than a solid .500 team since about June. Teams that jump out to big early division leads always then coast tend to struggle in the playoffs. As for the Cardinals, this seems like their year again in the NL. They have an excellent balance of hitting and pitching.

St. Louis in 5