10 years $300 million? No Way!

Word on the streets is that Albert Pujols, who is a free agent after this season, will require a team to pay $300 million over 10 years for his services. There are three glaring problems with this number:

1) The number is being blown up by the Major League Baseball Players Union with the goal of increasing all future player contracts.

2) In 10 years, Pujols will be 41 years old. As an every day player, there is no shot in hell that in 10 years he will be half as productive as he is today.

3) $30 million a year is an insult to the sport and to the citizens of this country.

Apparently, Pujols has a goal of surpassing Alex Rodriguez as the highest paid player in the history of the sport. Before I get into the why that should not happen, is that even a goal that should be set by a professional athlete for himself?

Pujols is, statistically, one of the greatest baseball players who have played the game and he is hands down the best player in the game today. He is the ONLY player in the 130+ year history of the game to hit 30+ home runs and 100+ RBI in each of his first 10 seasons. He has made 9 All-Star games, won three MVP awards, a Rookie of the Year award and a World Series title. He has accomplished what most professional ballplayers can only dream of but according to him, "I don't play for numbers."(MLB.com 2009-09-24). Well Albert, if that was true, you wouldn't care about becoming the highest paid player in MLB history. You wouldn't be asking for 10 years $300 million. Instead, you would do what Joe Mauer did, you would take the "home town discount".

Before last season started, Mauer signed an 8 year $184 million contract. Fine, it is still an obscene amount of money but he took less money to stay with the team he came up with instead of going to a team like the Yankees or Red Sox, who would have happily paid him more money. Granted, Pujols gave the Cardinals the exclusive opportunity to sign him this offseason before Spring Training, but gratefully, they wouldn't succumb to his insane asking price (which was not 10y $30m yet).

When free-agency final comes at the end of the season, Pujols is going to make his decision based on one or two factors: Where can he win and who among those teams will pay him the most money?

Before Spring Training started, the St. Louis Cardinals were still a very powerful team in the National League. A team that would have competed for the pennant for years to come and because of this, I am confused as to why Pujols did not sign his contract then. However, now that Adam Wainwright, the Cardinal's ace, has gone down with Tommy John surgery, they are less likely to compete with the likes of the Phillies and Giants, both of which have stellar rotations.

I just don't know where Pujols thinks he is going to make that kind of money. The Yankees have a first baseman named Mark Teixeira whom they are paying $180 million. The Red Sox just extended Adrian Gonzalez for $154 million. Both of those teams are not in the market for a first baseman, who is in the market for one? Off the top of my head I can't think of any team who is in need of a Pujols type player AND is willing to spend the kind of money necessary to acquire him. If I were a betting man, I would bet that Pujols stays with the Cardinals and does NOT receive the $300 million he is asking for.

Don't get me wrong, Pujols is a once-in-a-generation type of talent. He is by far the best player in the league today, but under no circumstances is he worth $30 million a year. If I'm being blunt, he plays a game for 6 months a year and receives more money than men and women who work full-time busting their ass will see in a lifetime.

I'm not 100% sure how spending this kind of money is conceivable or even considered ok, but no matter what the formula is there is no way on Earth that a baseball player is worth that much money. A friend of mine said that the money they get paid is based off the amount of money that player brings into the team. Well, i have news for you, the team that brings in the most money, is the Yankees. Do you have any idea what their revenue numbers look like? They New York Yankees bring in $264 million a year based on this website...http://www.fantasybaseballcafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=238635...If my math serves me well, thats $36 million less than Pujols is asking for. Under no circumstances can you tell me that he brings in that much money on his own, no matter how you slice the numbers, they just don't add up.

In order to stop such heinous amounts of money from being thrown around to athletes who work 6 months a year, baseball needs to change something drastically, and fast. Ken Williams, the GM of the Chicago White Sox has gone on record and blasted the numbers of the contract Pujols is going to ask for. He has even gone as far as to say that if contracts continue to spike like they currently are, the MLB should, in its best interest, shut down for a year and restructure how contracts are given out.

I like that Williams has come out and blasted the Players Union but there is something that can be done which is a lot simpler, at least on paper. Create a salary cap for the sport. Not only will it stunt the insane growth of player contracts, it will also bring back a level a parody which has been largely missing for years.

I don't know what the league is going to do in the future, if it will quell contracts like this or not. However, what I do know is that no team should "bite the bullet" and pay this money. Teach these players that they can't do whatever they want. Teach them that the owners and the league are in charge and that they will get the money they are offered, not the money they ask for.

Michael Young asks for trade

When this off season started in early November, I thought there was no reason the Rangers wouldn't again make a run at the World Series. However, since then, a few alarming things have taken place.

1) Cliff Lee leaving for the Phillies: Granted, he left the American League, We probably would have won the division without him and we were fairly certain when we traded for him that it would be just a 3 month loan. Once the playoffs started and the team started advancing to heights it had never been before, I, along with many others tricked ourselves into thinking he would resign with the Rangers and cement their status as a contender for years to come. Well, Cliff wanted to go to Philly and with him went our Ace and our "dominance" in the American League.

2) The signing of Adrian Beltre: For the last 10 years, the face of this ball club has been Michael Young, he is the emotional leader, the leader on the field and the leader in the clubhouse. He has moved from 2nd to short to 3rd, all at the request of the team. He is a perennial 200 hits, .300 BA guy and an above average fielder. The signing of Beltre put Mike's status with the team in question and was relatively unwarranted. Beltre is a power hitting stud at 3rd, but his best years take place in the final year of his contract. He is a great fielder but last season he had 19 errors at 3rd base. Do you know who else had 19 errors at 3rd last season? Michael Young.

3) Moving Michael Young to DH: With the signing of Beltre, the Rangers asked Young to move positions for a third time, this time to DH, a hitting-only spot on the roster. He reluctantly agreed with the team adding in that he would be the "super utility man". He would fill in for any injured infielder through the course of the year and he would split time at 1st with Mitch Moreland (something that is unfair to both Moreland and Young).

4) The Mike Napoli trade: Only a few weeks after Beltre was signed, the Rangers went on to trade Frankie Francisco to Toronto for Catcher/1B/DH Mike Napoli. As you would imagine, this did not sit well with Young, as it shouldn't have. He went from the starting 3rd baseman for the American League Champions, to the DH, to the part-time DH/utility infielder. You can say, why not just put Napoli at catcher and let Young keep his DH spot. Simple, the Rangers signed Yorvit Torrealba to take over for Benji Molina behind the plate AND the Rangers resigned Matt Treanor to be the back-up to Torrealba.

5) Michael Young asking to be traded: As one would expect, moves 2-4 did not rub Mike the right way. He was inevitably going to not play half the season, he would not play in National League parks during Inter-league play and depending on how Napoli fit in with the club, his playing time may be cut into even more. The Rangers have said they are willing to grant Young's request for a trade if the move with improve the franchise and not before that.

This whole offseason the Rangers have handled personnel issues and transactions very well, until the last few weeks. They refused to overpay for Lee and he left, they refused to overpay for Greinkie and he went elsewhere. They made moves that were smart for the team going forward and that were in the best interest of the club, until now. I think the Beltre deal was more of a blockage deal to stop the Angels from signing him, sadly we were the highest bidder and signed him.

The Napoli trade also makes no sense to me, trade for a catcher (which we already have two) or a first baseman (which we already have) or a DH (which we already have). Unless the Rangers have had plans to move Young all along, neither of these moves makes sense.

The front office has been so good at handling club issues internally, but this last week's war of words between the club and Young has shaken the boat ever so slightly, something that is cause for a bit of concern.

I don't think Young ends up being traded but he deserves better than being the back-up DH on this team. He has given too much and asked for too little to be treated this way. If the team can work out a deal that will improve the club, I am all for it, but until that point, don't settle just to make Young happy. He has been the face of the franchise for 10 years and deserves to be treated better.

Here's to hoping the Rangers know what they are doing.