Let's dive in on the headlines in baseball on this Tuesday morning....
- The contract talks between the Cardinals and Albert Pujols appear to be going nowhere at that point with the deadline coming on Wednesday. Pujols is the modern day Stan Musial in St. Louis, seeing him in a different uniform would just look odd to say the least. Just imagine Pujols in a Cubs uniform or a Mariners uniform with the number 5 on his back. While other superstars left their teams in the prime of their career to make their next successful like Carlton Fisk going from Boston to the White Sox or Barry Bonds from Pittsburgh to San Francisco, there is a substance to seeing Pujols terrorizing the other teams in the National League from the No. 3 hole in the St. Louis lineup and being the next Cal Ripken Jr. or Tony Gwynn and staying with his team all the way through his career. 10 years/$300 million is insane but a healthy compromise at 7 yr/$200 million would work.
- The Cubs and Carlos Marmol agreed on a 3 yr/$20 million deal on Monday to get through Marmol's first year of possible free agency. An interesting deal with it backloaded the way it is as Marmol will only make $3.2 million this season before jumping to $7 million in 2012 and $9.8 million in 2013. The Cubs needed to make this move simply due to the fact that besides Marmol, what is in their bullpen? Sean Marshall and Kerry Wood are probably their only two good options right now. Will Marmol repeat his 2010 campaign? Probably not but he got the money he deserves and the true test will be if he can avoid walking the bases loaded every time he enters a game.
- The Blue Jays made a smart move Monday by delaying the arbitration hearing with Jose Bautista until Friday to see if the two sides can get a contract done. You can't figure Bautista is hitting 54 home runs again in 2011 as teams will take every chance to pitch Bautista away but you have to figure he has another 30-40 home run season in him. Could Bautista be a one-hit wonder? It's possible but if I'm Toronto, I don't want to take that chance after trading Vernon Wells away in the offseason. While Aaron Hill and Adam Lind are nice players that should continue to grow, the Jays need Bautista to keep hitting if they stand any chance in the AL East.
That's all for today, tomorrow brings more stories to fill up our lineup card.
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