The Marlins Mean Business

Regardless of if you like the new logo and uniforms, it is apparent that the Miami Marlins will have more going for them in 2012 than just new colors and a new ballpark.

While still somewhat early in the Hot Stove season, the Marlins keep making headlines in all of the right places. It appears that they are big on the right free agents to develop the team and garner significant attention in their new home.

A few days back, Ken Rosenthal and John Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com reported that the fish offered free agent shortstop Jose Reyes an initial offer of 6 years and $90million to bring his talents to South Beach. On the heels of his 5-year, $37.75million contract that offered him an annual salary of $6.75 million, this new offer is a significant upgrade, with an annual value of $15million. Though many believe that Reyes is looking for $100million from a club to get the deal done. From what I have been hearing, there are only two legitimate suitors for Reyes, the Marlins and the Mets. Let's face it, the Mets won't get anywhere near $100million right now.

An interesting tid-bit about this offer came to light earlier in the week as well. According to The Miami Herald's Chuck Spencer, Marlins current all-star shortstop Hanley Ramirez has no interest in switching positions to make room for Reyes. Though many people perceive Reyes and Ramirez to be friends, that appears to not be the case. More on this in a minute.

More recently, the Marlins have set their sights on arguably the biggest free agent in years, Albert Pujols. According to Yahoo Sports' Tim Brown, the club offered Pujols a 9-year contract, the value of which has not been said. It has also been reported by ESPN.com's Jerry Crasncik that the Marlins brought 10 players to assist in recruiting Pujols in an effort to "make the organizations interest clear."

That's not all. The Marlins have also been after starting pitching, but on a lesser level. It appears they want to lock up their 2 major free agent signings before dedicating money towards pitching. Their name has been floated around Mark Buehrle in recent weeks, which would make for a fine addition to their young pitching staff as a solid number 2 or three behind Josh Johnson.

Another thought I have, based ENTIRELY on speculation. There is no rumors on this, there is no inside information, it is just something I found as interesting last night on Twitter. Ozzie Guillen tweeted the following:

"I think Carlos Zambrano going to kick some behind this year." He then added, "And I hope he prove(s) people wrong."

Would it not be interesting to see the Cubs work a trade that sends Big Z to Miami? I think that Guillen is the type of personality that would get the most out of Zambrano, and the fresh start is obviously needed for the guy. Odds are, the Marlins would require the Cubs to pick up a large portion of his contract, but it would make for a very, very interesting landing spot for him.

Speaking of speculation, and back to the Hanley Ramirez issue. IF the Marlins do decide to sign Reyes, could Reyes move over to third base and be effective if Hanley would not? Would the Marlins then try to trade their previous face of the franchise? I think this all would hinge on how the courting of Reyes and Pujols goes, but I don't think it is as far-fetched of an idea as it may have been in previous years.

The Marlins are in a really good place right now, with excellent young talent in the outfield in Logan Morrison and Mike Stanton. The young pitching staff is bolstered by the young fire-baller, Josh Johnson.

I'm not sure where this Marlins team is headed right now, but by all indication it would be the right direction, and it certainly is going to be entertaining.

Terry Francona Should Replace Tony LaRussa

Take a good look St. Louis, this is the man that will steer the ship for the Cardinals in the 2012 season.

Sure, I have heard plenty of rumors regarding Terry Francona and what he may do next season. There has been rumblings about Tito joining Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer in Chicago. There has been talk about Tito taking a year off. There has been talk of Tito doing T.V. for a year. I don't think that any of those options are realistic. When it comes down to it, Terry Francona is the perfect candidate to take over for Tony LaRussa.

No matter what, replacing Tony LaRussa is going to be very difficult. I have heard the rumors that third base coach Jose Oquendo is primed to take over for LaRussa. Rumor has it that Pujols will only return to St. Louis if Oquendo is the coach. Guess what? Pujols will return to St. Louis if they give him the best deal.

Period.

Other names that have been floated to take over for LaRussa: batting coach Mark "Big Mac" McGwire as well as Chicago Cubs legend and current AAA coach for the Phillies, Ryne Sandberg. Here is the deal with McGwire, the guy was a hell of a baseball player, albeit with steroids later in his career, but overall, he was a great player. He came out, apologized for taking banned substances and has quietly been trying to gain a positive reputation back in Major League Baseball. I respect that. I just don't see him being ready to take over for a Major League Club yet.

Ryne Sandberg on the other hands, as you know if you've read any of my posts before, I would love to see in Boston. With my Boston argument, I have the same reasoning why he will not be coaching in St. Louis - the Cubs would be foolish NOT to hire him to be the coach in 2012.

Sure, there are other names out there that could replace LaRussa, but not many have as good of a record as Francona posts. While LaRussa coached for 2,728 wins and 2,365 losses over a 35 year career that saw him coach just 3 different teams, the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A's and St. Louis Cardinals. LaRussa chalked up 6 pennants and 3 World Series Titles with his .536 winning percentage.

In his 12 years coaching just 2 Major League clubs (The Phillies and Red Sox), Terry Francona has coached 1,029 wins and 915 losses, or a .529 winning percentage. It is worth noting that while in Boston, Francona had a .574 winning percentage and in that same time frame, LaRussa's Cardinals posted a .554 winning percentage.

Terry Francona will be loved in St. Louis, both by the players (as he is very much a players manager to the end) and by the fans/media. Tito is always very candid and open about his coaching, and in a baseball town like St. Louis, they will love having a guy like Francona whose life IS baseball leading the charge.

If St. Louis manages to bring back Pujols and sign Terry Francona on as their manager in 2012, this team has a legitimate chance of repeating as World Series Champions.

The Case for Mike Napoli

Every year the fall classic brings out the best in some previously unknown player. Last year, Cody Ross stole the show for the San Francisco Giants. This year, Mike Napoli has proven to be a legitimate big-game player. Going into this World Series I swore that Adrian Beltre would prove to be the MVP of the series. It looks like I may have to eat those words as Napoli is just feeding them to me.

In the 5 games he has played thus far Napoli has compiled the following stat line: 13 at bats (18 total plate appearances), 2 runs scored, 4 hits, 1 double, 2 home runs, 9 runs batted in, 3 walks and he has struck out twice. His batting average is .308 while his on-base percentage is .389. His slugging percentage is .846 and his OPS is 1.235.

What does that all translate into? He is first on the Rangers in OPS, Slugging and OBP. He is 3rd in batting average (2nd if you only quantify players that have played in all 5 games.) I need to repeat this, he has 9 RBI's - that is as many as Michael Young (3), Adrian Beltre (2), Nelson Cruz (2) and Josh Hamilton (2) combined. He has become an offensive machine.

On the other side of the ball - he has not allowed the St. Louis Cardinals to steal a base on him, throwing out all 3 attempts: Allen Craig twice and Jon Jay once.

While Napoli's star is surely shining bright right now, the question is, why haven't we noticed him before? The obvious answer is that he is buried on a team full of offensive and defensive weapons. But, Napoli is single handedly destroying my case for the Texas Rangers needing to/being in the hunt for Albert Pujols. Now, allow me to clarify here, I am not saying that Napoli is as good as Pujols, but what I am saying is that Napoli is good enough to not need Pujols.

First of all, Napoli is only 29 years old. Pujols is 31 - not a huge difference in age, but nevertheless, a difference exists. Napoli is capable of both catching and playing first base as well as DH'ing if need be. Pujols can play first or DH. Those are the plain eyeball examinations of the players, but lets take a quick look at the meat and potatos.

During the 2011 season Mike Napoli's stat line looked like this: 113 games played, 72 runs scored, 118 hits, 25 doubles, 30 home runs, 75 RBI's, 58 walks, .320 batting average, .414 OBP, .631 slugging and 1.046 OPS.

During the 2011 season Albert Pujols' stat line looked like this: 147 games played, 105 runs scored, 173 hits, 29 doubles, 37 home runs, 99 RBI's, 61 walks, .299 batting average, .366 OBP, .541 slugging and .906 OPS.

For arguments sake, Prince Fielders 2011 stat line looked like this: 162 games played, 95 runs scored, 170 hits, 36 doubles, 38 home runs, 120 RBI's, 107 walks, .299 average, .415 OBP, .566 slugging and a .981 OPS.

In 34, and 49 fewer games played respectively, Napoli put up fairly similar numbers to both Pujols and Fielder. Of course, on the free agent market, both of those gentlemen will command big dollars and long term contracts. The Rangers have Napoli arbitration eligable for the 2012 season and he becomes a free agent in 2013. According to SI.com, the average salary for a catcher is $2,160,425.94. The Rangers have something special in Napoli and if they are wise, their biggest signing this off-season could be a nice contract extension for him. Not bad for a guy who was traded to the Blue Jays, stayed there for all of 4 days and was turned around and traded to the Rangers last winter.

After all that, I need to offer up 2 mea culpa's... first, Mike Napoli, not Adrian Beltre will win the World Series MVP. Second, the Rangers do not need, nor will they sign Albert Pujols, they're gonna be just fine without him.

Nyjer Morgan... WTF are you thinking?

Nyjer Morgan: 6'0", 175lbs. Albert Pujols: 6'3", 230lbs. Really? That is like Mike Tyson fighting Little Mac.

As a Boston Red Sox fan,

the idea of rivalries obviously is not foreign to me (See: Pedro/Zimmer, Varitek/A-Rod), but I guess the idea of throwing chewing tobacco at a pitcher may be a bit of a line crosser in my book. For those not keeping score, the melee ensued on Wednesday night in the 9th inning of a Brewers/Cardinals game

in St. Louis. Apparently, Chris Carpenter shared some vulgar thoughts with Morgan after having struck him out. Though Carpenter vehemently denies having said anything (yeah, like Rafael Palmeiro didn't take steroids...) Morgan fired back his own creative phrases.

That's not all folks! On top of throwing his verbal cues at Carpenter, Morgan felt that his words needed more weight behind them. What better way than to throw your wad of chewing tobacco at the pitcher as your walking back to your bench?

Enter Albert Pujols, who observed this exchange from first. He ca

me running in to support his pitcher, but this aggressive move by Pujols prompted Morgan to turnabout and start towards him. Now, in a rivalry there is not much thought given behind stupid moves. What Morgan did was uncalled for, obviously. Pujols came to his teammates aid, like any player should. Though he managed to hold up and not go all Gaby Sanchez on Morgan, it was enough to clear the benches.

That infraction was bad enough one would assume. Until of course, the world of social media gets in the mix. Morgan, after the game logged on to his twitter account and posts the following:

Nothing like poking the tiger in the cage. Something tells me that the next time these two teams get together, Morgan is going to take a lot of high and inside pitches. Part of me absolutely loves this... if they were going to play each other in the playoffs. With the likelihood of St. Louis going home after 162 apparent (barring an epic collapse of either the Brewers or Braves) then this is only good fodder for a day or so.

I will say this: Seeing the Brewers emerge as a legitimate team over the past couple of seasons has been refreshing. I like having a new front runner in the NL Central. I'm sure the reaction would be the same if the Blue Jays won the AL East. This is a team that (other than 2008) has really not been relevant since the days of Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and dare say a young Gary Sheffield. With this rejuvenated team playing pretty damn good baseball, does Nyjer Morgan's antics take away from that?

If the resume keeps building, I fear it may.

The Hebrew Hammer... Just in Time For Easter!

I swear to you that just this past Monday I was starting a rough draft for my next article, which was to be on Ryan Braun.

The topic was going to be regarding Braun's team-friendly 8-year $45 million contract in comparison to the 7-year, $140 million contract just signed by Carl Crawford. Looking at their statistics and what they bring to their respective teams and comparing the dollar for dollar benefits.

For the sake of well, Carl Crawford, I was not going to include any of this seasons statistics. My argument was going to be a great stat by stat comparison and conclude with the argument that Ryan Braun was now the most underpaid player in Major League Baseball.

I was going to do that. Then, I saw this article on FoxSports.com posted by Ken Rosenthal yesterday: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Ryan-Braun-Milwaukee-Brewers-contract-extension-details-042111.

That's right folks, Ryan Braun is getting what he deserves, a nice, fat, contract extension keeping him (theoretically) in Milwaukee until 2020. That would be 5 years, $105 million for those keeping score at home. This works out to $21 million annually for those years, making him a higher paid performer than Carl Crawford. In my opinion, deservedly so. Braun is only the third player in Major League history to sign a deal worth an average of at least $20 million a year at age 27 or younger. The others were Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer last year and Alex Rodriguez in 2001.

Braun has been picked to start each of the last three All-Star Games. In his first four seasons, Braun is only one of five players in history to hit at least 125 homers and post a .300 batting average, joining Joe DiMaggio, Chuck Klein, Albert Pujols and Ted Williams whom also share that feat. That's pretty good company, 3 Hall of Famers and 1 future Hall of Famer.

The best part of this deal, Milwaukee is maintaining viability. They have locked up their centerpiece in Braun. Rickie Weeks is developing into a premier second baseman and they may very well re-sign Prince Fielder... who knows? What I do know is that it is nice to see a deserving player get a contract that should keep him with one team for his entire career.

Where Pujols Fits

Adrian Gonzalez has ruined the market for Albert Pujols. Its true that the season is very young, but Pujols is not off to a prototypical "Pujols" season. If Adrian Gonzalez performs as expected in Boston and outperforms Pujols then it would be really hard for any team not named the Yankees (a presumed non-factor) to shell out $200 million for his services.

Let's assume that there is no blockbuster mid-season trade that sends Pujols elsewhere and he makes it (as expected) to free agency. The question then becomes, "Who will pay for his services?" The list should be short, right? After much debate with a friend of mine, we narrowed the field down to 7 realistic potential suitors. Surprisingly, neither will be the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees. Having said that, let's examine those teams that would be willing to shell out the coin (presumably) as well as have the desire to make a splash. As for Pujols, I don't get the vibe that he is all to concerned with staying in St. Louis for the sake of staying in St. Louis. Albert wants to get paid and he wants to win. With those parameters, I offer up these potential suitors for the biggest free agent in recent memory:

St. Louis Cardinals

Obviously the Cardinals need to keep him. The loss of Pujols could prove to be a catastrophic hit to the proud franchise. The signing of Matt Holiday was an attempt to show him that they have the willingness to spend the money to build a winning team around him. They have a new stadium that would be a sad sight if half empty. The loss of the power hitting first baseman could set this team back for years to come. Even if they attempted to fill the gap by becoming major players in the Prince Fielder auction, that would be like trying to sell Jo Jo English as a suitable replacement for Michael Jordan. No disrespect to Prince Fielder, but you catch my drift.

Colorado Rockies

This is my dark horse selection for the race. They are a complete team in many regards, but they have an aging first baseman in Todd Helton with a stud, young lineup that includes Troy Tulowitski, Carlos Gonzalez and Ubaldo Jimenez. The Rockies have never been known to be "big spenders" so to speak, which is why I would love, LOVE to see them in the race for Pujols. Can you just imagine it? At Coors Field Pujols would average 60 home runs, 120 RBI's, post easily a .300 average and be a potential triple crown threat every year. The Rockies would instantly be the team to beat for the next 8 years in the National League.

Anaheim Angels

I don't care how you want to spin it, the Angels were big time losers in the free agent market this past season. They did not get Carl Crawford. They did not get Cliff Lee. They were non-factors and were left with doing what the Angels do best, acquiring big, bad contracts. (See Vernon Wells.) This is a team with the resources and the need to make a big splash to become legitimate contenders in the eyes of the Red Sox and Yankees. Being an American League team, this offers Pujols the option of becoming a DH in the later portion of his contract. That might be an attractive incentive.

Texas Rangers

My American League dark horse. The Texas Rangers have built a reputation of winning under the leadership of Nolan Ryan. I love this organization right now. They wanted to shell out big money for Cliff Lee, who is to say they won't do the same to get Albert Pujols? Being an American League team, again, he will have the option of DH'ing in the later years while being thrust into a winning lineup as constituted. He will have protection in the lineup with the likes of Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, and possibly a contented DH in Michael Young (assuming he is stuck there through the 2011 season.) This team would instantly be World Series favorites, hands down.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Once again we have to assume that the McCourts will get the legal issues ironed out by the time the free agent frenzy begins next year. If they do, I'm pretty sure they'll do their best to inject some life into this highly talented lineup that is just under performing. I think you'd see them part ways with James Loney and light a fire under Andre Ethier (a personal favorite player of mine) and Matt Kemp. The Dodgers have fallen off from being considered a real threat in the NL and this would definitely give them back their legitimacy. It would also be a huge market for Pujols to make money in on his own... Pujols, Los Angeles...

New York Mets

I know - they are boring. They are broke. They haven't been viable for at least 3 seasons. That's why I can't rule them out. They're in New York. They may be bought out and suddenly find the cash the be a player again. Its New York. Did I mention that? The Mecca of the free world, Pujols could cash in nicely on endorsements etc being in the Big Apple. In the grand scheme, I find this to be the least likely option, but I would hate to not at least through the Mets in the mix. Lastly...

Chicago Cubs

The hated Cubs. This would vilify Pujols in St. Louis as much as LeBron is vilified in Cleveland. Maybe even more. It would be as if Ted Williams came back from war and decided to put on the pin stripes. Magic Johnson really did desire a trade and wound up playing with Bird in Boston. It would be the biggest smack in the face of the St. Louis Cardinals... but that might not be a concern for Pujols. He wants to get paid and he wants to win. The Cubs have Carlos Pena on a one year deal. They need a shot of adrenaline in their lineup. They have money to burn and a drought to end. They're desperate at this point. Don't sleep on the Cubs. They don't make sense across the board, but they may just overpay for Pujols to lure him away from St. Louis and to show their fanbase that they are trying to end their curse.

The field is wide open. There could be some other clubs that want to make a splash that just don't come to mind. But, based on my assessment and much debate... I think you may see Albert Pujols singing, "The stars at night, are big and bright...." Just like his contract, and his future... as a Texas Ranger. You heard it here first.