The Final Coutdown For Albert Pujols

Albert Pujols has said that if a deal has not been agreed upon with the St Louis Cardinals by noon on Wednesday then there will be no discussion during the season and Pujols will then be a free agent following the upcoming season. He has made it clear that he wants to remain with the Cardinals and hopes to retire in St Louis but if things do not work out and he ends up going elsewhere does Pujols become more collectable?

I figure that if he were to go to the Yankees, Red Sox or maybe even the Dodgers I would expect an increase in his prices because those teams have some pretty rapid fans/collectors, but what if he were to end up playing in Florida (either the Rays or Marlins) or how about in KC, Minnesota or Seattle? Let’s say he plays for another 10 years in a new city and let’s say he keeps up his production, do we still see people paying $100 or more for his autograph in a Mariners uniform?

MLB Countdown

There is now less then 8 hours left for teams to sign their draft picks from June’s MLB Draft. It looks to be an insanely busy night for many teams, especially considering that the top 3 picks, Strasburg, Ackley and Tate still have not signed and 10 of the top 15 players have not signed. The sad thing is that of the 13 picks from the First Round remaining to sign, Scott Boras represents 6 of them including the first 3 picks.

You have to wonder how long Boras will hold out to get insane numbers for his players. The Nationals are rumored to have offered Strasburg $12.5 million, topping the previous record of $10.5 million signed by Mark Prior in 2001, yet Boras still has not jumped on the offer. I guess we will have to wait a couple of hours to see how things unfold.

My Mariners are still in negotiations with #2 Pick Dustin Ackley, which from what I have read appear to be moving in the right direction. The team recently signed the #27 Pick SS Nick Franklin. One thing that I would like to point out to Ackley is that 22 years ago the Mariners drafted another hard-hitting left handed outfielder with the #1 Overall Pick and things have worked out quite well for that Future-HOFer. Remember, Safeco Field was built for Griffey; it is a left-hander’s paradise.