Pujols Makes Up His Mind And Like We Thought Goes To Anaheim - Wait What?

ESPN -- Albert Pujols has agreed to a 10-year, $250 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney on Thursday. The deal includes a full no-trade clause, which Pujols had been seeking and may have been a sticking point in his negotiations with the Miami Marlins. Pujols had turned down an offer from the Cardinals, the only team he has ever played for, about a year ago, but St. Louis was still in the bidding as of Wednesday. Sources told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark that the Angels jumped into the bidding late Wednesday. The Marlins moved on to pursue free agent pitchers Mark Buehrle (who agreed to terms Wednesday, pending a physical) and C.J. Wilson. But despite the Marlins' exit from the bidding Wednesday night, sources said negotiations with the Cardinals hadn't progressed to the point where Pujols was close to agreeing to a deal. The Cardinals had planned to talk with Pujols' agent one more time Thursday before heading home. But sources told Olney that the Cardinals' latest offer was for nine years and a little less than $200 million. That would have made him the fourth-highest paid first baseman.

Ummmm sorry St. Louis but I'm not sorry. You want to keep Babe Ruth on your team, you don't make him the fourth-highest paid first baseman, no sir. I'd LeBron your ass too if you offered me that, like a slap in the face. But this news definitely sucks, Angels are already the Yankees nemesis especially in the post-season - now we gotta deal with this fucking guy? Honestly thought we were safe here, but just an absolute power move by the Angels. They swoop in the last minute and just drop a Flex on 'em and boom deal is done. Albert asked for specifics, you give him specifics. That's how you catch the big catch, give the man what he wants. When you're negotiating over $200 million and you get held up on trade clauses in the contract you're an idiot. At that point you just hand it all over and make sure the deal is signed. Angels now have the best hitter in the game. Sucks that half way through his contract he'll be a DH and an absolute drain on your cap, but whatever.

PS - Love the moves the Marlins are making, "Hey Pujols you got until Wednesday to make up your mind. Still don't know? We're out." Love that. Won't even be bullied by the best player in the game.

Miami Marlins Might Be The Best Team In Baseball Before They Sign Pujols And The Mets May Be The Worst Run Franchise Of All-Time

ESPN - The Miami Marlins and shortstop Jose Reyes agreed to terms on a six-year, $106 million deal Sunday, sources have told ESPN. The guarantee for the first six years totals $102 million, sources said. The deal includes a $22 million option for a seventh year, with a guaranteed $4 million. Reyes, 28, is coming off the best year in his career. He hit .337 for the New York Mets to win his first batting title. In nine years, all with the Mets, he has batted .292 with 370 steals and 740 runs scored. Earlier in the offseason, Miami offered Reyes a six-year, $90 million deal, which he rejected. Reyes' signing would mean the Marlins' All-Star shortstop, Hanley Ramirez, will have to change positions. Publicly, the Marlins are saying they haven't decided whether Ramirez would move to third base or center field. However, one source close to Ramirez told ESPN.com that Ramirez already has agreed to move to third base next spring.

I touched on this a little less than a month ago about how pathetic this would make the Mets look and somehow it's still surprising how bad they look right now. In return for losing Reyes, they get a 3rd round pick. That's absurd. How Sandy Alderson still has a job is mind boggling. I can't believe Bud Selig hasn't stepped in to take over the Mets franchise. It's almost like no one is running the team. Being friends with all Mets fans, it's sort of painful to watch this. Like I've said before, I could care less about the Mets and always find their mishaps absolutely hilarious - but this one takes it. I can't wrap my brain around it. A division rival just stole your franchise's best player and didn't even have to fight you for it. It's not even like they broke in middle of the night and stole him. They kind of just walked in, took his hand and walked out the door while staring you right in the face. Just mind boggling stuff. Miami is now trotting out a lineup with only 2 players who will be 30 years old on opening day (John Buck will be the oldest at 31). Two of the past three batting champions will now anchor the left side of the infield, and you have an absolute monster ace in Josh Johnson. As for the Marlins, they somehow always bounce back from the usual firesale of their roster with an unbelievably cheap, young cast of guys. Amazing way to run a franchise, maybe the Mets should take some notes....

Marlins Close To Executing Power Move #1 - Kicking The Mets While They're Down After A Timeout Was Called Then Banging The Mets Mom And Sister

ESPN - ESPN Insider Buster Olney expects the Miami Marlins to sign Jose Reyes.

Money quote: "There is an expectation they will work something out with Reyes for something in the range of five years, $18-20M a year. They are seen as the team that's going to be most aggressive and he certainly fits the style that Ozzie Guillen loves to play. He loves to have a team that runs the bases aggressively, puts pressure on opposing defenses. Reyes would be a centerpiece for that with Hanley Ramirez moving to another position."

Mets fans, how do you feel about the prospect of seeing Reyes come back to Queens in a garish Miami uniform? Can a New York team ever justify losing a star player to a team from a smaller market, and what, if anything, should be done about it?

What a dick Buster Olney is. I'm not even a Mets fan and I feel like he just slapped me in the face. Hey Mets fans, how do you feel about this? How do you expect them to feel about this?? A pussy divisional team with no money is about to outwork you for your best player in free agency?? What kind of pussies do the Mets have in the front office? Seriously how does this happen? How does even the idea of him MAYBE signing with a divisional opponent or ANYONE ELSE for that matter even come up?? How have the Mets not made a substantial enough offer to retain it's only good player?? This is just wild to me, the Yankees might overpay for their guys, but they don't let them walk. No fucking way. That's how you win in this league, gotta be the bully - not the pussy. The Mets are absolutely the pussy in this situation if you didn't get that from this blog.

Marlins Making Absolute POWER Moves

ESPN - The franchise founded in 1993 as the Florida Marlins officially changed its name Friday night in a ceremony at the team's new ballpark. The Marlins also unveiled a new logo, new uniforms and new colors -- orange, blue, black and yellow. The changes emphasize the team's move from a suburban multipurpose stadium, where attendance was poor, to a cozier ballpark near downtown where crowds of more than 30,000 are expected for every game next season.

ESPN - A surprising visit by Albert Pujols sent a message: The Miami Marlins will be a much different franchise than the Florida Marlins. The notoriously thrifty franchise, suddenly in the mood for a spending spree, declined to disclose details of the contract proposal. Free agents Jose Reyes and left-hander Mark Buehrle also received offers after taking ballpark tours earlier this week. "We've never been penny-pinchers," owner Jeffrey Loria said. "We just haven't had the ability to do it in the old stadium. Now we're looking forward to a new era." The 31-year-old Pujols, a three-time NL MVP, is a free agent for the first time after spending his first 11 major league seasons with St. Louis. Pujols and the Cardinals didn't discuss a contract extension during the season, which ended with a World Series title, but he hasn't ruled out remaining in St. Louis. "We're just going to see where God takes us," Pujols said last week.

Wasn't it just the other day the Marlins were playing in front of 29 fans? Well looks like they're finally tired of being an absolute joke. How'd they get a new stadium by the way? I'm so confused by the Marlins - how'd they even convince Reyes and Pujols to visit Miami? I'll tell you what, if they pull a Miami Heat this will be fucking amazing. It will flip baseball on it's fucking head. Phillies sitting here thinking they made a splash signing a washed up dirtbag closer and thinking they got the division wrapped up again and here come the Marlins going all Latino in everyones face offering monster deals to the top free agents on the market. I love it, absolute monster power moves. These little Latino's mean business right now. Lost in all of this is how Reyes is no longer a New York Met and the team is officially back to rebuilding. Mets had a nice ride for about three years earlier this millennium when their fans actually believed they'd make the playoffs, now it's back to the drawing board - Hey Mets see you in 2030, maybe. Ahhh, being a Yankees fan is so easy.

Leo Nunez Suspended For Not Being Leo Nunez - Promptly Deported

Miami Herald - Closer Leo Nunez has been placed on Major League Baseball’s restricted list and was suspended by the Marlins for undisclosed reasons for the remainder of the season, a source told The Miami Herald on Thursday.

A person familiar with Nunez’s immigration status, however, said the reliever has been playing under an assumed name, and the issue has prompted him to return to his native Dominican Republic. Nunez might have been aware of the issue as far back as July, the source told The Herald.

“I can’t yet comment,” said Nunez’s agent, Andy Mota. “This is very recent. I don’t want to say anything at all.”


A source told The Associated Press that Nunez’s real name is Juan Carlos Oviedo, and he is 29, a year older than listed in the Marlins’ media guide.


A baseball source said that in order for Nunez to be reinstated from the restricted list he must clear up an immigration issue that apparently has to do with missing paperwork.

So Nunez might have known about the issue as far back as July? I don't know but don't you think he was aware of the issue the minute he started calling himself Leo Nunez? Usually when I refer to myself as someone completely different I find out about it right then. But I don't actually blame him for saying he's younger than he is because I have a hunch he honestly has no clue when he was born, but to be only a year off is pretty impressive. Not sure I see what the punishment here is, he's getting a paid vacation back to the Dominican while his team rounds out the season playing in front of 49 rabid die hard Marlins fans? Then all he has to do is find that missing paperwork, you know, that one paper with his name on it, and he's back. No big deal.

Standing Room Only At Marlins Game

Yahoo! - There was an unofficial headcount of 347 fans in the stands for the first pitch of Wednesday's doubleheader at Sun Life Stadium. Cohen counted five sections with three or fewer people in it and three completely empty sections. The Marlins haven't announced the official attendance, but it likely won't challenge the record of the smallest crowd in modern history (believed to be 653 during a Oakland Athletics game in 1979).

That's because the Marlins will count all of the tickets were sold, not just the number of fans that moved through the turnstiles. Back in 2007, someone counted 375 fans in the stands for the first pitch of an afternoon Marlins game in mid-September and the "official" attendance announced by the team was still 10,121.

The empty orange seats at Marlins games, of course, has been a conversation topic for years and the upper deck at Sun Life has been closed since the All-Star break. Still, I don't think anyone can blame the thousands of Marlins fans for not attending this one. With Hurricane Irene bearing down on the East Coast, today's first game was moved from its original spot on Thursday so the teams would be guaranteed to complete it.

Ummmm who was counting the empty sections? Hate to break it to ya buddy but your math kind of sucks. I can see about a gajillion empty sections in that picture. How about the Marlins completely lying about who showed up. Like they're not even in the same ballpark (get it) with their figures: 347 oh no there's 10,000 people here what are you talking about? Snakes.... Shit if I was them I'd take the record if I could get it, why not? No pub is bad pub - marketing 101.

I love how they're blaming this on the hurricane that's no where near Florida by the way. You think Floridians are scared of the threat of a hurricane? Fuck that, maybe us here in NY will freak when it's coming off the coast of Africa like 2 weeks before it even forms, but they deal with that shit on the reg down there, they're all meteorologists at this point, they all know that shit isn't coming near them. People just had better shit to do that day instead of watching the 58-72 Florida Marlins play an exciting game of shit.