Fans, due to high demand (there must have been at least 1 whole request. WOW!), here are some Stove Labor predictions by yours truly, ViewFiverBarn: First, I predict that Bobby Valentine will be the new manager of the Boston Red Sox. Second, I predict that despite the great flow of the original Florida Marlins name, they will become the Miami Marlins to start fresh with new manager Ozzie Guillen and open Marlins Ballpark while bringing back a 3rd “M” ball team (we lost Montreal after ’04 and have Milwaukee and Minnesota).
Third, purist and casual fans alike are going to LOVE the fact that a 2nd Wild Card team in each league has been added, thus setting up a 1 game playoff among the Wild Card teams. Even if you don’t care for a particular sport, you’ll watch a Game 7, right? Well, now WE (in this case, it’s O.K. to say “we” as I’m not referring to myself as part of a team that I’ve never met) got TWO Game 7s to START the playoffs! March Madness? Eat your heart out baby!! Fourth, you can bank on MLB becoming the first major North American professional sports league to begin Human Growth Hormone (HGH) testing beginning with the 2012 season. Follow us NFL. I dare ya.
There, I’ve made 4 HUGE predictions…not bad huh? Edgey too, right?…What’s that you say? Oh, you may have heard some of that before. Well, that’s because all of that BIG stuff DID already happen and we’re just gettting started with LOTS of STUFF this holiday off-season as the new LABOR deal is completed and the hot STOVE begins to sizzle!
I promise, now here are some real predictions that have NOT yet occurred. Honest, wouldn’t even kid ya. NUMBER 1: Since Matt Kemp of the Dodgers got his “Manny” contract extension (same as Ramirez’ 8 year, $160 million deal for ’01), Albert Pujols will turn 32 in January and sign another 8 year deal that’s worth $240 million with…the St. Louis Cardinals. It won’t break A-rod’s deal. He’s too old for that. The owners are too smart for that…now anyway. The beauty of Ramirez’ ’01 deal and A-rod’s deals with Texas and NYY is that it helped cap baseball per player. Those original deals were several years ago and owners have since reduced the years and rate increase of total cash being awarded. It’s still gobs and gobs of money, but there won’t be a $40 mill per year man for a LOOOONG time. And there were only 20 players averaging $16.5 mill or more last year. Albert will stay a legend forever in St. Louis, have the highest AVERAGE salary in MLB, and retire a Card as he should.
Prince Fielder. Does he want to be this year’s Jayson Werth and take the money to start something new? Or does he want almost all of the money he could get to contend for a title yearly with either Milwaukee or another perennial playoff team? He shouldn’t sign until Albert raises his ceiling if he’s in it for the max. amount of cash. I like the Werth scenario. Go to Baltimore where they need power and a slick first-sacker and BLOW up Camden with BOMBS!!!! He could pepper Boog Powell’s BBQ in the outfield for years!! It would be great, well, if you’re an O’s fan. I am. That’s probably not going to happen though. Prince will end up signing BEFORE Pujols with perhaps baseball’s most exciting (as far as P.R. draw goes) organization…yep, Werth’s Nationals. Think about it, Prince is a lefty, Werth a righty, Bryce Harper is on his way, and Stephen Strasburg is already back. They have money and Prince stays in the N.L. I’ll say 6 years for $140 mill, which is $14 mill more in one less year than Werth’s deal, as Prince is the more accomplished player.
That’s it fans…for today anyhow. STAY TUNED!!
Nice post! A lot of predictions that you seem pretty confident about…can’t wait to see if they come true. This was my new learning for today – didn’t know Ozzie is out of Chicago and didn’t know about the 2 wildcards. Good stuff!
Thank you Jules. It’s always good to see someone learning about baseball! You can count on those predictions! Haha.