New Sully Baseball Video - Raining on Pujols' Parade

The latest Sully Baseball video is live.
In this one, my wife and I went to a little league park in the rain to shoot my thoughts on Albert Pujols' defection to sunny California.

It might be a sad day now... but in 10 years it will be the Angels who regret it.

To see the rest of the Sully Baseball videos, check out the ShortForm TV channel.

How happy are the Twins they signed Joe Mauer when they did?

Not that Joe Mauer came cheap. He is paid like a unique superstar which he is.
But holy cow, compare Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth's contract and their worth to Mauer... an MVP batting champion home town hero catcher?

And if he was on the open market can you imagine the Yankees desperate to make a splash and with a huge hole at catcher and an inviting right field porch doing the bidding?

Can you also imagine the Angels wanting more firepower and star power on the team?

Can you also picture the Red Sox, having let Victor Martinez walk, looking to fill his shoes with the best in the game?

And how about the Cubs wanting to win some fans back? Or the Rangers looking for a long term solution behind the plate?

Could you imagine the bidding war for a player like Mauer?

The bids would START at $200 over 8 years!

Forget a hometown discount. The Twins would have to have him be the owner of the team!

Instead he is stuck with a measly $184 million.

Man, he got lowballed.

I guess the Nationals found a drawer with $126 million in it

This is one of those strange moments in sport where the collective wisdom of the entire baseball community all has a single opinion of something... and when it will inevitably come true, there will be a "WE TOLD YOU SO" ringing so loud through the land that windows will vibrate.

In 2006, Jayson Werth was an injury prone outfielder who played for the Blue Jays and then the Dodgers. He missed the entire 2006 season after surgery to his wrist.

He was 27 years old. He had only once played more than 100 games in a season. (He had NEVER played 105 games in a season.)

His numbers were ordinary except for a glimpse of things to come when he homered twice in the 2004 Division Series for the Dodgers. I remember seeing one of the homers and thinking "Jayson WHO?"

And now, after 6 full seasons (and parts of 2 others) in the bigs, he is signed for seven years.
The next time he hits .300 will be the first time in his career.
The next time he drives in 100 runs will be the first time in his career.
The next time he finishes in the top 5 in On Base Percentage, Slugging, OPS and total bases will be the first time in his career.

He's had one truly terrific season... his walk year.

Any alarms going off yet?

Plus he is in his 30s and guess what? The age when sluggers get BETTER when they reach their mid 30s are over... and he'll be paid like an elite player when he is in his LATE 30s.

Jason Giambi is giggling somewhere.

I know Werth does all the things right and he is a good teammate blah blah blah.
All that has so much more value (note I didn't make the Werth-Worth pun) when you have MVPs on the team and Cy Young candidates in the rotation.

Kevin Millar was a remarkable cog in the Red Sox wheel... but they had Papi, Ramirez, Damon and a batting champ in Bill Mueller. It's easier to be the "heart and soul" when other people are supplying the firepower.

Now he will be the heart and soul of a franchise whose biggest star is Stephen Strasburg and he isn't playing in 2011.

If they had $126 million to throw around, why not get into the Cliff Lee sweepstakes?
Or Prince Fielder?
Or spread that money around and make improvements.

Or stick it in a drawer and wait to spend it when they... oh I don't know... can put a winning product on the field.

Instead the Nationals tried to make a splash. Well bellyflops make splashes too.

As for Jayson Richard Gowan Werth... I don't blame him.

He's won a ring and contributed big time for it in 2008. He has 13 post season homers and a career .987 playoff OPS. He hit 7 homers in the 2009 postseason alone.

And he was a huge part of one of the best Philadelphia sports teams ever. And if they start to go south in 2011, people will blame it on Werth's departure.

Why not cash it in?
Why not say "Hey, for the next seven seasons, I am going to make so much money that my grandkids will be able to support THEIR kids on it"?

And oh yeah, he should be receiving a thank you note from Carl Crawford.

Werth is off the market but setting the bar high and who is courting Crawford? The Angels, the Yankees and the Red Sox... no big spenders.

The Bronx Job

With all of the breaking down of how Game 3 could have unfolded and how the Rangers would do and how the Yankees would do, we all seemed to forget one key factor of the game last night:

Cliff Lee was pitching for a paycheck.

Remember he is a free agent this off season and will be the most coveted name on the board.

And if you get the Yankees lusting after you, then you can basically ask for any amount of money that pops into your mind.

Cliff Lee is not a poor man. He's already made 23 million pigs as a pitcher. Even with agent fees, union dues, taxes and buying lots of Christmas gifts, he can make rent each month.

But being a free agent ace... wanted by ALL teams... and beating the Yankees 3 out of 3 post season games in the last 2 years (including a complete game in the World Series)...

Last night was the greatest audition since Susan Boyle!

If A. J. Burnett was worth $16 million in the open market, can you imagine what Cliff Lee will command?

All I know is that the contract he will sign will take care of his bills, his children's bills, his grandchildren's bills...

Chances are when Cliff Lee IV graduates from Princeton with his tuition 100% paid for, he can say "thanks Great Grand Dad for beating the Yankees that night in 2010."

And if THAT isn't motivation to win, I don't know what is!!!

I don't blame you, Josh

Josh Beckett and the Red Sox have been going back and forth on a contract extension.

Should it be 4 years? Should it be 5 years?

The Sox gave John Lackey 5 years, so why not Beckett who has already delivered a World Series title and an ALCS MVP to the Red Sox?

Was Beckett going to be the latest in the "Ungraceful Exit Red Sox" team?

In Fenway that night as a commentator was one of those ungraceful exiters, Nomar Garciaparra... who had turned down a massive contract before the 2004 season... then had a subpar season... and then was traded away by the Sox... and NEVER saw a contract offer that big again.

Last night Beckett was no good. He didn't last 5 innings. He let up homers. He went too deep in the count with the Brett Gardners of the world.

Less than 24 hours after that game, Beckett said "Let me see that contract again!"

And lo and behold he signed it.

4 years... 5 years... if he has a sub par year then haggling over that last year will look awfully silly.

Just ask Nomar.

The Twins blew it on announcing the Joe Mauer contract

About a week ago, the Twins did what many people thought would have been impossible:

They found a way to keep hometown hero Joe Mauer from leaving via free agency and going into a bidding war between both New York teams, the Red Sox, Cubs, Angels and any other big rollers!

Now it's not like he is going to go broke as his deal averages $23 million a year, but the Twins have come a long way from being a team that players automatically leave.

But how was this monumental event in the franchise's history become public?

Through a release and a press conference in Florida.

I'm sorry but the Twins dropped the ball to have a tremendous theatrical event with this contract.

Nick Blackburn signing for 4 years? Sure, send out a press release and have a meeting in Florida.

But Joe Mauer staying with the Twins? That is a gigantic middle finger to everyone who said the Twins couldn't compete and should be contracted?

The Twins needed to announce this with a little bit of flair.

You may not have liked how Roger Clemens appeared in the Steinbrenner box in 2007 to announce he was coming back to the Yankees.

But it was memorable.

It was a secret and it was announced not via a press release but in front of a huge crowd who went berzerk.

The Twins might not be the Yankees... I know Minnesotans are more low key people than New Yorkers.

But this needed a little bit of Broadway showmanship.

Just imagine...

The Pohlads and GM Bill Smith strike a deal with Joe Mauer during spring training... but they keep it under the TC on their hats. Reporters continue to hound everyone about the extension, but they stay mum.

Then it is opening day at the new Target Field.

The place is packed and Twin fans are going nuts for their new home... but there is still the apprehension in the air about their hometown hero staying long term.

Flags of past titles are raised by Twins heroes of the past. Play by play announcer Dick Bremer introduces each of the legens.

"Hey, it's Harmon Killebrew! It's Rod Carew! It's Kent Hrbek! It's Frank Viola! It's Gary Gaetti!"

The players are introduced... and no doubt Mauer will get the biggest applause. (And also there will be certainly people holding up signs saying things like "Don't Go Joe!")


Then Joe is called to home plate.

He is handed his AL MVP Trophy by the Pohlad's and Bill Smith. Mauer holds it up (like Justin Morneau did when he won his a few years ago.)

The crowd goes nuts... but in the back of everyone's mind they wonder "is this all fleeting."

Remember Johan Santana raised a pair of Cy Young Awards at home plate himself.

So the ceremony wraps up... until Dick Bremer says "Wait, I think we have one more thing to take care of."

Then Catherine Puckett and Kirby Puckett Jr., the children of Kirby, walk out with a rolled up piece of paper ink well and a quill.

A small table and chair are set up behind home plate.

The Puckett kids hand the piece of paper to GM Bill Smith who reveals that it is an agreement for an 8 year contract extension for Joe Mauer.

Crowd starts to buzz.

"Do you want to sign it Joe?" asks color commentator Bert Blyleven.

Joe takes the microphone. "I don't know." Then looking to the crowd. "Do YOU want me to sign it?"


Now the place goes ape.

The right field scoreboard starts flashing "SIGN IT, JOE!"

The crowd starts chanting it.

He takes the quill and signs it... right there at home plate where he will call his home for the next 8 years. And when the contract ends, he would have spent 13 1/2 seasons as a Minnesota Twin.

Now the crowd goes nuts.

The Twins have a new home and a legit superstar to call their own. A Minnesotan who will STAY in Minnesota!

Mauer takes a Cal Ripken-esque lap around the ballpark, high fiving the fans who will cheer him on at least through 2017!



Then he gives one last wave to the crowd and the Twins play ball.

I'm actually not kidding.

I didn't suggest that Prince is lowered onto the pitchers mound or someone busts out a Ouija board to get the financial approval of the ghost of Carl Pohlad.

I didn't have a Big Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox wander onto the field.

I had a small table, a chair and a signing of a piece of paper. (Clearly it will be a ceremonial contract. The real one would have been signed in secrecy.)

I feel a moment like this should have been played to the crowd. This is a unique signing and the joy of it should have been a collective outburst shared by tens of thousands of Minnesotans... sitting OUTSIDE together... in early April.

You Christen the new park with a moment Twins fans will remember forever on the very first day.

Provided they aren't under 9 feet of snow.

Joe Mauer better not be Vernon Wells

An unlikely team opened up their wallets and signed their All Star potential Free Agent to a long term deal.

And the deal is called great for baseball.
No doubt on the open market this All Star would sniff New York or Boston's offers.

And a home grown star, someone who is one of the good guys in the sport, would have been lost.

Instead competitive balance was restored... and a fan base who saw glory under the dome the 1980s and 1990s including a pair of World Series titles FINALLY got a sense of continuity with their favorite star.

Who am I talking about?
Joe Mauer?
Vernon Wells?

Wells signed the mongo 7 year $126 million contract after the 2006 season. The Blue Jays, who finished second that season, looked like they were getting ready to make a move on the AL East.

They did alright... they moved down.
And Vernon Wells has slumped and is a shell of his former self.

And you have to wonder if they didn't have such a backloaded albatross of a contract with Wells if the Blue Jays would have been able to keep Roy Halladay.

The only way to move Wells would be to take on another albatross, as I suggested earlier this year.

Remember how A-Rod's contract prevented the Rangers from getting better?
Remember how Ken Griffey Jr's contracted prevented the Reds from getting better?

What I am saying is... I hope Joe Mauer stays healthy and doesn't slump.

Catchers wear down faster than center fielders

I'd hate for this contract to be a burden 5, 6, 7 or 8 years from now

VIVA THE LOBSTER!!!!! VARITEK IS BACK!

THE CAPTAIN IS STAYING!!!!

Jason Varitek realized that if he can't get $10 million a year, he might as well stay for a potential World Series contender where he has played his whole big league career, is worshipped as a hero by the fans, is the captain in the clubhouse and won't have to learn a whole new pitching staff... and still earn millions of dollars a year in the worst economy since the Depression.

(Hey Boras, nice job having him reject arbitration.)

So now that Varitek is back in a Red Sox uniform, let's do what we can to adopt a new nickname for Varitek.

'Tek is boring.
He should be the LOBSTER!

I covered this already, but I am going to make it my mission to have Varitek be dubbed THE LOBSTER by Red Sox fans everywhere.

Good to have you back Lobstah!

Now handle that pitching staff and let's dip the rest of the division in buttah!