An untradeable player has been traded

In each of the last two seasons I have included Vernon Wells in one of my How can they trade that untradeable contract? posts.

One for the blog after the 2009 season... one for The Hardball Times after the 2010 season.

Well, it took Adrian Beltre, Carl Crawford and just about every other player in creation to turn down the Angels to do it... but the Blue Jays found a suitor.

Vernon is heading to Los Angeles.
And then drive about an hour south and wind up in Anaheim. But let's for the sake of argument call it Los Angeles.

I personally think it is a terrific move for the Angels.
Wells is a stand up guy with talent. And he should fit in well with the organization and the lineup.

Please spare us all the indignity of breaking down his play and his WAR, VORP and OPS+. That's not what this move is about.

As I wrote before, this is about a change going to do him good.
He signed that gigantic contract to stay in Toronto. And it became his legacy and identity.

He even had to wear the hairshirt and indignity of having to admit he wasn't worth the contract.

It was time for a change of scenery. As much as he clearly loved Toronto, and as much as I thought him having a Todd Helton moment would have been super cool, he had to go.

I had him for two years in a row going to the Cubs. I thought the natural surface and a fresh start with a fan base would be ideal. But now he is off to a model organization with a good pitching staff, Kendry Morales should be back and no doubt Torii Hunter will welcome him with open arms.

He'll be playing for a potential Hall of Fame manager and will no doubt be in a pennant race.

And he won't have the constant reminder that his contract his too big.

Can you say "relaxed"? Can you "rejuvenated"? Can you say "big season for a guy who actually made the All Star team in 2010"?

Not bad for an untradeable player.

Something special happens around 0:59 of this video

7th inning of Game 5...

Lee and Lincecum are locking antlers in a pitchers duel...

Giant fans at the Public House watching.

For the first minute of this video, everyone is paying close attention, but know there are 2 outs, Cliff Lee is not the pinata he was in Game 1, and that a scoring opportunity may be squandered here.

I mean how many times can Edgar Renteria come through for the Giants.

Then the fly ball...

There is cautious optimism...

Then it completely clears the wall.

At around the 0:59 mark of this video, listen for that pause before the place erupts.

That pause was the very last moment that a Giant fan ever thought they were going to die without seeing their team win it all.

Then collective "YEAH!"

At that moment they knew the Giants were up 3-0 with Lincecum on the mound.

They knew that the World Series was theirs.

No more Finley grand slam.

No more J. T. Snow thrown out at the plate.

No more handing the game ball to Russ Ortiz.

No more Troy Glaus double or Scott Speizio homer.

No more Benny Agbayani walk off shot.

No more watching the Marlins get 3 walk off wins in two different series.

No more winning 103 games and missing the playoffs.

No more Earthquake series.

No more Jose Oquendo home run.

No more Maldonado losing it in the lights.

No more line drive by McCovey.

At that moment, all of that became prologue.

And the release of happiness was well earned.

I had a similar scream in 2004.

It felt good.

Enjoy it Giants fans.

Pitchers and catchers are reporting soon.

15 other passive aggressive things Cashman could have said at the press conference

- The Yankees have had a history of having needlessly expensive contracts blow up in our face, and it is wonderful to add Rafael Soriano to that list.

- Soriano is the wrong fit for this team. It is a mistake. We shouldn’t have made this move. But hey! Welcome to the team.

- I feel it is best to point out a player’s shortcomings and show as little confidence in him as possible before introducing him to the New York media. It’s how I roll.

- How much did I not want him? I tried to bring in Carl Pavano instead. No seriously I did.

- I am going to copyright the headline “Who’s SORI-a-NOW?” so when the New York Post uses it, I can get a royalty. Notice I didn’t say “if.”

- Well evidently some people think the team isn’t old enough and doesn’t have enough players who have had multiple surgeries.

- With such a thin rotation, we decided to shore up the bullpen so we could run their arms into the ground. The good news is if Soriano gets two more surgeries, the next one will be free.

- We listened to the scouts who all agree that an injury prone player who let’s up fly balls in this stadium was the route to go.

- I am looking forward to next year when we can try to trade this crappy contract for one of the Mets crappy contracts.

- We had differing ideas on what to do with $35 million. They wanted a 30 year old middle reliever with elbow issues. I wanted to throw it into the Hudson River.

- I’d like to thank you all for coming here today. I’d LIKE to do that, but I am waiting for Hank and Hal to give me permission to do that too.

- We are breaking new ground in giving middle relievers huge contracts. Do you know why no team has done that before? Because it is f*cking moronic. But what do I know? I’m just the GM of the New York Yankees.

- I don’t like to think we’ve lost that first round pick. I like to think that the Rays will use that pick and when he is older and more expensive, we’ll just sign him as a free agent.

- Of course we wouldn’t have needed to sign Soriano if we had let Joba Chamberlain develop into a solid reliever. Who’s idea was it to put him in the rotation? (Coughing) * Hank! *

- I would like to announce that I am printing out “Soriano Sucks” t-shirts and will be selling them on line. I might as well profit from this whole thing.

Envisioning a bold new National League - My latest article for The Hardball Times

In my latest article for The Hardball Times, I envision how competitive (and potentially profitable) the National League could be if the Cubs, Mets and Dodgers were all major contenders at the same time.

Not that that is going to happen in 2011!

You can read the article here.

Are the A's teasing me again?

Two seasons ago, I stuck my neck out in my 2009 Divisional picks by going with the Oakland A's to win the West. We had just come off seasons where teams like the Angels, the Marlins, the Tigers, the struggling Cardinals, the Rockies and Rays had won pennants that confounded the experts.

So I thought "Why not go against the grain? If I am right with my pick, then I look like a genius."

Then again, if the pick flops, then I look like a moron.

I had the 2009 Oakland Athletics winning the World Series.
They finished in dead last place, 22 games behind the Angels.

WHOOPS!

But now I am looking at this team, and I can't help but wonder if I should pick them again.

They just added Brian Fuentes to the roster and he should make their bullpen pretty damn deep. Andrew Bailey, Grant Balfour, Brad Ziegler and Brian Fuentes in the pen?

Closing out a rotation of Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson?

(I am not going to include Rich Harden. Any day he is NOT on the disabled list is a bonus.)

Couple that with Hideki Matsui and a few other bats added to the lineup... Texas losing Cliff Lee and the Angels not being able to sign anyone and Seattle in flux...

Dare I do it?
Dare I make the pick again?

My 2009 picks of Oakland and Cincinnati doesn't look so outlandish for 2011.

But can I pick Oakland?
Or are they teasing me.

Maybe I'll pick the Mariners.

Pavano's second pay day

He did it... Carl Pavano did it.
He got one big huge gigantic contract for more money than you and I will ever see with the $39 million heist from the Yankees.

And, after being declared dead from the neck up, got his act together and signed for another $16 million.

I wrote about it earlier, but Carl Pavano is indeed living the American dream.

OK, can he pull it off again.
Come back here in 2013 and let's see if he gets a THIRD big contract.

It's good to be Carl Pavano.

The Yankees courted Carl Pavano? I am speechless

No... that isn't a headline from The Onion.
The Yankees actually considered bringing back Carl Pavano. Even typing that sentence made me laugh.

This off season for the Yankees, which is been bizarre at best and disastrous at worst, almost entered the realm of the unthinkable.

Imagine me saying this to a Yankee fan right after their team lost the 2010 ALCS:

You aren't going to get Cliff Lee...
nor Carl Crawford...
nor Zack Grienke...
you will bring back Derek Jeter but he will feel alienated...
you will bring back Mariano Rivera but only after HE called the Red Sox...
Andy Pettitte isn't signed...
the one big pick up is Rafael Soriano who has had 2 elbow surgeries in the last 5 seasons and is a fly ball pitcher in a home run park...
BUT the good news is they might bring back Carl Pavano.

You might start making a noose.


Brian Cashman might have made a move that even the offices of Bialystock and Bloom would consider to be too self destructive.

Carl Pavano, the man who took Ed Whitson off the hook for most disastrous Yankee free agent signing in George Steinbrenner's lifetime... the man who was openly mocked by not only the fans and media but HIS OWN TEAMMATES!... was on the Yankees radar.

And for $10 million?
Seriously?

I don't care if it was for $10 a year for the next million years, that is insane. Did they learn NOTHING from the Javier Vazquez fiasco?

Last season I jokingly egged on Carl Pavano's agent to call the Yankees and see if they were interested in having him come back.

In my tongue in cheek scenario, I had Brian Cashman hanging up the phone before Pavano's agent was done with the pitch. Little did I know that reality would be so much MORE absurd!

Lisa Swan at Subway Squawkers as usual hit it on the head by saying this has to do with Cashman "who so apparently so wants to prove that Pavano wasn't the worst free agent the Yankees ever signed that he's willing to sign him again."

This is insane.
What's next?
Are the Chargers going to reacquire Ryan Leaf?
Is NBC going to return Leno to 10PM?
Will Garth Brooks record another Chris Gaines album?
Battlefield Earth 2?
How about the Knicks keeping Isiah Thomas on the payroll?

Wait, that last one is real?

OK. That's messed up.

The Giant Alternative - A Sully Baseball Video

In my latest video, I question what MLB has done to appeal to younger fans and ask why they aren't marketing the World Champions more.

Filmed on location at AT&T Park... camera work by my lovely wife.

Pujols's contract demands: 400 Bazillion Dollars for 99 years

Actually Pujols' agent Dan Lozano wants the Cardinals to include a 100th year but the Cardinals want the 100th year to be a club option.

I guess agents have a tendency to make a very high bid and then expect it to come down.

I am thinking maybe the Cardinals will counter offer with "Ownership of the Cardinals".

Either way, the Cardinals shouldn't mess around.
As I wrote before, Pujols owes neither the Cardinals nor the fans of St. Louis anything!

In the free agency era, even New Yorkers, Chicagoans and Bostonians should be satisfied with 10 seasons with a superstar. And yes, Derek Jeter's feeling might be hurt by that notion, but after 10 years, multiple MVPS, a playoff MVP and a World Series title, Pujols has earned the right to see what his worth on the open market is.

And guess what, St. Louis? That would be your worst nightmare.
Do you know why?

Because the Chicago Cubs have a TREMENDOUS amount of money coming off of the books after the 2011 season is over.

The New York Mets have a HUGE amount of money coming off of the books after the 2011 season is over.

And chances are the Los Angeles Dodgers will have new ownership who will want to make a splash and spend some dough.

You might have three big spenders who all, by fate and circumstance, have an opening at first base.

You want to try and outbid New York, Los Angeles and Chicago?
Give him the 100th year.

You NEVER want people to use Tony Danza titles to describe your situation

If things keep going this badly for Brian Cashman, they still have more possibilities.

If Cashman has a blow up at a reporter, the headline could be
CASHMAN GOING APE!

If Johnny Damon signs with the Angels, the headline could be
CASHMAN SEES ANOTHER ANGEL IN THE OUTFIELD

If Jennifer Swindal, George Steinbrenner's daughter, gets involved and trashes Cashman publicly, the headline could be
SHE'S OUT OF CONTROL

If the team just goes into a spiral, the headline could be
CRASH

(Remember, Tony Danza played the racist TV director in Crash? Didn't think so.)

And of course if he gets fired, the headline could be
CALL CASHMAN A TAXI!

And probably he will be replaced by Tony Danza.

Jeff Francis got away from the Yankees too?

Hey Jeff Francis... congrats on the new contract with the Royals...but...
You DO know that the Yankees current starting rotation goes as follows:

Terrific ace in CC Sabathia.
Guy who had a good first half and a shaky second half in Phil Hughes.
A super talented guy who is slowly turning into Crispin Glover in A. J. Burnett.
A nice arm who could very well be another overrated Yankee prospect in Ivan Nova.

And evidently the 16th caller on WFAN.

There is at least 1 or maybe as many as 4 holes in the Yankee rotation.
And as we now enter mid January (and soon after that February) it is looking more and more like Andy Pettitte will be sitting on his porch, whittling, this season.

Before signing onto a rebuilding project keep in mind four things going in your favor.

1) The Yankees are desperate for starting pitching.
2) You are a starting pitcher.
3) You throw with your left hand.
4) You have a pulse.

I am assuming the fourth one is true.

But that is a combination that should bring about the expression "CHA-CHING!"

Did you REALLY exhaust any conversations you had with the Yankees?
Yeah you are going to make $2 million his year and that is $2 million more than a lot of us will make this year.

But man alive you could have squeezed a few million more.
Oh, did Cashman say "No way"?

You fool. He would have reversed himself a week later. It is his M.O. these days!

Brian Cashman... stop making public statements

It's not been a good off season for Brian Cashman, but I already covered that.

But while it is humiliating to see plan A, B and C go up in smoke, there is only so much control he has over other people's decisions.

He can throw lots and lots of money at players. If they want to take less money, he has no control over that.

But do you know what he DOES have control over? Making public statements.

You know when you talk about having Jeter test the open market to see if their offer was fair?

Jeter didn't test the market... and the Yankees upped the ante anyway.

Or maybe remember Cashman talking about NOT surrendering his first round picks?

He was quoted as saying:
“I will not lose our No. 1 draft pick,” Cashman said. “I would have for Cliff Lee. I won’t lose our No. 1 draft pick for anyone else.”

That was all the way back on January 7th.
Less than one week later, the Yankees gave a 3 year deal to Rafael Soriano making him the richest set up man in the world... giving up their pick to Tampa in the process.

Look, I get this move. He's a good reliever and having a very deep bullpen could help the Yankees... especially since Andy Pettitte could be sitting on his porch whittling all summer and A. J. Burnett is the Yankees #3 starter!

(The fact that he is letting up flyballs in a hitter's ballpark isn't good, but I digress.)

Just don't make pronouncements like that, Brian. You are already experiencing an off season where people think you are a little bit rudderless. Don't put fuel on the fire of contradicting yourself and making your moves look desperate.

I know you WANT to patiently build a team from the ground up... but you didn't take a patient organization.

Learn the art of not making promises.
You break a lot fewer when they don't exist.

San Diego pays tribute to Trevor Hoffman

Here Trevor Hoffman says good bye and thank you to San Diego and the Padres organization.

And by the looks of this picture, he is doing in front of a crowd about the size of a Padres game during the pennant stretch.

Before any of you Padre fans give me grief, I was in San Diego for Labor Day, 2010. Not only was the stadium half empty, but the team wouldn't take my money!

Show up to the games.
And give Trevor Hoffman a nice hand while you are at it.

The Hype of Kris Benson

I read yesterday that Kris Benson was indeed retiring from baseball. I was shocked when I read that. He was still pitching?

That would be like hearing “Katrina and the Waves broke up.” Yeah, I figured they did.

Actually Benson did pitch for a few games in 2009 and 2010. He pitched 36 1/3 innings in the majors since 2006. And he hung them up today.

He made tens of millions of dollars along the way, and never even approached being an elite pitcher.

The man whose first name started with a K because he parents wanted a pitcher was a stud in high school and was called “The Messiah” in Clemson University. He had all the makings of being the next big star pitcher.

The Pirates used the #1 pick overall in 1996 on him. The #1 pick is supposed to be a potential superstar or at least a steady veteran.

Now to be fair to the Pirates, that first round didn’t exactly produce a bumper crop of future Hall of Famers. It had Billy Koch and Eric Milton and Braden Looper and Jason Marquis among others. But it wasn’t like they passed up on Ken Griffey Jr to draft him.

Then again Roy Oswalt was still available in the 22nd round, so maybe they should have done a better job scouting.

His minor league numbers were mediocre, but his status as a prospect was always hyped.

He came up to the bigs in 1999 and won his big league debut. He played for a truly rotten Pirates team (redundant after 1992) but he pitched well. Not great. But well. Good ERA. Most strikeouts by a Pittsburgh right hander in 2000. Again he wasn’t a bad pitcher. He was just overhyped.

When he missed the 2001 season after surgery he came back and pitched well. Not great, but well.

When he was dealt to the Mets, it was thought they were getting a budding ace who just needed to get out of Pittsburgh.

He pitched OK in New York. Not great. Not badly. None of his numbers were eye popping. He’d go on a good streak than a bad streak.

It was classic Jim Duquette deal… one that was supposed to spark the team and instead kept the Mets mediocre.

Later with the Orioles he pitched OK, but not great, in 2006.

Even his wife was overhyped. I kept hearing about how unbelievably hot she was. I saw her.

She was OK… not great… and certainly not worth the hype nor how annoying she was in interviews.

And now, after cameos in Texas and Arizona, a hyped career is over.

Kris Benson’s career was baseball equivalent to the movie Dick Tracy.

Lots of hype… lots of built up expectations… lots of behind the scene friction between the star and the potentially crazy leading lady… and when it was all over I thought “That’s it?”

It wasn’t bad and there was talent there… but there was a lot of talent behind Dick Tracy as well and not a lot of memorable moments.

Fare thee well, Trevor Hoffman

I admit that I've been rough on Trevor Hoffman on this blog.
I don't think he is a Hall of Famer.
I don't think he was one of the elite closers.
I think he was a fine pitcher who compiled saves when it was easy to do so and blew way too many big games to be in Cooperstown in my book.

Yes, he is the All Time Saves leader.

Lee Smith was as well. Is he a Hall of Famer?
Jeff Reardon was as well. Is he a Hall of Famer? (And Reardon had the "clinching the World Series moment" that neither Smith nor Hoffman had.)

By the time Hoffman's name reaches the ballot, Mariano Rivera, a legit Hall of Famer, will have the 42 saves needed to be the new All Time Saves leader.

All that being said, he had a terrific career and it seems like nobody had a bad thing to say about him.

And I feel an odd connection as a fan because his older brother, Glenn Hoffman, was on many of the Red Sox teams I grew up watching.

So good luck Trevor Hoffman. Your career was one worth saluting, especially when you consider how quickly relievers flame out.

And if you get elected to the Hall of Fame, I won't protest. I can't imagine how someone could get MAD if a player they don't agree with gets elected.

I promise in five years, if this blog is still up, I will have toned down my rhetoric.

Mid-1980s playoff baseball had no equal - My Latest For The Hardball Times

In my latest article for The Hardball Times I make the case that the 1980s had the greatest stretch of post season baseball ever.

October baseball never was better than between 1985 and 1988 and year in and year out we not only had exciting games but also a few iconic moments that became legendary.

The 1980s might have been a maligned decade for baseball, but the Octobers were sublime… from “Go crazy folks” to “I don’t believe what I just saw.”

Read the article HERE.

Tommy Lasorda on Police Squad!... just because I love this clip

For those of you who only knew Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin from The Naked Gun movies, please please PLEASE watch Police Squad! The show was as close to TV comedy perfection as we have ever seen.

Here Johnny the Shoe Shine guy gives Tommy Lasorda some good advice.

Sully Baseball Honors... The 1978 Tony Perez Topps Card

Doesn't Tony look a little ticked off here? Maybe a little unhappy with his situation?
He's not playing, has an expression of indifference and annoyance intertwined.

Maybe that was apt. This picture was taken during the 1977 season.
The year before he was clinching his second straight World Series title with the Big Red Machine. Sure his stats dipped a little bit in 1976, but they won the World Series crushing the Yankees.

They looked unstoppable.
And a year later he was sitting in Montreal.

At the time the Expos had never had a .500 season, let alone be the consensus pick to win the Division. And that season they moved into the behemoth that was Olympic Stadium.

He was a Spanish speaking Cuban learning English shipped from the best American team to a Canadian team in a city that speaks French.

No wonder he looks out of sorts.
He's not even wearing his cap.

Probably he didn't want to wear it.
Instead he's looking out thinking "Really? I was traded for Dale Murray and Woodie Fryman?"

Not exactly an action shot, is it?

I'm not going to pretend to be a football expert but...

Is it too much to ask to crown a College Football champion BEFORE the first round of the NFL playoffs is over?

I know the idea of College Football being wrapped up on January 1st is no longer possible. But tomorrow starts MID January.

Do the players on Auburn and Oregon even remember each other any more?
Do they wear "Hello My Name Is" stickers?

The Montreal Rays or the Montreal A's? Why not?

In my last piece for The Hardball Times, I wrote about how Tampa Bay used to be an ideal spot for THREATENING to move your team. There was a baseball stadium just sitting there and the good folks of Minnesota, Texas, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco all built new ball parks to keep their teams from the Sun Coast.

Now that the Rays are playing in Tampa Bay, they can't wait to get out of the very stadium that so many other owners were coveting.

Now most teams have either new stadiums or recently renovated ones. Once the Marlins move into their new digs in 2012, the Rays and the A's will be the only ones left playing it a dud of a ballpark.

There is talk about building a place in Fremont or San Jose for the A's, but California barely has enough money to pay their policemen, firefighters and teachers. Where is the dough to build a ballpark in the expensive Silicon Valley?

And the Rays proposed new ballpark (or Jabba's Sail Barge) will go up against a proposed railroad extension in Florida. Good luck having a ballpark beat improved transportation.

But as I wrote in a post from 2009, it is harder for a baseball team to relocate than any other sports team. If you want to move the 49ers to Fayetteville, Arkansas, there's a place for them to play tomorrow.

A baseball team would have a hard time finding a place where they can play a major league game that is just sitting there.

Or would they have a hard time?

What is the biggest American or Canadian city to NOT have a Major League team?

That would be Montreal!
And guess what they have?

A BASEBALL STADIUM THAT IS JUST SITTING THERE!

OK, it's not exactly Wrigley Field. It's Stade Olympique... the Olympic Stadium from the 1976 Games.
It's the big ugly eye sore sitting on the outskirts of one of the most beautiful cities in North America.

It's the money pit that sits empty and reminds everyone in Quebec that the Olympic Games were a financial disaster there and that the Expos couldn't stay.

It is the travesty in architecture that had the crane that was supposed to lower a roof on the stadium not work and an ugly canvas roof put on instead... all the while their neighbors in Toronto had figured out how to make a retractable roof.

The giant behemouth of a ballpark that looks less like a place to see a baseball game and more like the Starship Enterprise from The Next Generation after they did the saucer separation!

I've been to a game in that park.

It was awful and ugly and empty.

So why the hell am I suggesting to put a team back in there?

Well it is hard to make the case that the A's and the Rays would be hurt if they played in an empty ugly eye sore of a stadium.

Guess what? They both are playing in empty ugly eye sore stadiums already!

The A's play in what used to be the Oakland Coliseum. I used to go to games there a lot. It was a nice place to watch baseball. Now, after the Raiders parked an aircraft carrier into center field, it is a dump. And I went to a playoff game in that dump in 2003. There were at least 20,000 empty seats. During the 2006 playoffs when the A's made it all the way to the ALCS, they had an embarrassing tarp covering the entire upper deck to create the illusion of a bigger crowd.

The Rays play in the park that, as I covered in my Hardball Times piece, was obsolete before the Devil Rays played their first game. It took a month of playing there before people began to suggest "maybe they need a new place."

So how could playing in ANOTHER dump hurt the team.

There are some advantages to Montreal... besides its size.

Of course they love the Canadiens (probably more than they love being Canadians). But remember there was a point in the early 1980s that the Expos drew some of the biggest crowds in the National League.

Somewhere there is a fanbase that could get excited about baseball. And they could get excited about a team that wants to STAY in Montreal.

Yes, the 1994 strike forever scarred the fanbase and made it irreparable. But guess what? That was 16 years ago! There are 20 somethings in Quebec with no memory of Moises Alou, Larry Walker et al being robbed of a chance to bring a pennant to a French speaking people.

They don't remember the team being dismantled. They don't remember the Brochu ownership and the Loria group buying the team and the travesty of the contraction threat and MLB owning the team and bleeding them dry until Peter Angelos allowed a team to play in Washington.

Those aren't even blurry memories. For the young fans a new ball club in Montreal would be a fun novelty at first, and if they can play well, perhaps they would regain the popularity of the early 1980s.

As for older fans who do remember the wealth spring of great talent that played in Montreal.

Read my Home Grown vs Acquired post for the Expos. They had a HELL of a lot of great players.

Gary Carter and Andre Dawson wear the Expos cap on their Hall of Fame plaques. Tim Raines might be joining them.

Older fans with a new team might be reminded of the fun of following such a talented group instead of grinding their teeth over the strike related fiascos.

I've seen dormant Cleveland, Seattle and San Francisco fan bases, bitter over management, bad baseball and bad ballparks, become rejuvenated with a turn around, new management and a new direction.

Those fans not only were happy to have a winner, but thrilled to either be excited about baseball again or for the first time in their lives. Imagine a place like Montreal being awakened.

And, with the Blue Jays good but not exactly a powerhouse (and no longer the 4 million fans a season franchise), Montreal could once again be Canada's team.

How can that be worse than the other team in the Bay Area? Or the team that needs to give tickets away in Florida?

And who knows? If baseball can catch on in Montreal without the specter of moving, maybe that once rumored to be built downtown ballpark could become a reality.

Now of the two teams, the A's make the most sense.

As bad a stadium situation that the Rays have, they have decent television ratings and might be able to develop a base. And who knows? They might just build that stadium with a sail.

The A's? Many of their games aren't televised, their fan base is dwindling, the Giants own the Bay Area and if there is going to be a new stadium built in the South Bay, it will be to keep the 49ers from moving.

So why not head North of the border?
I wrote earlier about why I miss the Expos. Well, the A's can reap the benefits of all that the Expos left behind.

They can move from a 400,000 person city that shares its fanbase with the current World Series Champion to a city of 1.6 million that could have a true sports renaissance.

And the name could be altered to "Les Athletiques de Montreal."

Il semble belle pour moi!