Dare we dream?
So it looks like negotiations have hit a slight snag between the St. Louis Cardinals and their sublime, perennial-Triple Crown-courting MVP first baseman Albert Pujols... who's probably the closest thing to a LeBron James-style megatalent in our post-steroid-era baseball milieu.
Pujols has given the team three weeks to make a deal, or he and his gilded bat of wonder walk after the 2011 season.
Psshaw. Why let it get to that? Wise front-office-people of St. Louis, it's time to explore a trade. And I believe the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim could pony up a nice little package for your disgruntled star. (He has promised to veto any trade, but let's put that aside for now.)
Obviously, it starts with Kendry. Coming off an injury-shortened season, true, but one-and-a-half seasons of All-Star production (.300+, 30-odd homers, 110-ish RBIs) is a sufficiently compelling sample size, no? And he's got that sweet-and-ever-improving glove. And he's a switcheroo. If I was the Cards, I'd listen.
After that, obviously it gets a little squirrelly. How about this?
Angels Get:
The Pujolinator
2B Skip Shoemaker
Cardinals Get:
Cowbell
Howie Kendrick (a modest offensive improvement over Skip Shoemacker and his .338 SLG)
Jepsen/Walden (sucks to lose a good, young, hard-throwing deep bullpen guy... but we'd still have the other one)
Martinez Mesa/Chatwood/Richards/anybody not named Mike Trout
Would that do it? They'd probably demand a major league starting pitcher, too. Probably Ervin Santana. At that point, it gets a little sketchy. They'd also ask for Mike Trout. At that point, we politely tell them to suck it. No Trout for you.
As for Pujol's trade-veto thing... well, I guess we just throw money at the problem, right? "Mr. Pujols, how does $180 million/6 yrs sound?" Sure, it shoots Artie's payroll into the $160 million/yr range, but this is the Baseball Jesus. And messiahs never come cheap.