The terms of the deal, at least according to the tight lipped Cardinal hierarchy of General Manager John Mozeliak and Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., will stay a closely guarded state secret. Speculation has it that Pujols’ agent was looking for a deal in the range of 10 years at 30 million per. I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if it was even higher – somewhere around 40 million per.

The move by Pujols agent, to set the first day of Spring Training as the self imposed deadline to negotiate a new contract, was absolute genius. Pujols is firmly cemented in the drivers seat and if there is anyone who will have this looming over them, it most certainly will be the St. Louis executives who most likely, have set in motion Albert Pujols’ slow and deliberate exit from the St. Louis stage.

Enter the Wilpons. Or Mark Cuban. Or The Donald. Or whoever else will be the last man or men standing when the wake of Madoff makes it final slice into American history and into the wallets of the Wilpons. If by sheer foolishness, the Cardinals can’t meet Pujols demands, what better marquee player could the Mets have than Albert Pujols?

What better player to rehabilitate a franchise? He would be a game changer the same way Steve Phillips who at the behest of Nelson Doubleday, made Mike Piazza the face of the franchise in the latter half of the 90’s and into the 2000’s.

Of course that was then, and this is now and unless there is a major cosmic alignment on multiple fronts, starting with ownership, the possibility of this happening is utter fantasy.

Just think of this. How incredible would it be as a fan? Could ownership ( whoever it may be ) afford whatever Pujols is asking? Who would wear number 5?

Thoughts?

A little more than two weeks ago it was announced by Fred and Jeff Wilpon that they were exploring the option of adding a partner(s) to own the New York Mets.

Naturally the news hit the blogs and Twitter in no time and there was talk among Mets fans on who they would want to own the team. There were two names that came up many times as possible new owners for the Mets:

James Dolan: Not surprising at all, he already owns two of the major sports teams in New York, the Knicks and the Rangers who both make Madison Square Garden their home. Dolan in the past has even expressed his interest in owning the Mets. He certainly has the money to run another team and would certainly compete with the Yankees in spending.

Mark Cuban: Mark Cuban as we all know is a self made billionaire. He currently owns the Dallas Mavericks.  Cuban has also been very vocal about wanting to own a Major League Baseball team. He has tried unsuccessfully to purchase both the Chicago Cubs and recently The Texas Rangers but was blocked by MLB for not being a good ole boy.

Both Dolan and Cuban have the money to run a major league team in a big market that’s for sure. Dolan has showed in the past he is willing to spend money. Cuban always wants to win. If I had to pick 1 to be the owner it would have to be Mark Cuban. Dolan has done a horrible job with both the Knicks and Rangers over the years. Dolan stays loyal to the people he hires to run his teams to a fault. Glen Sather has been the President and GM for The Rangers for too long. Many including myself believe that if Isiah Thomas did not a bring a lawsuit on MSG he would still be running the Knicks.

Then you look at how Mark Cuban has turned the Dallas Mavericks around since purchasing the team. Before purchasing the team the Mavericks had a winning percentage of 20%. Cuban has owned the team for 10 years now and their winning percentage now stands at 69%. The Mavericks have also made the playoffs every year under Cuban’s ownership including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2006.

The chances that both Cuban and Dolan would buy a 25% stake in the team are pretty low. I can’t imagine either owner wanting to fork over 250-300 million dollars to have no say in operations or the direction of the team. I also doubt MLB is going to allow Cuban to own a team, considering they have already turned him down twice.

Cuban has already gone on record as saying that he would be very interested in buying part or all of the Mets, but was also adamant that the Wilpons would have to make the first move and call him. I don’t blame him.

Who do you want to own the team? It doesn’t have to be realistic, it’s just to have a discussion.