This week's "What the Hell?" on ebay are three "game used" bases from the St. Louis Cardinals old Busch Stadium. They are claimed to be rare and actually used in the final game. If you read the subtitle though, there are 50,000 of these things. That is not my definition of rare. Rare to me is 3. What are the odds that these 3 bases were actually used in the game. Unlike other "What the Hell?'' ebay listings, shipping is not free. What a cheapskate

			BUSCH STADIUM FINAL GAME BASES CARDINALS ALBERT PUJOLS 50,000 CERTIFICATES GIVEN OUT THIS IS 1ST 2ND 3RD BASES	Item number: 400021653680

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1 of 6 View larger picture Starting bid: US $49,999.99 Your maximum bid: US $ Place Bid > (Enter US $49,999.99 or more) End time: Jan-12-09 10:24:27 PST (9 days 16 hours) Shipping: US $25.00 UPS Ground Service to United States Ships to: Worldwide Item location: Tempe, Arizona, United States History: 0 bids You can also: Bid with Bid Assistant Get SMS or IM alerts | Email to a friend Listing and payment details: Hide

The saga that is the pursuit of Mark Teixeira seems like it's been going on forever.  It may have even dragged on long enough to turn off the Angels and amazingly the Red Sox.

Free agent closer Brian Fuentes appears to be the number one closer left on the market.  Reports in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today stated that the Cardinals had made an offer.  Now it's time for Fuentes to take it or leave it.                                                                                             

Tale of the Huge Contract

$ 657,000  Per Appearance $164,000

$ 1.35 M   Per Win/Save $205,000

$ 91,200    Per Inning Pitched $185,000

CC     or     K-ROD???

So who got the better deal, CC Sabathia with the Yankees or Francisco Rodriguez with the Mets?

Greg Maddux is retiring.  So before everyone jumps on my case about the headline, let me say this:  the guy was good.  He was a winner.  He won 355 games for crying out loud.  He played for 23 seasons, which means that Jamie Moyer was only in his 12th season when Maddux was a rookie.  He is an absolute lock for the baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot - something Barry Bonds and some of his other peers wish they could say.  By all accounts, he was an extremely nice and polite guy, which we definitely don't have enough of in pro sports anymore.  He never ran his mouth.  Most importantly, he won just about all of his games in an era where opposing batters (and lots of pitchers too) were getting huge off steroids, HGH and other substances while it was pretty apparent that Maddux was 100% clean.  But one thing always bothered me about Greg Maddux.

I learned from this story that Alex Rodgiguez is set to play in the World Baseball Classic next year for team Dominican Republic. Here's the facts. The only link he has to the Dominican Republic is his parents. His heritage. He wasn't born or raised there (technically, he was born in New York City, moved to the D.R. when he was 1 and moved back to the U.S. at age 4). Instead of playing on a dirt field with a glove made out of a milk carton, he toiled away at a private High School and the University of Miami. He goes out on the town with beautiful American women of his choosing.  He signed a contract worth somewhere between $275 and $300 million.

He has less in common than the typical Dominican than I do. And that's saying quite a bit.  I'm all for respecting your heritage, but how about respecting the country that has given you everything you have?

According to this article, Hal Steinbrenner and the Yankees front office is getting a little tired of CC Sabbathia's refusal to go ahead and accept their ridiculously high 6 year, 140 MILLION dollar contract.  I'm sure it's just a game that Sabbathia and his dopey agent are playing.  Trying to keep his name in the news a little longer.  Greg Genske - you've all heard of him, right? - that's his agent.  He thinks he's Drew Rosenhaus now.

Really, does it matter if you're making 23.3 million per year or 24 or 25?  Plus it's for 6 years and we've already discussed that 6 years is too long for any pitcher.  So, my question is, what are you waiting for, CC?

With Dustin Pedroia winning the AL MVP award yesterday, it turns out that Randy Newman's song just isn't true - short people really do got a reason to live.  The diminutive (5'9" is what he's listed.  5'7" is more like it) 2nd baseman  outplayed everyone and really deserved the award.  And that is really tough for me to say being as he plays for the Sox.  So, just like our list in honor of Albert Pujols, our AL MVP tribute list consists of other short guys and gals that overcame the odds and made it big.

Spud Webb - 5'5" - Won the 1986 Slam Dunk championship mainly because he could dunk a baketball because he was 5'5".  He had a vertical that was out of this World.  And he had a long productive playing career in the NBA, where 6'6" point guards are the norm.  He proved that speed and dribbling ability are just as important as size.

According to this article, the Yankees are preparing to make CC Sabbathia the highest paid pitcher in baseball.  The guy was flat out dominant at the end of last season, but here's the mistake teams usually make:  a TON of players are dominant the last year of their contract.  They are playing for their livlihood.  Manny Ramirez comes to mind this year.

Is he worth it?

The only 9 figure pitching deal that has ever worked out is the Mets Johan Santana and that's only after 1 season.  He could go to shit this year just as easily as he dominates.  That's the nature of baseball.  It is a rare, rare pitcher that dominates year after year.  Lots of guys dominate for a year or three but then lose it - can you imagine Santana having to become the closer during the last couple years of his huge contract a la Kerry Wood?  The three others - Barry Zito, Mike Hampton and Kevin Brown - I don't have to tell you how awful those deals were for the Giants, Rockies and Dodgers.  Maybe it's just an NL West thing?