Albert Pujols

With last night's thriller between the Red Sox and Yankees, and a day chalk full of baseball action, the 2010 MLB season is officially here. All over the country, baseball players are hoping for hall of fame years and fans are dreaming of runs into late October. The beauty of opening day is the equality it provides for players and fans alike, a calm before the storm of a long and arduous season. This calm, however, has officially been broken.

It's the classic dilemma in sports: What do you do when all of your options result in a no-win situation? Well, I don't claim to have the answer, but that is what is facing the Cardinals with Albert Pujols.

Look, no matter what they do, they lose. If they fail to sign Albert, St. Louis fans will revolt and may come to the park brandishing weapons.

Yet if they trade The Machine, no matter how good the bounty received, there will be many fans and media around the nation criticizing the deal.

Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball. He has been an absolute machine since he entered the league in 2001. Have you never realized how good he is? Let me blow your mind with a couple of stats...

Immediate shock waves rippled through Philadelphia and Saint Louis on Sunday when Buster Olney of ESPN.com wrote that the Phillies have "kicked around" the notion of trading slugger Ryan Howard for regular MVP contender Albert Pujols.

"No way would (insert either team) do that!" cry emotionally attached fans in their respective home towns.  However, such a deal would make sense for both teams.

News broke on Sunday that the Phillies organization has discussed the idea of trying to use slugger Ryan Howard to pry Albert Pujols from the Cardinals.

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro flatly denied the rumors, saying, "I don't know who you're talking to, but that's a lie."

Amaro may be denying it, but the idea makes a lot more sense than you would think.

Barring an injury that keeps Albert Pujols out of the line-up for any significant amount of time, the St. Louis Cardinals are the prohibited favorites to win the NL Central again this year.

Entering the 2010 season, the Cardinals top the division in several important factors. They have the best player (Pujols), the best catcher (Yadier Molina), the best manager (Tony LaRussa), the best starting rotation, and the best fans.

What would it take to pry Albert Pujols away from the St. Louis Cardinals?

Cardinals fans, put away your pitchforks and disband the angry mob. I am not in any way suggesting that Pujols, could, would, or should be traded. Such a deal would be monumentally stupid for St. Louis; in addition to being the team's best player since Stan Musial, Pujols is a fan favorite and a hometown hero.

But if the circumstances suddenly shifted? What if Pujols went on a Milton Bradley-esque rant about his hatred for the city of St.

The 2010 season of Major League Baseball is to start in just a few days.

With the beginning of spring training, it is not only of a new year, but also a new decade.

To wrap up the debate that was, here is a list of the best Latinos of the past decade, the leaders for the years 2000-2009.

The MLB winter meetings are commencing this week in Indianapolis.

Perhaps the St. Louis Cardinals could pencil in a 15-minute sidebar in economics. Perhaps they could commandeer fellow executives to a session where they instructed them on the finer points on looking like asshats.  

Or maybe they could just ask the Oakland A’s for Brett Wallace back. Pretty, pretty please?

It's late November, which means the NFL is in full swing, the college football season is coming down the home stretch, and all I can think about is baseball.

Don't get me wrong; I love football, but the Winter Meetings up ahead are getting me very excited.  However, after the meetings are over, it's back to Bowls, NFL Playoffs, and March Madness until baseball season begins again.  That isn't so bad.