From ESPN.COM

The A's and Cardinals are close to completing a trade that would send outfielder Matt Holliday to St. Louis in exchange for third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Peterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen, league sources told ESPN The Magazine's Tim Kurkjian.

Holliday, 29, is eligible for free agency after this season, and has had a lackluster season overall with the Athletics, hitting .287 with 11 homers and 54 RBIs.

What are your thoughts?

"Guess hitting hack", "punk with an attitude problem", "show-off" These are just some of the words use to describe All-Star left fielder Alfonso Soriano in the 2+ seasons he's been with the Cubs.

How about a new term?

Leader

''Somebody's got to step up and play better. I know we're going to miss him, but we got to start playing better and win as many games as we can until he comes back. And survive.''

 

Soriano on the loss of Aramis Ramirez

''My first at-bats, I struck out, but I tried to have my rhythm and mechanics [later] and make a good swing,'' he said.

Of the slider he dug low to hit, he said, ''It was a very good pitch. ... It's very important to come back and win the game.''

Just a sample of what Soriano has said in the early part of the season.  And honestly, from where a sit, I like what i hear.

Soriano is the leader this team needs, the player that has the ability, the talent and lord knows the contract that makes him the obvious choice for the leader of this club. Especially since D. Lee and Aramis basically keep to themselves, Zambrano is a bit too passionate, and Milton Bradley is.... Well Milton Bradley.

Say what you want about Sori's play in the OF or him needing to bat leadoff to succeed. But theres no denying that this year Soriano has shown on more then one occasion, to be this teams legitimate clubhouse leader.

For what its worth as well. Last Night I was at Miller Park (another post about that forthcoming) But when Aramis went down, Soriano high tailed it from Very deep LF (since Braun was up at the time) to check on Aramis, granted Theriot and Fonte where also there, but too me from where I sit, thats a leader thats a guy who cares about the team.

Couple this with the earlier comments Sori's made about the teams lack of drive early in the season is proof positive to me anyway that Soriano is the Cubs Leader/

History Channel's "Life after People: The Series" chronicles what happens to our planet  and more specifically its landmarks, buildings and other human made objects after people are gone forever.

In one specific episode known as "Life After People the Series: Outbreak"  The program explains what would happen to Chicago, Atlanta and London after people are gone for segments of time from 1 day after people are gone to up to 5000 years+ into the future.

Highlighted in this episode is our beloved Wrigley Field along with the Chicago skyline and what will happen to the most notable icons of humanity long after we are gone.

This program is perfect for family viewing and answers alot of questions that children may have about the world in which we live.

For Comcast customers who have a Digital Package with On-Demand you can watch this program right now by axcessing On Demand - Selecting the News and World Section - History Channel - Life After People - Episode #2

I highly recommend checking out this program and this series for that matter, but most specifically this episode since it does focus attention on Chicago and Wrigley Field.

A contract clause could mean the Cubs might be looking for a new Spring Training home.

The team has an opt-out provision that could allow the Cubs to leave HoHoKam Stadium before their contract is up.

Under the contract, the Cubs can leave Mesa as early as spring 2012 for as little as $4.2 million.

The clause was included when the team signed a contract in 1996 and could be exercised in 2011. The actual 20-year contract expires in 2016.

Read more about this on CBS2Chicago.com

Interesting to say the least, lets hope the Cubs and Mesa can get things straightened out.

Well now 3/4 of my "nightmare scenario" is in place, The New York Yankees have signed 1B Mark Teixeira to an 8 year $180 million dollar deal according to ESPN's Buster Onley.

ESPN.COM Story

I think it is incredible that the Yankees are spending money like this. First CC, Burnett and now Tex. But what will happen if these huge deals dont pan out? We'll just have to wait and see.