It is about love and respect not money.

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I spent the weekend watching the Sox series with the Yankees (After Pittsburg, driving splinters under my fingernails seemed preferable to watching Birds on the Bat lose yet another series to yet another cellar-dweller).

Lumberjack after Lumberjack strode to the plate in a Yankee uniform.  The Yankees are 31 games over 500 in a division that has another team 31 games over 500 and another team 27 games over 500.  It is unreal how good the AL East is.

Strange things happen in baseball (see 2006), but there is no reasonable move or combination of moves that the Cardinals could make in the offseason that would make them competitive in a 7 game series against these guys.  And that's starting with the best hitter in baseball three of its best starting pitchers.  (With whom we can't even manage to make it pennant race in the weakest division in baseball while playing 3 of its worst teams).

I don't think its about the money for Albert, but why on earth would he choose to come back to the Cardinals and hope for another flukey World Series championship when he could go to the Yankees and know that every year for the rest of his career he will enter Spring Training with the odds on favorite to win a World Championship that year?  Hell, I wouldn't.

We aren't competitive against the Reds now and they are going to be a lot better next year than they are this year.  And even better the year after that.

I am very grateful for what Albert has given us over the past 10 years, there will never be another like him.  As much as I hate the Yankees, Albert deserves to be part of a dynasty that wins championships every year and I don't begrudge him going to New York to do that.

So here's the question.  Should the Cardinals hang on to him so that we fans can enjoy one more season cheering for the greatest (my preference) or should they shop him around over the winter in hopes of landing a boatload of prospects that could turn us into the next Tampa Bay?  Discuss.

It's been well documented that Miles/Kennedy/Izturis are a real handicap for us offensively.

The switch of Albert to Second base the other night got me thinking.  How hard is it to play second base anyway?  You've got to be quick, slick on the double play, and have good situational instincts on stolen base/pickoff events.  Would it be totally ridiculous to convert someone like Schumacher to a second baseman?  He'd be a plus 2B offensively.  Would he be that inadequate defensively?

What say ye?