NL Central

Albert Pujols has given the St. Louis Cardinals a deadline of the end of Spring Training to extend his contract. 

Pujols has said he will definitely veto any trade during the season, so there goes that.

It seems he wants to keep his mind on baseball, not contracts, during the season, hoping to avoid missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

The baseball nation is already speculating on what could happen if he leaves during free agency, as countless teams will certainly want the Dominican slugger hitting in their lineup.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had little reason to smile last season, holding the worst record in Major League Baseball by a full four games. At 57 wins with 105 losses, the Pirates won just 17 games on the road en route to their 18th consecutive losing season. That's right, 18 years in a row they have had a losing season, which also happens to be the longest streak in professional sports today.

If anybody has got it made in the game of baseball today, it's Albert Pujols.  He is currently the hot topic of debate in the newspapers, on websites, on television, and even in conversation.  He's currently entering the final year of his current contra - as if you all didn't already know that - and he's contemplating on taking his unmatched skill elsewhere.

Did the Reds do enough during the offseason to make one think they have the personnel to win the division for the second straight season?

I think so. They were fairly solid with what they had after the season was over. They led the league in BA, HR, RBI, H, SLG, OPS and OPS+.

They led the league defensively in FLD PCT and fewest errors and were really deficient in a couple positions.

The Chicago Cubs have already traded for starting pitcher Matt Garza and traded away starting pitcher Tom Gorzelanny this winter, and it seems very possible that that will be enough for GM Jim Hendry. There is relatively little else Chicago could do at this point, with the key free agents off the market and the team unlikely to leapfrog the Brewers and Reds into the top spot in a rational prognosticator's picture of the 2011 NL Central division.

While Joe Mauer and Brian McCann rate as the best-known offensive catchers in baseball, Geovany Soto was the best hitter in the league at that position in 2010.

Though he got only 387 plate appearances due to a mixture of injuries and managerial stupidity, Soto logged a career-best .890 OPS and socked 17 home runs.

The Pittsburgh Pirates come into the 2011 MLB season riding that great losing seasons streak and do not seem to want to get off that horse this year or, for many fans anywhere, for some time.

The Pirates showed the fans and baseball some good young talent with Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata.

These three young players, however, could do little to bring back the winning ways that have been lost in the pages of Pirates history.

The ticking of the clock is growing louder and louder in St. Louis and throughout the baseball world. With each tick, everyone is wondering the same question, "Will the Cardinals show Albert Pujols the money?"

Michael Jordan, Brett Favre and Roger Clemens have all been indecisive about retirement.  Each has retired, made a comeback, then retired again and made yet another comeback.  It got to be rather annoying.

Hopefully, Jim Edmonds doesn't follow the trend of his fellow athletes. 

As we move closer to spring training and the start of the 2011 season, teams are still looking at free agents and how they might be able to help their team.

This past week, Vernon Wells was traded, Manny and Johnny Damon reunited in Tampa Bay, and it looks like Vlad is on his way to Baltimore. There are still some quality free agents looking for homes and some of these players could help the Astros this season.