Sean B. Fitzgerald It doesn’t go something like this, it goes exactly like this.

Baseball and that…

Today, the Chicago Cubs signed former Rays' 1st baseman Carlos Pena to a 1-year, $10 million contract.

And if you're keeping score at home, Pena batted a robust .196 for the 2010 season.

Say what you will, but given 484 at-bats, I think I could hit .196. Maybe not hit 28 home runs or drive in 84 runs, but I think I could squeeze out at least 95 infield singles, bloopers, checked-swing dunkers, seeing-eyers, and the occasional mammoth upper-decker. Obviously this can't be proven, but I'll just go out on a limb and say I could.

The point is, what in the hell is up with these historically bad contracts during this off-season? That Jayson Werth contract is an abomination. He's 31 (32 in May), past his prime, has a career OPS of .848 and just signed a 7-year, $126 million contract with the Washington Nationals. That's (whips out scientific calculator) $18 million a year! For what?! 25 home runs, 90 RBI's for 3 more years at best. Then a precipitous decline for the remaining four years of that contract. That's franchise player money. That's "In a few years I'll basically be stealing from you" money. I'd like to meet Jayson Werth's agent and shake his hand. I'd also like to meet him to see if he's stopped laughing.

And how about the Carl Crawford contract? What is it, 7 years, $142 million? Something like that. No exactly the smartest move in my book (my book is about the size of a pamphlet). Giving 7 years to a 30 year old whose game is predicated on speed is just downright dumb. I wonder how he'll perform when he's 34-35. Slow is my guess. Very slow. Unless he takes steroids, then by all means, give him a 15-year contract.

I tweeted that in a few years the AL East will become "the land of the Albatross Contracts". And it's definitely shaping up to be that way. CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez (I'm assuming that I'll be enormous), and potentially Cliff Lee. In 2014, all of these players will just be uncomfortable to watch on the field. Both because of their performances on the diamond and because of the realization of how much they're getting paid.

Look, I love my Yanks, but they're ruining baseball. Salary cap is a necessity. Too bad that both the teams and players are making huge chunks of monies. So this thing will never get resolved.

Thanks Yanks! (and Red Sox)