The Cardinals Do It Again, Sign Carlos Martinez To Incredibly Team Friendly Extension

We hear all the time that when it comes to baseball contracts $30 million is the new $20 million. Just last winter we saw free agent starters David Price and Zack Greinke both sign contracts for an average of over $30 million per year. Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez will now make less than half of that every season before he even turns 30. Price and Greinke should have good years on their current deals but on some level their teams are paying for past performance. It makes far more sense for teams to sign players to big contracts before they hit free agency, and while they still have their prime years ahead of them. This was the thought process of the Red Sox when they signed Rick Porcello to a four year, $82.5 million deal a year before he was set to hit the open market. That deal is perceived as good value for Boston, which means Carlos Martinez's five year, $51 million extension could prove to be highway robbery for the Cardinals. 

Martinez came up to the bigs in 2013 but was transitioning between starting and relieving until 2015. In his first full season as a starter that year C-Mart became an all star en route to finishing 10th among National League pitchers in WAR, ERA, and strikeouts per nine. Although he wasn't an all star this past season he took another step forward and led the Cardinals in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. He finished the year with a record of 16-9, a 3.04 ERA, and 174 strikeouts. Due to Adam Wainwright's experience and leadership he may still be considered the "ace" of the St. Louis rotation but Martinez has become the staff's best pitcher.

For years the Cardinals were considered baseball's version of the Spurs or Patriots. While these organizations may not win it all every year, they are always in the conversation come season's end. In a 11 year stretch from 2004 through 2014 the team made the NLCS a whopping seven times, including four pennants and two World Series championships. 2016 turned out to be a major kick in the nuts for St. Louis. They had to watch their arch rival Cubs win their first of what could be several championships in the near future. They also lost draft picks from the 2015 hacking scandal. However, as evidenced by the Spurs and Patriots great franchises weather the storm as opposed to hitting the full reset button. The first step to building the next great Cardinals team is signing a 25-year-old potential superstar pitcher to a highly affordable, team friendly extension.

Backyard Baseball 2017 Player Representatives: National League Edition

To view an introduction and a complete listing of the American League representatives, click here:

Arizona Diamondbacks: Paul Goldschmidt was underrated for a long time. Then he had a couple of monster fantasy seasons and people started to pay attention. But over the past couple seasons Arizona has been so unbelievably bad that Goldy has been out of the spotlight and is back to being underrated. 2016 wasn't his strongest year yet he still hit 24 homers and stele 32 bases. He's still arguably the best first baseman in the game and definitely has some prime offensive seasons left.

Atlanta Braves: Bartolo Colon! Just kidding (kind of). It's so tempting to pick Dansby Swanson, since he's so good and not yet well known, but the answer here has to be Freddie Freeman. While many are still waiting for that one monster season Freeman has quietly been one of the best first basemen in the league for several years now. In 2016 he hit .302 with a career high 34 homers. Only Kris Bryant and Nolan Arenado finished with more WAR among NL players. He is at the center of the team's rebuilding plan. 

Chicago Cubs: The Cubs are loaded with young studs and the best of them all is their 24-year-old reigning NL MVP Kris Bryant. In 2016 Bryant led all NL players in WAR while finishing third in home runs, fourth in slugging, fourth in OPS, first in runs, and third in total bases. Bryant showed his defensive versatility by appearing in the field at third, first, shortstop, and in the outfield. He has accumulated more WAR through his first two seasons than any position player in the history of baseball.

Kris Bryant turned 25 1/4. His 13.6 WAR in first two seasons is most by any position player. 2. Frank Robinson 13.4 3. Ted Williams 13.0.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 5, 2017

Chicago is so stocked with great players it was impossible not to have two representatives from their team. While I don't know why the Reds were given two players in Backyard Baseball 2001, here we are rewarding the team for winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years. Anthony Rizzo isn't as young as the rest of the Cubs position players but in each of the past two seasons he has hit 30 homers with 100 RBI and finished fourth in the MVP voting. Him and Bryant will form a deadly combination in the Cubs lineup for the next half decade.

Cincinnati Reds: Joey Votto had an under the radar monster second half in 2016. After hitting just .213 through May 31st Votto exploded for a .408 batting average after the All Star break and became the first player to hit over .400 there since Ichiro in 2004. He is in a similar situation to Goldschmidt in that he is so good but so unrecognized because the Reds suck. His 2010 MVP season feels like ages ago but he's still producing at a franchise player level for Cincinnati.

Colorado Rockies: It's mind boggling how Colorado hasn't figured out how to draft or acquire better starting pitching throughout the history of the franchise. However, they have always produced stud hitters from Todd Helton to Matt Holliday and now Nolan Arenado, who has won a gold glove in each of the four seasons he's been in the majors. Additionally he has led the National League in both homers and RBI in each of the past two seasons.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw. Enough said.

Miami Marlins: The only real option here is Giancarlo Stanton. He is one of the five most talented players in baseball but his inability to stay on the field has been a massive disappointment. In his last healthy season, 2014, Stanton led the NL with 37 homers and a .555 slugging percentage to finish second in the MVP voting. But he has appeared in at least 123 games just once since 2012. If he can stay healthy moving forward the sky is the limit for baseball's best power hitter.

Milwaukee Brewers: Ryan Braun has come a long way since being one of baseball's biggest villains back in 2013. The guy used performance enchanting drugs, swore he didn't, got caught, and was able to get off on a technicality by blaming someone else. Yet that hasn't stopped him from producing. After bottoming out in an injury plagued 2013 Braun has improved each of the past three season and hit over .300 with 30 homers in 2016. With the Brewers not currently close to contending he may not be in Milwaukee much longer but for now he's the best they got.

New York Mets: Noah Syndergaard, thanks to his skills, hair, and social media presence, is one of baseball's most likable stars. He had a dominant year in 2016, which was capped off by an incredible performance in the NL Wild Card game where he matched zeroes with Madison Bumgarner through seven innings before running out of gas. Yoenis Cespedes received consideration of course but something about seeing Thor's hair on a backyard kid was too good to pass up.

Philadelphia Phillies: There is finally hope again in Philadelphia. Gone are Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins. After the 2008 championship Philly dealt prospect after prospect to try and win another. They had several years of success but ultimately weren't able to accomplish their goal and all the trades left them with a terrible farm system. They have slowly started to build it back up and at the forefront of the rebuilding plan is third baseman Maikel Franco. His 2016 numbers weren't as good as his rookie season in 2015 but he still hit 25 homers and is just 24 years old.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Andrew McCutchen currently has a strange relationship with the only franchise he's ever known. He had a down season in 2016 and posted career lows in batting average, OBP, and slugging. Worse of all his defense in center field collapsed so badly the Pirates want him to move to a corner outfield spot. This caused friction between the two sides and things got so bad Pittsburgh was aggressively trying to trade him to the Nationals back in December. Ultimately the Nats got Adam Eaton, which killed the Cutch trade. One down season isn't enough to give up on someone as talented as McCutchen. This time last year he was a top ten player in baseball.

San Diego Padres: The Padres are such a bad franchise. They're not even the exciting kind of bad. They're just irrelevant and have been for decades. A couple of seasons ago the team tried to go all in and acquired Justin Upton, Matt Kemp, James Shields, and Craig Kimbrel. The plan failed miserably and now the organization is back to rebuilding. The only good news is they have found their building block in first baseman Wil Myers. In 2016 Myers enjoyed a breakout season with 28 homers and became an all star. The club rewarded him this off-season with a six year, $83 million deal.

San Francisco Giants: Buster Posey is literally everything you would want in a franchise catcher. He hits for power, hits for average, is a great teammate, builds strong rapports with his pitchers, and is great defensively. It was tempting to take Madison Bumgarner but we couldn't leave baseball's best catcher off the list. At just 29 years old Posey already has three championship rings and an MVP award.

St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals are in a weird spot. Matt Holliday regressed and left via free agency this year, Adam Wainwright had a terrible 2016 by his standards, and Yadier Molina isn't the player he once was. After years of ruling the NL Central the Cardinals are realizing the defending champion Cubs aren't going anywhere for a long time. They're too young and good. Right now the Cardinals' best player and backyard baseball representative is Matt Carpenter. The infielder has played multiple positions over the last several years but his main contribution to the team has been offensively. He had another good year in 2016, hitting 20 homers for the second straight season.

Washington Nationals: Bryce.

Wake Up With Max Scherzer's 20 Strikeout Performance In 2016

On May 11, 2016 Max Scherzer became just the third pitcher to ever record 20 strikeouts in a single game. Right now he is undoubtedly one of the five best starting pitchers in baseball. Scherzer has finished top five in his league's Cy Young voting in each of the past four seasons, including first place finishes in 2013 and 2016. As evidenced by this 20 strikeout performance and his multiple no-hitters, Scherzer is one of those guys that at his best he looks like the best pitcher of his generation. 

Since signing a seven year, $210 million contract prior to 2015 Scherzer has been everything the Nationals could have hoped for. However, the team's regular season success has yet to translate to the postseason. Despite playoff appearances in 2012, 2014, and 2016 the team has failed to advance to the second round. There seems to be added pressure for the franchise now that Bryce is going to be a free agent in just two years. This caused Washington to trade their top prospect to the White Sox this winter in exchange for Adam Eaton, which makes the Nationals the clear favorites to repeat as NL East champs heading into 2017.

Wake Up With Wily Mo Pena Hitting A Mammoth Home Run In 2011

Let me start by saying that in the greatest baseball video game ever made, MVP Baseball 2005, Wily Mo Pena could absolutely CRUSH left handed pitchers. He was so good against them (91 power, 82 contact if I remember correctly) that he was a must have in any new franchise mode that began with a fantasy draft, despite the fact that the rest of his attributes were nothing special. His ability to hit lefties was simply too much value to pass up in the later rounds. This was 12 years ago and somehow Wily Mo just turned 35. He hasn't appeared in a major league game since 2011 but that didn't stop the Cleveland Indians from giving him a minor league contract with a chance to make the big league team out of Spring Training.

Not only has Pena not played in the bigs since 2011, he has appeared in just 39 games total since 2008! In other words he has played just 39 MLB games since Obama first took office. He is even farther removed from his best season, which was 2004 when he hit 26 homers. The Indians are a smart, analytical driven organization so they must see some potential in Pena. It's highly unlikely Wily Mo finds himself playing for the Indians this season, but literally every baseball fan alive will be rooting for him.

Wake Up With Felix Hernandez Throwing A Perfect Game In 2012

It was announced last week that King Felix will pitch on Opening Day for the Mariners in 2017. This, of course, comes as no surprise. Since coming into the league in 2005 as a 19-year-old Hernandez has been one of the best pitchers in baseball. His best season came in 2010 when he led the league in ERA, innings pitched, and hits per nine en route to winning the American League Cy Young. His stats were so good that he won despite winning just 13 games.

Yet incredibly Hernandez has never pitched in a postseason game. The Mariners haven't made the playoffs since their 116 win season in 2001 and are in serious danger of completely wasting their franchise player's prime.

As a 30-year-old in 2016 Felix suffered his highest ERA in a decade. Over the past three seasons his K/9 has dropped every year while his BB/9 has risen each year. You never want to bet against a pitcher with the talent of Hernandez but there's a chance his best days are behind him. He'll have to make some adjustments this year to remain one of the league's elite starting pitchers.

MLB Network Ranks Andrew Benintendi As The Number One Prospect In Baseball

One of the first signs of the baseball off-season that we are getting closer to spring is when top prospect lists start coming out. While the crown jewel of prospect lists, Baseball America, doesn't come out for a few more weeks it's great to get the MLB.com rankings at a time when there isn't much other baseball news happening. Typically the biggest conversation to come from these rankings is who came in at number one. This year is no exception as Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi surprisingly landed the top spot.

2016 couldn't have gone much better for Benintendi. He began the season in single A before getting called up to AA after a little over a month. In 97 games between the two levels he batted .312 with 31 doubles, nine homers, and 16 steals. He somewhat surprisingly got called up to the bigs in early August. In 34 games with Boston Benintendi would go on to hit .295/.359/.476 with 11 doubles, two homers, and a stolen base. All the doubles are a great sign for a young hitter since they usually translate to homers once the player fills out his body. Since he didn't exceed 130 plate appearances in the majors he was able to retain his prospect status heading into 2017.

Benintendi' success at the major league level must have been the determining factor for MLB.com to rank him over former teammate Yoan Moncada. In 2016 Moncada arguably had the better minor league season than Benintendi. He hit .294 with 15 homers and 45 stolen bases to win minor league player of the year for Baseball America. However, he went just 3-19 with 12 strikeouts in the majors. While his future remains bright Benintendi has already shown the ability to hit major league pitching.

Perhaps the most positive development of Benintendi's season was the fact that he didn't look overmatched in the playoffs. While most of the Red Sox lineup struggled against Cleveland, Benintendi went 3-9 with a home run in game one. Heading into 2017 he is going to be the favorite for AL rookie of the year and Sox manager John Farrell is reportedly considering batting him second. He has also added 20 pounds of muscle this winter, which should help him hit for more power in the heart of the Boston lineup for years to come.

Giancarlo Stanton Is Joining An Already Loaded Team USA Lineup In The World Baseball Classic

Perhaps the last thing Team USA needed to add was more offense. The roster is already stacked with all star position players coming off the bench. Yet when someone with the ability of Giancarlo Stanton wants to play you don't say no. He figures to slide right into the heart of the USA lineup and will also carry a leadership role on the team thanks to his participation from the 2013 tournament.

Entering 2017 Stanton is one of the five most talented players in baseball but hasn't been able to stay healthy. In his last full season, 2014, Stanton led the league in homers and slugging to finish second in the MVP voting. The issue, of course, has been stringing together consecutive healthy seasons. The most games he has ever played in a season is 150 and he has topped 123 just once since 2011. Now 27 years old Stanton is still owed $299.5 million over the next 11 seasons as part of his record setting contract signed back in 2014. 

While his addition is great news Team USA still needs to improve the pitching staff if they wants to compete for the WBC championship.