Talking cornerstones

Baseball is like any other business where a face of the company is vital to future success as it gives the consumer a fundamental reason to invest in the product. There is a reason why record labels fight over rising stars in the music industry and sports agents campaign for the most promising prospects. There needs to be young, entertaining blood in any industry in order to continue to satisfy the viewer. Why is the NFL such a prosperous football league and the XFL was uninspiring bust? Simply put, the best athletes with the most attractive skill sets are obviously in the NFL. Same goes for baseball.

Major League organizations undergo operations every winter, and sometimes they are extensive face lfits. Role players come and go like celebrities in Hollywood, but cornerstone-caliber ballplayers are the authors of the Great American Novel. There are no duplicates and the opportunity cost isn't nearly as satisfying. Each club needs at least one player who is not only part of the organization, but is essential to the city.

There can be more than one player who represents a team in all facets, but that is usually unlikely, unless the number is restricted to two. These types of players cannot be among the likes of politcal figures who take a stance on an issue, proceed to waffle come debate time, and then hop back over the fence in time for election. It doesn't work that way, and that is the main reason why these players are rare breeds, thus making it even more important to tie them up.

The best way to realize this is play a simple game where you say one team to yourself and then think of the first thing that comes to mind. For example: Yankees? Derek Jeter. Giants? Barry Bonds. Reds? Barry Larkin. Orioles? Cal Ripken Jr. Some of these names are outdated, but they are symbolic of what a cornerstone guy should be. He should not only be the player that a fan thinks about when that team travels to his city, but his image and presence should be connected to the mood of the city as well.

All of the aforementioned players have that affect and that is why they are simply great players. But there is the contrary to everything, and there are teams who have not found this piece, yet anyways. I do not go to downtown Kansas City and say to myself, hmm, Zack Greinke pitches here. I do not visit Washington D.C. and yell at the top of my lungs, "Dmitri Young plays here!" After Frank Thomas left, the South side of Chicago was left vacant as I couldn't bring myself to marvel in the fact Paul Konerko plays first base for the White Sox.

Now that you know that cornerstone players are of the utmost importance, there are a few that have made some noise in the transactions column recently. Lets start with the Rockies who tried to place this responsibility on Todd Helton although it quickly turned into a burden and left the residents of Denver waiting for football season since reality is, well, Larry Walker is no longer around.

Colorado is lucky because they have two players, not to mention a stable of young pitchers, who can be the guys in purple and black for many years to come. Matt Holliday recently agreed to a two year, $23 million deal that will allow Colorado a little extra time to prepare their attempt to keep Holliday from hitting the free agent market. Holliday has turned into one of the game's best young hitters with a breakout 2007. It is apparent that he is next in line to receive the big bucks that Albert Pujols got from the Cardinals when he signed his big deal.

We aren't talking about a $30 milion deal here. I am talking in the nine figure range, which may put the deal out of reach for Colorado. It is imperative that the Rockies find a way to lock Holliday up because he is going to anchor that lineup for the next seven years and give the Rockies legitimate run support. If that isn't enough to hope Holliday stays in Denver for the long haul, is anyone besides me a little bit sad that the days of one-team players are almost all but gone? I hope and pray for the soul of baseball that the generations to follow bring players who are willing to shave a few bucks of their demands and put their loyalty for the ballclub that gave them a shot at the forefront. I am not knocking players who seek their market value, but lets keep it in perspective.

Now, the reason to be jubilant in Colorado is the man who plays shortstop. It is apparent that Troy Tulowitzki does not need many seasons to reach stardom in the major leagues as he is already emerging as one of the best shortstops in all of baseball. Tulowitzki still was a ways from free agency, but was a couple of years away from being arbitration-eligible when the Rockies announced they had reached an agreement with the former Long Beach State Dirtbag on a six year, $31 million deal.

This deal is exceptional for Colorado for a couple of reasons. First, one of the game's soon-to-be best players is locked up for six years and can now focus all of his attention to getting the Rockies back to the World Series. Tulowitzki possess the attitude, confidence, and leadership skills that it takes to not only assume responsibility on the field, but also to lay the groundwork for the organization in the community and throughout Major League Baseball. The other reason that makes this deal great is the fact that Tulowitzki's average annual slaray is $5 million per year. He is already worth more than that on the free agent market, and with the way prices have been inclining, I can't even fathom what type of bargain this will be in four seasons.

Up in Philly there hasn't been too much brotherly love going around between Ryan Howard and the Phillie's front office. The two sides seem to be worlds apart when it comes to a dollar number for Howard's 2008 salary. Howard played last season with a salary of $900,000 and is already considered one of the elite hitters in baseball. Naturally, the player is going to realize this and ask for what he thinks is his. His only problem is that he hasn't paid his dues like the rules state.

I do not think it is wrong for a player to ask for a considerable raise when it is obvious that he is worth much more than his current salary because service time is often an obstacle between the employeer and the employee. But those are the written rules and it is hard to disregard those at times. A player should be happy to be making $5 million per year when he has only played three seasons of big league ball. It is not as if that player is not going to hit his big time deal atfer his six years of service time. Of course, the player's reason for pressing the issue could be one of two things that resonate off the top of my head.

The first is obviously the risk of injury, and if a player can be financially set for life, why not? This is justifiable, but sometimes reality is the cold-hearted truth. The other reason, which I beleive carries more weight, is when the player poses a question along the lines of: Why am I not getting my fair cut of the revenue I am helping to create when baseball is in a state of prsoperity? The fact that baseball is awash in resources makes it difficult to really file a complaint against a player who is trying to match his worth up with the market. Either way, Howard will eventually get what is his as long as he keeps blossoming, and the Phillies will eventually be ecstatic that they gave it to him, although this case seems to certainly be headed for arbitration.

Miguel Cabrera reached a one year deal with the Detroit Tigers for 2008, making his salary $11.3 million. Cabrera may be the brightest young hitter in all of baseball, and that is why there is reasonable speculation about the fact that he may be the next $200 million player. It has been stated that the Tigers do want to lock him up to a long term deal and are trying to work with his agent to make progress towards that goal. There should be no reason for Cabrera to leave Detroit within the next eight years, given the rich baseball history and the money the Tigers are bringing from being recognized as one the game's elite teams. It is unfair, really, to even project what this kid may do in his career because it puts an overwhelming amount of pressure on him to be somebody other than who he is. Let alone that our predictions could turn out to be more restraining than anything else. Scouts talk about the "ceiling" of players when evaluating them, and it is not crazy to say that Miguel Cabrera may not even have a ceiling.

The Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to terms with lefthander Scott Kazmir on a one year, $3.785 million deal that allows the club and player to avoid arbitration. I am guessing that the only thing keeping the Rays from committing a long term contract to Kazmir at the moment is fact that, due to their lack of fan support, they do not have a ton of free money at hand. That could be false, I am not sure, but they will be drawing fans soon thanks to their overflowing farm system. Kazmir has three years left until free agency, so the Rays are in good shape, but he is a guy that should be the leader of all of the promising pitching prospects coming up for years to come. It would behoove the Rays to lock Kazmir up long term now while they can get him for a relatively cheap price as three seasons may launch this guy to elite status, and we all know what that means for players, especially pitchers, on the open market.