Mike Quade hired to manage the Cubs

[BuAlum03]

The cards are a mid-market team, which makes their history of success all the more impressive. Chicago is significantly larger than St. Louis, and outside of the south side, half of Illinois, almost all of Iowa, and most of Indiana root for the Cubs. Not to mention the fact that in my own youth most games were on WGN, creating cubs fans across the whole country.

And maybe you should "troll" his previous posts before interjecting a rude comment in what is clearly friendly banter. You might not come off as so self-righteous.

I'm not trolling your previous posts to determine your baseball views. The Cards aren't truly a mid-market team. On the surface, they certainly appear to be a mid-market team as St. Louis is not a large city. The Cards, however, draw from an unbelievable large area around St. Louis. Just think about the division in Peoria (maybe 50-50, 60-40), and Peoria is 3 hours away. As you go toward STL, the Cards are huge. They are also the main pro-team in STL by a large margin. They essentially draw from the entire southern 1/2 of IL, most of MO, a good amount of TN and KY. They really aren't a mid-market team in the likes of Seattle, MIL, CIN, etc.

The Cards can definitely afford to resign Pujols. Ticket prices have been significantly higher with the new stadium and attendance hasn't suffered. Worst-case scenario involves trading him for top prospects. Their starting pitching has been inconsistent. Starting pitching is typically unpredictable year to year.