[Westheim]

That's for a 9-year deal that is starting at more than $4M and drops off at the end. Nobody in the league is earning that much money, and there are very few teams that can shell out $4M or more to one player - annually. The Raccoons are not one of those teams.

There is a scenario, where the Raccoons make the playoffs, preferrably don't crash out in the CLCS and get an extra million or so wired by Uncle Scrooge, where we could PERHAPS squeeze a $3.5M deal into the budget... but that leaves no room to extend Angel Casas this year, and Quebell next year. I have a hunch that we can get those two combined for less than what we'd have to pay Alston. But a 6-yr, $21M contract can turn sour in a flash and would cripple the Coons for as long as Alston wants to bat .265 with nine dingers per year once his age (31) starts to show. And if I'm really honest, his 2010 season is not spectacular.

Part of the problem might be his lousy protection in the order. I might look into batting him third again, with Pruitt behind him. Nobody's all too scared of Craig Bowen right now, and with Castro (our sole source of speed) out, Quebell is batting leadoff for his pretty insane OBP.

Btw, on Pruitt, it is NOT true that he would lead the batting race if he would qualify, but it was true for most of June. But since then, Jose Morales of the Knights has passed him no matter how you comb it.