Classes start today, and I have nothing of interest to say and no time in which to write about it. The recent Albert Pujols news, such as it is, illustrates what happens in a constant-updates news cycle when the nothing hits the fan. Jon Heyman doesn't even suggest he has inside information, or at least much of it, which was, to me, the strangest part of the whole ordeal.
Whether he does or doesn't have a mole among his amorphous "baseball people" who see the Cardinals and Pujols far apart, this is what occasioned yesterday's Pujols story bonanza: "a lack of proof that there's serious progress to date"; "early word... that Pujols has used A-Rod's contract... as the only comp... [which] comes as no surprise"; and "a belief around the game that the Cardinals are hoping to keep the deal to seven years or less."
This is all speculation, which would be fine except that it's all stuff that we've already speculated.
Elsewhere: The Tom Gorzelanny/Matt Garza swap that just played itself out in the Cubs' rotation reminds me of a higher-impact, more reasonable version of the Brendan Ryan-for-Ryan Theriot pseudo-trade. Garza looks like a much better bet going forward than Gorzelanny, to me, but the Cubs gave up a lot of interesting talent for Garza; taken collectively the two moves seem like a lot of wheel-spinning and a premature attempt to win now. Michael Burgess is a nice prospect, though.