NASCAR: Texas Notes

• Tony Stewart earned his 43rd career victory in his 462nd race.
• This is Tony Stewart's second victory at Texas Motor Speedway in his 20th race.
• This is Tony Stewart's fourth victory of 2011, tying Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick for most. All four race wins have come in the Chase.
• Tony Stewart's four wins in 2011 Chase ties Jimmie Johnson for most wins in a single Chase.
• Tony Stewart now has 10 victories in the Chase, putting him second to Jimmie Johnson with 20 Chase victories.
• This is Stewart-Haas Racing's 12th career victory and first at Texas. SHR is the ninth organization to win at Texas.
• Carl Edwards (second) has finished in the top three in both races at Texas in 2011.
• Kasey Kahne (third) earned his fourth top-five finish at Texas and fourth top-five of the Chase -- the most by a non-Chase driver.
• Matt Kenseth (fourth) has top-10 finishes in nine of the past 10 Texas races. Kenseth has five top-10 finishes in the 2011 Chase.
• Greg Biffle (fifth) has finished in the top 10 in the past seven Texas races.
• Jeff Gordon (sixth) earned only his third top-10 finish of the 2011 Chase and his first top-10 finish at Texas since his win there in April 2009.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (seventh) scored his third top-10 finish of the 2011 Chase and finished in the top 10 in consecutive races for the first time since Kansas and Pocono.
• Martin Truex Jr. (eighth) has top-10 finishes in the past three races, his longest top-10 streak since joining Michael Waltrip Racing.
• Clint Bowyer (ninth) earned his fifth top-10 finish in the past eight races.

MLB Offseason Week in Review: 10/30/11 - 11/5/11

• Frank McCourt agreed to sell the Dodgers, and will seek approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for an auction of the team. Earlier in the week we heard that Mark Cuban has interest in buying the team and could make a bid.
• The Yankees retained C.C. Sabathia before he even hit the open market by adding on an extra year at $25MM and a vesting option with a $5MM buyout.
• The Indians acquired Derek Lowe from the Braves in exchange for minor leaguer Chris Jones. The Braves are on the hook for $10MM of Lowe's salary, but managed to successfully save $5MM by shipping the veteran righty to Cleveland.
• Jim Thome is returning to the Phillies on a one-year deal worth $1.25MM.
• On Monday morning, Tony La Russa announced his retirement after 33 seasons as a manager.  La Russa captured three World Championships in his career and won Manager of the Year four times.
• The Nationals announced on Monday that they've exercised manager Davey Johnson's option for 2012.
• The Giants and Javier Lopez have agreed to a two-year, $8.5MM contract and exercised Jeremy Affeldt's $5MM club option for 2012.
• The Dodgers retained Juan Rivera by locking him up to a one-year deal worth $4.5MM.
• The Cubs exercised their $16MM option on Aramis Ramirez, but the slugging third baseman exercised a contractual right to void the option and forfeit his $2MM buyout.  Ramirez will explore the free agent market following a season in which he belted 26 homers and posted a .306/.361/.510 triple slash line.
• The Nationals also retained a player when they guaranteed Chien-Ming-Wang $4MM on an incentive-laden one-year deal for the 2012 season.
• The Diamondbacks signed John McDonald to a two-year, $3MM deal and also inked Henry Blanco to a one-year deal worth $1.2MM. In addition to the on-field decisions, the club also extended both GM Kevin Towers and manager Kirk Gibson.
• The Brewers declined the $17.5MM option on Francisco Rodriguez and the $6MM option on Yuniesky Betancourt.  The pair will receive buyouts of $3.5MM and $2MM, respectively.
• The Mets are prepared to offer Jose Reyes a four-year deal worth $60-$70MM, but their hope of retaining their superstar shortstop is dwindling.
• The Braves are open to moving both Jair Jurrjens and Martin Prado, but a potential deal in which Atlanta tried to acquire Wil Myers and Lorenzo Cain from the Royals fell through.
• The Giants are open to trading Jonathan Sanchez, who should draw some interest given his high strikeout totals and the relative weakness of the free agent market.
• The Cardinals declined their options for Octavio Dotel and Rafael Furcal.
• The Red Sox exercised their $6MM option on Marco Scutaro for the 2012 season.
• C.J. Wilson said there is a "great" chance that he stays with the Rangers (Please GOD NO!). The Yankees will also be in contact with Wilson.
• Roy Oswalt is in search of a multiyear deal, and the Nationals will be players for his services.
• The Marlins will make the starting rotation their top priority this offseason.
• The Phillies are said to be in "serious pursuit" of Michael Cuddyer, which could be bad news for the Twins and his many other suitors.
• The Diamondbacks exercised their sides of the mutual options for Henry Blanco and Willie Bloomquist, while declining their team options for Zach Duke and Aaron Hill.  However, Bloomquist has declined his side of the mutual option and would like to work out a longer deal.
• The Blue Jays announced that they excercised their 2012 option for Edwin Encanacion and declined their option for Jon Rauch.
• The Royals announced that they exercised their 2012 option for closer Joakim Soria. Soria will earn a $6MM salary, rather than a $750K buyout. 
• The Reds exercised Brandon Phillips' 2012 option and declined their option for Francisco Cordero. The Reds will pay Cordero a $1MM buyout instead of a $12MM salary and they'll pay Phillips a $12MM salary instead of a $1MM buyout.
• The Padres announced they've declined their options on Aaron Harang, Brad Hawpe, and Chad Qualls.  Only Harang was slightly in question as he had a $5MM mutual option with a $500K buyout.
• The Rays exercised Kyle Farnsworth's 2012 option while declining Kelly Shppach's.  Meanwhile, they exercised James Shields' $7.5MM option. Shields would not have been eligible for free agency if the Rays had declined the option. Instead, Tampa Bay would have gone to arbitration with Shields and he would have obtained a salary in excess of $7.5MM.
• Mariners reliever David Aardsma cleared waivers and elected free agency.
• The White Sox exercised their $3.75MM club option on reliever Jason Frasor.
• The Indians exercised their club option on Fausto Carmona and declined their option on Grady Sizermore. Carmona would have earned more than the $7MM option price as an arbitration eligible player.
• The Pirates announced they've declined club options on Paul Maholm, Chris Snyder, Ryan Doumit, and Ronny Cedeno.
• The Rockies declined their 2012 option on righy Aaron Cook.
• The Rangers exercised their 2012 option for Yoshinori Tateyama and the right-hander will earn a $1MM salary in 2012.
• The Athletics will listen to offers on anyone except for Jemile Weeks. The speedy second baseman hit .303/.340/.421 and stole 22 bases in his solid but under-the-radar rookie season.
• The Yankees declined their 2012 option on righty Andrew Brackman.

Texas, please let CJ Wilson go

So over the past few years we have seen the rise of CJ Wilson in the Texas Rangers system. He's gone from a bullpen pitcher where fans have wanted his head, to a very superb starting pitcher going 15-8 in 2010 and 16-7 this past year with only a 2.94 ERA. However, that really doesn't do much when it comes time for the playoffs, where CJ is just horrendous, and in my opinion is the reason the Rangers lost the World Series this year to the Cardinals.

This year, CJ Wilson just couldn't get it done. He lost the All-Star game for the American League which resulted in Texas losing home field advantage. He lost his ALDS start to the Rays. He lost his ALCS in both 2010 & 2011, and he lost his WS starts in both 2010 & 2011 as well.

He has a cocky attitude, thinks he's the bees knees, and wants $100 Million from the Rangers.

If I were Nolan Ryan & Jon Daniels, I would let him go. There is a wonderful option sitting out there on the Free Agent Market in Mark Buerhle as well as the chance to win rights to Yu Darvish if he decides to try out the MLB next year. The farm system is also riddled with young arms that can definitely replace CJ Wilson, most notably Martin Perez.

It will be a long, drama filled ordeal I think with Wilson & the Rangers in the offseason. But hopefully the Rangers don't fall for it.