Big MLB news in Free Agency

Throughout the 2011 MLB season, Albert Pujols was labeled as a free agent after the St. Louis Cardinals and Pujols couldn't agree on a contract. The big discussion heading into the Winter Meetings, naturally, was Pujols.

Originally, the Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and the Miami (formerlly Florida) Marlins were the teams giving offers to Pujols. However, the Marlins bcked down and the Los Angeles Angels of Anehim came in as a suprise contender.

Pujols signed with the Angels for 10 years with a no-trade clause included. Additionally the Angels accquired pitcher CJ Wilson, who played for the Texas Ranger, ironically the team that would lose to the Cardinals in the 2011 World Series.

Big shakeup at Penske

Last week, Steve Addington came over from Penske Racing's 22 car to replace Darian Grubb on the #14 car driven by now 3-time champion Tony Stewart. That was just the beginning.

Due to an incident at Homestead-Miami involving ESPN pit reporter Dr. Jerry Punch and pressure from sponsors Shell, Pennzoil, and Dodge, Kurt Busch and Roger Penske parted ways on Monday, leaving Penske Racing with only one driver, Brad Keslowski in the #2 car, unless a replacement driver can be found.

This adds another wrinkle in the yearly "silly season" tradition for 2012, adding Brian Vicker's unknown future with Red Bull shutting down it's NASCAR operations after 2011, among others.

2011 NASCAR season review

From the moment Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500 to Toney Stewart winning the championship, the 2011 Sprint Cup season was an exciting one.

Stewart tied Carl Edwards in the points system, but held the tiebreaker due to his 4 wins in the Chase compared to Edwads' win at Las Vegas.

With Stewart's championship, it signaled the end on Jimmie Johnson's 5 year championship run from 2006-2010.