The Albert Pujols Saga

The saga that has been years in the making is finally unfolding in front of our eyes. When the St. Louis Cardinals signed Matt Holliday to a long term contract through 2016 the clock started ticking on the Pujols time-bomb. And thus far, the negotiations between Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals have been anything but smooth. Pujols believes (rightfully so) that he is the best player in the game and deserves to be paid like the best player in the game. Unfortunately, the Cardinals do not seem to believe that ANY player is worth the astronomical benchmark set by Alex Rodriguez's monster 10 year - $275 million dollar deal signed three years ago. That said, I'd like to take a look at a few of the moving parts of this negotiation and throw my $.02 into the ring.

First of all, Albert Pujols is 31 years of age. Scratch that, he's a DOMINICAN 31 years of age! That likely means he's 34 years old with very mysterious looking birth records. Honestly, the guy had the build of a 30 year old back in 2001. In his decade of Major League play, he's already made over $89 Million in salary and countless other dollars in endorsements. My point is, he's not a young guy or hard up for money and looking to score his first contract. This will be his second go around signing a nine figure deal. Is he the best player in the game right now? Absolutely. But for how many more years? Well if you ask Albert, I'm sure he'd say "forever." He's gained a reputation over the past few years of being one of the most selfish players in baseball. From criticizing the 2006 MVP award of Ryan Howard to refusing media interviews, Pujols marches to the best of his own drum. By demanding that the Cardinals try to work out a deal with him by February 16th otherwise he won't talk about it again until the end of the season, Pujols is again playing his selfish card. Cardinals management doesn't want to come out of this with egg on their face, but St. Louis isn't one of the major markets in baseball where $300M is taken lightly. In fact, they are projected to be around 10th in the league this year with around $110M on the books. A $30M/year deal for Albert Pujols would mean one third of their team salary going to one player! With Holliday making $17M next season and Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright both listed with hefty team options, Over half of the Cardinals salary would be going to 4 players. It's tough to fill out 21 roster spots with major league ready talent for $50M and still be a contender. So you have to ask yourself, does Albert Pujols care about playing for a winning team or does he just want the biggest payday possible?

Secondly, why set such an early deadline for contract negotiations? Let's be honest, players have very little to do with their actual contract negotiations. They all have a team of agents who handle the grunt work when it comes to hammering out contract details. You don't really think players are involved in the back and forth that gives them an incentive if they reach 40 home runs by labor day, do you? Albert Pujols can go about his daily routine as usual while letting the guys in suits handle the number figures all season long if he really wanted to. Instead, he forces this deadline on the Cardinals to make them believe that it's now or never for them to get a deal done hoping that management makes a hasty decision and gives in to his every demand. In reality, the Cardinals hold exclusive negotiation rights from the day the season ends until 5 days after the World Series. Assuming St. Louis doesn't make the playoffs, that could be a whole month of negotiations at the end of the season. It's doubtful that Pujols could put up numbers so astronomical this year that his value increases any more, but an injury or an "off year" could very easily lessen his value. Ask the Yankees if they regret renegotiating Alex Rodriguez's contract before they absolutely needed to. When talking such large sums of money, it's in the best interest of the Cardinals to wait this one out as long as possible while maintaining good standing with Pujols and company all season long.

Most importantly, though, is lack of suitors available for Albert Pujols. You can count the teams in Major League Baseball that have the resources to spend $300M on one hand. And just about all of them have their First Base position locked down. The Yankees are locked in with Mark Texeira at first base and a whole host of hitters poised to be their DH for years to come. The Red Sox are expected to lock down Adrian Gonzalez to a long term deal any day now and have Kevin Youkilis as their likely DH. The Phillies have Ryan Howard, The White Sox have Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko, and the Angels have Kendry Morales. Usual players like the Dodgers and Mets are so wrapped up in financial woes that their participation in the Albert Pujols sweepstakes seems doubtful. That leaves the Rangers and the Cubs as the only likely suitors. With the Rangers coming out of bankrupcy and still getting back on their feet, you might even say the only competition for St Louis is their nemesis up north in Chiago. Having been to St. Louis and Chicago a handful of times, I can assure you there is no love lost between these teams. Cardinals management will not lose their star player to the confines of Wrigley Field. Is Albert aware of this fact and possibly using it as leverage against the Cardinals? I have to believe the answer is yes.

No matter what happens, Pujols will get his payday. He'll have a whole fleet of Brinks trucks parked outside his front door unloading money until he says stop because he is Just. That. Good. But I hope he takes the high road here and wraps up a deal that is both reasonable for his team and will set his family up for generations to come. I have no doubt that he is genuine when he says he hopes to stay a Cardinal for the rest of his career. I just hope that his actions speak as loud as his words.