Pujols likes money.

[sangar]

This guy says Pujols wants 300m by this Wednesday or he is finished with the Cardinals.

http://www.nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/14400754?pg=4#spt_trash_talk

[4TheO's]

funny...players and the Union are soon going to be pricing themselves out.....if he wants this type of deal what teams can afford him then?...that's right only a hand full and 3 of them (Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies) already have a 1b...(but Whitlock on ESPN is stating that a blockbuster deal between 1 of them could be in the works :rolleyestf:)

[Dipper9]

funny...players and the Union are soon going to be pricing themselves out.....if he wants this type of deal what teams can afford him then?...that's right only a hand full and 3 of them (Yankees' date=' Red Sox, Phillies) already have a 1b...(but Whitlock on ESPN is stating that a blockbuster deal between 1 of them could be in the works :rolleyestf:)[/quote']

Cunningham threw this out there yesterday....

Tex to the Cards for Pujols, Yanks extend Pujols.

If I'm the Cards, why pay Tex 25 million if you can just get Albert for another 5?

If I'm Tex, I am angry I didn't sign with the black and orange Birds.

If I'm Albert....well....I'm a happy man!

[srock]

Albert has the Cardinals by the balls. They can't NOT sign him. The organization needs Albert Pujols more then Albert Pujols needs the Cardinals.

If they lose him, the Cardinals will lose their place among baseball's elite organizations. You can argue all you want about how winning will keep everyone happy and no one player can ensure winning, etc, etc. But we saw what happened to the Orioles when the 'the Orioles Way' was lost. Would you rather win like Angelos did in the mid 90's or keep the Orioles of the 70's afloat?

This is they type of loss the Cardinals put at risk if they lose Albert. It isn't an insurmountable task, but it is very risky. I think they pony up the money.

[JTrea81]

Cunningham threw this out there yesterday....

Tex to the Cards for Pujols, Yanks extend Pujols.

If I'm the Cards, why pay Tex 25 million if you can just get Albert for another 5?

If I'm Tex, I am angry I didn't sign with the black and orange Birds.

If I'm Albert....well....I'm a happy man!

Or the Yankees can just sign Pujols and trade Teixeira next offseason when he'll only have 5/112.5 left on his deal.

[Frobby]

Putting aside the fact that the Cardinals are not the Yankees, and the fact that there's probably not going to be a team that can afford to meet Pujols' demands, let me ask a more basic question:

At the end of 2011, will Albert Pujols be worth more going forward than Alex Rodriguez was worth at the end of the 2007 season?

For the last 10 years, Pujols has been worth about 8.4 WAR per season, including 7.2 last year. He will be 32 years old in his first season under his new deal.

For the 10 years prior to and including 2007, ARod was worth about 7.6 WAR per season, including a career high 9.9 in 2007. He also was 32 years old in the first season under his new deal.

I guess it is arguable that Pujols has about 10% more value than ARod, and if ARod got 10/$275 mm, then 10/$300 mm for Pujols is fair. So, I have to go back to the first sentence - the Cardinals are not the Yankees, and neither is anybody else. The ARod deal (the one he signed in 2007) is looking pretty stupid right now, as ARod has averaged only 4.1 WAR per season, dropping each year, and is now 35 years old. Maybe the Yankees can afford to be that stupid, but other teams can't. I don't see Pujols getting a contact that exceeds ARod's, or even one that matches it.

[waroriole]

I don't think the MFY are going to be able to sign him. Sure they have the money, but how would it look if they have 2 guys with contracts over 250M? That's going to set off alarms, and the MFY know that. The Cardinals are probably being smart here. They know what he can get on the open market, and aren't going to cave in to absurd demands like 10/300.

[Jimbo81]

The Cubbies

[Dipper9]

Wow, just heard that Albert declined a 8/200 offer from the Cards.

Not sure who else is going to give him $25 million/year, much less the $30 he is seeking, but he should have taken that deal and sealed his Hall of Fame status in St. Louis.

[MikeAD]

Wow, just heard that Albert declined a 8/200 offer from the Cards.

Not sure who else is going to give him $25 million/year, much less the $30 he is seeking, but he should have taken that deal and sealed his Hall of Fame status in St. Louis.

Hes under a lot of pressure to sign the deal for the most money. I know there isn't other offers now so this offer for extension is the "best" offer, but this is less than what the union says is his market value. Cliff Lee just signed for "less" money to go to Philly, they can't have that back to back (in their mind).

And Hall of Fame? If he retired today he would be in the hall of fame.

[4TheO's]

add to it AP wants a 10yr deal....not to many teams are going to give him that many yrs ...8 yrs that the Cards supposely just offered will be about it imho.......

[JDubs]

Wow. I can't imagine being so good at something that I could feel justified in demanding $300 million. That must be a nice feeling.

Still, Pujols is 31. He has been one of the best hitters in baseball history, but they already paid him for that. This contract will be for the next 10 years (he'll be 41!). I feel very confident that he will not be worth $300 million over the next 10 years. The Cards are not the Cavs. They can let him go and still field a quality team. And also, they have knowledgeable and loyal fans that will not bail on the team simply because they made a fiscal decision to let Pujols walk.

[Lateralus]

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[El Gordo]

Wow, just heard that Albert declined a 8/200 offer from the Cards.

Not sure who else is going to give him $25 million/year, much less the $30 he is seeking, but he should have taken that deal and sealed his Hall of Fame status in St. Louis.

Rosenthal says the Cards offer was between 19 MM and 21 MM per. If that's true, I don't blame him. He'll get more than that on the FA market.

[Sports Guy]

If I were a Cards fan, I would be pissed.

I just saw on ESPN that the offer to Albert was not even in the top 5 in terms of annual salary.

They offered somewhere between 19-23 million a year. They have known this was coming for a while now and that is the best they could do?

That's pretty bad IMO.