Pujols contract talks

[DuWayne Steurer]

Couple things here ........

 

The first, and most obvious question is this....... how does this affect Prince Fielder when he goes to FA next year? Drive his price up? Down?

I have no illusions, none, that he's within the Brewers realm of affordability. I see a 0% chance of him being a Brewer in 2012.

 

I'm just curious where Pujols going onto the FA market puts Prince. There's only so many teams out there with buckets of money, and most of them won't be needing a 1B/DH type.

 

Secondly, this all reinforces my feelings that Pujols is one of the biggest jerks in baseball. He demands the biggest contract in history, while at the same time making the Cardinals promise that they'll be competitive through the life of his contract. Has Albert ever heard that you can't have your cake, and eat it too?

 

I don't begrudge the guy a payday, but what he's asking for isn't reasonable or realistic, within the context of telling the Cards to be competitive when they'll have 40% of their payroll sunk into 2 players.

I guess I just get tired of the media painting him as a saint because he has photo ops at charity events. I'm a lot more impressed with athletes who take part in fund raisers or charity events in which they don't have a photographer and writer following them around, chronicling their philanthropic ways. Doesn't really strike me as genuine.

 

I hope he ends up with the Cubs, and they win no more than 70 games for his 10 year stay in that dump down on the Northside.

[burnzy24]

RoCoBrewfan[/b]]Secondly, this all reinforces my feelings that Pujols is one of the biggest jerks in baseball. He demands the biggest contract in history, while at the same time making the Cardinals promise that they'll be competitive through the life of his contract. Has Albert ever heard that you can't have your cake, and eat it too?.

I don't think he is being a jerk at all. He gave them a steal of a deal with his extension, now he wants them to return the favor and pay what he is worth. That isn't being a jerk. Also, what else is he supposed to say, "I want my money and I don't care if we aren't competitive anymore." He has made two demands, 1)$$$$$ 2) Be competitive. He is just being up front and honest to the Cards. If the Cardinals can't meet both of his demands, they are better off letting him walk. I'm sure Prince, CC, and probably Grienke when the time comes, has said or will say the exact same thing to the Brewers.

 

 

[crewcrazy]

I get the feeling that no matter what happens, the rest of the division will benefit from this. Either the Cardinals cave and end up sinking a large chunk of their payroll into Pujols and Holliday and have a hard time putting a competitive team around them, or they let him go and they don't have anyone to really step in and replace him. Outside of them signing Prince Fielder (and since he's not really the type of guy La Russa likes I don't see that happening), there aren't many quick fixes available in free agency, either.

 

It'd be interesting to see if anyone out there has an idea of what kind of payroll the St. Louis market is capable of supporting without the team finishing in the red every year. The touched $99 million in 2008, but they'd probably need to push well past that to still field a competitive team while paying both Pujols and Holliday.

[RockCoCougars]

Calling Albert a jerk is blasphemy, almost as much so as calling him an HGH user or stating that he's older than he claims. Not only is he the patron saint of baseball, he's possibly the best hitter ever......even better than Babe Ruth and Ted Williams....hey, the stats don't lie. Seriously, it would be hilarious to watch him leave St. Louis with most of the lower Mississippi delta jump off his jock.

[NievesNoNO]

I don't think there's much disputing that Albert can be in the conversation for one of the best hitters all time. He's clearly the best hitter in baseball right now and therefore expects to be paid like the best hitter. I don't buy the idea that "he gave St. Louis a discount" on his previous deal. Some of those were bought out arbitration years, so absolutely he could've made more but that's the way HE chose to go. Unfortunately king Pujols will not be the best hitter for more than 4-5 years. That's just the laws of aging, unless of course he's pulling a Barry Bonds on us. So, he likely won't be earning that 30 million dollars a year on the field. Now whether you want to dispute if he's worth that money to the team off the field I guess is another story. Personally I think that's a ploy by the agents and players for leverage; the Cards will still sell plenty merchandise with or without him. My only thing with people critizing Pujols or any player seeking mega-dollars is the owners are the ones shelling out the money for these guys. So, until somebody stops paying out these massive contracts they will keep getting bigger. As long is someone will pay it somebody will ask for it.

 

I do think this will set the bar higher for Fielder. He'll get to be the $200 million consolation prize.

[Patrick425]

I certainly hope StL doesn't give him what he wants. That would be horrible for the Brewers. We all know how well that worked out for Texas and ARod.

[milwaukeesportsfan]

Generally speaking, I'm not a big fan of the player's union, but if St. Louis ends up losing the best player in baseball because they can't afford him, that would be awesome. It would also take some of the sting out of losing our best player in the same offseason.

[RightFieldCoder]

Unless they "settle" for signing our best player.

[patrickgpe]

while i am not a professional athlete, a member of a union. nor under a contract, i just don't understand these deadlines. Players extend contracts all the time midseason (Hart just last year) and it isn't a distraction. Why Pujols or Weeks will not entertain an extension once spring training starts doesn't make sense. The games don't even count for 6 weeks. Most of the work is done between the agent and the team anyway, which means Pujols can go about his daily routine while being updated by his agent and giving input when needed. The problem is that the talks have become public for whatever reason. We know what Pujols is demanding and what the club is offering. It would be so less of a distraction if this was kept behind closed doors. Just my 2 cents.

[Patrick425]

Looks like Pujols will be a FA after this year.

 

Pujols/Cardinal talks end.

[Harold Hutchison]

Good. That actually will increase the chances of Prince staying a Brewer.

[Patrick425]

Good. That actually will increase the chances of Prince staying a Brewer.

If the chances of him before this happened staying a Brewer were 0% (which I believe is the case), then this might have increased it to 2%. The fact is that Prince is gone after this year.

 

 

[fondybrewfan]

If the Cards really only offered him 8 years at around $20M a year I hope Pujols laughed at them. That is the contract that Fielder wants/gets (Well maybe 6 years at $20M) and Prince can't hold a stick to Pujols

[JohnBriggs12]

Good. That actually will increase the chances of Prince staying a Brewer.

If the chances of him before this happened staying a Brewer were 0% (which I believe is the case), then this might have increased it to 2%. The fact is that Prince is gone after this year.

 

I'd peg the chances at about 3-5% myself but only for one year, but that's higher than the 0-1% if Pujols weren't on the market. I'm basing that on Fielder deciding it would be in his best interest to take a one year Brewer arbitration offer so he can have a free run the following year. That's not likely, but not impossible.

[RyDogg66]

Now rotoworld is reporting that the contract the Cardinals wanted Pujols to sign would have made Albert the 10th highest paid player and therefore would be between 19-21 million a year - according to Ken Rosenthal.

 

Take if for what it is worth.

[Invader3K]

If the Cards really only offered him 8 years at around $20M a year I hope Pujols laughed at them. That is the contract that Fielder wants/gets (Well maybe 6 years at $20M) and Prince can't hold a stick to Pujols

I kind of agree. $160 million is still a ton of money, but can you really justify not paying Pujols as much as Mauer, A-Rod, etc? It's not like STL couldn't afford to pay him $200 million+.

[JohnBriggs12]

If the Cards really only offered him 8 years at around $20M a year I hope Pujols laughed at them. That is the contract that Fielder wants/gets (Well maybe 6 years at $20M) and Prince can't hold a stick to Pujols

Wasn't it 8 yrs/$200 million? That would be $25 million per, same as what Howard got over 6.

[endaround]

Pujols being on the market increases the chance Fielder leaves. The Yankees would make a place for Pujols. The Red Sox might make a place for Pujols. The more teams bidding on Pujols the more likely one who looses out does something stupid like offer an insane contract to Fielder.

[nate82]

Pujols being on the market increases the chance Fielder leaves. The Yankees would make a place for Pujols. The Red Sox might make a place for Pujols. The more teams bidding on Pujols the more likely one who looses out does something stupid like offer an insane contract to Fielder.

The Red Sox will have a DH spot open next year so it is possible that the Red Sox offer Pujols a contract. I am not sure about the Yankees but if they do miss the playoffs this coming year you can bet they will be aggressive and do something stupid like this in the off season.

[MJLiverock]

I was watching CNBC this morning and they were already talking about Pujols to the Cubs in the offseason. They talked about the amount of money the Cubs could make off him and if he somehow brought a WS title to the Cubs they would make a killing not to mention the God like status he would hold forever in Chicago.

 

St. Louis has nice fan base but a guy who brings a WS to the Cubs will be stratospheric with that fan base and in terms of money generated. I know a few of my Cub fan friends are already starting the, "We are getting Pujols" talks. It may not be that far fetched, teams like the Cubs, Yankees, etc. that have access to tons of cash can afford to overpay relative to other teams because winning brings in so much more money and in the Cubs case, paying top dollar to a guy who is actually extemely good would be a step in the right direction for them. It doesn't really matter if a guy is getting $5MM or $10MM too much relative to production because that is chump change to them.

 

In years 8-10 of Pujols deal that $30MM he gets may be a $10MM-$15MM overpay relative to other players with his ability t that time but it won't matter. Even if baseball salaries are only inflating at 8% per year (a number I just randomly picked) $10MM in 10 years is only $4.6MM in today's dollars. So in today's terms a team like the Cubs can afford to overpay by $5MM at the end of guy's contract.

[RyDogg66]

I actually wouldnt mind too much if he goes to the cubs. He is already in the division. If for no other reason for the drama it would create. Plus, I love watching athletes who have more money than 99.99% of the living world and some countries destroy their legacy in the town where they made it in exchange for a few extra million a year on top of the 20-25 million per year they could have had and the 100+ million they have already earned.

[MJLiverock]

Good point RyDogg66, how would the classy Cardinal fans react to Pujols stepping to the plat in Busch wearing a Cub uniform and staring at HR before flipping the bat aside?

[The Truth]

I wouldn't mind seeing Pujols in a Cubs uniform just because I really don't want to see Prince Fielder in a Cubs uniform getting booed mercilessly at Miller Park. Pujols to the Cubs would hardly make that messed up franchise World Series contenders

[DuWayne Steurer]

Pujols to the Cubs would be to Cardinal fans what Favre to the VIkings was to Packer fans.

 

After he's gone, they'll all realize the crap he does that pisses off other teams and fan bases.

[gregmag]

I'm going to provide my ritual defense of Cards fans here. They really are friendly, engaged, and knowledgeable. I'm sure they say stupid things on sports talk radio, but everybody does; it's one of the reasons I never listen to sports talk radio anywhere. The St. Louis media types seem pretty thick and entitled, LaRussa's a world-class tool, and I'm no big fan of Albert personally, but I lived in Philly for almost a decade, and these are some great fans in St. Louis. Of course they love Albert -- what, you wouldn't love him if he played for the Brewers? St. Louis reminds me more than any other place I've lived of Milwaukee. People here are pretty down to earth, and they work hard. I'll be bummed for them when they lose their star player to New York or Chicago, just like I was bummed for us when we lost Molitor.