The deadline for an extension between Albert Pujols and the Cardinals is nearly upon us and the sides don't appear to be making much progress in advance of Wednesday's deadline. As tempting as it is to start imagining the three-time MVP in a Royals cap or an Orioles jersey, that's probably premature. If you ask Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, talk of the deadline is overblown because the sides could decide to push it forward. Here's the latest on the Cardinals and their star first baseman, with the latest updates up top:
- ESPN.com's Buster Olney agrees: there has been no recent progress (Twitter link).
- One observer tells Jon Heyman of SI.com that the Cardinals and Pujols are "speaking two different languages'' and not close to a deal. By all accounts, the sides have lots of work to do, according to Heyman.
- It looks like a Pujols extension is less likely than Mark McGwire playing this year, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter).
- Matt Holliday said on ESPN Radio that he would consider deferring part of his contract if it meant the Cardinals could extend Pujols. But Holliday tells MLB.com's Matthew Leach that the suggestion was "very hypothetical" and that the Cardinals haven't brought up the idea of deferring money.
“speaking two different languages”
No wonder they are having difficulties! Albert is speaking spanish while the cards are speaking English!
Problem solved!
No. Just, no.
Though sadly expected.
No, No No, Superman no here…(this reference may be a little to recent for the crowd on this site)
Maybe pujols needs more lemon pledge?
“Your offer is embarrassing!”
“No. Mi esposa no esta embarazada!”
hahaha great post!!!
The Yankees will probably sign him next year as their DH.
Trade him to Boston for Lester and A-Gon now
I don’t think any is imagining him in a Royals cap.
or an O’s cap…
Speak for yourself. It would be nice to bring the “local” boy back to KC. It’s obviously never going to happen, but I think every Royals fan can imagine that.
I heard McGwire might come back to help the Cards this season.
/hopeful cardinals fan’d
*insert juicing joke*
*insert laugh*
*inserted :)*
giggity
I see him playing in the AL West next season if the Cards cant come to terms soon
Nice to hear that from Holliday. He’ll represent the Cardinals well when he’s the face of the franchise next year.
Looks like they should of kept Brett Wallace around
Why? He’s not going to be the player they thought he was.
Probably not. His defense is looking pretty bad in Houston.
Brett Wallace is a fat kid
So is Prince Fielder. Whats your point?
ahhh… Prince Fielder hits home runs
Cards have another nice first base prospect in the farm. so who cares about wallace
Like your name, man where is the ihatejoebuck guy? Anyways about Holliday, sounds like he has a bit of a guilty conscience and knows his deal is the reason they can’t keep Pujols.
The idiot front office are the ones that signed him. They should have stood pat until Pujols was signed.
Observer? What is that? Some lip-reader w/binoculars on a ladder outside the conference room? Magical ‘observers’ and ‘sources.’ BS.
What, you don’t watch Fringe? The Observers are those hairless weird guys watching important events.
I thought that was the Fantastic 4 dude, the watcher….
I thought they were the ones who watch the immortals in Highlander!
Yea Im getting tired of these posts. They observed something in their dreams and sent it to the editor
Deferring Hollidays contract??? What? It is already deferred till 2029. How long does Holliday want the Cards to pay him. Ha
Guess the Cards can pay him 1 million a year for 120 years if it means keeping Pujols.
I’m as big a Cardinal fan as they come and it just blows my mind to think of the possibility of Albert Pujols not being a Cardinal. What could St. Louis be thinking during this negotiation? I know we have the funds to sign AP, we just need to pay the man whatever he wants. John Mozeliak is going to be fired sooooo fast if AP isn’t in a STL uniform in 2012, but that won’t come close to justifying the hit on the organization without Pujols. GET IT DONE ALREADY!
Why would Mozeliak be fired? If the Card’s aren’t budging its certainly DeWitt making that call, not Mo.
Well, maybe you’re not familiar with the responsibilities of a General Manager, but they are primarily responsible for club transactions and signing contracts. And I can guarantee DeWitt will have a lot of pressure on him if they don’t sign Pujols and given he owns the team, he can’t exactly fire himself.
The GM can’t sign anybody without money from the owners. If the money was there then Pujols would be signed already.
No. If they don’t extend Pujols, its because DeWitt didn’t want to spend the money, not because of a failure on Mozeliak’s part. He recently signed Mo to an extension, as well, so its fair to assume his job is safe for a while.
What could St. Louis be thinking, you ask. Albert supposedly wants 10 years, $300 million, so perhaps they are thinking that 10 years is too long of a contract. Maybe they are thinking that $300 million is too much money for one player (if that’s what Albert wants).
I want him to stay, of course. However, in my opinion, 8 years, $240 mil is the highest they should go. And even that will put a lot of pressure on them to develop young, cheap talent around Albert to stay competitive.
8 years $275million and he is worth more just not till he is 42
I’m all for paying players what they are worth, but Pujols is not worth 8 years and 275 million, I’m sorry but this guy does not transcend the game of baseball like Jordan did basketball or Tiger did to golf (for a while).
What? he doesnt even play on a nationalized market and he transcends more than you could dream of.
So what would you call winning the decade triple crown and hitting more HR than anyone in their first 10 years in the bigs? He may not own the sport like Jordan & Tiger did, but he is hands down the best player in the game currently.
I completely agree with Cosworth and fasfsfadfaa. Amen_Ra, you have lost your mind! Pujols has done more for baseball than the single season home run chases of the late 90’s(which was important because it put fans back into stadiums after the strike). He is the face of the MLB!
The Cardinals didn’t become such a successful franchise by making bad business decisions. By the end of this year, Pujols will have hit around 450 HR and driven in 1360 or so runs in a Cardinal uniform. That’s more than Griffey had as a Mariner and frankly, Griffey will always be seen as a Mariner by most as will Pujols be a Cardinal wherever he ends up.
Pujols has something to lose too. Great players so tied to one franchise that later in their careers follow the money, lose luster. Just ask Brett Favre.
I agree.. with the success Pujols has had in St. Louis and being picked out of the 13th round, I wouldn’t want to mess that up. Might be a little superstitious here but if I were Pujols Id prob be thinking Im a lucky dude while playing in STL.
I think it’s the other way around.
The Cardinals are lucky they got one of the best hitters of all time in the 13th round.
comparing Pujols to Brett Favre is crazy. he played 16 out of 19 of his seasons in GB and then left at age 39 which is extremely old for a QB in the NFL. thats like the equivalent of Pujols being a 45 year old 1B.
the comparison between Griffey and Pujols is better but I think that is skewed because of how many injury plagued seasons Griffey had in Cincy. I hardly see Pujols having a similar career as Grif going forward when he is playing a pretty safe position in 1b.
Everything I’ve read suggests the Cardinals are only willing to go 8 years and Pujols is talking 10. Those 2 extra years would make the Favre situation comparable. You also have a situation where a player (Pujols) is counting on his brand being bigger than that of the team, just as Favre did to try and manipulate his situation.
An 8 year deal would take Pujols to age 40. Even though he plays 1B, there’s still significant risk he could turn into a guy better suited to DH and the last I checked there is no DH in the NL.
Though it would never be said publicly, I think Berkman has always been the safety net for Pujols walking. Before everybody goes, off, I know Berkman is no Pujols, but as far as “affordable” first basemen go…….then you spend the money on other pieces. Like keeping Yadi, etc.
The Cards should have signed him for more than one season…
I think the safety net here is Holliday.
Offensively yes. Position wise, no.
I’m already starting to wonder where Mark Teixiera can move in the infield.
thats because you’re an asshat
Thanks for your salient contribution, poo-poo face.
🙂
Fantasy_Theo…. am I doing it right??
thatta boy!! Now you seem nice. lol dang it I litterally laughed out loud when I saw this!
Albert Pulls Hoes is not coming to NY.
ZING!!!!!!!!
No he can’t. He played 3rd when called up but that’s where A-Rod is. Can’t play SS(although neither can the current Yankees SS) and isn’t displacing Cano. The only way Pujols joins the Yankees is if either Pujols or Teixiera move to DH. Neither would do that and that would be one HECK of an expensive DH.
ARod to DH to baby his hip, Tex to 3rd, Al at 1st?
Not happening. Adding Pujols pushed the Yanks payroll up to $220 w/o making a single upgrade to the rotation. Yanks simply don’t need offense that badly to commit another $250-$300 to one player. That’s another reason why hanging on to Montero would be a bonus to the Yanks. If his bat is real then he can negate the need for another $150 mil non-pitcher.
Yeah, I would tend to agree with you but I would never say never with the Yankees’ resources. If you guys finish 4th in the division this year (which would be a miracle in itself) I could see Albert wearing pinstripes the next year.
Come on, Tex is getting paid 140 million for 6 more years, why wouldn’t the Cards just give a little more, the reporters are churning this out as if Albert is this money hungry monster, you think the Cards are offering him peanuts? this is obviously over the number of years and not dollars so enjoy Tex in NY, he isn’t going to play for anyone else again.
Or at least not to the Yanks.
Albert on the east coast wearing orange… splooge.
All the Cards need to do is offer 7 years 210,000,000 (man thats a lot of digits) to get it done. Win Win, Pujols gets his 30mil a year, Cards get their franchisee for the 7 years there not willing to pass.
Then, at age 38 he can go be a DH in New York or wherever
He already said he wants 10 yrs
Ya.. thats a starting point. When you negotiate, you shoot for the stars.
If Pujols said he wanted 7 years, Cards would offer 5 and hope to meet in the middle.
Cardinals have an amazing track record for signing/extending players.
As much as I hate Buster Onley, he stated today that most baseball writers believe that the Cards will work something out.
I believe the Cards could of offered something like that already, but for some reason Albert wants 10 years and if he gets 10 years the Cards probably don’t want to give him a full no trade clause, and so I believe that’s why they are “so far apart”, they both won’t see eye to eye business wise, plus I doubt it was for 30 million he was probably offered 28 over 7 years, still a lot of cheese.
Sure would be nice to have that 7/120M thoroughly wasted on Holliday back last year wouldn’t it Cardinals fans?
maybe he doesn’t even consider staying if Matt isn’t on the team
^ Whatever helps you sleep at night and ease that tummy ache…haha
I was just playing devils advocate and speaking hypothetically. . thanks for coming out .
Hey no problem buddy
I agree. I think Albert would be even more likely to walk without the acquisition of Holliday or someone that would have cost the same money. His concern has always been, what is the team doing to get better. I think Pujols, like most of us, know that the Cardinals have more money to spend then they like to say.
I think the Yearly salary is on point, but the Cards just dont want to get in to a 8, 9, 10 year contract… I dont blame them necessarily
Moron,
The Holliday was a good one, esp when you look at Werth and Crawford’s deals. This Pujols contract didn’t sneak up on anyone and one of the reasons the Cardinals signed Holliday was Pujols repeated statements about wanting to know the Cards would have the pieces to stay competitive when he signs a long term deal. Few players in baseball have been as productive and as consistent as Holliday.
Dear Paul,
Thanks for the vote of confidence. The truth is, man to man, we really screwed the pooch on this one. No way should we have given $17 mil per to Holliday before taking care of Al. So, hopefully we can work this out. If not, expect some cloudy days in the ‘Lou.
Seriously crapping in my pants,
John Mozeliak
Thoroughly wasted? You must be thoroughly wasted. We are fine with that WAR of 6.9, thank you; he lived up to his contract last year.
He was worth $27MM last year according to Fangraphs. The Cardinals got a bargain.
Wasted? Look at his numbers with the Cardinals at this point… So far Cardinals are winning that deal.
thoroughly wasted? Maybe you should check Matt Holliday’s season. He was quietly worth every bit of 17mil last season.
What a quality thing for Holliday to say.
Wouldn’t deferring money make the situation worse since the Cards don’t want to pay Pujols $30MM the last few years of a 10 year deal?
Albert is playing with fire, he will have no protection if he gets hurt this season, and we all know he had some issues with his elbow and shoulder….I hope he doesn’t look back at this whole mess and say 2-3 million more a year is why I didn’t sign that huge deal, it’s like the game show deal or no deal, he has the big money on the board and the bank offered him a good deal and he said NO DEAL and now has to open three brief cases, hope the big money is still on the board Albert…Because a lot of things can happen during a 162 game season, just be glad you don’t have Beltre on your team as you walk on egg shells not to get hurt while having a monster year to appeal as a FA.
Your point would stand for 99% of the players in the league.. just not this guy
Albert probably has already taken a huge policy with Lloyds of London guaranteeing future earnings.
Even if he didn’t, he’s already made enough $$$ to last him and his family for several more generations.
They are too far apart. Pujols will see his value on the FA market. If Pujols can’t get an ARod contract on the FA market, the Cards can sign him for a lower amount. That has happened before. Teams would be reluctant to give a player more than 7 years and very few teams can aford him.
There’s always the Nationals
I suspec that Albert Pujols has about 30 million a year in mind for an unknown number of years. If he is looking for a 5 year deal and then reup when he is 36 or a 10 year that will take him to retirement is beyond me. No one is worth the kind of money these men make, but if anyone is remotely close it would have to be Pujols. My question to everyone is, “who is going to give it to him other than the Cardinals?” The Yankees have Teixeira at first. Solid numbers with a constant Gold Glove. The Red Sox just got Gonzalez at first. The Phillies have Howard, the Mets are in financial turmoil. Are the Cubs an option. Truly the arch rival of the Cards and looking for anything to cure the cure the curse of the goat. I think the Cards did themselves in last year by signing Holliday to ridiculous money. I guess now only time will tell.
What about the Angels?
Pujols is the top player in baseball so he will get the most money and he deserves it. The Cards know that and will pay him either now or at the end of the season. The Cards have had along time to think about this, and they have been the best franchise in the NL, I don’t see them droping the ball on this one.