Bob Nightengale has a fantastic story up at USA Today that provides a timeline of the negotiations involving Albert Pujols and a handful of clubs at the Winter Meetings. The must-read piece includes word that Pujols' contract could be worth as much as $280MM with incentives. Here are the other highlights:
- When Dodgers manager Don Mattingly spoke to Pujols last weekend, he sensed Pujols wasn't entirely happy with the Cardinals: "You could just sense something was wrong. He was getting frustrated by it."
- The Marlins were "relentless," increasing their offer to Pujols multiple times until it reached $275MM. They expected to leave Dallas having signed Pujols, but never offered the no-trade clause he wanted.
- A mystery team (not the Angels) stepped in on Monday and offered Pujols ten years and $225MM. This mystery club "refuses to be publicly identified," writes Nightengale.
- On Tuesday, the Cardinals offered a nine-year, $210MM deal with a tenth-year vesting option. At around this time, the Marlins were eliminated from the mix (whether by Pujols or the team), narrowing the decision to the Cards and the mystery team.
- Late Tuesday, Angels GM Jerry Dipoto called agent Dan Lozano to talk Pujols. Early Wednesday morning, the Halos offered a ten-year deal worth about $250MM.
- As of Wednesday night, Lozano expected Pujols to mull the decision for a few days, but the slugger called him early this morning to accept the Angels' offer.
I just want to know who the mystery team was!!!
They say it was Cubbies,,Who knows
They don’t have an established 1B…could be Red Sox, Yankees, or Phillies.
My money is that the Phillies tried to trade Howard, didn’t get any bites because of his contract, Down year, and injury, and now don’t want to admit it so that Ryan doesn’t find out and get upset with management. That would just be my guess.
Doubt it.
I’m sure they considered it. I doubt they were the mystery team though.
It’s got to be some big market team though, a big market team with a veteran first baseman, and there’s few of those.
Sounds like the best one..Guess if it is them we will never know
Sounds like the best one..Guess if it is them we will never know
Why would the Cubs be adamant about wanting to remain anonymous?
idk i never said it was or that it was my guess..Just said i read people say that they think it was Cubs
idk i never said it was or that it was my guess..Just said i read people say that they think it was Cubs
it was the marlins calling from a blocked number
It was The Scott Boras pretending to be an MLB General Manager with the hopes of driving clubs off Pujols and into the Fielder sweepstakes.
Brewers? Maybe they didn’t want to offend Fielder?
I was thinking that actually… Why else would you want to be anonymous unless you were trying to not offend a current player, or a past player? Not to mention there are reports they are willing to pay prince quite a chunk as well.
Brewers can’t even afford Prince. No shot
you may have a point.. and right before Albert signed we all saw weird rumors of “Brewers think Rollins will sign with Philly” like they were really waiting to see what happens.. Rollins and Pujols share agents
I was thinking that actually… Why else would you want to be anonymous unless you were trying to not offend a current player, or a past player? Not to mention there are reports they are willing to pay prince quite a chunk as well.
I say it was the Pirates!
I say it was an AL Central Team.
The “contenders” in the Central all have established first basemen (Cabrera, Konerko, Morneau), so I don’t think they would offer Pujols a contract. I very much doubt the Royals or Indians would offer anything.
That’s the point. The Mystery Team was a team with a veteran first baseman that was looking to trade him.
If it was, the only plausible team would have been Detroit.
And I can’t see them having three players making 20M, especially when one of those would have to change positions
I was thinking Detroit too. Get the ticking timebomb of Cabrera off the squad and upgrade some positions by trading him and sign Pujols and dominate your division until the Royals mature. Best hitter + Best pitcher= Best of both worlds.
lol this post is hilarious.
Last 3 years wOBA
Cabrera, .402, .429, .436
Pujols .449, .420. .385
Given the fact that Miggy is 3 years younger, and cheaper both in terms of AAV and length (2015/ age 32) There is just no way that it was the tigers. Miggy is one of very few 1B that moving forward Pujols wouldn’t be an upgrade over. (or at the very least not enough of an upgrade to justify the extra 150 million investment)
lol this post is hilarious.
Last 3 years wOBA
Cabrera, .402, .429, .436
Pujols .449, .420. .385
Given the fact that Miggy is 3 years younger, and cheaper both in terms of AAV and length (2015/ age 32) There is just no way that it was the tigers. Miggy is one of very few 1B that moving forward Pujols wouldn’t be an upgrade over. (or at the very least not enough of an upgrade to justify the extra 150 million investment)
im thinking it was the cubs. and they don’t want to be identified because theo is trying to stay under the radar, already claiming “they don’t have the cash for fielder.” im willing to bet they make a push for fielder here soon
It was already well publicized that they have been in talks with Pujols. Cat was out the bag.
The Pirates
This is not a good thing for the Rangers. Angels could be real competitors this year. Im kind of worried.
Why? I’m not. In JD and Ryan we trust.
Why? I’m not. In JD and Ryan we trust.
Dan Lozano
Dan Lozano
It was the Hiroshima Carp
It was the Hiroshima Carp
i say it was the dodgers. seems kinda obvious since mattingly was talking to pujols
Dodgers, but they don’t want fans to know because they supposively “don’t have money” but Albert is a tremendous marketing figure that would had increased Dodgers sell for a number of reasons.
But now that they have missed out, they don’t want their name out there and gets fans excited that they have that kind of money and should spend it on Prince Fielder
Again all he wanted was a no trade Clause but i got people telling me no it was for the money..If Cards offered a no trade clause he would still be a Cardinal
It doesn’t say we didn’t. I think we did.
He already had 10-5 rights. No real need for the Cardinals to add a
NTC?
He had 10-5 rights with the Cardinals. No need for a no trade clause.
They didn’t have to offer him one. He had 10/5 rights.
All he wanted from the Cardinals was respect. They low balled him last year and took a chance that retiring as a Cardinal meant more to him that the money. They gambled wrong.
I forgot about the 10/5 rule thanks for reminding me…But still wasn’t for the money then? if it was he would have gone to Miami am i right?..Or if Miami offered a no-trade he would have gone
He’d be a Marlin if they gave him a no trade clause.
Thank goodness he’s not. While his numbers are middle of the road against the Phillies (for his standards, think a .279 batting average) I really didn’t want to face him 18 times a year.
Did not low ball… They just did not think he was worth the money. Won’t know if they were wrong for years to come.
Isn’t that the definition of low-balling? Offering less money than what the market dictates for his value? There were three teams offering more money than the Cards so they definitely low-balled him.
I’m talking more about their offers to him last off season. By most reports they weren’t even close to the offer they had on the table this year.
I don’t call a 9 year 210 Million $$$$ a low balll. I don’t what someone else pays him.
It’s all relative, John. When someone else is offering 10/$275 guess what?
9/$210 is a low ball….especially in light of what AP has already done for that organization.
They pulled the same stuff when Renteria bolted to Boston back in ’05.
Because they’re the CARDINALS, their final offer is still always less than the others.
I don’t call a 9 year 210 Million $$$$ a low balll. I don’t what someone else pays him.
That’s disrespecting him though. If they didn’t think he was worth the money, they wouldn’t have offered him $220 million this year or whatever it ended up being.
I think anybody who thinks Pujols was being greedy or whatever (not you obviously) is off base because I don’t believe his first choice was to leave. He wanted a fair offer from the Cardinals but they refused to do so last year.
Last off season they completely disrespected him by offering him less than Ryan Howard and Texiera. Both good players but not Albert Pujols level.
If they gave him that 9 year $210 million dollar deal last off season, I’m sure he’d have signed it last year.
He wanted 10 years 300 million last off season. And I don’t consider 9 years 210 million a low ball offer to a guy coming off of his worst 2 seasons. I wish him well though.
That wasn’t what they offered him last season, that was their final offer this year.
That wasn’t what they offered him last season, that was their final offer this year.
Cardinals are still a small market, they can’t afford to offer a guy 10 years 220 million without anybody bidding against them. It could destroy a franchise like St. Louis for years, we were fooled into believing he really wanted to win, with quotes like this “People from other teams want
to play in St. Louis and they’re jealous that we’re in St. Louis
because the fans are unbelievable. So why would you want to leave a
place like St. Louis to go somewhere else and make $3 or $4 more million
a year? It’s not about the money. I already got my money. It’s about
winning and that’s it. It’s about accomplishing my goal and my goal is
to try to win.” when in the end, he was upset they gave Holliday so much money, to protect him in the lineup. and we made the mistake of thinking winning a world series qualified as being a winning team, I guess to Albert “winning” is better defined by Charlie Sheen than it is Championships, and Success is measured in dollars, not statistics. He demanded to have a good team around him, yet expected the Cardinals to dedicate 25 million dollars a season to him for 10 years and still remain competitive. He’s crazy, I wanted him to stay, but after today, and being able to really consider the implications upon the Cardinals that a 10 year 250 million contract would have would be terrible for the Cardinals. We are better off now than we were yesterday, this circus is over, we still have 2 ace pitchers, a solid bullpen and are still the most dangerous team in our division with 18 million dollars or so freed up for the right opportunity later.
Maybe if they didn’t have all this money tied up in Holliday, Carpenter, etc. they’d be able to sign Pujols.
Either way, they’re lucky they won the WS this year…with Albert gone and Rasmus gone…they’ll probably be waiting awhile
Rasmus? trading Rasmus was the reason we won the World Series, he was a cancer in the clubhouse and we got Scrabble, Dotel and Jackson by getting rid of him.
I’m not convinced we aren’t still the best team in the Central Division. Berkman and Holliday are pretty good middle of the order guys.
Pujols can’t win a world series by himself, in fact, Carpenter and David Freese are more responsible for winning it than Pujols was. You win with a good team, Carpenter and Holliday are part of that. Pujols was more interested in having the biggest contract at the expense of the team… good riddance.
ugh do you actually believe that crap??
Cards did not win the world series because of rzp, dotel, and jackson
they won because of carpenter, pujols, freese, berkman and holliday.
give it a rest.
yes, I do believe this crap because they were horrible until Mo. re did the bullpen, Miller, Franklin and Bautista were responsible for most of the runs our bullpen allowed, replacing Miller with scrabble and adding dotel and another starter in Jackson were essential to making the playoffs.
making the playoffs maybe, braves collapse didn’t hurt either..
but your post only makes sense if trading Colby was the only way you could have improved your bullpen. Chances are it wasn’t.
I don’t want to get in to who won the trade, because the cards won the world series and thats forever..
but attributing it solely to that trade and the players involved is just plain silly
I don’t care who won the trade, if Rasmus does turn out to be an all star, good for Toronto, I’ll still consider it a good trade because of the end result, that trade fit our needs, Rasmus was becoming unpopular and had issues between himself, his dad and LaRussa that were a distraction. the key to the thing was Scrabble, Rezpechisfiskei whatever you want to call him, he’s under our control for at least 2 more years, is a quality left handed relief pitcher and possible starter later on down the road.
he’s actually under control for 4 more years. but ok
making the playoffs maybe, braves collapse didn’t hurt either..
but your post only makes sense if trading Colby was the only way you could have improved your bullpen. Chances are it wasn’t.
I don’t want to get in to who won the trade, because the cards won the world series and thats forever..
but attributing it solely to that trade and the players involved is just plain silly
LOL.
You won because of Dotel, Zep and Jackson?
WOW, I can’t stop laughing.
You guys won the WS because of 2 mediocre relievers and a #3 starter.
ROFL.
What about Chris Carpenter? What about Pujols’ awesome postseason run? What about Freese?
Give it a break dude, you are delusional.
Dotel and Zep had negative WAR during postseason just so that you know.
You don’t get to the world series if you don’t make it to the playoffs, we didn’t make the playoffs without improving the bullpen, once you get to the playoffs its anybody’s game, which ever team plays the best, until the end and you get unlikely stars just like David Freese. But had the Cardinals NOT made the Rasmus trade, they would have not won the world series.
You don’t get to the world series if you don’t make it to the playoffs, we didn’t make the playoffs without improving the bullpen, once you get to the playoffs its anybody’s game, which ever team plays the best, until the end and you get unlikely stars just like David Freese. But had the Cardinals NOT made the Rasmus trade, they would have not won the world series.
Are you serious about Rasmus? Trading Rasmum the key move to winning the WS this year. Look what he did with Toronto…NOTHING. Dumping Rasmus was a positive thing. Wainwright comes back this year. If Fielder leaves MIL, the Central is still the Cards to lose. And with their starting starting, they could still be dangerous in the post season.
omg he did nothing in 120 PA geeze!
thank heavens you have an ample sample size or else you would just look plain silly
ROFL
You are delusional, Rasmus barely got any at with Jays.
Your right.. Rasmus was a problem in the clubhouse, he needed to be moved, he was loaded with talent, but the drive wasn’t there, he had enough value to get what we really needed which was another starter and bullpen help.
Yes, trading Rasmus helped last season. But, with the loss of most of the players you got for him, along with Pujols gone…it would have been nice to have him in the order for a couple of years.
He can win a World Series with the Angels, I mean, it’s not like he’s signing with the Astros.
Every player says that about their fans. Roy Halladay said he loved it in Toronto, loved the fans. Now that he’s in Philly he says things like “It’s the greatest atmosphere I’ve ever pitched in.”
Just because he left doesn’t mean what he said wasn’t genuine.
clearly the case, and a complete fraud, and now he’s gone and we still have an excellent team.
It’s business. Albert Pujols is anything but a fraud.
Trying to act like you know more about Pujols than a Cardinal fan is laughable. Baseball maybe,,, Albert. Not a chance.
I don’t see anything in his history that makes him a fraud but whatever. I’m sure he loves St. Louis. You’re right. I don’t know as much about him as you guys do, but the perception I’ve always had of him is that he’s a straight shooter and a hall of famer off the field.
In fact, he’s a guy I’ve admired for a long time because of his character.
No, he doesn’t, he took out his little temper tantrum with managment on the entire city, he can go to LA and take his stupid statue of himself with him.
He doesn’t owe anything to the City. He gave you guys the best 11 years, arguably, that any player has given his team.
He wanted to be paid fairly and didn’t want to sign for the low ball offer the Cardinals gave him last off season. The Cardinals didn’t get serious with him until Mami swooped in.
No one person should ever base their decision on what 2 million people think is best for them. (with some exceptions).
Trying to act like you know more about Pujols than a Cardinal fan is laughable. Baseball maybe,,, Albert. Not a chance.
It’s business. Albert Pujols is anything but a fraud.
I would think Philly would be a great atmoshphere.
$207M in revenue is not small market. the angels reported $222M in revenue last year
if ~$210M is small market, there are like 23 small market teams in the MLB
The Cardinals are a small market team.
if it’s only a geographical/population reference, that is a meaningless label in this discussion. they are one of the top 10 most valuable franchises in baseball and report greater revenues than several ‘larger markets’
if it’s only a geographical/population reference, that is a meaningless label in this discussion. they are one of the top 10 most valuable franchises in baseball and report greater revenues than several ‘larger markets’
*mid market
Tampa Bay and Oakland are small markets.
*mid market
Tampa Bay and Oakland are small markets.
The Cardinals are a small market team.
never heard market size based on revenue… based market size on the size of the market before…
can you tell me why market size matters without talking about revenues?
even if you could, your reference to market size was linked directly to the affordability of pujols’ contract, which is entirely about revenues
We don’t get the TV deals that you get in New York or Los Angeles, because we don’t play in a big market, The Greater St. Louis Area is less than 3 million people, and perhaps another million in southern Illinois and the rest of Missouri (except Kansas City/St. Joseph) we don’t have 12 million people in our market like the Yankees, or 9 million or whatever the population of Los Angeles is. If St. Louis had 6 million people, we’d have more revenue.
so the answer to my question is “no”
money from tv deals is counted in the figures above. as of 2011, the cardinals were only ~$15M ‘poorer’ than the angels in terms of revenues and their world series run since that time certainly didn’t hurt
i understand you want to make something of the larger
capacity for revenues that a larger market could theoretically have, but you really can’t until it materializes
one reason (among many) is that geographical and population figures don’t tell the whole story: the people of STL will spend much more on baseball than the people of TB, for example. it doesn’t break down to more people = more money
and to reiterate, the money is all that matters here at the end of the day. it’s the only reason the “market size” issue comes up
You’re missing his point. Based on REVENUE the Cards are a NOT a small market team. They brought in more in revenue last year than the Tigers (by $15 mil), Blue Jays ($39 mil), Texas ($1 mil), Atlanta ($6 mil), Astros ($10 mil), Orioles ($37 mil) and Nationals ($13 mil).
I get that, but we aren’t a market that can pay 254 million dollars to a player over 10 years, other teams can get away with it, we don’t. I’m not going to blame ownership for this one, Albert was asking an unreasonable amount from this team, in this market even with this revenue.
I’m not arguing they SHOULD but the fact is that the Angels DID and they only took in $15 mil more in revenue than the Cards. So in essence, while it makes bad business sense to do it, the CAPACITY for them TO do it exists.
We don’t get the TV deals that you get in New York or Los Angeles, because we don’t play in a big market, The Greater St. Louis Area is less than 3 million people, and perhaps another million in southern Illinois and the rest of Missouri (except Kansas City/St. Joseph) we don’t have 12 million people in our market like the Yankees, or 9 million or whatever the population of Los Angeles is. If St. Louis had 6 million people, we’d have more revenue.
never heard market size based on revenue… based market size on the size of the market before…
So what you all are saying is that he had 10-5 rights, correct? Or am I reading it wrong?
I seriously doubt that. No seriously.
Nah after seeing all these comments i’m still strong about what i said (SARCASM)
Nah after seeing all these comments i’m still strong about what i said (SARCASM)
Marlins didn’t, the others did….But Marlins bid was the highest
Marlins didn’t, the others did….But Marlins bid was the highest
Thanks for 11 awesome years Albert. Enjoy LA and we’ll see ya when you’re ready for the hall.
For the Cardinals, it’s time for a fresh start. A new manager, a new face of the franchise, a new time. Still a lot of work to be done to keep the team on top. I have faith we’ll still be right in the hunt for years to come.
Great post. It’s nice to see posts from some of the real Cards fans rather than posts like JT made earlier since St. Louis is supposed to be among the best cities for baseball fans.
I’m a life long Cardinal fan for over 50 years. My first baseball game I got to see Stan Musial play. I wish Albert the best and want to thank him for the many years of enjoyment he gave this Cards fan. While it hurts to see him gone, in the end it will be for the best for the Cardinal organization, they could not have fielded a competitive team and paid him his worth. The Cards will be just fine and I look forward to seeing more world championships for them in my lifetime.
The worst thing to happen to us so far is Allen Craig’s knee, Pujols committing treason just freed up 20 million dollars or so.
I sincerely hope you aren’t saying Holliday will be the new face of the franchise. If so, we’re screwed.
What in my post indicated Holliday being the face of the franchise?
Nothing–that’s why I said “I hope you aren’t implying Holliday is the guy.” Don’t be so defensive.
David Freese. Duh!
Wainwright. As an outsider is who I’d consider to be the guy I think of when I think of the Cardinals now.
David Freese. Duh!
That was a good read. Very informative.
I just love how he went on and on about playing for a winner, wanting to be in the WS, so what does he do? He signs with the club that traded the would-be WS MVP for a bag of balls, then paid for the bag of balls, and played a guy who hit below the Mendoza line almost every day… Doesn’t seem to fit.
You don’t think the Angels are contenders? They’ve got just as much a shot to win the AL West next year as the Cards do of winning the NL Central.
as of today, they probably have better
Lmao. The Angels have a better chance of a WS next year than the Cards do. The Cards just got hot at the right time. There were plenty of teams that were better than the cards over 162 games, just not at the right time… I know that’s all that matters, but they were not the best team overall.
I was trying to be generous to the Cards to offend people less. :/
#11 doesn’t care what you think. Everyone wrote the Cards off last year when Wainwright went down. I have no problem with everyone doing the same because Pujols is gone.
Ok? It’s not like either of them is a lock to make it to the playoffs next year.
Most people counted them out because they didn’t think the Braves would be as bad as they were down the stretch and the Cardinals were coming off a disappointing season.
I think if Wainwright stayed healthy, they probably would’ve won that division.
Idk can you definitively say there’s a team that’s better than them in that division?
The Reds maybe the best team but their pitching is inconsistent.
The Cardinals were a playoff contender going into Spring Training, but they lost their ace. They did have some luck with the Braves getting decimated by injuries (Jurjens, Hanson notably) but really, if Wainwright doesn’t get hurt, they probably win the division.
The Cardinals have got hot at the right time 11 times….. every team that wins a World Series is hot at the right time. LOL
Yeah, and the past two times they have been arguably the worst teams to ever win it all. PERIOD.
The Cardinals have got hot at the right time 11 times….. every team that wins a World Series is hot at the right time. LOL
It would make sense if the mystery team was a small-market team like my Indians. They have a glaring hole at first and a need for a right-handed power bat and it makes sense that they wouldn’t want anyone to know they had made an offer. That way, they don’t have to explain how they have money for Pujols, but no money to offer anyone else.
The fact that Tim left off this post is that the Mystery Team had an established first baseman already in the back of their Mystery Machine, who was consuming a large amount of Scooby Snacks.
Come to think of it, you do kinda look like an older version of Shaggy…
Actually, I’m Fred. This profile pic cuts off my ascot, so I understand your confusion.
Actually, I’m Fred. This profile pic cuts off my ascot, so I understand your confusion.
Come to think of it, you do kinda look like an older version of Shaggy…
Smooth move, St. Louis management
lolz
The question is, what team would want to be anonymous, and why?
I’m still going with the Montreal Expos or Washington Redskins
I’m going with the Seattle Pilots or Washington Senators
I’m still going with the Montreal Expos or Washington Redskins
Call me crazy, but I have a suspicion that the Rangers may have been the mystery team.
Crazy
The mystery has to be the Toronto Blue Jays. AA is sneaky like that and would not show his hands to the media and rumour mills.
Rasmus is not a loss at all. The Cards do have Matt Adams and he will be up in a couple of years, probably by 2013 now. Colby has always been expendable.
Rasmus is not a loss at all. The Cards do have Matt Adams and he will be up in a couple of years, probably by 2013 now. Colby has always been expendable.
The mystery team was the Mariners.
The mystery team was the Mariners.
i can see that
As a Cardinals fan, I hold nothing against the job that Mozeliak and the rest of the front office did in an attempt to retain Albert. They still offered him 9 years for a guaranteed $210 million, or an annual rate of over $23 million. He had the no trade because of his 10-5 rights. Even that deal would have been a very risky one because of his age and declining statistics, so I can’t blame Cards brass for not going further. In the end, he took about $2 million more per year to be in LA, and if that extra money is worth skipping out on St. Louis and losing his place with Stan the Man and other legends, then that is his call. Clearly, the money is what mattered to him. I understand that the game is a business, but I am angered by the fact that his entire career, he spoke so highly of the St. Louis fans and the organization, and then can leave in the fashion that he did.
try 43 mil more in guaranteed money. why would he want to be the 4th best paid 1b in the game, when he clearly is the best.
The problem I had is why did they let it get to this point? They should’ve offered him $210 million last off season.
when they asked lozano about an extension a few years ago they said arod’s deal was the starting point. what makes you think he would ve accepted 210?
Why did they save their best offer until the final moments of the negotiations?
The problem I had is why did they let it get to this point? They should’ve offered him $210 million last off season.
As a Cardinals fan, I hold nothing against the job that Mozeliak and the rest of the front office did in an attempt to retain Albert. They still offered him 9 years for a guaranteed $210 million, or an annual rate of over $23 million. He had the no trade because of his 10-5 rights. Even that deal would have been a very risky one because of his age and declining statistics, so I can’t blame Cards brass for not going further. In the end, he took about $2 million more per year to be in LA, and if that extra money is worth skipping out on St. Louis and losing his place with Stan the Man and other legends, then that is his call. Clearly, the money is what mattered to him. I understand that the game is a business, but I am angered by the fact that his entire career, he spoke so highly of the St. Louis fans and the organization, and then can leave in the fashion that he did.
“Mystery team” with 225mil to pony up for Pujols? It was definitely a team in the bottom 5 in payroll who always tells their fans they have no money. They don’t want to be ratted out.
.300/40/120 is worth a quarter of a BILLION? How much is enough and when are fans going to see that they’re the ones paying for it? Absolutely crazy.
They’re going to pay for it anyway. You think teams wouldn’t be charging $40 bucks a seat regardless of player salaries?
That s*it cray
So you are saying we should stop going to games to watch a sport we love? How are the “fans” supposed to stop the owners from paying these players soooo much? TV revenue also helps fund these players…so that means stop watching on TV too?
IIWII….the fans have no control unless we stop watching something we love to watch….
I always wondered if perhaps the Giants were involved in this, I can see them making a big push to land a guy like Pujols, especially if they feel like they are going to have to fight the Athletics over San Jose.
I always wondered if perhaps the Giants were involved in this, I can see them making a big push to land a guy like Pujols, especially if they feel like they are going to have to fight the Athletics over San Jose.
How does this anonymity thing work? Do the reporter know which team?
the mystery team must be one with an established 1B so they don’t want to offend him , don’t think its the cubs. I don’t think its the redsox either, they have not had enough time with Valentine to plan that far ahead to offer that much money. Could be the Yankees or Phillies. I wouldn’t count the Mets out either, they may not want it to get out after letting Reyes go, I feel the Mets really didn’t like Reyes in terms of value/injury; they are reported to be shopping Davis which is odd for a team that wants young stars with no big contracts
Mystery team could also be one in on the Fielder negotiations not wanting their offer to Pujols to leak so that it doesn’t taint the negotiations with Boros.
the mystery team must be one with an established 1B so they don’t want to offend him , don’t think its the cubs. I don’t think its the redsox either, they have not had enough time with Valentine to plan that far ahead to offer that much money. Could be the Yankees or Phillies. I wouldn’t count the Mets out either, they may not want it to get out after letting Reyes go, I feel the Mets really didn’t like Reyes in terms of value/injury; they are reported to be shopping Davis which is odd for a team that wants young stars with no big contracts
Pujols didn’t go for the money though. He left STL because the black balled him by not making him a 1st priority. Which is totally understandable.
But the Angels? Total business men. #1 Pujols is the best. #2, LA is like Miami, Hispanics. They get Pujols there, more people will come and spend their money. Lots of fans, and the Hispanics that like Pujols and have a reason to watch their team. #3 When (And I say when, because it will happen) When LAA wins another WS, all that money they owe Pujols will be nothing to them. They will pay up and enjoy it because 1 WS win is worth more than anything. And then 2 or 3 is beyond.
They gave Pujols everything he wanted because the Angels Front Office knows that just him being there everyday will pay for itself. And then winning will be more profit than we can imagine.
All in all. GREAT MOVE. The Angels DID NOT OVER PAY, AT ALL. Pujols deserves that money and the Angels will get their monies worth from him.
Black balled him…. you must be nuts. He was treated like God. He did whatever he wanted for 11 years. You obviously don’t know anything about Cardinal baseball. Stick to the Braves ….
Yep
That’s why they waited until the last second to try to seriously bring him back.
They thought “Oh well, AP will never leave us. Lets wait until December to get him to come back” And AP did not like that.
Everyone in St. Louis knew he might not come back. And nobody expects the front office to pay him 254 million $$$$. NOBODY!!! Not sure where you are getting your information. But you need to find a better source.
They knew signing Pujols was going to be an issue when they committed big money to Matt Holliday. They had 2 years to work out a deal.
They didn’t make their best offer until they were forced too.
Pujols wanted 300 Million last year… We don’t spend like the Phillies. I wish we did, but we don’t. Albert is gone because he wanted to leave. Its really that simple.
It isn’t. He left because he didn’t feel like the Cardinals were serious about him. Which they weren’t according to numerous sources and a fair amount of speculation.
EVERY report we heard this off season was that the Cardinals were refusing to up their original offer, an offer that was well below their final offer.
We’ll find out when he has his press conference.
Their best efforts to sign him should’ve been last off season, not as one final hope.
Do I know they have limitiations? Yes. Everybody has limitations, even the Phillies, but the problem I have with this whole process was the fact that they didn’t give their best offer until it became clear that he was preparing to leave.
Nobody cares if poor Albert’s feelings got hurt. Tony is not here to hold his hand anymore. He was treated like royalty. BY EVERYONE!!! If every good Cardinal ran for more money,,, we would not have 11 World Championships. And yes, it really is that simple.
To be honest, I think St. Louis is bumming more about losing Tony LaRussa.
Black balled him…. you must be nuts. He was treated like God. He did whatever he wanted for 11 years. You obviously don’t know anything about Cardinal baseball. Stick to the Braves ….
Pujols didn’t go for the money though. He left STL because the black balled him by not making him a 1st priority. Which is totally understandable.
But the Angels? Total business men. #1 Pujols is the best. #2, LA is like Miami, Hispanics. They get Pujols there, more people will come and spend their money. Lots of fans, and the Hispanics that like Pujols and have a reason to watch their team. #3 When (And I say when, because it will happen) When LAA wins another WS, all that money they owe Pujols will be nothing to them. They will pay up and enjoy it because 1 WS win is worth more than anything. And then 2 or 3 is beyond.
They gave Pujols everything he wanted because the Angels Front Office knows that just him being there everyday will pay for itself. And then winning will be more profit than we can imagine.
All in all. GREAT MOVE. The Angels DID NOT OVER PAY, AT ALL. Pujols deserves that money and the Angels will get their monies worth from him.
I bet the mystery team was the Yankees. They just don’t want it to be known after the fact. That might piss Tex off.
I bet the mystery team was the Yankees. They just don’t want it to be known after the fact. That might piss Tex off.
I’m sure we’ll regret this in about 5 years but if Albert can help bring a championship or 2 then it might be worth it. I’m still giddy though and can’t wait for April.
As crazy as it might sound, I bet the mystery team was the Reds. The mystery had “an established first baseman”, that being Votto. There’s been so much speculation that he will be gone in two years, not to mention Rosenthal reporting last week that some minority owners wanted to trade him.
Jocketty also attempted to trade Votto at the deadline for Bautista unknowlingly. The rumors didn’t surface until way past the deadline. There’s also alot of former ties with Pujols in the Reds organization. Castellini is former investor in the Cards, and Joe and Thomas Williams are former part owners of the Cardinals.
I could see Castellini and Co. taking Votto preferring not to sign a longer extension as an indication he plans to go elsewhere in two years (which is fine). Therefore attempting to bring in Pujols so they can trade Votto for whomever at peak value without having to deplete a good portion of the farm in a trade. The mystery team “refuses to be publicly identified” for Votto’s sake, seeing as how he was almost traded once out of nowhere, as well as Jocketty being a mystery himself. No idea where the money would from I have no idea. Just a thought.
Wouldn’t it be smarter just to pay Votto instead of comitting $225 million to a 31 year old future hall of famer?
While yes, you’d get prospects, you’d also be hamstringing the organization whereas with Votto, you’d probably get more value.
Not dismissing your idea, just saying there’s some flaws in the logic.
It would definately more sense to just pay Votto, but as I pointed out minority owners want to trade him I’m assuming because their not anticipating him resigning after two years. The whole mystery team not wanting to be publicy revealed, and already having an established first basemen, and the former ties to Pujols in the Reds ownership group is what made me think maybe.
DeWitt & Mozeliak are kicking themselves. Signing Holliday instead of Pujols, what a joke. At the same time, 10 years is suicide. A more favorable deal would’ve been 5-6 years, 26-28 mil. a year.
any reason why it wasn’t the Rangers?
i hope i’m not overlooking something, and i usually don’t jump to irrational conclusions, but i just have that gut feeling
“people from other teams want to play in st. louis and they re jealous that we re in st. louis because the fans are unbelievable. so why would you want to leave a place like st. louis and go somewhere else and make 3 or 4 more million a year? its not about the money. i already got my money. its about winning and thats it. its about accomplishing my goal and my goal is to try to win.” albert pujols 2009.
i dont care where the guy plays but if you look up irony in the dictionary i assume it looks something like this statement…
The mystery team was the Phillies. Makes a ton of sense
Philly would have had to have a trade for Howard already in place or a desire to eat a ton of money on his contract. They would have been trading from a position of weakness since every team would know they’d need to dump Howard or else they’re stuck with two firstbasemen making a combined $45 million. Makes no sense.
Speculation, but I think the mystery team was the Mariners. Think they were going after either Fielder or Pujols and didn’t want their offer to leak to Boros. Also, Jack Z plays things pretty close to the vest. There is an interview with him by Geoff Baker posted on Baker’s blog where, after told of the news Pujols signed with Anaheim he asks, “That’s been confirmed?” Then has this look like someone just kicked him in the nads.
Please, people, Please. Understand that the author of this article was Lazano’s mouthpiece all week. Everything Lazano wanted out in the media went through Nightengale. The reward for being Lazano’s puppet was the “inside scoop” on the negotiations. However the “inside scoop” that you read here is all Lazano still, running damage control for his boy Albert. Example #1: It was reported that the AP camp told Miami they “were out” of the negotiations BEFORE ANAHEIM was in the picture. So, they had offers from the Cards (9 for $210-220) and the mystery team (10 for $220ish) and the “$275 million from Miami” and were flat out told “youre out” by Team Albert??? Please. Example 2: It was reported after Miami was told to hit the road that they felt “it would take $40 million more than STL’s offer to get him to leave”. Why in the world would Miami say that, again BEFORE ANAHEIM was ever in the picture, if they had an offer $60 mil more than STL offer? Please. All spin, all garbage, all BS to make AP not about the money, “look I turned down $275 from Miami….”
And yes I’m a Cards fan. However its a business and I hold no ill will to the Team or the player here. I will not stand for puff pieces and agent spin being sold as fact from a reporter who obviously was used as a puppet all week. It’s trash journalism at its best, at least put Lazano’s name on it Nightengale, he wrote the article. That’s journalism 101….
was a good story