Wednesday came and went as Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals were unable to reach an agreement on a contract extension. The all-star first baseman had set Wednesday as the deadline to end negotiations until after the 2011 season had ended.
As one could expect, this came as a huge disappointment to Cardinals fans everywhere. Furthermore, it means that for the first time in his already storied career, Pujols will have the opportunity to hit the free agent market following this season. For a three-time MVP (2005, 2008 and 2009) who’s already hit 408 homeruns during his 10 years in the major leagues, a lot of teams are going to be interested in arguably the greatest player in the game.
Despite his credentials, the asking price for Pujols may be a bit high for a lot of teams, seeing as he is reportedly requesting the biggest contract in baseball history. (10 years, $300 million) John Mozeliak, the Cardinals general manager, apparently offered him a contract of eight years and more than $25 million annually, but Pujols and his agent, Dan Lozano, turned it down.
If the Cardinals are unable to bring Pujols back to the team where he got his start after 11 seasons, numerous teams are going to have interest in the slugger may have the cash to strike a deal. Some of these teams include the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and, most shockingly of all, Chicago Cubs.
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Now, the Yankees are only in the discussion because they have a great deal of money due to their large market in the Big Apple. However, they already have a starting first baseman in Mark Texiera, who still has six years and $135 million left on his contract. The same goes for the Red Sox, who traded for Adrian Gonzalez this offseason and are expected to announce a seven-year, $164 million extension on opening day.
Although the Angels have funds to sign Pujols, they still have a sense of thriftiness as evidenced by their lack of big offseason signings this past winter. The Orioles haven’t had a winning season in 14 years, which would be a big detractor for Pujols. In a similar situation, the Royals, despite being located where Pujols played high school and college ball, have not had more wins than losses in a season since 2003.
The Mets have struggled with winning over the past few seasons, and they have a young first baseman in Ike Davis. Over in Los Angeles, the Dodgers are having an ownership crisis due to a nasty divorce that is bound to have a negative impact on potential free agent signings. So, based on these factors, it would appear that the two biggest suitors for Pujols may be the Cardinals and the Cubs.
Thanks to the huge contracts of Carlos Pena, ($10 million) Aramis Ramirez, ($14.6 million) Kosuke Fukudome ($13.5 million) and Carlos Silva ($11.5 million) ending after the 2011 season, the big market Cubs will have some money to spare. However, the team hasn’t won a World Series in 103 years, and some might argue that’d it would be difficult for Pujols to switch sides on one of the biggest rivalries in baseball.
It would appear that the most likely suitor for Pujols still appears to be the Cardinals. Yes, he’s asked for more money that the team was willing to offer, but hope still remains that a deal can be done. He’s become the face of the franchise, and has stated numerous times that he still wishes to play for the Cardinals throughout the rest of his career. Money may come off as an issue, but Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday even offered to defer some of the money from his contract so they could retain Pujols.
So, for the good of baseball, here’s to hoping Pujols plays for the Cardinals throughout the rest of his career. The game needs more great players that spend their entire careers with one team, especially the ones that could go down as the best of all time. In the time of huge money contracts and extreme greed, America’s past time needs nothing more.
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