Comments on: Report: it’s “100 percent certain” that Pujols will stay with the Cardinals

By: freeagentsignee

freeagentsignee — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:42:26 +0000

Most of all, they just won the ML World Series, and the last thing you wanna do is p off your fan base by letting your biggest player walk!

By: freeagentsignee

freeagentsignee — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:38:11 +0000

As a Yankee fan, I must say that the Cardinals wouldn’t only be smart to sign Pujols. He showed last year he still has talent, and he is an icon in St. Louis, along with the Gateway Arch! Plus, the big spenders are out of the way because the Yankees have Teixiera and the Red Sox have AGon.

By: Reflex

Reflex — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:56:18 +0000

Not only that, but most of the teams that have long term solutions will still have those solutions next season. He can’t do that and hope for Teix or Adrian to have a career ending injury. The team that *should* be bidding for him, the Dodgers, is a long way from the rebuild they need.

Adrian looks like the guy who played the market the best, from my POV.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:33:24 +0000

UYF: Well stated. Only when it served them did MLB starting testing players. Hell…not only didn’t they test…but they blatantly looked the other way. Of course…the flip side of this is when the fans left after the strike they absolutely needed the attendence. As a result, when Big Mac and Sammy were slugging it out during their home run duel the turnstiles were in perpetual motion. Stinking hypocrites start wagging fingers and slapping wrists ONLY when it became Politically Correct to do so.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:30:19 +0000

Nothing is to stop him from doing it. But if teams won’t sign a 32 yr old 1B to a long and expensive deal….why would they sign a 33 yr old to such a deal? Regardless of how he did during that 1 year, he be a year older and a less attractive option.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:26:35 +0000

Well, DeWitt is known to be tight fisted.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:54:12 +0000

Risk. There’s always the uncertainty that his value takes a hit, and since teams wouldn’t be getting his age-32 season next winter, they’ll be even less willing to offer big deals since they’ll still be stuck with the downside of his decline but less value up front. To even consider that strategy, I think he’d need $40 million for the one year, and even then that’s still chancy.

By: umrguy42

umrguy42 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:54:07 +0000

I dunno, PL, I think only $200 for the rest of his career would be a real steal. Not sure he’d sign for that, though

By: fordman84

fordman84 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:40:22 +0000

What is to stop Pujols from signing a 1 year deal and trying again to hit the jackpot next year? 1 year, $25M and we will try again next year. If STL won’t do it, someone else will pony up that cash for 1 year.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:39:49 +0000

sjwitte – One thing that really bothers me is when a poster brings “steroids/ped’s” into a blog. Now I will presume that you are a Cardinals fan but whether you are or aren’t really doesn’t matter. Since MLB didn’t do it’s preliminary drug testing until 2003/2004 and even at that only less then about a hand full of the 104 that tested positive were ever identified for someone to single out a player or team is in my opinion self serving. And needless to say it’s impossible to know how many of any teams players prior to 2003 “used”.

Now since you so cavalierly brought up Clemens and the Yankees I need not remind anyone about Mark McGwire. BTW, personally I like McGwire and my reference to him here is only meant to point out fans who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw around the “steroids/ped” word(s).

One final word. I do want to mention that this YANKEES fan realizes that baseball throughout the decades has had and continues to have many “great” players that have played for all the teams. A list that would be far to large to ever put to paper.

By: okwhitefalcon

okwhitefalcon — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:17:04 +0000

For those who are interested, St Louis Post Dispatch Cardinal beat writer Joe Strauss will be on ESPN101 with Bernie Miklasz at around 11:20am CST to discuss the latest Pujols news.

Listen here: http://den-a.plr.liquidcompass.net/player/flash/audio_player.php?id=WXOSFM&uid=296

If the link doesn’t work, copy and paste in your browser.

By: sjwitte

sjwitte — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:52:36 +0000

Yes, who ever heard of Roger Clemens before he pitched for the Yankees…and he brought the Yankees further into the immortal hall of fame when he pitched his later years under the roids….

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:16:48 +0000

100% factual Falcon. Along with Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Bob Gibson, Rogers Hornsby, Enos Slaughter, etc…

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:14:33 +0000

And this is just the latest example of why most everyone hates the Yankees pompous asses.

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:47:59 +0000

It’s true. Very few people have even heard of Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Lefty Grove, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr, Warren Spahn, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Eddie Mathews, Barry Bonds, Honus Wagner or Tris Speaker…much less consider them all time greats!

By: randygnyc

randygnyc — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:26:32 +0000

Too bad. I was kinda hoping the yanks would sign him as a DH. A player can’t really be considered an all time “great” until he puts on the pin stripes in the Bronx.

By: dan1111

dan1111 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:10:25 +0000

“Are you kidding?”

Yes.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:07:20 +0000

Are you kidding? Scrooge McLoria and the Chihuahua must be breaking out the cheap champagne and sighing with relief. Now the Chihuahua can call Poe’s over in Squirrel Gables and return the rented defibrillator that he was keeping around to revive Scrooge j-u-u-ust in case Pujols had called and accepted the offer.

By: crimhollingsworth

crimhollingsworth — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:44:44 +0000

Well the Yankees were already set with the kid Texeira at 1st so they weren’t interested in Pujols. Well, Tex isn’t really a kid, he’s 31, and he makes like 22 mil/yr, so he’d be impossible to trade, but still…

By: Detroit Michael

Detroit Michael — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:39:54 +0000

Albert Pujols’ legacy will be just fine regardless of where he ends up. He’s been consistently productive and has been for the most part a class individual. Changing or not changing teams doesn’t matter that much (except to Cardinal fans of course).

By: dan1111

dan1111 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:08:15 +0000

Wow, that event was ten times more certain than Pujols staying with Cardinals! Now I really am starting to have doubts.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:06:21 +0000

I guess if I’m the Cardinals or one of their fans I don’t so much look at Pujols and say giving him an 8 or 9 year deal in the neighborhood of $200MM +/- as being over paid or to many years.

I could easily justify it by saying we will be paying Albert $311MM +/- for 16 or 17 years. From age 24 through 39 or 40. Is $311MM+/- to much to pay for Pujol’s services for that many years? Absolutely NOT. On average it would be less than $20M per. Certainly he would have been worth that much looking back in time. Just my opinion.

By: shea801

shea801 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:43:11 +0000

And when they don’t get him, it’s, like, totally because Albert “didn’t get us”, and he “didn’t appreciate all the things they did for him”.

What a jerk

/for sure

By: paperlions

paperlions — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:41:54 +0000

That is a huge part of it. He is on the wrong side of 30, the big spenders already have a high priced 1B (Philly, Boston, NYY), are in no position to overpay for one (NYM, LAD), or are rebuilding (Cubs, Nats) and an old expensive 1B is not a priority. In addition, the horrible long-term deals given out over the last several years have made teams more conservative in terms of years and dollars, especially in the continuing uncertain economic climate. On top of those things, Pujols is worth more to the Cardinals than he is to anyone else; so they should be willing to be at least as much as any other team (baring some unforeseen, over-the-top dumb offer).

I hope he stays, and I don’t really care if they overpay a bit to do it….and really, $200 for the rest of Pujols’ career is highly likely to be an overpay.

By: lyon810

lyon810 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:31:20 +0000

I get how staying with the Cardinals will preserve his legacy, but I don’t buy it in the sense that he didn’t choose to stay as much as he had nowhere else to go.

By: philsieg

philsieg — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:19:56 +0000

You’re probably right, Craig, but I’ll remind you that George McGovern was 1000% behind Thomas Eagleton the week before he dumped him from the ticket.

By: dan1111

dan1111 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:19:18 +0000

Don’t forget about the Marlins, who stated that their interest in Pujols is “totally real” and “not fake at all”.

By: umrguy42

umrguy42 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:17:10 +0000

As a Cards fan, my hope for his legacy would be this: re-sign to be a Cardinal for life, help bring at least one more WS championship during that time, and hopefully not play so poorly at the end of the contract to make it a real waste of money. (And preferably not get into any spats with the manager near the end of your career like Ozzie did…)

By: yankeesgameday

yankeesgameday — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:14:19 +0000

Right on, Craig. All presidents care about in their second term is their legacy, and so it should be with pujols.

By: unclemosesgreen

unclemosesgreen — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:13:11 +0000

And thankfully, Dan Lozano can get back to his … amateur photography career