Albert Pujols: Have the St. Louis Negotiations Poisoned This Relationship?
To the surprise of no one, the self-imposed deadline that Albert Pujols set for the Cardinals to get a new deal worked out has come and gone with no new contract. Supposedly, the negotiations will stop until after the season is over.
Is it possible that the Cardinals and Pujols have strained their relationship beyond repair throughout this whole ordeal?
Pujols seems adamant about wanting to be the highest paid player in baseball, a title that currently belongs to Alex Rodriguez. He wants a long, long-term deal, something in the range of 8-10 years.
The Cardinals are willing to pay him a ton of money to stay in town, but they haven't gone to the level that Pujols wants them to.
So could Albert Pujols and the St Louis Cardinals really part ways after the 2011 season?
Here are five reasons they could, five reasons they won't and a conclusion letting you know what's going to happen.
No.5 Reason Yes- The Cardinals Seem To Be Lowballing Pujols
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Pujols wants to be the highest paid player in baseball, everyone knows that. Right now the highest paid player is Alex Rodriguez, who makes on average $27.5 million per season.
We don't have an actual figure that the Cardinals have offered him, but it's reportedly not close to that. In his eyes that could be seen as them trying to low ball him and not taking these negotiations seriously. They offered him a contract that was somewhere in the bottom half of the top 10 in average annual salary.
No. 5 Reason No- Negotiations Always Start Far Apart
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Whenever two sides get together to negotiate a deal one side, in this case Pujols, will have a huge figure that they want to start with. The other side, in this case the Cardinals, will want to start the negotiations on the low end. It's the same thing that happens in an arbitration case between a player and a team.
The two sides work together to come to some sort of compromise. Sometimes both sides hold firm on what they want, but more often than not both sides agree somewhere in the middle. The fact that the two sides aren't close right now is not a big deal.
No. 4 Reason Yes- Negotiations Can Get Very Hostile
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When you have two different sides trying to negotiate a deal, things can get very intense because both sides might have a very different idea of what someone is worth. The Cardinals are going to point out possible flaws in Pujols' game. Good luck finding any there. They could point out his age and that players decline in their 30's.
Things will get more intense than what I am saying here, but the point is that feelings can get hurt. Even though this is a business, at times things can feel personal. If that happens there could be irreparable harm done to the relationship.
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No. 4 Reason No- Pujols Wants To Stay In St Louis
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Albert Pujols has said that he will veto any possible trade that the Cardinals might make involving him this year.
First, it's hard to imagine the Cardinals just trading him away, even if they fall out of the playoff race early in the year.
Second, that shows the lengths that Pujols will go to in order to ensure that he remains a Cardinal. He loves the city, they love him. He will never be embraced by another city the way that St Louis has come to embrace him over the last 10 years.
No. 3 Reason Yes- St Louis Will Not Hold Their Franchise Hostage For One Player
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As great as Pujols has been and will be, no one player is worth risking your entire franchise's future on. The Cardinals made a mistake last year by overpaying for Matt Holliday and that will hurt them with how much they can offer Pujols.
But even if they didn't sign Holliday to that ridiculous contract, wouldn't it make more sense to spend the Pujols money to upgrade two, possibly even three other areas on the team. Their lineup isn't very good aside from Pujols and Holliday. Colby Rasmus could be great, but Tony LaRussa seems to have some kind of vendetta against him.
No team can mortgage their future on one player, no matter how great that player is.
No. 3 Reason No- St Louis Wants To Keep Pujols
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Even though the Cardinals will not, or should not, mortgage their future for one player, they will do anything and everything that they possibly can to keep him in St Louis forever. In a way, both parties have become inseparable.
Pujols does a ton of charity work in the city and has made himself a fixture in every way possible in that city. The fans love him, the team loves him. He has done everything possible to make himself into a St Louis legend.
The Cardinals know what he means to the team in terms of publicity, merchandise sales, ticket sales, etc. They have probably the most loyal fan base in all of sports, and they aren't going to want to risk causing some kind of fan backlash by letting Pujols walk.
No. 2 Reason Yes- Pujols Won't Play Like This Forever
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Albert Pujols has been great through the first 10 years of his career, and that's the understatement of the century. He has been as historically great as any player in baseball through the first 10 years of their career.
However, Pujols is 31 right now. He will enter 2012 at 32 years old. No team wants to pay big money to a player as they enter their mid-30's because that's when the decline starts. The things that Pujols can do now, he won't be able to do in just a few years.
Why would you invest long-term in a player that is going to decline at some point in the near future?
No. 2 Reason No- Pujols Will Set Records In A Cardinals Uniform
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One big reason that the Yankees signed Alex Rodriguez to the 10-year, $275 million contract in 2008 is because he was going to be the guy that surpassed Barry Bonds on the all-time home run list and bring some honor and prestige back to the top of the home run charts. Instead, A-Rod got busted for steroid use one year later and everything was back to square one.
Let me say that I am not one of those people that think steroids are the worst thing in the world and that they ruined the game, but a lot of you are so I felt it prudent to mention it.
Pujols has never been implicated in any kind steroid scandal or anything like that. So if he were to get close to Bonds (or A-Rod, depending on who holds the record at the time) he will be a national hero. Ballparks all around the country will sell out when he comes to town. He will mean serious business for baseball, and that only helps to increase his value to the game and the Cardinals.
No. 1 Reason Yes- First Base Is Not A Premium Position
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One thing that works in the Cardinals favor is that first base is not a difficult position to fill. You look for someone who can has a little pop in the bat and plays adequate defense.
Sure, Pujols does everything great, but a player like Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies is more valuable because of the position he plays and how he plays it. Please note that I said Tulowitzki is more valuable, not necessarily better.
It's much easier to find a first baseman than it is to find any other position on the field. The Cardinals likely took that knowledge into their negotiations with Pujols.
No. 1 Reason No- These Negotiations Aren't Going To Stop Now
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It's always funny when one side of a negotiation gives a deadline to get a deal done. If the Cardinals were to wake up next week with an offer of eight years, $240 million, do you really think that Pujols would tell them sorry you missed your deadline?
The whole notion of a deadline to get a deal done is a complete joke. There's no reason for Pujols to put a deadline on this negotiation, and there is no reason for the team stop negotiating with Pujols. Talks will continue, whether we hear about them or not is another story.
Conclusion: Pujols And The Cardinals Will Work Something Out
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Despite the fact that the two sides will not negotiate until the end of the year, both sides will be able to come to an agreement. Pujols loves St Louis, he loves the fans, he cares about his legacy with that city and those people. The Cardinals know how much he means to their franchise, he is the most beloved player in team history (or at least neck-and-neck with Stan Musial), they have enough money to make the deal happen.
It would be in the best interest of the Cardinals to keep the deal as short as they can because players tend to wear down as they get into their late 30's. It wouldn't make smart business sense to pay a man $25-30 million per year when he is 38, 39 or 40 years old.
Another factor that hurts Pujols' leverage in this situation is that most of the big spenders like the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies are set at first base for a long time. There's talk that the Cubs could get involved, but given how much Pujols seems to care about St Louis he wouldn't go there. I'm not one for loyalty in sports, but there does seem to be something there.
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