Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals Fail To Come To an Agreement

Albertgeddon is officially underway in St. Louis.

The St. Louis Cardinals and star first baseman Albert Pujols failed to come to an agreement by 11:00 cst on Wednesday, which was the “deadline” set by Pujols. “While we are disappointed that we did not reach an agreement, we remain hopeful that Albert will finish his career in St. Louis,” Cardinals Chairman William O. DeWitt Jr. said in a statement.

According to FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, a source told him that the Cardinals came in with a last minute offer that would have made Pujols the 10th highest paid player in the game. The annual salary would have been somewhere in the $18 to $21 million range.

While I do think the Cardinals are in big-time trouble in this situation, the reason I had deadline in quotes before was because I have followed sports long enough to know that these artificial deadlines are a bunch of Tom Foolery.

For me, the real deadline is in November when players can officially become free agents. When that day comes and if Pujols is still not signed, then Cardinal fans can officially turn out the lights because the Pujols party will be over.

Until that day happens, then all of the made up deadlines are just a bunch of fluff. If the Cardinals offer Pujols an eight-year, $224 million ($28 million per year) contract on April 25 is he not going to sign because the offer was made past his made up deadline? Come on, I don’t buy that for a second. The reason he won’t sign is because he feels he can even more on the open market.

And I do believe Pujols can certainly do better on the open market and he can probably do better from the Cardinals. When is a team’s first offer ever their best? The answer to that question is almost never.

The Pujols contract situation will be one of the biggest stories of the 2011 baseball season. The longer this goes, the more Cardinal fans will panic and will be in full fledged Albertgeddon.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg