By Seth Herrold
With football coming to a close after the Super Bowl on Sunday, I began to turn my attention to that great old sport of baseball. It’s exciting to think that the only thing standing between us and opening day is a swing through March Madness, which is always a nice tide-me-over while waiting for the national pastime.
Coming into the season there is one story that is the topic of almost everyone in the ‘Show-Me’ state’s baseball conversations. Heck, it’s a national story and no, it’s not whether or not Kansas City’s prospects will have an impact by season’s end. The story is about the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols.
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For those of you who haven’t heard, here’s the situation: Pujols’ contract runs out at the end of the 2011 season. He wants an extention or to re-sign with the Cardinals because, as he has stated in the past, he wants to play his entire career under the arch in Busch Stadium. Now, here’s the problem. Pujols wants a deal that would make him the highest paid player in the history of Major League Basebal. Yes, even higher than Alex Rodriguez’s record-setting contract. Pujols wants a 10-year deal worth $300 million! That’s $30 million a year for 10 years, which probably means for the rest of his career. St. Louis hasn’t really seemed to balk at the $30 million a year, but the length of the contract Pujols is asking for is the reason he is most likely heading into his final year with the Cardinals.
Pujols doesn’t want any contract talks once he reports to spring training for fear of a distraction. He plans to report on Monday, effectively giving the Cardinals four days to cave.
The initial look isn’t great for the Cardinals. What’s at stake for them is the greatest player in the game walking away from the organization after the season for free agency and not getting anything at all in return. That’s what Cardinal fans see and they aren’t too happy the organization hasn’t given in to the unreal demands of Pujols. The Cardinals can’t trade the slugger either, so gone are the hopes of at least getting some good prospects for him. Pujols has gone public saying he would exercise his power to veto any trade, established in his current contract.
Now I’m not a Cardinals’ fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to side with the Redbirds on this one. If they give Pujols what he wants, they will be giving him $30 million a year when he is 39, 40 and 41 years old. That is a scary thought. I’m a firm believer that there are three things you don’t do in Major League Baseball. One, you don’t give Chan Ho Park $20 million a year; two, you don’t give Gil Meche $11 million a year; and three, you don’t ever, no matter how good they are, give any player over the age of 40 $30 million a year. Now the Dodgers were dumb enough to do the first one, The Royals made the second error. The Cardinals are trying to avoid a similar fate.
By the time Pujols is gray with age and in his farewell tour, maybe hacking away at the all-time home run record, he will simply not be worth $30 million. It’s sad, but it happens to every player. It’s why announcers sit in the broadcast booth and say ‘sad to see some of these veterans hold on a little longer than they should.’ I’m not saying Pujols will be a bad player at 41, but he won’t be the $30 million dollar player he is right now. The backside of this $300 million deal is going to be a slow steady decline and it will really take a toll on the Cardinals in those years as they tie up a large chunk of salary into a player who isn’t producing like a player paid that much would have to do to justify the contract.
The best thing the Cardinals can do in my mind is sit on their hands. Let this go past the Monday deadline Pujols has set. If they do that, Pujols will realize he is going to have to give a little bit. My guess is a week after the deadline Pujols and his agent will agree to a shorter deal worth the $30 million per year. It’s hard for me to believe Pujols wouldn’t really be happy with a seven-year deal worth $30 million a year, especially given the fact that he has said he wants to wear Cardinal red the rest of his career. If he sits in there with a seven-year deal, then I’m guessing he could still get a substantial three-year extension at the end of it to complete his career.
Pujols is a great player, but no one is greater than Father Time.
