JUPITER, Fla. • The announcement by both sides that any further negotiations between the Cardinals and Albert Pujols about a contract extension would be tabled until after the season ends drew little reaction Wednesday from several notable Cardinals veterans. But some of the nation's most prominent baseball analysts weighed in more heavily.

Cardinals righthander Adam Wainwright, a 20-game winner last year, said, "I just think the situation is so unique ... none of us will ever be in that situation. Never have been, never will be, so it's kind of tough to talk about it. You can't relate."

Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina said he had no particular comment on Pujols' future. He preferred to talk about the present. "We're happy he will be here with us in 2011," said Molina. "Whatever happens is going to be good for him."

Star left fielder Matt Holliday added, "I understand the reason for having a deadline — that it was to avoid having a distraction like that this spring. But I don't think it means he's not going to be a Cardinal. I don't view it like that at all."

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ...

"It's hard to knock (chairman) Bill DeWitt and the Cardinals for the way they do business and certainly harder to do so when you don't know the offers. We have an idea but we don't know the exact offers back and forth. The one bit of second-guessing I might think about would be, 'Should they have tried to take care of this a year ago or two years ago?' It's hard to pick a winner. Or a hero and a goat in this. But it's probably disappointing, not just to Bill DeWitt and, I assume, Albert as well, but to all of baseball — because it's great to see a superstar like this remain his whole career in one spot. Especially a great baseball town like St. Louis which has a tradition of all-time greats who spent their whole careers in St. Louis, like (Stan) Musial and (Bob) Gibson. So, it's a disappointing day for baseball to see it come to this."

Jon Heyman • Sports Illustrated/SI.com

"It just seems to me that (the Cardinals') only hope is if the market comes back. And, for the life of me, I can't imagine that happening. I do believe they made a sincere effort (to sign Pujols). I do believe they want to do it. And I also believe that there is a limit to what they can do and they said that. They're not the Yankees. They're not the Red Sox. But they're also not the Kansas City Royals, mind you. The question that also lingers is, 'Did they sign Holliday to protect against this? Should they have signed Pujols first?' When this postscript is written, that is what people will look back on."

Ken Rosenthal • FOXSports.com

"My spin is that the Cardinals never should have let it get to this point. And now it's going to cost them a lot more money now instead of locking him up a year or two ago."

Bob Nightengale • of USA Today

"I don't think the Cardinals are scared of the free-agent market. A lot of the thought going into this was that 'they'd better get him locked up now and locked up early before free agency.' I don't think they're scared of free agency. Right or wrong, I think they think that will help give some clarity to the issue and they're confident that they can get something done."

Scott Miller • CBSSports.com

"I can't see how it's anything besides a failure. (The Cardinals) still have the opportunity, but obviously the closer he gets to free agency, the higher the price gets and the greater likelihood of him leaving. I feel like the time to have done this wasn't now. It was probably a year ago. It would be mind-boggling to me for this franchise to let this player walk away."

Dave Sheinin • Washington Post

"It was almost surreal to be in the (press conference) room, not so much thinking about this day but the next press conference. If the next press conference is like this press conference . . . that's a bad day. To me, it is unimaginable. The Cardinals without Albert Pujols. I find that really hard to fathom. And, in some ways, just the idea of Albert testing free agency . . . I find that as hard to fathom. Even if this has a happy ending, I just think it's incredibly risky to allow this to get to this point. They said it in that room. 'It's (Pujols') choice now. It's out of their control now.' You don't ever want to be in that spot, where it's out of your control. It's been in (the Cardinals') control for some time. They let it get to this. And now it spins out of control."

Jayson Stark • ESPN.com