Watching a nervous and clearly conflicted Albert Pujols on the stage in Anaheim, I kept thinking: Why wasn't he happy? Pujols already had a dream of a life, a fantasy, and it just got a whole lot better. Now he'll be enjoying the enhanced prosperity of his new $254 million contract from the Angels.

And he seemed sad in a way. Was Pujols trying to get the great fans of St. Louis to feel sorry for him? Tough sale, there. He leads an existence that no working man or woman can relate to. His problems are not our problems. No one moored to reality can possibly feel sympathy for Pujols. Having empathy for Pujols would be an egregious example of misplaced principles.

Why wasn't Albert thrilled by his good fortune? This was his big payday, his big payback, and you'd think he'd be walking on clouds, singing with those Angels. But Pujols was oddly detached. He didn't appear to be of the mind to celebrate his victory.

Part of that can probably be explained by the obvious: deep down inside, Pujols may wonder if he made a mistake. Even if that's the case he probably feels genuine remorse after walking out on a fan base that adored him, stood for him, treated him as a baseball god. Walking out on the fans couldn't have been easy for anyone who possesses a soul.

But I'd have to think that some of Pujols' discomfort was connected to the realization that it was going to be difficult, if not impossible, to effectively sell his spin to a discerning public back in St. Louis.

No matter how hard Pujols and his handlers worked to portray Pujols as a victim forced into this life-changing decision by the evil Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., the strategy wouldn't end in a home run. At best, it was a hard ground ball to third base, and a 5-4-3 double play.

Are we really supposed to believe that this was all about the love? That Pujols didn't feel wanted by DeWitt? That the Cardinals lacked "commitment" even though they made the nutty decision to offer a 32-year-old player a 10-year contract that would have been among the largest in baseball history? That he had no choice but to rush into the waiting arms of Angels owner Arte Moreno based on one phone conversation after DeWitt apparently declined to offer to wash his feet?

Even if Pujols was hurt by the Cardinals' decision to approach the contract talks as a business negotiation instead of handing him a blank check to fill in — gee, imagine that — was filing for divorce still the right thing to do?

Pujols didn't like his boss. Didn't feel appreciated by his boss. Didn't get that personal touch from his boss. Welcome to the real world, Albert.

Those reading this from their Monday-morning work stations can tell you a lot of stories about working for cold-hearted or aloof employers. How many people truly feel appreciated by their bosses?

This is hardly new, but the button-downed DeWitt isn't Mr. Warmth. He's not a hug-it-out kind of man. DeWitt doesn't lobby, doesn't schmooze, doesn't project his innermost feelings, doesn't work the room. He's a bit on the cold side. He analyzes. He crunches numbers. In other words, he's a businessman.

Just like Pujols and his agent, Dan Lozano, are businessmen -- even if Pujols can't bring himself to admit this was a business decision.

So why did Pujols allow raw emotions — on top of the $254 million— to sway him to leave the Cardinals and become immediate best friends forever with Arte Moreno?

Having covered Pujols for 11 seasons, I knew that he was overly sensitive about criticism, perceived slights, any instances of a so-called lack of respect, etc. He'd become greatly insulted by minor facts, such as the times a scribe mentioned his declining slugging percentage or reduced walk rate. That doesn't make Pujols a bad guy or unusual; the sports world is loaded with insecure superstar athletes who require constant stroking.

Even if DeWitt blundered by not courting Pujols with roses and chocolates, we're left to ask this: What about the fans who worshiped Pujols? Didn't they count for anything? Didn't their affections make up for DeWitt's freeze-dried personality?

What about teammates and coaches who looked the other way, sang Pujols' praises, or defended him each time he declined to run out ground balls or embarrassed the third-base coach? This franchise always let Albert be Albert. Unlike every other player in the STL clubhouse, Pujols could do whatever he wanted to do. Love comes in different forms.

It's laughable.

Pujols was a free agent and could do what he wanted. I don't blame him for taking Anaheim's deal; it was a tremendous contract. Pujols did what was best for him. I've actually defended him on that count. And I was ready to move on. He's gone. Let's move forward. And if Pujols would have said he was ready for a change, he was disappointed in the St. Louis offer, and the Angels made a wonderful offer that he couldn't turn down -- well, fine. No blowback from me.

But the more Pujols talks, the more his wife talks, the more his agent talks, the sillier this gets. They're pushing the idea that The Decision was about everything except money, and that's absurd. So please excuse me for sounding off on this. 

Yes, I think the Cardinals messed up some things, too. If having a 10-year personal services contract added to a 10-year, guaranteed, $210 million offer was so important to Pujols, DeWitt should have played along. These personal-service contracts are more symbolic than anything.

If the 10-year, $210 million offer was loaded with deferred money -- and that was a problem with Team Pujols -- then the Cardinals should have removed the deferred money. Or, if nothing else, use a lot less of it. Bit it's not as if the deferred money is lost to Pujols; he'd receive it later. I'm sorry but why is this so horrible? I don't believe Amnesty International is interested in hearing the case.  

After having been with Pujols for 11 years, surely DeWitt and GM John Mozeliak were fully aware of Pujols' insecure personality and his constant need to be caressed and reassured. DeWitt and Mozeliak could have played that game, too. This was a recruitment, remember?

If the Cardinals were serious about having a limit to what they were willing to spend on retaining Pujols, they should have put it on the table instead of dragging this out. They should have told Lozano something along these lines: Look, we're sorry, but this is the best we can do given our economic models; we'd like to go higher but we can't.

Instead, the Cardinals' incremental approach to these negotiations — five-year offers, seven-year offers, nine-year offers, 10-year offers — merely fed Pujols' considerable paranoia. But this team was also trying to perform a tricky balancing act. Other than hand over a blank contract and telling Lozano to fill it in, I'm not sure what could have been done.

In the end the team's offer of 10 years, $210 million was fair. It was enough to keep Pujols here if he truly wanted to stay here. But Pujols obviously didn't feel like giving the Cardinals another discount after his agent signed him for short money in a seven-year (plus an option) Cardinals' contract in 2004.

The Cardinals are healthy. They do well at the box office. But they also funded nearly 80 percent of the cost for the new Busch Stadium and aren't on the same financial plane as the Angels.

According to Forbes, the Cardinals began the 2011 season with $275 million in debt obligations, compared to $75 million in debt for the Angels. The Cardinals had $211 million in adjusted debt; the Angels had $11 million. The Cardinals had $207 million in revenue; the Angels had $222 million.

Understand that was before Moreno made his remarkable deal with Fox Sports to triple the team's local broadcast-rights revenue. Under the former agreement the Angels were receiving $50 million a year from Fox; the new deal (20 years, $3 billion) will pay the Angels $150 million annually. The Cardinals are doing well, and I certainly see no reason to have a bake sale for DeWitt. But they aren't as steeped in cash as the Angels are.

I'll just go ahead and conclude that the new TV deal made it awfully easy for Moreno to ride in on his horse like the shining knight and make Pujols feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

The Angels didn't have financial constraints. They didn't have to negotiate, which makes it rather easy to be the good guys in the bidding. If anything — given the vast riches to be generated by the Fox TV money — Lozano could have gotten more from the Angels.

I wish I could have had the opportunity to ask Pujols these questions:

1. If you wanted to stay in St. Louis, then why demand the Alex Rodriguez deal (10 years, $275 million) at the outset of the negotiations? You knew that the Cardinals wouldn't be willing or able to pay it, so why make an unrealistic demand? I was in the "Pay Pujols" camp, but A-Rod money wasn't feasible in this instance.

2. If you were so determined to stay, then why did your side cut off negotiations at the beginning of 2011 spring training?

3. How would you expect the Cardinals to re-sign Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina (and afford for outside free agents) to put a winning team around you with such a high percentage of payroll invested in their first baseman?

4. If your camp resented the seven-year, $120 million contract given to Matt Holliday, how could that be? After all you publicly challenged management to show that they were serious about fielding a consistent contender.

5. Were you trying to have it both ways? I am confused. It seems that you were offended when the Cardinals wanted to pay you $26 million a year in a shorter-term deal to make you the game's second-highest paid player per annual average value. You didn't want that. You wanted 10 years instead. But then you were offended when the 10-year offer didn't include the higher annual average. The goal, obviously, was to get as close to A-Rod money as possible. And the Angels got Pujols a deal close to A-Rod's.

6. What about this quote, which you offered Saturday: "I made a decision. I'm being obedient. I didn't want to go to a place God didn't want me to go to."

Really? God ordered you to Anaheim? I wonder what God would have advised had the Angels offered less money than the Cardinals. I'm assuming God was angry over the Miami Marlins' refusal to offer no-trade protection in their contract bid. Can you tell us how God would have reacted if the Cardinals had offered $254 million or more over 10 years?

7. Pujols was won over when Moreno called him to turn on the charm in a 30-minute phone call. Is that all it took? An owner telling you what you wanted to hear, even though you had never met the man? That means more than what has been a mutually beneficial 11-year relationship with St. Louis?

8. Albert are we really supposed to believe that you would have accepted the Cardinals' $210 million over the Angels' $254 million if DeWitt had called to whisper sweet nothings and coo in your ear and plead with you to stay?

Oh, that's right. We forgot.

It wasn't about the money.

Best of luck to you, Albert.