Because both sides in the Albert Pujols negotiations have so far chosen discretion over ugly public saber rattling, most of the baseball world is on edge with only five days to go before the St. Louis Cardinals' slugger reports to spring training, puts a halt to all contract talks and sets into motion an uncertain chain of events that promises to thrust baseball's best player on the open market. Where it goes from there is both a big mystery and frightening prospect.

Everyone in baseball is keeping a close eye on this one, because if Bill DeWitt Jr. can't find a way to give away more than $200 million of his personal fortune to Pujols over the next five days, there will no doubt be at least a half-dozen other major league owners who will without reservation.

And while it is admirable that the Cards and Pujols' people have essentially stayed true to their vows of silence about the nature of the process, the silence is absolutely killing us. Is this part of their negotiating strategies or just good etiquette between two sides smart enough to know how much they need each other? Or is this silence a sign of something more unsettling, like DeWitt and general manager John Mozeliak playing a dangerous gambit where they sacrifice short-term peace of mind (with an outrageous mega-deal now) in order to get a less outlandish deal later?

The drips and drabs of information that have leaked out from unnamed 'sources" has put a great deal of suspense and tension in the air as Cardinal Nation goes into an uneasy countdown like it's New Year's Eve. Over these final days before Pujols' arrival in Jupiter, Fla., it's getting harder to tell what DeWitt and Mozeliak have in mind.

Are they going to find a way to get a deal done before the deadline, paying whatever it takes to make Pujols a Cardinal for life, which will calm the nerves of panicked Redbird loyalists everywhere? Or will they risk everything by letting the deadline pass, believing the high cost of doing business with baseball's best player will be less expensive if they aren't bidding against themselves? Do they really think the market for Pujols will be less robust and outrageous (10 years and $300 million) when the Cubs, Dodgers, Angels, Nationals, Giants, Orioles, Yankees and Red Sox enter the bidding?

"I'm not taking sides on this. I hope they get it done," said Whitey Herzog, who like all of us is unsure how this gambit will play out. "But the one thing you have to remember. Once a player gets to free agency, you never know what kind of figures are going to be thrown out there. So it's a dangerous situation when a star player like that gets to free agency."

There is good reason for everyone to be nervous. No matter how wealthy DeWitt might be, it does take a lot of consideration to write a check that will pay someone $30 million a year, even someone who clearly is worthy every nickel of it, like Pujols. I keep trying to understand what sort of business sense it makes for the Cardinals to not get Pujols signed by any means necessary. I keep trying to consider how they can sell it to their loyal fan base that letting someone of Pujols' caliber go without reasonable compensation is a wise baseball or business decision.

But I also keep trying to come up with any reasonable explanation for how calling off the negotiations this coming Wednesday will create less of a distraction inside the Cardinals clubhouse, as Pujols seems to think. If he is not signed to a new deal before camp starts, the contract conversation will not just vanish into thin air. For the rest of the 2011 season, Pujols' pending free agency will loom over everything. It's as if Pujols would be putting a giant boulder in a flimsy net and hanging it over everyone's head, then asking them to pretend it's not there.

On Thursday, Herzog was the voice of reason as he attended the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame luncheon at the St. Charles Convention Center. "I don't know whether they're going to get it done before spring training, but even though they set that deadline I see no reason why negotiations couldn't keep going on," he said. "I really want the Cardinals to get it done. But when you look at both sides of it, a 10-year contract demand, that's a lot. But at the same token, Mr. DeWitt is a pretty astute guy with the figures. I don't think he's the kind of guy who is ever going to commit financial suicide. And I think there has to be some give on both sides."

The Cardinals have been gambling for more than a year with these negotiations, failing to get something done last winter, too. And the only thing that came of that was an explosion of new deals to lesser players by aggressive baseball owners that raised the cost of doing business for the Cardinals. "There are two things etched in stone in professional sports," Herzog said. "The longer you wait to build something, the more it costs (and) the longer you wait to sign (a player), the more it costs."

Now it seems as though they are flirting with danger again.

Are they going to let this deadline pass without a new deal?

Five, four, three, two, one ... let the countdown begin. Only this time if a giant ball drops (literally or figuratively) on Wednesday and talks fail to produce a new deal, you best believe there won't be any wild celebrations in Cardinal Nation.