Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. never flinched. His vision for his franchise never clouded.

He saw the Albert Pujols scenario with great clarity. Good business is good business. Bad business is bad business.

He could justify investing roughly $200 million to make Pujols a Cardinal for Life. That would have been giant money for the second half of Albert’s career, but the franchise could have recouped it by marketing his attack on the record books.

That would have been a bad baseball contract, given his desire to adhere to a $110 million payroll limit, but the franchise could have absorbed it by relying more heavily on younger players.

But DeWitt was unwilling to go higher. He set his dollar limit a long, long time ago.

He barely budged once the negotiations intensified at the Winter Meetings in Dallas. He knew his franchise could roll on without Albert, as painful as that concept is to many fans.

Albert was never going to play forever. And in the nearer term – four, five, six years into his next contract -- he wasn’t going to play like the Albert we saw during the first 10 years of his career.

He is a man, not the The Machine.

While many national experts will predict the demise of baseball as we’ve known it in St. Louis, DeWitt knows better. The Cardinals will be just fine.

The franchise just won its 11th World Series championship with top-notch pitching and organizational depth. The franchise will try to win future titles with top-notch pitching and organizational depth.

DeWitt’s goal is to contend every year. There are two keys to that quest: Developing talent year after year and keeping dead money off the payroll.

The dead money fear helped DeWitt hold fast to his offer, even as Albert began slipping away to Southern California.

Most of Major League Baseball agreed with DeWitt’s business assessment on Pujols. The Marlins agreed, offering a similar deal. The Cubs agreed, refusing to offer up anything out of the ordinary. The Yankees and Red Sox showed no interest in these sweepstakes.

Then agent Dan Lozano found a guy willing to give Albert the hallmark contract he yearned for. Angels owner Arte Moreno, previously an opponent of nine-digit largesse, decided to make their dreams come true.

Pujols got the contract that will earn peer approval. He got the respect he coveted, respect measurable in annual salary. Whether he comes out ahead is debatable, since the whole “Cardinal for Life” thing he sacrificed had serious financial value.

Lozano got the contract, reaffirming his newfound standing in the agent business. He can now rival Scott Boras as the man to hire to get maximum dollars. Nobody is happier than Lozano today.

And DeWitt gets to continue doing business as he sees fit. There will be sadness in the Cardinal front office, but also some relief.

Now the baseball operation moves on to Plan B, operating without the massive Pujols legacy costs. General manager John Mozeliak won’t have to ditch emerging players as they come into their money-making years.

He can continue locking in the Adam Wainwrights and Jaime Garcias to longer-term deals as they develop.

The Cardinals won’t make any reflex purchases to make executives and fans feel better. With payroll flexibility in hand, look for Mozeliak to add a free agent or two and then explore trades that cause the team to sacrifice payroll space but not talent.

New manager Mike Matheny will operate with a bit more ease. He won’t have to navigate around Albert’s considerable clubhouse presence while attempting to earn control of his squad.

Lance Berkman will move to first base for a year. With Allen Craig’s move to the regular right field slot on hold for a month or two due to knee surgery, Mozeliak will have to invest some dollars in another right-handed hitting outfielder.

A Ryan Ludwick-type player would be perfect for that role.

He will explore more expensive and productive middle-infield options to Daniel Descalso and Tyler Greene. The Cards should emerge with a batting order lacking the familiar No. 3 hammer but possessing more punch from top to bottom.

The fallout of Albert’s exit will cost the Cardinals at the gate. But if the team remains competitive in 2012 and beyond, the fan base will remain sturdy and Baseball Heaven will remain just that.

The Cardinals were the Cardinals before Albert. The Cardinals will be the Cardinals after him, too.