National media types are shocked – shocked! – that Cardinals management didn’t approach the Albert Pujols negotiations with more urgency.
They can’t believe owner Bill DeWitt Jr. and John Mozeliak seemed unfazed by the prospect of Albert gathering high-dollar suitors in free agency.
These experts fully expect Pujols to depart St. Louis for market-setting dollars after the 2011 season. And they expect the Cards to flounder from 2012 forward without Albert.
Let’s get right to their opinions:
Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com: “When it comes to guessing the price of great players in free agency, I always bet the ‘over.’ Even less-than-great players often are overpaid in the open market. Exceptions occur, but the great ones generally take a hit only in extraordinary circumstances. A dramatic misreading of the market. A case of collusion by the owners. A national economic crisis. Albert Pujols will not be an exception. When Pujols arrives at spring training on Thursday, he will be beginning his last season in a Cardinals uniform.”
Jayson Stark, ESPN.com: “Even after the news conference Wednesday, even after they explained how they got to this unthinkable point, it's still hard to make sense of what the St. Louis Cardinals have allowed to happen here: Albert Pujols is about to become a free agent? How? Why? How could they possibly think this is a good idea? ‘The bottom line is,’ an official of one team said Wednesday, ‘Albert Pujols is their team. Without him, they're an ordinary team . . . And they can't replace him. Nobody can replace him. He's an irreplaceable guy.’”
Scott Miller, CBSSports.com: “As the kids' rhyme goes, Albert Pujols goes to Mars to get more gold bars, and the Cardinals go to Jupiter to get more stupider? Or something like that. Pujols is expected to arrive here in camp Thursday, free agency is nine months away, and there are a lot of people who think the Cardinals just blew their last, best opportunity to keep their franchise icon.”
Jon Heyman, SI.com: “Pujols is expected to arrive in the Cardinals' clubhouse on Thursday, and it's been suggested by a person in his camp that he won't discuss the matter when he does. If he knows what's good for him, he better talk now. His camp ceded the white hat by setting the deadline, and he needs to explain himself. It isn't going to be an easy explanation, either, not just because superstar ballplayers make monstrous sums of money but because he is the one who cut off talks with the only franchise he's ever known. He should have let the team do that. Pujols is understandably a legendary figure in St. Louis, and his deadline stance has surely dropped him half a peg in the eyes of some in that city, which is described by one observer as the ‘the ultimate company town.’”
Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports: “What was obvious before is even more now: Pujols needs to seize the narrative by taking the higher road in the face of an insulting offer. Pujols put out a statement Wednesday night that said a lot of nothing. It’s not enough. The plan is for Pujols to show up at spring training Thursday and not discuss his contract situation. If he’s trying to shoot himself in the foot, he might as well do it with a Glock. At least he’d elicit sympathy that way. By denying fans any sort of explanation, he’s allowing the Cardinals to control the story – to explain their position without discussing the years and dollars they offered. DeWitt and Mozeliak came off measured, unfazed and still confident despite the best player in baseball declaring he’s open for business come November.”
Ed Price, FanHouse: “Baseball has two superstars whose identities have become inseparable from their team's identity. And this offseason, both Albert Pujols and Derek Jeter went through contract negotiations with their franchises that left everyone, player and team, taking criticism. We can blame the Steinbrenner brothers for both. Hank and Hal are the ones who gave Alex Rodriguez -- at age 32, after their general manager said he would not re-sign A-Rod if he opted out and he opted out anyway -- a 10-year, $275 million deal. Jeter, rightfully, could feel he had done more for the Yankees than A-Rod and thus deserved to be richly rewarded. Pujols, rightfully, could feel he is, right now, a better player than A-Rod and deserves a richer contract.”
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while wondering if Lance Berkman will have enough left to play first base for the Cardinals in 2012:
Will Pujols try to convince fans that he is not just another greedy baseball player?
Is the Pujols camp hoping Donald Trump buys the Mets to create another big-spending suitor?
Will the Texas Rangers ignore the lessons of their A-Rod deal and offer Pujols a boatload of money to jump to the American League?
MEGAPHONE
“I think they bet the farm on the hometown discount, and you can't do that. There are not that many Cliff Lees. Albert Pujols is clearly one of those guys who believes he's the best player in the game and he should get paid like it. So the Cardinals played a game of poker here, and he called their bluff.”
An unnamed baseball team official, to ESPN.com.
