QUESTION: Given Albert Pujols’ value to the franchise, do you think the Cardinals will ultimately offer him the best free-agent contract?

DERRICK GOOLD

As of yet, there has been no evidence that they won’t. This is playing out similar to the Matt Holliday sweepstakes. The Cardinals had an offer. Holliday’s agent shopped around and looked for others. The market moved slowly. The conversations dragged on. And ultimately the Cardinals, come January, swooped into Austin, Texas, to meet with Holliday in person and fine-tuned the offer to his liking.

There is more money in play, but as of yet not the number of teams expected. The Cardinals have from the beginning said they will offer a franchise-record amount to keep Pujols. According to multiple sources, they have (nine years, $198 million). Pujols’ rep is out looking to see if there is a better offer at a better situation, and the Cardinals are waiting to see if they need to inch ever closer to their “pain point” – that financial tipping point one tick past the payroll they are comfortable with – to sign Pujols.

The pace may have people frustrated, aching for even the tiniest whisper of news (even if it’s just a guess, or flat wrong). But remember Holliday. That played out slowly, deliberately and eventually right where both parties expected.

RICK HUMMEL

Given the current lack of big-market teams in the bidding, the Cardinals may well make the best offer for Pujols. And also one of the few offers. Whether it will be a bigger deal than what Prince Fielder might get is problematic because Fielder is considerably younger.

KEVIN WHEELER (Host of “Sports Open Line” on KMOX)

First of all we need to define “best.” Does that mean the most money or do we account for other things as well? Let’s start with the money and move on to a couple of other factors.

I don’t know if the Cardinals will offer the highest “Annual Average Value” but they’ll be be in the team photo. The issue regarding money, however, is whether Albert is simply seeking the highest AAV or if he’s looking for the place where he can pocket the most money. Those two things aren’t necessarily the same.

According to a couple of on-line cost-of-living comparison tools Albert would need to make roughly $32 million in Chicago to maintain the same standard of living as he would making $25 million here in St. Louis. In Miami he’d need to make an extra $3-4 million a year to equal an offer in St. Louis. For what it’s worth, the cost of living in Dallas is almost the same as in St. Louis. In case you’re thinking “Los Angeles,” he’d need to make $37 million a year there to equal $25 million here.

Honestly, I don’t think Albert cares about how much he brings home. I think it’s about the AAV and those “other things.” What are those things? The competitiveness of the team, his status within the locker room and his place in history.

In St. Louis it is his locker room. He has already cemented himself as one of the greatest Cardinals of all-time so there would be no need to win over fans. Plus the Cardinals are the defending World Champs and they’ve been contenders ever since Albert broke into the big leagues. I don’t know how Albert sees it, but from where I sit the best possible situation for Albert is the one he’s been playing in for the last 11 years.

LARRY BOROWSKY (Founder of Viva El Birdos and editor of “Maple Street Press Cardinals Annual”)

I have thought all along that some other team will offer more dollars than the Cardinals, so I’ll stick with that opinion. But I’m less sure of it than I was at this time last year. After setting career lows last year in average, on-base, slugging, RBI, walks, and OPS+, Albert seems less like the unchallenged best player in baseball and more like an aging 32-year-old with chronic elbow and foot injuries. The presence of a competing slugger (Prince Fielder) hurts his negotiating leverage. And now there are fringe factors that might cause a suitor to get cold feet – for example, last week’s unflattering “Deadspin.com” piece about Albert’s agent, Dan Lozano, or the implementation next year (per the new CBA) of testing for HGH (which scandal-mongers have long attempted to link to Pujols).

All of these factors, plus the uncertainty of the broader economy, decrease the odds of a monster offer.The Cards have drawn some criticism for low-balling Albert, but nobody has put more money on the table so far. We’ll see what happens next week.

TOM TIMMERMANN

That’s always been the one thing the Cardinals had going for them. When the market shakes out, unless there’s a team that is looking for nothing more than a free-agent splash, Pujols’ value to the Cardinals figures to be higher than for any other team. Other teams might be hesitant to make the AAV commitment since he does figure to be less productive by the end of his contract, but even at 38, Pujols will have more value to the Cards than to any other team. So unless the Yankees or Red Sox get involved, Pujols’ best offer is likely to be in St. Louis.