Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports writes that the Cardinals have not made an offer to Albert Pujols yet.
All indications suggest that Pujols and the team that drafted him a dozen years ago are not close to an agreement, and that eight days won’t be time enough to negotiate and consummate not only the richest contract in club history, but possibly the richest in the history of the game. As of the weekend, the Cardinals hadn’t made a concrete offer.
In calculations using metrics of player comparison, estimated production and age curves, hardballtimes.com valued Pujols as high as $275 million over 10 years (almost exactly A-Rod money), fangraphs.com put his value at $267 million over 10 years, and sabernomics.com – factoring in the normal increases in player salaries and league revenues – came in at $350 million over eight years.
Businessinsider.com, which determined Pujols – given his production – was underpaid by as much as $130 million over the life of his current contract, said Pujols’ next eight seasons would be worth as much as $240 million.
To me, there’s no debate over whether or not Pujols deserves the money. As the best player in baseball, he should be paid in the A-Rod range.
But it’s not hard to see where the Cardinals are coming from here. What if Pujols’ production declines sooner rather than later? What if they aren’t able to build a competitive roster around him? Their team payroll often doesn’t exceed $100 million and now they’re going to pay one player nearly $300 million? They’re in a tough spot.
That said, it’s nearing that time where St. Louis either has to sh*t or get off the pot. They’re hoping that Pujols (who wants to stay in St. Louis) will eventually accept a discount, but his camp seems unwilling to budge on their demands.
