Pujols contract, aka unnecessarily getting my hopes up....

[Guest Edgy DC]

How about Throneberry?

[Frayed Knot]

LaRussa claims the Player's Union is trying "to beat up" Pujols in an attempt to pressure him into setting the goal of the most money in his next contract as the highest priority.

While the idea that the union puts pressure on players, particularly high profile ones, to push the envelope on new contracts so as to up the base-line for whoever is next is hardly a new one, the fact that a high-profile manager would go public with such a charge (however self-serving it might be) is more than a bit out of the ordinary.

[Gwreck]

smg58 wrote: and nothing to do with the Yankees and Red Sox having openings in right field next offseason.

Both of those teams also have openings at DH next year (Posada and Ortiz are free agents).

[Guest Edgy DC]

And who is LaRussa carrying water for?

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy DC wrote: And who is LaRussa carrying water for?

Himself naturally.
He obviously doesn't want Pujols to go (even though HE isn't signed beyond this year either) and the thinking is that if Albert heeds the advice of the union and goes strictly for the highest offer that probably won't come from St Louee.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well, that's what you get for throwing all your money after Holliday, I guess.

I'm a little surprised how detached I am from this. All I care is that if the Yankees want him, then they pay dearly.

[Frayed Knot]

Well the only reason this is an "issue" [u:7bhe4c3v]right now[/u:7bhe4c3v] (aside from the small detail about him being the best hitter in baseball) is that Albert has laid down a deadline.
But it's also a totally artificial date so it's not like his agent still can't talk to the Cards after tomorrow. He claims he won't listen but he will if the numbers are right.


Whether the Yanx even go after him (assuming he gets to FA status in November) might depend on whether Cashman sticks around. Left to his own devices I don't think HE will want to go for a decade-long deal for a 32 y/o player but I suspect the Steiny boys might want to over-rule him a la ARod & Raphael Soriano. Cashman probably doesn't have the loyalty to the boys the way he did with the old man and I think he'll have the ball to demand full control before he agrees to re-up and will be willing to walk if he doesn't get it.

[smg58]

Frayed Knot wrote: While the idea that the union puts pressure on players, particularly high profile ones, to push the envelope on new contracts so as to up the base-line for whoever is next is hardly a new one, the fact that a high-profile manager would go public with such a charge (however self-serving it might be) is more than a bit out of the ordinary.

This comes up every time a team's fans (or manager, I guess) get mad when a player they felt they were entitled to keep ponders the open market. As if the thought of demanding a record-breaking contract never would have occurred to Pujols and his agent by themselves. It's far too simple and obvious to conclude that Pujols might be in the percentage of the population who, when given multiple offers to do the same job, would willingly take the most lucrative offer.

[Ceetar]

smg58 wrote: This comes up every time a team's fans (or manager, I guess) get mad when a player they felt they were entitled to keep ponders the open market. As if the thought of demanding a record-breaking contract never would have occurred to Pujols and his agent by themselves. It's far too simple and obvious to conclude that Pujols might be in the percentage of the population who, when given multiple offers to do the same job, would willingly take the most lucrative offer.

Which is roughly all of them.

I'm on board. bring him here. Get this done. It even probably makes financial sense. He probably draws 500k at least to Citi. Even a likely conservative $20 a ticket puts that at 20million a year.

[Valadius]

Deadline passed. Get ready for the Season of Albert.

[Guest attgig]

all things point to him being a free agent after the world series, unless he re-starts negotiations in between the cards season ending and free agency period.

as for the blue and orange, we'll hopefully see how this madoff things goes before we can think about bidding 30 mil a year.

[Valadius]

Both Beltran and Perez come off the books at the end of the year. There's your $30 million.

[Ceetar]

Valadius wrote: Both Beltran and Perez come off the books at the end of the year. There's your $30 million.

And Presumably Ike to RF to cover Pagan to CF and Beltran elsewhere. Perez unlikely to add any value that we'd need to replace. The added bonus of Pujols probably makes it even more okay to have a less than Utley type 2Bman in Murphy or Tejada or other prospect.