And It Continues

And It Continues

There's an element of a bad Christmas to this Albert Pujols' situation: you wake up each morning to find which new team has popped up under the tree to ruin the day.

This morning...it's the Angels.

Just when you thought it was going to be over once the Marlins bowed out---or were told they were out (the Pujols' camp is even disputing how that ended)---the Angels have emerged with an offer, according to Dan Lozano's friend at USA Today Bob Nightengale, that would give Pujols 10 years and 210 million.

Yay.

I always thought the Angels would be the team to make this interesting once the offseason rolled around...so now it's their turn. Unfortunately, I also thought the Rangers would make sense, and we haven't heard from them yet...which means inevitably they could emerge as one of the "mystery teams," and this will continue indefinitely.

As ESPN's Jayson Stark wrote, "when the Winter Meetings are over (today), it's clear the Pujols' negotiations will be far from over."

Sweet action.

For those of you who regularly read insideSTL.com and/or listen to The ITD Morning After, you know my stance...but I realize new people drop by the show or site, so I'll re-state what I wrote in August 2010 and have said numerous times since: I wouldn't give Albert Pujols more than five years.

With that out there, I also fully support Albert's right to get whatever he can get if that's what's going to make him happy.

And, on the other side of that support, if the Cardinals have run the numbers that tell them it makes sense to give Pujols a 10-year deal, then go for it. I personally wouldn't, but I'm not privy to those metrics.

You may not like Pujols...you may not like DeWitt...you may not like Mozeliak...but they have information in this whole situation that the public is not privy to, and there may be numbers on the table...or feelings in play...that factor into how and why this situation continues to drag out.

So, the fact that Puuol's debating between an offer that the Post-Dispatch's Joe Strauss reports is at least nine years and up to 10 years from the Cardinals and an offer from the Angels that, if Nightengale's report is accurate, amounts to about the same amount based on cost of living adjustments to Southern California is rather strange to me.?

And...yes...there are still alleged mystery teams out there.

As Doug Vaughn says about The ITD Morning After, "there are so many things about this show that I don't get." Well, I say there are so many things about these negotiations that I don't get.

I cannot believe the Cardinals are considering giving Pujols "up to 10 years." Can't believe it. And, a well-known baseball person called me during a commercial break yesterday and said, "They're going to give him 10 years? You've got to be fucking kidding me."

I cannot believe Pujols is really going to leave the Cardinals for what, at least as of right now based on Nightengale's report, is a small difference---relatively speaking---in dollars.

And, I cannot believe the Cardinals are going to wait much longer.

It's getting to the point where it could hurt the club's ability to put its roster together for 2012.

And, personaly, I fear that when it's all said and done, what's taking place right now will hurt this team's roster years from now as well.


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