Tex is NOT the benchmark. And I think he’ll be worth every penny. I hope the Cardinals pay.

at least to me what the plan is. Taking money they’ve been traditionally spending at the hot corner and getting it developed so they can shift more to 1b.

And I like the approach they’ve gone with the 3b, it gives us glut, but having 4 guys who can be projected ML is a nice thing.

I hope they shift that mentality to 2b next. Then load up on as much pitching around the 2b picks.

As stated earlier, the Cards main potential competitors for Pujols probably won’t be all that interested. The Yankees will have Tex taking up 1B, and looking at their current squad they’ll undoubtedly have some aging ex-position player such as Posada or Jeter using the DH. As a huge Red Sox fan I can tell you that the current management is not keen on spending big bucks on free agents, and there have been rumors that they will never pursue a big ticket free agent again, instead building from the inside and spending their money locking up their homegrown players. Plus, their top prospect, Lars Anderson, is a 1B.

The only real competition for Pujols I could see would be the Mets, who presumably won’t still be using Carlos Delgado at 1B when 2012 rolls around.

All in all, I bet Pujols re-signs with the Cards for 8yr/220mil or something around there. But if he were to hit the open market, and the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets all really wanted him, I wouldn’t be surprised to see 8yr/260mil.

if there is a current player in baseball who would give that kind of home town discount, it would be Albert. A star player that plays his entire career with one team may very well be a thing of the past. This is one of my pet recurring themes, that baseball often mirrors real life. With so much wealth disproportionately distributed in the country, as well as baseball, it is wiping out the mid tier team’s ability to compete. At some point, if not already, the rest of the league must live off the yankee’s scraps. And even if the yanks haven’t won very much and their payroll is less than last year, they still spend around seventy million more than anyone else. A-rod makes almost as much as the entire marlin’s payroll. What this really means is that any team who develops a star player knows they will most likely lose him to the yanks. There may be no more Cal Ripkin’s or George Brett’s. Even if the yanks don’t win every year, this hurts fans so this hurts baseball.

I’m a big advocate of the Cards talking to Albert now about an offer. In effect cancelling his current contract and starting a new one. I think it would show Albert how important he is to the organization and how committed they are to him (if indeed they are). Let’s face it the man has been underpaid for a while, and if Albert isn’t paying attention to the skyrocketing salaries, I guarantee you his agent is (if he’s worth a dam). Plus there are more big salaries in the next few years, the one that jumps out at me, without looking, is Ryan Howard. Don’t know how many more years he has before he’s a free agent, but the way things are going with him (deserved or not) he’s going to get a big payday.

Loyal or not, I don’t think Albert will accept being the 2nd or 3rd highest paid 1st baseman. Hell he should be the highest paid player. Period.

So the mark for 1st baseman is about 22.5/yr. So if I were Pujol’s agent, if contracts we’re being discussed today, if you were not coming with 25-27 mil a yr, I’d end the conversation.

I’m sure Howard’s agent would probably do the same, ‘cause lets face it, chicks love the longball. Howards numbers don’t really compare to Pujols overall, but he has finished very favorably in the MVP standings, and he does bring a ton of homeruns (that’s pretty much all he brings, but for some that’s enough).