Pujols: "It's not about the money all the time"

hideously narcissistic if that is indeed his intention. “Look, America, see how noble I am to turn down such huge money to return to this historic franchise? It’s not about money to me, for I am Albert Pujols!”

I don’t know if I could get behind that idea any more than I could get behind the idea that he wants a big pay day.

and i’ve been looking all over the place for the article, and now I can’t find it.

The gist of it was that Albert is looking for validation or a recognition of the fact the Cardinals have paid him less than he is worth for years. During the negotiations in the spring, he was offended on some level by what they offered him. It’s not so much about the money for the money’s sake, but what the money represents in terms of recognition of who he is. So now he wants to go out there and “test the waters”, even though he really wants to stay with the Cardinals and probably will turn down those other offers.

I don’t necessarily see this as narcissistic. My husband and I have talked several times about this issue. Forget for a minute that we are talking about astronomical sums of money. If you are the best at what you do, but you know you’re underpaid relative to others in your field, and even on your own team, how do you feel about your employer? Of course, baseball contracts are different than a typical work environment, but, nonetheless, if you’re in his position, don’t you at least want to go see what you can get out there?

Let’s just hope this is all he wants to do.

That’s insane.

is a good thought. The Cardinals can’t feel too scared about it, they were facing a monster payday if they chose to sign him outright before the season. With the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers all presumably out of the mix it provides some comfort, I would assume. The team with the biggest ability to drop the most money, which I would imagine is the Angels, usually seems to convince themselves that they are a smaller market incapable of dealing the megadeal.

the second part I can’t say… but I bet he is a bit torn at how much the Cards want to give him vs the ability to compete and the great fans. let’s not forget that Tony Larussa retiring could be a complete game changer… shall prove to be interesting to see how this effects anything, if at all.

Nobody’s come close to getting a deal as good as either of his mega-deals, so they really shouldn’t be a comparison, imo. The comparison contracts should be the Teixiera and Gonzalez deals — both were younger when they signed their contracts even though they aren’t as valuable a player as Albert has been.

Seriously — is there anyone in on the planet that doesn’t think Pujols is the best player in baseball after Game 3 of the World Series?

is that incentives can be based on either:

things like AB, games played in, appearances

WS or Playoff appearances

and

All-Star appearances/gold gloves/MVPs/etc.

All other incentives are not allowed, including ones for actual on the field output, like HR and whatnot.

Neither the Cardinals nor Albert Pujols had an established “Albert Pujols Market” to compare when they negotiated one on one. Since he’s clearly going to command a huge contract, the difference between the actual market in the real world and the speculative going-rate-for-Pujols could be very significant. We’re not talking about some role player who is clearly going to get a couple millions dollars for a one-year contract. So it behooves both parties to not commit before the market solidifies unless it is a can’t-miss kind offer.
If Pujols came to the Cardinals last winter and said “write me a four-year, eighty million dollar contract” they would have done so in even less time than it took to wet their pants with excitement. If the Cardinals came to Albert and said “we’re offering you 13 years with a total value of over four hundred million fucking dollars,” I’m pretty sure Albert would have quickly said, “well I guess I can accept that offer, I’ll have my agent read it over just to make sure” and then he’d sign it in blood if necessary. But neither party had enough incentive to do something like that yet, and they won’t until they get more information.