Albert Pujols

The possibility that the St. Louis Cardinals trade Albert Pujols before season’s end is a very real option for the Cards.

Instead of the Cardinals watching Pujols walk and get nothing in return, trading him before the 2011 trade deadline would help the Cardinals reload with new talent as they figuring out how to handle life after Pujols.

There will be many teams who will put it all on the line for a chance to trade for the best active player in the MLB, but it’s going to take a lot to pry Pujols out of St. Louis.

As the NFL season draws to a close and national interest in the NBA continues to plummet on an annual basis, most avid sports fans will begin to direct their attention to baseball and the 2011 MLB season.

Yes! It's finally that time of year, with pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training earlier this week. 

Baseball spring training means new preseason favorites and predictions for the upcoming 2011 MLB Season.

Many baseball pundits, experts and so-called experts will be publishing their predictions for the 2011 season if they haven't already.

When you think of MLB first basemen, what comes to mind?

POWER

You think of big, burly guys like Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols.

First basemen are usually the largest guys on the field, towering over the infielders and umpires. And with that size often comes an impressive swing.

More so than any other position, it is expected that first basemen will hit for average, drive in runs and hit home runs.

A lot of home runs.

Well, "Albertgeddon" has come and gone.  Finally.  

Everybody okay?  All present and accounted for?  Looks like there was minimal damage.

Thirty-one-year-old Albert Pujols has already racked up 10 seasons of hitting over .310 with at least 30 home runs and 100 RBI, and has never finished outside the top nine in MVP voting.

A free agent after this season, the St. Louis Cardinals are desperately trying to keep the slugger, but they are reluctant to pay anywhere near the $300 million over 10 years Pujols is reportedly asking for. 

Albert Pujols is the best first baseman in the MLB.  He may even be the best of all-time, but as Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals tried to reach a contract extension before spring training, Pujols made it evident that he wants more money, and he's not scared to test the free agent market.

If you're the type of person that reads this website, you've undoubtedly heard by now that the deadline has come and gone for Albert Pujols to reach a contract extension with the St. Louis Cardinals. 

The Cardinals reportedly offered "more than $200 million over nine or 10 years" for the future Hall of Famer and even an ownership stake in the team. But it just wasn't enough for the game's best player.

Have you ever wondered what goes through your girlfriend's mind when she stops dead in her tracks, her eyes glaze over and she goes into a trance while looking at that ring in the window?

That's what this is for men. Players like this only become freely available once a generation, and we too have paused and slipped into an alternative universe where this shiny jewel could be ours.

In Oliver Stone's 1987 film, Wallstreet, Bud Fox, an ambitious stockbroker, gets into a heated argument with his hero Gordon Gekko, a Wall Street legend known for always being on the winning end of corporate deals.

After learning that Gekko has wrecked and decided to sell off his dad's friends and employer, Fox confronts Gekko. The following exchange takes place in the film:

Fox: "How many yachts can you water ski behind? How much is enough?"

Can signing the games best player be the worst decision of your life? The St. Louis Cardinals could find out if they give him Alex Rodriguez money.

The self-imposed contract deadline came and went for the Cardinals slugger. Now, Albert Pujols will walk into the 2011 season without a new contract and the possibility of playing somewhere else next year.