Albert Pujols

After a 2010 free agent market that, aside from Cliff Lee, really was not all that impressive, the 2011 free agent market is starting to look incredible.

Albert Pujols talks with the St. Louis Cardinals are not going well, and the odds of him signing a contract before the noon deadline tomorrow is virtually nil. It has become known as well that CC Sabathia has an opt out clause in his contract, and can become a free agent after this season and look for more money elsewhere.

Can the St. Louis Cardinals afford to let Albert Pujols slip through the cracks? Could the St. Louis fanbase even fathom the notion of their beloved team without their adored first baseman?

Well considering that possibility could perhaps become reality, the Gateway City may well be facing a heavy aftershock of seismic proportions.

            The Cardinals were widely expected to win the National League Central last season. The acquisition of Matt Holliday was expected to provide some pop for the lineup and protect Pujols well - which he did. A fully recovered Chris Carpenter was predicted to be back to his old Cy Young form - which he was. There were many reasons why the Cardinals should have shown a better record in the standings, yet they weren't able to beat out the Reds for the division crown. 

As pitchers and catchers report to their respective Spring Training sites, optimism reigns supreme, from Florida to Arizona.

Every team believes, with just a few breaks, it can make a run at the playoffs. The harsh realities of June and July, and the dog days of August are inconsequential this time of year.

Of course, with hopeless optimism comes the inevitable whisper of doubt. Each National League organization, from the pitching rich Phillies, to the perennially hopeless Pirates, has its share of question marks. 

Today, the common baseball fan wakes up from his winter hibernation. Eleven teams will start their workouts today in preparation for the 2011 season.

This is sure to be a season filled with great teams, great players, great games, and great moments. But there are still lots of questions to be answered during the season.

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One of the more publicized offseason baseball stories of the year has been the ongoing negotiations (or lack thereof) between arguably the best player in baseball, Albert Pujols, and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Albert Pujols plays his home games in the shadow of the gateway to the American West, but with only a few days left before the deadline, Pujols imposed upon negotiations for a contract extension. He and the St. Louis Cardinals are as far apart as the East is from the West. That gulf likely will leave Pujols without a contract for 2012 entering the season, and could well make him a free agent next winter.

I was not born in St. Louis, and I don't plan to live in the Gateway City past high school. But in the relatively short time that I have lived here, it has become clear that there is no city in the entire country that loves one athlete, make that one person, more than St. Louis' love affair with Albert Pujols.

Seeing someone wear an Albert Pujols shirt or jersey in St. Louis is as common as seeing Longhorn apparel in Austin or Patriots sweatshirts in Boston.

There is a media circus brewing in baseball. It has just begun and will continue to build and grow into an unstoppable force in the months of the season to come. I am not talking about the Mets finances. Not immediately anyway.

It seems pretty logical that despite potentially missing Albert Pujols' self-imposed deadline for contract negotiations, the St. Louis Cardinals will find away to retain Pujols.

Either way, there's a chance that we could be seeing Pujols in another uniform at some point during the season, or more likely, during the offseason. The Cardinals don't seem at all interested in moving on from arguably the best player in MLB, and more importantly, the most consistent producer and big reason why the Cardinals made the World Series in 2004; winning it in 2006.