St Louis Cardinals

The clock is ticking on the St. Louis Cardinals to come to terms on a contract extension with the best player the Cardinals have had since Stan "The Man" Musial retired in 1963.

Albert Pujols has set a firm deadline to agree to an extension by the start of spring training.

Should Pujols not receive an extension by that time, he will become a free agent after the 2011 season.

With most of the top free agents now signed and teams starting to take shape as we approach spring training, I thought I would share my pre-pre-season perspective on the relative strengths, (and weaknesses), of all 30 major league teams.

Albert Pujols has told the St. Louis Cardinals he wants a new contract by the beginning of spring training, or he will sever negotiations and become a free agent in the fall, sources told ESPN the Magazine's Buster Olney.

The Cardinals exercised Pujols' option for next season in October, which will pay him $16 million. Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak refused to comment on the state of the negotiations Saturday.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

This is probably not the headline St. Louis Cardinal fans were hoping to see as they head towards the 2011 season. They were hoping to see a headline that read something like this, “Albert Pujols Signs 7-Year Extension.”

That headline still might happen, but if the Cardinals are going to make that happen, they better get a move on it.

An already deep Cardinals rotation added some surplus on Friday, inking Miguel Batista and Ian Snell to minor-league deals. The Post-Dispatch reports that Batista can become a free agent if he's not assured a spot on the big-league team by the final week of Spring Training, and that Snell has a similar option for June 1.

Few things went as expected for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2010.

A team built on seasoned veterans that was supposed to take the NL Central division crown with ease found that they couldn't overcome injuries and poor hitting enough to catch up with the energetic Cincinnati Reds, finishing just five games out of first place.

Yes, it was a tumultuous season to say the least.

With a greatly improved starting rotation, the Milwaukee Brewers have become contenders in 2011. But do not mistake that for “division winners.”

In 2010, the Brewers ran out a consistently strong offense, while the pitching kept them in the trenches. This coming season, expect the offense to be more or less the same, but the additions of Shaun Marcum and Zack Grienke may not completely change the Brewers’ recent fortune.

The Cardinals made what's likely their last addition of the offseason on Tuesday, adding backup catcher Gerald Laird to the fold with a one-year, $1 million deal. Laird will back up All-Star catcher Yadier Molina.

Laird represents an upgrade over former backup Jason LaRue, who retired during the 2010 season after experiencing post-concussion symptoms after receiving a kick to the head from Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto.

The Cardinals sent offensively anemic shortstop Brendan Ryan to the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, receiving fireballer Maikel Cleto in return.

Ryan became dispensable earlier this offseason when the Cardinals added shortstop Ryan Theriot.