Let's make this clear right off the bat before some of you start popping off a hate filled comment aimed in my direction, stick needles in a doll with my name on it or chant some ancient curse on me based simply on the title of this column (If I wake up tomorrow with blue hair on my tongue I will know it was one of you)...
Pujols, barring some freak career ending injury or some as of yet unknown steroids related scandal with his name attached to it, is a first ballot Hall of Fame member five years after he hangs up his glove.
Albert Pujols is the best player in the game today, it's not even close and if anyone deserves to be the highest paid player in the game it's this guy.
However, for as good as he is, and all that he brings to the game, no man, not even Albert the Great, is worth the kind of contract he is reportedly seeking.
Pujols has played his entire career thus far for the St. Louis Cardinals, a franchise well known for being player friendly and in a city with some of the best fans of the game. Pujols is an icon in St. Louis and claims to want to be a Cardinal for life.
It's kind of hard to believe him when his current salary demands hold his current employers hostage.
About that "I want to be a Cardinal for life" thing? Apparently his loyalty and desire to the Cardinals comes with a price tag that would cripple the franchise well beyond the length of whatever contract he is given.
Pujols reportedly turned down a nine-year deal worth $200 million. How is that not enough for one man?
It was apparently not enough for him to remain loyal to the franchise that he supposedly loves and wants to be a part of for his entire career.
It seems that Pujols wants a deal north of the record contract handed to Alex Rodriguez, who, like Pujols, is equally undeserving of such riches.
Pujols desires to be baseball's first 30-million dollar man. In comparison to Rodriguez, Pujols deserves to be baseball's highest paid player but this is getting completely out of hand.
It is hard to blame Pujols for not only asking for, but expecting that kind of payday for his skills towards a game in which he utterly dominates, but I do have issue with his turning down a rather generous deal from a franchise that has been very good to him and one that he claims to wish to remain a part simply because he wants to be the highest paid player.
He is 31 years old and the best overall player in the game. Will he still deliver a plus .300 average, hit 40 plus home runs and drive in 100 plus RBI half way through his contract?
Unlikely.
Will he still be the best player in the game over the majority of any contract he will be given?
Unlikely.
Can he pitch? No. Can he deliver a World Series to St. Louis all by himself? No.
So he should be given this ransom just because Rodriguez makes more?
Please save the "He is a draw", "He puts asses in the seats", "He is worth that and more just from a marketing standpoint."
Those arguments did not work for Derek Jeter and they don't apply here either.
Sorry Albert, your math does not compute.
Just because the Yankees are incredibly stupid does not mean the Cardinals Franchise has to follow suit. I sincerely hope they don't give in to Pujols' ransom demands.
The real blame here lies in part with the owners, MLB, The Players Union and the agents that represent the players themselves. It lies within the player to realize their worth to the history of the game and beyond just a payday.
At some point someone with the authority to halt this must realize that this is a team sport that is bigger than any one man, even a man such as Pujols.
Recently the New York Yankees have voiced that they will not be in the market for Pujols, which is a start. Of course, if you believe the Yankees will not get involved I have some ocean front property in Utah to sell you, but it is the right way to go.
Just ask Ken Williams.
I applaud Ken Williams, GM of the Chicago White Sox, for recently stating that $30 million for one man is "asinine" and harmful to the game. He stated what many owners think but lack the balls to say to the media out of backlash from the fans.
I mean, can you imagine any fan of any team not wanting Pujols on their roster?
Williams stated that tying up that much money in any one player, Pujols included, was ridiculous and damages the franchise and the game for decades.
"Sorry White Sox Fans, we are not gonna do it."
However, there are many that will argue that Williams and the White Sox failure to spend the money is the direct reason why the White Sox are strangers to the postseason.
Then a smart person mentions Florida, Tampa Bay and other teams with low payrolls that actually won on talent and heart.
Bravo Mr. Williams, bravo.
Now we just have to wait while others follow your lead and force Pujols back to Earth and make him realize that while he is the greatest player in the game currently, and will go down as one of the greatest of all time, he is but one man in a team sport and he is smaller than the game itself.
It would be AWESOME if the best deal for Pujols came from the Kansas City Royals and he had to take what was offered.
It would serve him right and it would right the sinking ship that the MLB has become.
Ken Williams' stance should be the mantra of all MLB teams that can afford to consider such a salary but resist the temptation to offer it.
Are you listening Hal and John?
Over the last few seasons we have witnesses more fiscal restraint, a harder line if you will, in regards to salaries of aging stars. Players like Andy Pettitte, Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter were looked at more from a business standpoint than the star status attached to their careers.
That vision, that hard-line needs to continue, even more so, towards players like Rodriguez and Pujols. It's too late to change the monumental waste of money that was hurled at the feet of A-Rod, but the MLB has a golden opportunity, with Pujols, to set a hard line on would be greedy robber barons.
Jeter's 189-million dollar contract should have never happened.
It did and it set up A-Rod's ridiculous current contract. His previous one in Texas is what set this train wreck in motion.
A-Rod was and is not worth the money he has stolen, I mean, been paid.
Cliff Lee? Ditto.
Pujols' salary demands should be boycotted for the future of the sport. Yes, I know it's not my money and it does not affect my wallet but it's still mind boggling.
What better way for baseball to send the message than to deny Pujols. If they do, A-Rod's contract will never again carry any weight into any negotiation.
However, we all know that it wont happen.
He will be, unfortunately, baseball's first 30-million dollar man.
Pujols will get his payday and along the way to the bank, while he is laughing, he will lose the respect of many that he earned through his abilities.
He will be looked upon by many as yet another greedy player, another A-Rod, and the game will continue to depreciate from a once hallowed, respected tradition of sport into a cess pool of money and greed.
However, if an owner, such as John Henry of the Red Sox where I predict Pujols will sadly land, is dumb enough to pay the ransom...don't hate the player.
Hate the game.
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