Albert Pujols' contract negotiations with the St. Louis Cardinals have recently been put on hold until this offseason. Pujols and the Cardinals had all offseason to work out a new contract and Pujols set a deadline for today and they have failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension.
Pujols will veto any trades this season, and he will play out the whole season with the Cardinals. Once the offseason begins, Pujols will have many teams making offers to him. There is no doubt that he is currently the best player in the MLB, and he will be a hot commodity next offseason.
New York Mets fans have mixed opinions about if the Mets should go after Pujols or not. Pujols is the best player in all of baseball and every single team would love to have him. Although every team would like to have him, there is only a few teams that will be in the running for him this offseason.
The Mets can be a team that will have the financial flexibility to go after Pujols this offseason. Pujols will be looking for a lot of money and if the Mets don't get hurt by their Bernie Madoff situation then they should be able to afford Pujols.
The questions is, should the Mets should go after Pujols? I say no. I'm not saying no because of Pujols' talent, I know that he is the best player in baseball and I would love for the Mets to have him. But the reality is that the Mets don't need Pujols.
Sure you can say that every single team needs a player like Pujols, but I don't believe that. The Mets have a great young first baseman in Ike Davis. Davis will look to build on his amazing rookie season. First base is one of the spots that the Mets are satisfied with right now.
The Mets will have many other problems to address next offseason, problems such as second base and the starting rotation. The Mets will also have to try their best to keep Jose Reyes in Queens. The Mets should have a lot of money available next offseason, and it might be just enough to fulfill their necessities.
First base is not a necessity for the Mets right now. That could change if Ike Davis has a "Sophomore Slump" this season. Davis showed a lot of promise last season, but he will have to prove that he is the real deal this season.
If Davis doesn't perform up to his expectations this season then that may make the Mets approach Pujols more aggressively. But the Mets might not do that, they have a lot of confidence in Davis and I feel that in order for the team to lose faith in him, he will have to either experience a bad injury or have a horrible season.
Some people would like to see the Mets make Davis an outfielder so Pujols can play first base. I have no problem with that, but the reality is that it's not a necessity for the Mets to get Pujols. As of now, the Mets' outfield is set in stone. It will have Jason Bay, Carlos Beltran and Angel Pagan.
It is true that Carlos Beltran will most likely not be on the Mets next season. That would make Angel Pagan the center fielder for 2012 and open a spot in right field. If that happens then the Mets should look at Pujols and see if Davis can play right field. If so, then I will be all for it.
But that would most likely mean that the Mets will be unable to fill their needs at second base and the starting rotation. If Pujols is signed by the Mets he will be making a massive amount of money. That would leave the Mets with not much money to spend in the remainder of the offseason. Pujols might be worth every penny of his contract but he might not be what the Mets really need.
The Mets already have an extremely talented lineup with a lot of potential, the Mets' problem isn't their hitting, it's their pitching. The Mets' first priority for next offseason should be to acquire a great pitcher. Pitching wins World Series and the Mets simply don't have enough of it.
Although it would be great for the Mets to have Albert Pujols, it might not be the best move for the team to make. This whole debate will hibernate once the season starts but I can assure you that it will be the biggest headline next offseason. It will be extremely interesting to see how all this works out.
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