CC,
I would respectfully submit,
Albert is way above and beyond a top tier guy, Holliday’s signing does not reduce the money for Albert, no way in heck does the Holliday signing give the Cardinals a pass or a desire to let Albert walk. It’s just my gut feeling but the numbers back me up.

Brian-that’s neat that Holliday is taking #7

I added this because there are a bunch of web searches coming here looking for information on number 7.

Pujols can say something about Holliday at the onset of spring training (or at Winter Warmup). There is no reason for him to do so now. Albert is off-duty, in the off-season.

Ludwick might get two years to finish out his pre-free agency years, but my guess is that both he and Skip end up with one-year deals. Last year, Ludwick went down to the wire. It could happen again as his 2009 season was not nearly as strong as his 2008.

BD just spent a lot of money. He is in a very strong position right now. He has leverage. You will not recognize how he will or is using it, if you don’t pay attention.

Was the Mo statement to AP’s agent made from a strong position????????? Or did he just escape from a very weak one???????????

This team has allot of work to do. We should all focus on unity at this point. I will guarantee that the powers in MLB , as they rise from the large market teams, are very active right now. I’m sure they recognize that BD has moved another step closer to his long term goals. Do you see how?

Do you really think the Cardinals would (could) have made this signing……….without allot of cooperation from MLB? Lets see MH says there were allot of ups and downs. Huh…………….. Scott Boras has a size MH boot mark on the back of his neck just to stop him from trying to play all the angles.

There are major players conspiring on a number of fronts here. Lets just win the WS and watch the drama.

Any reaction from Albert yet about Matt?

Stan and Gibby did not enjoy the earned right of free agency, so their careers were legally owned and their earning power much lower. They did not have to be traded.
DeWitt is not going to trade Albert unless there are really strong reasons to do so. Matt Holliday says he expects the Cards are serious about retaining Pujols. I see no reason to doubt Matt on this point. Boras says DeWitt has loads of money. WCBW believes a bunch of it is stashed down in the Caymans.

History is full of very good trades and very bad trades. How about prospects Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Lee Stevens for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew?

Now I can also understand Carioca’s viewpoint. And teams do sometimes feel they have to trade stars, like Sabathia or the southpaw the Mets got from the Twins.

But in the long-term, history is not going to remember the names of guys landed for Pujols. I happen to remember Rick Ownby and Neil Allen for Hernandez because they were so inadequate to make up for his loss.

I suspect DeWitt values the Cardinals enough that he will not wish to be always remembered as the owner who traded Pujols. Who did the Red Sox get for unloading Babe Ruth on the Yankees? Players like Pujols do not come around very often, so it is a terrible thing to have to give one up. The Cards can afford to give Pujols a very strong offer, despite all the complaints from fans that DeWitt is cheap. By watching their budget, they have planned-in mega-bucks for Pujols. They have invested big bucks in Holliday too to give Albert some help. The Cards need to be patient and respectful and see if a deal can be found.

Jumbo says we should take our 2 draft picks and be happy ( i disagree) but there are lots of rumors that the draft pick compensation may go away in the new CBA. We might not even get draft picks.

The landscape is not littered with players Boston loved and then rejected – only the Cardinal’s roster is

Something that I stand firmly behind is not considering Pujols (including his agent) to be greedy, under any context. He wants to play for a competitive team. And he wants to get a fair salary, commensurate with his worth, at the time of his free agency. This salary may be lower than Alex Rodriguez, but it could also be higher. If Albert aims higher, this is not intrinsically greedy, IMHO.

CC, good points about Boston and New York tying up first base. Seems unlikely either would spend that much on a designated hitter, but it isn’t impossible. The Yankees sort of did it with Giambi. Also, I would not put it past the Red Sox to move Gonzalez out (if they get him and sign him to a long-term deal) for a chance to acquire a once-in-a-lifetime talent like Pujols. The baseball landscape is littered with players that Boston once loved only to reject later.

In addition, because of Pujols’ uniqueness, I would not be surprised to see dark horse teams willing to bid big money on Albert if he became available. Before A-Rod became a free agent, who would have thought the Rangers would become the high bidder?

Some other parts of this story above, I would not agree with.

The Cards have just shown they can be very patient in working with a player and his agent, ending up with a mutual happy agreement. Brian used to argue Boras always took free agents to new teams, but this has not happenned with Lohse and now Holliday. Why? Because the Cards will selectively choose when to pay a high market price. They can do so again with Albert. They have the money.

Albert has a tough agent from Beverly Hills. This agent is every bit as tough as Boras. But if the Cards can selectively sign Boras clients, they can also re-sign Pujols. It can be done.

If the Beverly Hills agent holds out, does this make Pujols “greedy”? No more “greedy” than any other baseball player or agent. Maybe players just want a fair deal and are not greedy at all.

Should the Cards trade Pujols if he does not soon re-sign? NO. This would be monstrous. The Cards did not trade Musial, Gibson, Brock. They should not trade Pujols either. They should respect him, just as Pujols has respected the uniform. The Cards should make him a fair offer, reflecting his wonderful career. And work patiently with his agent, just as they did with Boras on Holliday. Just because a player wishes to be respected and paid a fair salary for his contributions does not mean he is “greedy. ”

However, if after 2011, Pujols elects to go elsewhere, then we can collect two draft picks. Its better to have one or two more years of Pujols adding to the record books as a Cardinal than to trade him away.

Another potential value reducer for Albert would be Boston trading for and locking up Gonzalez long term. With both Boston and NYY seemingly set at 1B the chance of a bidding war gets highly reduced.

There is of course the elbow as well. If it goes out this season he probably has time to recover his value if he can show he is rehabbed. If he hurts it in 2011 it is a great value reducer. Potential recurring of an injury is something that wasn’t a concern with Rodriguez.

Yes, there are adantages for parties to get a deal done now.

Just call me a FUD spreader!