The bewitching hour is 11 a.m. Wednesday: A-Day.
St. Louis Cardinals GM John Mozeliak confirmed Monday that the team and Albert Pujols have set that deadline for reaching a contract agreement, or the superstar's brain trust out of Beverly Hills says talks will cease for the remainder of the season. In that case, Pujols would become a free agent when the 2011 season ends and any team willing to meet his price could sign him.
Whether reports are true that Pujols is demanding a 10-year contract worth $300 million remain to be seen. But it’s now obvious that there is some major disagreement either in dollars or longevity.
Here’s my conspiracy theory on this deal: Many of us who cover the Cardinals think Pujols is older than the back of his baseball card states. That difference could be anywhere from one to three years.
What if the Cards either know this to be fact or have played the nudge-nudge, wink-wink game with Team Albert? The team would be hesitant to guarantee 10 years for a guy they know would be in his mid-40s by the time the deal ends. But the Cardinals can’t bust Albert on his age because the franchise would be admitting to putting a bit of a fraud over on fans. So Pujols never has to come clean on the age question. He holds the winning hand—plus he probably thinks he will still be a great player a decade from now.
Still, the most preposterous part of this money drama has nothing to do with Pujols or the Cardinals. It involves religion—people who say Pujols is acting un-Christian because he wants top dollar. They’re nuts. Do they question Joel Osteen or Joyce Meyers, evangelists who make tens of millions of dollars? That money comes from the pockets of their followers, not from a franchise owned by billionaires. Yet some people seem to feel Pujols is sinning by seeking what he thinks he’s worth as a baseball player.
I doubt Pujols will sign by tomorrow, but I still don’t see him leaving St. Louis. And God won’t enter the talks as an arbitrator.
