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Whoa.. should change the landscape in the AL. It'll be fun watching Pujols battle the yanks every year.

Second biggest contract in baseball history.

Not a good long-term move for the franchise. But short-term, they'll be real good.

Sucks to see Pujols leave the cardinals. But this contract is going to be terrible in a few years (much like the Arod one is now). No way is a 38-42 year old Pujols going to be worth even half his contract. SO essentially they are paying him 200 million for maybe 5 years and the other 5 at 50 million (which he probably wouldn't get as a 37 year old).

Not a bad choice by the cardinals. They get a ton of years and 2 rings out of him without paying him outrageous amounts of money and now they can rebuild.

I've got pretty much the same sentiments as everyone who has posted so far. This should really make the AL fun to watch for the next 5-7 years, especially if all the talent in the league stays healthy and doesn't defect to the NL like a lot of the pitching talent has during the last three offseasons.

I must say that I'm kind of shocked that Albert is leaving St. Louis. I really, truly thought that he might be the exception to the rule that cash rules everything around us (get the money, dolla dolla bills y'all). I had been saying for a while that I thought he'd take a slight discount to stay in a city that's made him who he is and gotten him two rings.

The middle of this Angels lineup is going to be incredibly dangerous now that they have Albert, and if Kendrys Morales and Vernon Wells can put together better seasons in 2012, paired with Mike Trout, we're gunna see a team on the west coast starting to hit the lights out.

It should also be very interesting to see where the Cardinals go from here. Maybe they make a run for Prince? Or do they invest in the future and rebuild through the system?

Da Schwab wrote:I really, truly thought that he might be the exception to the rule that cash rules

I sure was hoping that would turn out to be true. Well, good luck to him, and thanks for some unbelievably great seasons in St. Louis. I know a lot of Cardinals fans will be mad about this, but I'm not. The front office gave it their best shot, but in the end Pujols just wanted too much--even though the Cardinals' market extends far beyond St. Louis, it is not a team that can afford to pay one guy $25 million a year into his forties.

The Cardinals got 11 Hall of Fame caliber seasons from Pujols, two of which ended in championships, and got them for a good price. The team and its fans have been very fortunate. And it should still be a good team, especially if Wainwright is back. Plus you know they are going to add an impact free agent or two, either this winter or next.

Wow.

he's no way worth that money. This is a ridiculous contract. Wow.

It helps that he can at least DH the last 3 years of that contract.

Soca wrote:It helps that he can at least DH the last 3 years of that contract.

isnt that what they thought with arod?

once u get hip problems/knee its hard to turn on the ball....which is the problem arod was having, he was just too slow to catch up to ball

...of course it is ok for any team to spend money as long as it is not the yankees.

Pharmcat wrote:

Soca wrote:It helps that he can at least DH the last 3 years of that contract.

isnt that what they thought with arod?

once u get hip problems/knee its hard to turn on the ball....which is the problem arod was having, he was just too slow to catch up to ball

I believe third base is a much more demanding position than first.

Let's be honest here, Cards waved the small market flag too soon. They gave Holliday a huge extension and no one blinked an eye. They screwed the pooch here, any team would have settled this last offseason. Pujols was probably the most underpaid player in baseball history for the last 10 years, and now it was his turn to get paid and the Cards were like "welllllllllllllllllllll." They should have gotten this done 12 months ago.

i wouldnt say they lowballed pujols, isnt it believe they offered him this year around 10 years and between 210-220? also, living in st. louis vs cali w/taxes the way they are, it seems he'd make pretty much the same

as for the cards getting a bargain for his last deal, blame his agent who's insane (nsfw) http://deadspin.com/5861982/dan-lozano- ... e-mountain

Yeah, I read the story. I'm sure he's not the only one who is like that though. They initially lowballed him before spring training by offering only (only?) $198 million over 9 years I believe. It's only b/c of Miami's pursuit did they increase the offer.

Yeah, giving a 32-year-old 200M is low-balling him, and now he just came off his worst season ever. I would have no problem giving him like 3/92 or 4/117, but the max I would have given him money wise is 185M. Although that is based on on-field play, so I can see the 200M offer.

Worse season ever yet he hit 30 home runs and drove in 100 rbi's. I'd take that.

He drove in 100 runs batted ins?

This past season was actually the first in his career in which he didn't have at least a .300 AVG and 100 RBI. He came in .299 with 99 RBI.

angels just signed a 20 yr / 3bil deal with fsn.

this deal is about more than just on the field performance 6-7 yrs down the road.