Comments on: Deja vu all over again.

By: James

James — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 03:30:37 +0000

as Teddy KGB said in the movie ‘Rounders’: ‘Pay the man his money’

By: Cody Christie

Cody Christie — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 01:27:39 +0000

There is something I like about superstar players staying with their team for their entire careers. As free agency continues to be part of baseball, there are more and more start that leave their hometown teams.

As happy as I was for Mauer to stay in Minnesota, I would be equally as happy for Pujols to stay in St. Louis. St. Louis is the best baseball city that I have had the fortune of visiting. Pujols is a once in a lifetime player and he should always be a Cardinal.

Good post.

By: Jim Crikket

Jim Crikket — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:43:10 +0000

I hope he stays, too, AW, if only for my mother’s sake (she’s a Cardinals fan).

It’s a bit disturbing, though, to read the Pujols is looking to max out on the pay. If it’s true that he really is going to hold out for a record payday, it may make more sense for the Cardinals to say, “forget it… we’ll talk at the end of the season.” If they’re going to have to pay him as though he’s already a free agent, why not wait and see what kind of year he has at age 31? If it takes $30 mil for 9-10 years to sign him now, will it really take any more than that 11 months from now? He’ll be 32 when the next contract STARTS and the Cards don’t play in a league with a DH.

By the way, I’d have felt the same way if Mauer had been insisting on ARod money a year before hitting free agency. Paying a player as though he’s already a free agent even though he’s a year (and a possible injury or bad season) away from actually being one is just not good business… you need to get a bit of a discount off of “market value” for it to make sense. The Twins got that from Mauer (though not as much as I’d hoped they would) but it remains to be seen whether the Cardinals will, as well.

By: AW

AW — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:31:27 +0000

Great post. I have no doubt Mauer would have commanded $25 million, minimum, on the open market. Maybe even a couple more, just based on the fact that quality catching is at a premium, even for the Red Sox and Yankees.
Would be great to see Albert stay in St. Louis. Hopefully the organization follows the script from the Twins’ negotiations, keeps their mouth shut, and just gets the deal done. We all can approximate the annual salary within a couple million, and they just need to agree on years.