Cardinals first baseman and three-time NL Most Valuable Player Albert Pujols told a media gathering this afternoon that he feels no urgency to negotiate a contract extension with the club, adding that he will not carry any pending talks into the season.
“My timetable is when I’m a free agent,” said Pujols, who is eligible for free agency after the 2011 season. “Right now we’ve got a couple years. I don’t need to worry about that right now. Right now my job is to let my agent [Dan Lozano] do my talking…. We’re open to talk about it. But I tell you: When the season starts we’re not talking about it.”
Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and president Bill DeWitt III have listed making Pujols “a Cardinal for life” as this winter’s priority. Pujols initially stiffarmed the team’s overtures, insisting it first deal with free agent left fielder Matt Holliday. While applauding the club for retaining Holliday with a seven-year, $120 million deal — a larger package than the seven-year, $100 million contract Pujols signed as an arbitration-eligible player in February 2004 — Pujols gave no indication he is any closer to opening a dialogue.
“I can’t speak to it,” Pujols said. “It’s a commitment the Cardinals orgnanization will have to make.”
Pujols insisted he would not carry the “distractions” associated with negotiations into the upcoming season, essentially opening a 2 1/2-month window for the sides to broker a deal.
Pujols made clear he is comfortable with the possibility of eventually testing free agency.
“If it comes to that, it’s fine. That’s a decision they make,” Pujols said before sitting for a two-hour autograph session at the downtown Hyatt. “If it happens, I have to deal with it. I want to play baseball. If I have to, I can play somewhere else.”
Pujols also talked about Mark McGwire’s return to the team as hitting coach, a topic that will be addressed in an upcoming post.
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Albert is the face of the Cardinals..Pay him what is fair and he will stay!!Now the guestion becomes what is fair??
I say when all is said and done he should be the highest paid player in baseball.After all he is the BEST player playing!!
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yawnnnnnn——
so what else is new? some of the self-importiant sports bloggers on this site have pooh-poohed McGwire’s hitting here as tainted in part because he was in his mid-30’s when he did it. this hgh-pumped-up guy is no different. When his contract expires in two years, he’ll be 32, past his prime. Good years left, probably, but not as good as he will already have seen. I’ll listen occasionally to the game and let him huffnpuff to someone else to his extremely rich heart’s content.
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Try 30 to 35 Million reasons per year why Albert won’t be a Cardinal in two years. They will let him walk and tell the fans that they made a competitive offer. Ownership should do the right thing and trade him when his stock is at it’s highest which is now, if they continue to win, the backlash would be minor.
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chuckimus, you are partially right. There is no response here. But I would like to believe that the expanded article Strauss wrote for this morning’s edition is at least partly the result of all the complaints about this misleading article. So maybe there is an answer, after all.
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@ revpauld
As I am sure you are aware of, you will never find a proper response to your query. After all… “The Globe link was deleted because that site is reporting something we’re absolutely not reporting.”. The truth!
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Here’s a pertinent question for Mike Smith. Are you saying that B. J. Rains, who did the story on that other site you won’t let people link to, doctored what Pujols actually said? He does put discount in quotes there, and clearly heard Albert say a number of things Strauss didn’t see fit to share with your readers here. For example:
“For me I want to be here forever,” Pujols said. “It all depends on what they want and what I want.
“I know people talk about my contract, but when I signed my contract in 2003, 2004, whenever it was, people are talking about that now being a bad contract,” Pujols said. “But you know what? When I signed my contract back then, the Cardinals didn’t have to do that but they did it. And it was one of the best contracts at the time.
“You can compare my contract now to Manny Ramirez, (Mark) Teixeira, A-Rod, whoever you want, and it looks bad, but you know what, they were free agents and I wasn’t. I only had three years in the league and the Cardinals pretty much did me a favor, signing me for $100 million.”
Are you disputing that Albert said those things, Mr. Smith? If not, why are those quotes missing from the story here? Wouldn’t that put the situation in quite a different light from the way Strauss portrays it? I’ll be checking back for your answers.
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This article is very misleading. I am dissapointed.
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@drelboc –
It’s one thing to have a “whoops moment”, it’s another to completely misrepresent what was said by twisting comments around. You can listen to nearly the entire interview and the Globe Democrat site. Listen to it and take from it what you will… but it is in NO WAY the color Strauss paints it to be.
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Everybody calm down. I’m very close to the Pujols camp here in KC. Bernie can vouch for my bona fides. What they tell me is that Pujols and his wife are happy in St. Louis. They are close to friends and family in KC and they like the fact they can go out in public without being harassed. They also tell me Pujols is genuine in his admiration for Stan the Man and in his desire to share in that legacy. AP is about the respect, not the money. The fact the Cardinals have approached him about an extension is most important. These negotiations will go quickly, quietly, and easily. Neither Albert or his his DiDi are looking for A-Rod $$$ or beyond. This deal will get done. Again, calm down.
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Sounds like the free agent waters for Albert may be a little too deep for the Cardinals in 2011. Say hello to some big market club.
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The demands of being a “sportswriter / sports talk radio” and all the other things that keep these guys working tirelessly perhaps show that Joe was tired when he wrote this article. It doesn’t matter what kind of work people do for a living, sometimes things happen that just don’t tell the whole story behind the story. In Joe’s case it doesn’t mean there was intent to omit some facts in this article. Joe is human just like all the rest of us. If anything I think the PD sportswriters try real hard to accommadate the people. Perhaps that is the one fault the PD has. I’m thankful for that!
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He won’t play here for less. He said that when he signed this contract that it’s business and he was not offering a discount. Cards need to respect his wishes and negotiate during the off season. He should not accept less to play here, he may go down as the greatest player to ever play, why take a cent less.
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Embarrasing job of reporting Strauss. You are a beat writer not a columnist. Don’t slant articles to support your anti St. Louis sports agenda.
You disgrace the memory of Bob Broeg.
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Either Albert is saying all the right things to get a huge contract or he may not end his career as a Cardinal. I think both sides should table all discussions until next year.
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first joe forgot to quote albert correctly. just like his big news, who was about a player who has never made a contribiution to this team, otehr than drunk driving. but its big news.
albert should be paid more than any other player in the game. is he not the best? so pay him accordingly.
he did us a favor buy taking his first long term deal years ago. he didnt have to teake it, could have hit the market and split years ago.
he doesnt owe us anyhting, im a sick and tired of this “myth” that cardinal players who want to be here take less. B.S.!
if he ends up leaving it is all on the front office.
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Pre Matt Holliday he was saying money isn’t everything and he would take less money to stay if the Cards make a strong effort to be competitive. Now he is sounding money hungry like every other mlb player. Sad.
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Very poor reporting. A lot of partial quotes ans is also very, VERY misleading. For the full story along with the full quotes read Rains’ article from The Globe. Very dissapointed with Mr. Strauss on this one.
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Wow, found this article way off base with what MLB & Globe-Democrat quoted
Pujols. My opinion of Joe Strauss has gone down as a writer.
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Why aren’t you telling the whole story Joe Strauss? Disgraceful journalism.
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Reading between the lines of Pujols’ comments this offseason doesn’t leave a fan feeling very confident that he wants to return to the Cardinals. Kind of sounds like he won’t be giving the Cards a hometown discount–not that he has to–which could be a big problem, depending on what he and his agent think his market value is.
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I wouldn’t read too much into it. The Cards will HAVE to make sure he
stays. He leaves,there goes a lot of the gate revenue,then what?
He’s just into his prime years and they’re gonna possibly let him go
soon? C’mon. He simply doesn’t want any distractions during playing
time so he can concentrate on his and the teams performance. That’s
just the he is.
There is NO doubt in my mind, that Albert Pujols will retire in a
Cardinal uniform,AND go into the Hall of Fame wearing his #5 Cardinal
jersey.
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Albert is an idiot, Great player but a jerk. He always has something rather dumb to say. I would trade him his last year of his contract and re load!
He could never survive in NY or Philly because he is way to sensitive.
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He is such a arrogant ass. “I can go somewhere else?”. Whatever Dude you where nobody before you came here. Have some respect and don’t drag the cards through the mud.
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Strauss is being a real drama queen. I’m not impressed with his mischaracterization of Pujols’ comments.
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