In the aftermath of Albertgeddon fans have been reacting with all the emotional aplomb that one would expect when a team loses an icon. There hasn't been much in way of logical thinking. Sadly, the reaction from the blogosphere from guys that are supposed to more objective has been just as reactionary. People are all bitter anger right now. Mostly they are saying he is a sellout and that he just ran for the money, or, they just respond with a "we didn't need him anyway." The truth is most of the people that are judging him have not been following the behind the scenes machinations that led to this situation. This was not something that came about his recently, its been two years in the making, and honestly, all signs pointed to Albert leaving.
Firstly, to clear up a few things, Albert is a bit surly. A very good human being that is incredibly selfless in a lot of ways, a great cheerleader for his team, a great family man, and really, a decent human being. There aren't many people that can say that, but the fact is he is really just sort of a reserved introverted personality type off the baseball field. He has had a tumultuous time with the media in St. Louis, bu frankly, he has handled the somewhat antagonistic media in St. Louis (i.e. Joe Strauss, Bernie Miklasz) much better than I ever would. None of this should detract from the fact he does more humanitarian actions a year than most players do in a career. All of that being said, that means his interactions with people have not been all sugar and spice. Particularly, his relationship with the front office, particularly with Mozeliak, (Mo) has been degrading at a steady pace. Mo is also kind of a jerk, actually, he is a complete jerk, and he has been trying to increase his day to day control over the team. That was mitigated by the fact that Tony Larussa was the manager and nobody meddles with him without getting an earful. But Tony retired, and Mo got to handpick his staff. This would give him much more control over day to day baseball operations. I think this factored heavily into Albert's decision to move on.
Secondly, Albert was hurt, and I really do mean hurt, (Joe Strauss mentioned that it seemed truly genuine. As he is a hardass cynic, it means a lot coming from him) by the offer the Cardinals made before the season. There is no question that that offer was not remotely a fair offer. It wasn't even a fair offer with him giving the hometown discount. It was, frankly, a bit of a slap in the face to him. A credit to Pujols is that where as a lot of players would have let this bother him, he just shut up and played.
Thirdly, Pujols (and Deidre, she had a lot of influence on his decision) Pujols wanted ten years on the contract more than he wanted the money. That was something he just really cared about, as well as a no-trade clause. Also, he wanted a personal service contract on top of it. Mo refused to bend on any of this. They could have resigned him. Honestly, the could have easily resigned him. I cannot be convinced that a personal service contract with a team icon is an onerous demand. My conclusion from all of the evidence is this. The Cardinals DID NOT WANT PUJOLS BACK.
I am sure some of you are saying, "Why Justin, why would you say a thing like that?" Well, since you asked, I will tell you why. There are several factors that kept the Cardinals from getting him. The first of these is that they don't need to pay a contract in any where near the range Pujols DESERVED. Those type of contracts, for any player, really on belong on teams that can field upwards of a 150 mil payroll. The Cardinals, as of yet, cannot field a payroll that high. It would hamstring financial to the point where it would be hard for them to be competitive at times. And here are some more harsh facts. Albert is looking like he is an old 31. No, I am not saying he is older than 31, just that his body has been through a lot. The past 4 seasons he has looked like he is walking on glass. His legs aren't healthy, and that is not likely to change over a ten year contract. Its a miracle that his right elbow hasn't already blown out as the ligament there is as thin as my savings account. He has played 11 seasons and rarely missed any games. That is a lot of wear and tear on his body. I thoroughly believe that a body has an odometer, and it can only play so many games, regardless of their age and he has not only played a lot games, and a ton more playoff games, but he runs the bases like his hair is on fire and plays hard everyday. He plays through all of this injuries, and in the long run, I think that will shorten his career. Over ten years, he will break down, and there is absolutely no chance that he will be the same player he is now over the last 4 seasons of that contract. The Cardinals new, and the Angels know, they are getting probably six good seasons out of Pujols, anything over than that is a bonus. The Cardinals just weren't willing to do that.
Of course this is mostly speculation, but logically that is how it will go. Maybe Pujols will have a career in Anaheim to match that in St. Louis, MVP's, batting titles, gold gloves, and multiple world series appearances, but betting on that is an enormous gamble, the Cardinals just weren't willing to make that gamble. And that was the right call.
This was a situation where Albert both absolutely deserves to get paid, and it was absolutely a bad idea to do it. I for one, wish the best to Albert, it has been a pleasure to watch him play this years. But now I am excited to see in what direction the Cardinals are going. It is not like they have a bad team, Albert actually was their third best offensive player last season, and they are going to be just fine. In fact, I think they will win the division, and have a better chance of winning than they did in 2011.
On a side note, I have no problem with players getting paid. They earn it. They work hard. They work harder than anybody not a ball player could possibly imagine. They work harder in one year than I have worked in grad school plus law school. They earn there money and pay for it the rest of their lives with pain. If someone is offering the money its ridiculous to ridicule the player for taking it. And those of you who say the old days were different, then I want to know which era you are talking about. Read the biographies, the players going back to 1900 have always been concerned with their earnings, as they should be. Its a business, it always has been. We love capitalism, but if you are ballplayer, suddenly we don't love it. I don't begrudge then. Albert gets more money for his charities, and more money to secure his children and grand children are taken care of. I can't fault anyone, particularly a someone who gives back, for that.
