Pujols Signs With Angels

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[ilstu24]

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Its the stuff like that that bother me the most. Good thing he's(?) too young to realize.

[AdmiralKird]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/prishe/2011 ... s-angeles/

The St Louis Cardinals were going to offer Albert Pujols roughly $22 million per season over 9 seasons. According to the calculator, one would have to earn $33.1 million living in Los Angeles to account for the cost-of-living discrepancies.

So Albert gave the Angels a $100 million dollar discount over St. Louis to:

a) Gain more respect by having a higher ranked paycheck
b) Be more competitive
c) Extend his career
d) ???Leave Missouri???

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[greenback44]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/prishe/2011 ... s-angeles/

The St Louis Cardinals were going to offer Albert Pujols roughly $22 million per season over 9 seasons. According to the calculator, one would have to earn $33.1 million living in Los Angeles to account for the cost-of-living discrepancies.

Meh...

Whereas groceries, utilities, transportation and health care are each roughly 10% higher in LA than in St Louis, housing is 178% higher.

He's not renting, so he'll get that money back when he sells the house in 10 years.

[obucard]

I wish I could sig that entire article.

I sig'd what I consider the most significant part.

[AdmiralKird]

Haven't seen this here yet:

The telephone rang at 7:30 in the morning Thursday in room 1882 of the Tower Building at the Anatole Hotel.

It was Albert Pujols, who uttered the words to agent Dan Lozano that would dramatically change baseball's landscape.

"The Angels," he said, "are the ones tugging on my heart."

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly participated in Pujols' charity tournament Saturday. They had become friends over the years and Mattingly sensed something was awry in Pujols' relationship with the Cardinals' front office.

"There was a frustration there," said Mattingly, who grew up a Cardinals' fan in Evansville, Ind. "You could just sense something was wrong. He was getting frustrated by it.

They made an offer in February worth about $195 million for nine years. Pujols, who wanted a 10-year deal, declined. They agreed to shut down negotiations until the season ended, but when free agency opened on Oct. 30, the Cardinals took the offer away and supplemented it with much shorter-term deals. Pujols, people said, almost felt as if the team was daring him to leave.

The Marlins were relentless. They kept increasing their offer. Again. And again. When they arrived Sunday at the winter meetings, they expected to be leaving town with Pujols.

Just to make sure, they offered the richest contract in baseball history at 10 years for $275 million. There wasn't a penny deferred, and with incentives and factoring in no state tax in Florida, the deal could be worth nearly $300 million.

It was at this time that Pujols eliminated the Marlins, and by late Tuesday it was a two-team race between the Cardinals and the mystery team. A few hours later, though, the phone rang in Lozano's suite, and it was Angels general manager Jerry DiPoto wanting to talk.

"About who?" Lozano said, who also represents free-agent shortstop Jimmy Rollins and outfielder Carlos Beltran.

"We want to talk about Albert Pujols," Dipoto said.

Lozano was stunned. The bigger surprise came at 9 the next morning. The Angels offered a 10-year contract for about $250 million. The deal included incentives that could make it worth nearly $280 million. No deferred money. And a full-no trade clause. Yes, they were serious.

Moreno, who watched the Angels fall short in recent years trying to lure free agents Carl Crawford, Mark Teixeira, Adrian Beltre and CC Sabathia, took the reins. He made two impassioned calls to Pujols. He told Pujols that they planned to also sign Wilson. They weren't going to stop being aggressive in the market until they won a World Series championship, their first since 2002 and first under Moreno.

Pujols told Lozano that he and his wife, Deidre, would pray on their decision that night.

'Is this for real?'

Lozano sat in his suite at 1 in the morning Thursday with his three-member staff, watching ESPN and munching on potato chips. He had been so busy Wednesday that he didn't even shower until 4 p.m. and never left the hotel during his four-day stay. He went to bed expecting Pujols to call at some point Thursday but figured it would take days to finalize a deal.

The phone call from Pujols came at 7:30 a.m. Five minutes later, Lozano called DiPoto, who had been up most of the night finalizing Wilson's deal. The rookie GM broke the news to his front-office staff, a group that's been together for less than two months.

If Mozeliak removed his previous offer and then tried to make a five year, six year deal, then that was a pretty poor move, IMO. I don't really get the frustration with not getting a major extension/restructuring+extension and animosity towards the Holliday, Wainwright, and Carpenter deals since those were more pertinent moves for the long-term sustainability of the franchise, but I do see the frustration with getting snubbed by being offered a worse deal after having a down year. If I were in Mo's shoes, I'd almost expect that one of the 29 teams would easily beat something that the Cardinals offered after the season.

I can't really blame Pujols after reading this. The Angels have more resources to win, he turned down the great offer by the Marlins because they were suspect to winning, and the Cardinals tried to get another 'cheap' deal with him, only upping it when they realized he wasn't taking the low-hanging bait. I'll give him a standing ovation when he returns. I honestly can't see myself being in his shoes and not taking that offer. If winning is my priority and I have a lot of personal pride placed in being the best, and its stricken by being told "Well, you've been really good in the past, but we don't think you're worth near what we thought you were less than even a year ago," then I could easily see myself playing for another competitor. The whole thing just seems rather, insulting.

Who knows, maybe after he's won a WS in Anaheim and he's in real decline, with the fans probably getting a little antsy with his production for his paycheck, he might wear the birds on the bat again.

[Sutter'sBeard]

At my office, I have a plaque that my inlaws gave me for Christmas that has a large, hi quality picture of Albert along with some gold plates listing some of his achievements. Right now, it's in the garbage can. I threw it in there 10 seconds after hearing he signed with the Angles.

Should I take it out? If so, what the hell do I do with it?

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Should I take it out? If so, what the hell do I do with it?

Send it to him. COD.

[Sutter'sBeard]

Should I take it out? If so, what the hell do I do with it?

Send it to him. COD.

Do you know how to get ahold of some anthrax?

(Just kidding in case the Patriot Act people are watching)