Albert Pujols still undecided on future as negotiations pick pace – MLB Update
The winter meetings were filled with the saga surrounding the trade of free agent player Albert Pujols during the offseason. Now that the meetings are almost over, it has become pertinent that this story is far from over and might pull a few more months
before a resolute conclusion is reached.
The Miami Marlins were considered to be the forerunners in this competition and had already extended a lucrative offer to the big hitting free agent, but have now taken an exit from the bidding process after the St. Louis Cardinals pumped in an offer for
their home grown player. This was the first offer from Cardinals in ten months, when a ten-year, 200-million-dollar deal was supposedly declined by Pujols. Nevertheless, it is believed that the offer is still not reasonable to attract Pujols to the only ballclub
that he has ever played for.
The Marlins moved on from Pujols and signed free agent starting pitcher Mark Buehrle on a four-year deal which will fetch him 58-million-dollars in total, two-million-dollars more than his previous four-year contract with the Chicago White Sox. The Marlins
are on a spending spree and it is quite probable that they might even pursue the likes of C.J. Wilson and Jose Reyes.
Now that Pujols has declared the offer by Cardinals to be a bit less than considerable, the Los Angeles Angels have stepped in to this bidding war and are expected to extend an offer to the big hitting free agent sooner than later. The offer is expected
to be somewhere around the 210-million-dollar mark for a period of ten-years, but this offer is expected to be negotiable. The Angels are also pursuing Wilson and it remains to be seen which of the two free agents does the franchise signs, given the fact that
both will demand a hefty amount.
With the offseason now in full flow and negotiations picking pace, Pujols will have to make a decision sooner than later. A deal similar to New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez might not be in the offing as yet, but thinking of something similar would not be
doing justice to other teams.
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