“St. Louis Cardinals wanted Albert Pujols,” says Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr.
The St. Louis Cardinals are now admitting that they never wanted Albert Pujols to join Los Angeles Angels but it was rather some financial issues of the franchise which led him to make a deal with the Southern Californian baseball team.
Cardinals’ Chairman DeWitt Jr. has recently spoken to the media and told them some inside facts which initially were never known to the general public.
DeWitt said, “This is a very knowledgeable baseball market. I think they realize you can only do so much for a given player and compete year in and year out. It's not, 'Is he worth 'x' or 'x' times two? That's the whole jigsaw puzzle that all teams have.”
Bill added explaining little about the Cardinals’ fiscal limitations and most importantly last year’s low revenues, “Some have more capacity. In no way was there a lack of commitment on our part. The good thing about the proceedings was in the end we did have conversations with Albert and with (agent Dan) Lozano on the phone. Mo and I both made it clear how much we wanted him back.”
Last year, the Angels' management signed Albert Pujols for a 10 year deal worth approximately $253 million after the Cardinals failed to re-sign him for the next few years.
On Pujols’ credit, he was a key member of the 2011 Major League’s World Series winning team when the Cardinals’ thrashed the Texas Rangers in a best of seven encounter.
Officially the 2011 season was the last year of Pujols’ contract with the Cardinals while as soon as Pujols got free agency in the offseason, he made a whooping 10 year contract shocking many with his huge salary.
From day one, since Pujols has signed with the Angels, people never stopped speculating for his signing with the Angels and what circumstances led to his decision of leaving club loyalty in vain.
However, after DeWitt’s comments, the real picture has come-out in the media and most importantly in the general public who initially thought that the St. Louis Cardinals' management never was interested to retain Albert Pujols for the next Major League season.
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