The silly season goes in over drive: The Big question is where Albert Pujols is plying his trade
Albert Pujols is uncertain where he will be next season like the rest of the MLB (Major League Baseball) players. A free agent for the first time in 11 years, Pujols now has a tough decision to make about where he will be playing, come the start of the new
season.
Before the beginning of the new season, St Louis Cardinals, his home team, made him an offer that he rejected and refused to negotiate till the end of the season. He stayed true to his word and it seems that Cardinals has not been able to make an offer to
Pujols that he would grab with both his hands.
It is not an easy decision for a player who has played for 11 years with the same team. In this modern day game, it is unlikely that a player will spend his whole career with one team and even though no player is bigger than the franchise, sometimes a franchise
has to make tough decisions regarding the trading of players. Sometimes it is mutually beneficial to let the old guard leave when the time is right and rebuild on a new platform. Cardinals is going through similar circumstances.
Cardinals’ long time coach, La Russa, has retired. He was the coach who gave Albert Pujols his big break in the MLB when Mark McGwire told Tony La Russa, "If you don't put this guy on the roster for the 2001 season, it might be one of the worst moves you
make in your career." Thus began his career with the Cardinals and in this time span of 11 years with the franchise, he has won The National League Most Valuable Player Award thrice and the World Series’ ring twice, first time in 2006 and then in his last
season with the outfit.
With a new coach and a two-year contract with Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, it is a new start for St Louis Cardinals, one it may make without its talisman.
Despite the incredible stats Pujols boasts, he has been on a consistent decline since the last three seasons. His hits are down from 186 to 173, his home runs from 47 to 37, and his average has fallen from .327 to .299. These stats are still respectable
but a player who is on a decline is not worth an investment. The reported 9-year deal and the money that Pujols wants would make him the highest paid 40-year-old baseball player and that is exactly what the Cardinals is afraid of.
Pujols has other options as well, including the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets and the Miami Marlins. He met with the Miami Marlins’s management, was given a tour of its stadium and a contract was made. The same day, the team changed its
name from Florida Marlins to Miami Marlins as well. The change in name is also bringing a change in the mentality of the frugal franchise, willing to spend big with a move to its new stadium that will bring in additional revenue. The Chicago Cubs, with a new
head coach, needs a mercurial signing to make an instant impact and Pujols could be this signing for the franchise.
It seems that Albert Pujols’s journey with the Cardinals has come to an end. This is the end of an illustrious career with the St Louis based franchise for Pujols and it is highly unlikely that he will be lining up for Cardinals on the 28th of
March when the new season begins. Even though his stats have been on a decline for the last few years, a change of scenery may help Pujols revive to the level that endeared him for the Cardinals’ fans.
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