Tony La Russa believes Albert Pujols saddened by leaving St. Louis Cardinals -MLB Update
As glamorous and star sparkled as Albert Pujols might have seemed over the 2011 Major League Baseball (MLB) offseason as teams around the national league fought to sign on the player in order to turn their teams around, former Redbirds manager, Tony La Russa,
describes the situation as a totally different reality from what it looks to be.
Albert Pujols left his long time team, the St. Louis Cardinals, to sign on with the Los Angeles Angel to a mega 10-year, $254 million contract, which was certainly the blockbuster deal of this offseason, but according to La Russa, the veteran superstar is
pained at having left them.
"I know it was a painful decision and it pains him now," La Russa said. "He deserves what he got. He earned it. There's no bad guy here. I think the Cardinals went where they thought they should go. If they can't go farther, they shouldn't."
The three-time National League MVP is believed to have been saddened by leaving the team since he considered them to be more wanting and recognising of the player that led them to double World Series championships including one in the 2011 MLB regular season.
He dubs the Cardinals as not having worked anything in his favour during their negotiation process between the two stakeholders.
Instead of being the frontrunners to re-sign Albert Pujols, the Cardinals were playing it cool and relaxed while other teams were fighting to sign him on for the upcoming season.
"I believe in Albert's case he was disappointed there wasn't more enthusiasm from the Cardinals," said La Russa. "The (Miami) Marlins came at him hard and then here comes Anaheim. I think that the Cardinals were being careful."
In defence of the Cardinals, La Russa described the teams’ budget as being one that is great but not as great as some of the other teams especially like the Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees which are able to offer big name players huge deals.
Now that everything is done and over with, Albert Pujols should be thinking about moving forward as there is no current way St. Louis can bring him back or he can go himself.
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