Muller: Since When Is $130 Million An 'Insult'?
By Shawn Muller-
(CBS) When I first heard that Albert Pujols decided to leave the St. Louis Cardinals in favor of the Los Angeles Angels, my initial reaction was one of relief.
No, I never thought he would end up with Chicago Cubs, but I knew that the only time he could ever make Wrigley Field his own personal playground again could only occur through interleague play (I will refrain from saying World Series) for the rest of his career.
Yes, once "The Machine" opted for views of the Pacific Ocean rather than the always breathtaking Mississippi River and East St. Louis, Illinois, I felt like the Cubs—for the first time in a long time--had beaten the Cardinals -- even if the Ricketts family and Theo Epstein hadn't actually done anything at all. The best player in baseball was finally gone from the National League Central.
I never disliked Pujols, I just hated that he played for the Cubs' biggest rival.
The man has been an absolute monster in his eleven years of service at the Major League level and one of the better individuals off the field. You never heard anything bad about Pujols away from the ballpark. He and his wife Deidre had been very involved in charity work for people suffering from Down Syndrome (his daughter, Isabella, was born with Downs) through the Pujols Family Foundation. You never hear of him getting into trouble with the law. You never hear of him being a problem in the clubhouse. You never heard anything negative about the guy.
But I have to say, Mr. Pujols, your wife's little rant yesterday in a radio interview where she tried to explain your decision to leave St. Louis, didn't help your reputation. I will ignore the fact that she said she was "mad at God" for the situation you were faced with. I could have a field day with that little gem, but I will refrain.
Instead, I want to focus on your "insulting" offer from Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt.
During the interview, Deidre Pujols said: "When you have somebody say 'We want you to be a Cardinal for life' and only offer you a five-year deal, it kind of confused us. Well, we got over that insult and felt like Albert had given so much of himself to baseball and into the community… we didn't want to go through this again."
I'm sorry, but since when is a five-year deal worth $130 million considered an "insult"?
According to my calculations, that would be $26 million per year, far from an insult. Contrary to what the Pujols family wants to believe, the offer was a smart business move. No matter how important Pujols has been to the St. Louis franchise for the past eleven years, he isn't getting any younger. Offering a player that will be 32 years old on Opening Day next season, and 37 years old on Opening Day in 2016, that kind of money is anything but an insult. In fact, it was smart.
I wouldn't want to be paying a 42-year-old player $20-plus million a year either.
What's "insulting" are players—or in this case, a player's wife—saying it's not about the money, only to bolt out of town when a "bigger" offer is presented to them. I'm sure Cardinals fans felt pretty "insulted" watching Albert put on the Angels jersey for the first time the other day, wouldn't you agree Mrs. Pujols?
It works both ways.
An owner can say he wants a certain player to remain with his franchise for the duration of his career, but that doesn't mean the player should hold the franchise hostage in contract negotiations.
Just because the Angels were dumb enough to offer you a 10-year deal and you decided to take it, doesn't mean the Cardinals weren't loyal.
And please, don't give me the "it's not about the money, it's the principle" B.S. The principle of the matter is this: Both sides needed to work together to ensure a deal could have been hammered out. DeWitt wanted him to sign a five-year deal. Ok, fine. Does that mean Pujols couldn't have resigned after those five years were up?
It wouldn't have been for $26 million a season, but it still would have been good money.
The Pujols family wasn't disrespected by Bill DeWitt and the St. Louis Cardinals. He was offered a lot of money to remain with the ball club and chose to leave for what he thought was a better deal in Los Angeles.
I have a feeling that deep down, the Pujols family feels like they made a mistake by leaving St. Louis and the only way for them to come to terms with that decision was to put the remorse they feel/felt towards the Cardinals organization on the shoulders of Bill DeWitt and make him look like the bad guy.
You can't blame St. Louis for balking at a 10-year deal, no matter how long that player has been with said organization, or how adored he is by the fan base.
Pujols made the decision to walk away from the Cardinals, not the other way around.
Shawn Muller has lived in the great city of Chicago for 7 years. He is a 2002 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and, in October of 2010, Shawn received his certificate in radio broadcasting. In his free time, Shawn enjoys spending time with his wife Melissa and 3 year old daughter Ava, catching any live sporting event, and traveling. Check out his radio show, Grab Some Bench with Muller and Bangser" every Thursday night at 8:30 P.M., at www.blogtalkradio.com/spmuller24. Read more of his blogs here.
