Being a Cards fan makes up for that. :thumb:

Looks like a decent 2B to me. Won't be an All Star, but he'll be a bit better than average.

Meh. He's like the new Theriot with less pop to his bat.

I do hope we resign Furcal. Not sure why they're ****ing around on that one.

He's exceeded his potential...for being born a Purple Dinosaur and all.

No one can be worse defensively than Theriot. No one.

The thought of him having a World Series ring cracks me up. LMAO

He's 34. Hasn't been healthy for the majority of a season in quite some time.
Hit .255 as a Cardinal.

I'd like to see him back, but I wouldn't be upset if he wasn't back.

Not sure either. The only thing I can figure is he is often injured, and wants too much money for where he is in his career. Maybe they are going to give the spot to Tyler Greene?

He was the spark that ignited our playoff run - I realize he's not what he was, especially at the plate, but he's still a damn solid defender and can be had for cheap.

Yep, "stats" don't tell the whole story in his case.

Without him we finish 10 games out, and this Pujols thing is about 100 times worse that it is already.

Even though he didn't hit worth a **** in the World Series, his defense never wavered.

Interesting article in Forbes from Thursday.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/prishe/2...o-los-angeles/

I disagre. Furcal stopped the bleeding at SS but before Dotel and Repczynski our bullpen gave away a lot of games. The players were talking about the difference Dotel's experience and voice meant in the bullpen.
I think the bullpen acquisitions is what made the turn around not Furcal.

Why can't both answers be right? They don't make it without the improved bullpen and they don't make it without Furcal. It took alot of contributing factors. A lame cliche, but it really was a true team effort.

I wasn't going to post it, but...

it's from http://www.royalsreview.com , but originally from the Joe Sheehan newsletter.

Biggest impediment to a Cubs World Series has been Wrigley. They play a ton more day games than anyone and wear down by June. There's even a term for it the Cubs June Swoon. Might have been able to over come that with good management. The Cubs have been cursed there.

Just saw on ESPN news Pujols introed as an ANgel.

He left for money, thats fine he had the right to that. What upsets me is that he wants to say he didn't go for money, that he went because that's where his heart led him yada yada yada. Just acknowledge you left for money.

He jus wanna git a wing

Did anyone see the letter he had put in the STL paper?

ROFL You mean the POS one obviously not written by him filled with BS cliches...yeah.

LMAOLMAOLMAOLMAOLMAO

Poor Theriot.

USA Today reporting Furcal has re-signed for 2/14.

Its already been acknowledged that after taxes, housing, and cost of living the contracts would've been the same. He left because of being disrespected

How does a Dodger get a World Series ring? Get traded to St. Louis.

Oh and he probably hated living in shit Louis. Can't blame him

Just ignore that douchebag.

I'm thinking if the Cardinals could get Prince on a 6 or 7 year contract, fans would forget Albert rather quickly.

Don't worry you can always take solace in what a horrible contract it is for the angels. Oh wait, with just their new TV deal they're making 150 million a year. They could sign five more contracts just like pujols and be fine! Hahahhahaaaaa

That's a little much, IMO.

Enjoy living in that bankrupt state you call California.

I can't figure out if you're a troll account of Claython, or that douchebag Raider fan that was banned a while back. I'm ashamed to have a prick like you root for the same team I do on Sundays.

Root for the rams then, fake fan, we don't need you anyways

He used to be kinda normal. Just recently went total troll.

I miss Dane man

Trolls gonna troll.

Found this quote from Albert last year

"Do I want to be in St. Louis forever? Of course. Because that city has opened the door to me and my family like no other city is ever going to do … People from other teams want to play in St. Louis and they’re jealous that we’re in St. Louis because the fans are unbelievable … It’s not about the money. I already got my money. It’s about winning and tha...t’s it. It’s about accomplishing my goal and my goal is to try to win. If this organization shifts the other way then I have to go the other way … It’s about being in a place to win and being in a position to win. If the Cardinals are willing to do that and put a team every year like they have, I’m going to try to work everything out to stay in this town. But if they’re not on the same page of bringing championship caliber to play every year, then it’s time for me to go somewhere else. Where? Somewhere else that I can win."

Yea I would probably say something similar until someone flashed the money. Sucks, but even guys like Albert are all the same. Money talks.

There is a personal clause in his contract that has him with the Angels organization after this 10 year contract

This my friends is a text book definition of the term "sellout".

I somehow doubt that the feeling's mutual.

He basically signed up with the Angels for 20 years. Ya F that guy.

He can go to the hall as an Angel also. He doesn't deserve to ever wear a Cardianl uni again.

Yea. No shit. I'd like to see some of these negative nellys transcend everything and find the self realization and buddha mindframe to turn down 250 mil to stay in good ole St.Louis.

I don't think anyone would have a problem if he didn't lie and just said he was gonna chase the money.

Someone said this to me about hte whole situation.



Say after Jordan won 3 titles in Chicago, then some team offered him a deal a little bigger than what the Bulls were going to and he left. How would you have felt?

That's a stupid analogy. Jordan was still at his peak after the first 3peat. Pujols isn't.
Posted via Mobile Device

The guy who said it got shot down pretty hard too. Just thought I'd add to CP.

Really? Michael Jordan was 30 after his third title at a position where speed is more a factor and was 33 before he won another. Pujols will be 32 going into next season and relies on power more than speed.

Of course. Loyalty to the team first and foremost,

Hey genius, the difference was $44MM, they weren't asking him to play for free in Stl.

He mortgaged his legacy as one of the true "good guys' in baseball for $4MM a year and also trashed his Stl legacy.

Doesn't seem to be worth $4MM more a year when you have already made over $114MM not ioncluding endorsments and were garunteed a minimum of another $200MM.

From everything Ive read, inluding this, maybe you guys should be pissed at The Cardinal FO.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colum...9832611af.html

And this..

http://network.yardbarker.com/mlb/ar...itment/8662651

So, Mrs. Pujols, you were insulted by the Cards' initial "lowball" offer of 5/130. Get the f over yourself. Welcome to every negotiation ever.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/73...ouis-cardinals

Cards fans focus too much on the money. She mentioned the contract and emphasized the years.

Yeah, the was a pretty shitty deal to a guy that carried a franchise for a decade. It sounds like the guy just wanted to be wanted and I understand why he left.

She's also a little bit of an idiot.

She said the years weren't guaranteed, multiple sources have indicated that they weren't 'guaranteed' but they were player options; which are actually better than a guaranteed year.

And yes, the final offer was 10 years after the player options were included.

I'm tired of hearing both of them. If God told them to go to LA, why is she working so hard to defend the family? I think they were shocked by the degree of backlash at the decision and now they're spinning and contorting and trying to justify it. Worse still, I think they bought a lot of bullshit that Lozano was feeding them to drive up his commission.

It's just disingenuous garbage. Sure, Pujols - Arte's 30 minute speech over the phone did more to convince you of your value to the franchise than over a decade of adulation in St. Louis. I know I generally shit on a decade of loyalty over a telephone. Spare me - it wasn't about 'feeling the love'; if it was a 30 minute phonecall from a man you've never met wouldn't have done it.

You took the money - congrats. Quit trying to spin this crap, we aren't stupid.

Supposedly their last offer was 10/220.

According to the article it was 10/210 with 30 mil deferred. And she goes on to say... "The offer that people have seen on television I want to tell you what, listeners especially, had that offer been given to us with a guarantee, we would have the (Cardinals) bird on our back," Deidre Pujols told 99.1 Joy FM, a St. Louis-area Christian station that received some of its initial funding from Albert Pujols.

He said he wanted to be the highest paid player in the game; Lozano often cited the Howard deal. So the Cardinals offered him Howards deal, plus a few million more.

He said that wasn't good enough, so they gave him a damn long deal with player options that would lengthen it to 10 or so years and over $200 million.

Face it - there was only 1 thing that wasn't going to 'insult' Albert Pujols: A-Rod money. Well he wasn't getting that in St. Louis.

Once again - why do players consider taking money to be 'business' but when someone is offering it, it's 'personal'.

Begone, Albert. There are very few Cardinals fans that give a shit what happens to you going forward. You had your choice and you spurned the franchise over petty bullshit and the "$3 or 4 million a year" you swore you'd never leave the Cardinals over just a few months ago.

You're only making this worse. Shut the **** up and enjoy the west coast - this franchise doesn't need you.

So if the player options were guaranteed years, God would have told her to stay in St. Louis.

Shut the **** up, DiDi. You're a glorified housewife that's parroting the words of a whoring, boozing, slimeball of an agent that has some very massive promissory notes to take care of. Don't act like you know anything about those discussions; I'm betting you never saw a single word of the proposed contract.

Get gone.

I want to be insulted with 130 million. Anyone please?

I like how you believe you know more about the contract that was offered than the player in question's wife.

Bitter is bitter.

Do some homework, Tex.

There are a ton of sources that are saying exactly what I've put out there.

And I love how you think she's not just saying what Dan Lozano told her. Do you believe she read the contract? Do you believe she'd have any earthly idea what it says if she did? Do you really trust anything Lozano has to say? The guy is widely regarded as the biggest cad in the entire industry.

And ultimately - I just don't care. Take it at face value if you want - God would've changed his mind if the deal was guaranteed?

It's just spin. It's disingenuous, bullshit spin.

I wasn't bitter about this when it went down; business is business. However, the more they talk, the more irritated about it I'm getting. I'm more than a little tired of listening to these folks talk like I'm devoid of critical thinking skills.

Take your massive paychecks and your 'respect' and get the hell out of town already.

I'm sure Pujols shut her out on everything in the know and she had to get her information from the agent.

Bitter is bitter.

There is no better "source" than the source involved.

.

Especially when the source claims God guided them to LA, right?

Not sure what your point is.

Diedre was mad at God. Well thats not very Tebow like.

Because you know if Albert didn't get that extra 44 million he might have not been able to support himself. He left for money I get it, just quit lying about it Albert.

And quit crying about the city disrespecting you. How ****ing arrogant can 1 person be.

My point is that she's working very hard to push an agenda right now and that there are a lot of connected people that are directly refuting everything she's saying.

This is just a bullshit PR move to try and save some face, well I'm not buying it.

Good luck in Anaheim Albert and good riddance.

Damn, Albert bruised a lot of asses.

Look at how the tone of this thread has changed over the last few days.

It wasn't his decision to leave that did it - it was his bullshit petty whining on the way out the door.

Yeah, that's rubbed me pretty damn raw.

Really? Realistically that is all that can be expected for him to be at his peak. He is asking a team to pay him 10 years for five years of value. Diedre also didn't check into the cost of living index in LA vs StL.

No, I heard nothing but bitching since he left about greed.

What was the last contract he signed? Was it 111 million for 8 for a tad less then 14mil per year? Did he complain about playing for the contract during his tenure with the Cardinals where he was considered the best player in baseball.

I don't recall, just asking if he complained about playing for about 60% of his market value while leading the Cards to championships.

But we still get to keep all the World Series stuff, douche.

So you didn't read the thread, then. The tone has changed immensely over the last several days. From the start I said I don't have a problem with him taking the money. But don't try to make it more than it was.

Besides, what grounds did he have to complain about the first contract? It was among the highest in baseball when it was signed and it included 2 arbitration years. It's easy to say that he was underpaid now (and he was), but when that contract was signed there was very real angst throughout the Cardinal community that the contract would be a serious problem going forward. It was absolutely a fair contract.

Business is business - spare me the lying about your motives and for the love of all things sacred, just shut up about being 'insulted' when you were offered the 2nd highest annual salary in the history of baseball over 5 years, then you were offered a contract that was the second highest in the history of baseball.

The Cardinals offered to dedicate a hell of a lot more of their net value and their payroll to Pujols than the Angels did, that's for sure.

So Albert was more 'respected' by the Angels because Anaheim plays in a larger market, didn't finance a new ballpark (and therefore aren't carrying $200 million in debt) and can afford to make a FA splash?

Sure Albert, whatever you say.

Take your money and go.

Just how many yachts does he need to water ski behind? Is this a Spreewell 'got to feed my family' thing? He is going to be worth the value of the contract for 5 years max. He did sign the other contract. Not sure if God had any hand in that one.

Now, look at this for Albert's perspective. You played out what ended up being a sweet heart deal for the Cards without so much as a complaint and carried the team for a decade. You expect to be rewarded for your service for a close to market value contract when the next one is up and what do the Cards do? They low ball a 5 year deal when the guy is looking for 10 and is obviously worth it to a few teams. I would guess after that offer came out he was probably dead set against returning the Cards regardless of what they raised the offer to. I think it was more pride and anger then greed, but that's just my opinion.

If I was a Cards fan I would be angry with the front office for low balling him initially which from the wifes interview was the start of the problem.

Berkman on the Pujols thing: "They say it's not about the money. It's always about the money. ... What the money represents."

So yeah, why exactly are Albert, DiDi and Lozano so busy trying to spin this if Albert isn't feeling guilty?

If you find 5/130 or 10/210 insulting you have the emotional level of a 14 year old girl.

So I just read the article where he is quoted as saying that and he is referencing his own contract negotations and he doesn't even breath a word about Pujols in it. :facepalm:

Last spring they offered him 10/$198. He turned it down and his agent repeated the "A-Rod" money crap.

They didn't 'low-ball' a 5 year deal; they responded to his agent's insistence that he wanted an AAV that put him above Howard's; that's exactly what they gave him. They didn't offer it to him over 10 because that would've been foolish. I don't care if other teams are lining up to be idiots; the Cardinals can't do that and expect to compete.

After he again declined, they evidently moved to 10/$210; other reports say they went to 10/$220. The Cardinals refused to big against themselves, I think that's more than fair. Besides, all of this was before the Angels even made an offer. Were the Angels being insulting by sitting it out? Afterall, had the Marlins offered a no-trade clause, the deal would've been signed/stamped before the Angels even made an offer. Evidently he was so important to them that they made sure to wait a bit to make an offer.

From there it was just a petty temper-tantrum on Albert's part. The Cardinals made him several offers that were all plenty reasonable in light of the ROI that an NL team is going to get on a 1b in this late 30s. If that's not good enough for him, then he wanted the Cardinals to pay a premium for past-services rendered.

And their refusal to do so was evidently 'insulting' to him. His 'pride' sent him elsewhere. And if your pride is permanently damaged by the offers that the Cardinals made, then you're really not a 'proud' person; you're a petty narcissist.