Marlins have made 10-year offer to Pujols
 

Ken_RosenthalKen Rosenthal

Confirmed: #Marlins have made 10-year offer to Pujols. Source says two sides trying to work through no-trade issue. MORE #MLB

If they're dumb enough to give him 10 years then good for them and cya Albert.

Good Christ. How can the Marlins be spending this much on Reyes and Pujols while currently under an SEC investigation?

And it's over 200mil.

I personally think this is just going to increase the asking price from the Cards.

That said... as a Cards fan, let him go if the offer is really 10 years, $230 million like it is rumored.

hahah. The Marlins are awesome. Every 8 years they buy the World Series. Throwing Jack at Reyes and Pujols. Are they planning on keeping Ramirez?

Yep Ramirez is moving to 3rd base.

Obviously I hate to see him go, but if he does we got his best years and two world championships out of him.

I guess if he does go to Miami DaKC will suddenly become the world's biggest life-long Marlins fan. LMAO

Hold tight, Mo.

The last offer you made was more than fair. If he wants to go to Miami, he's earned that right. We got the best decade of his career, 3 pennants and 2 World Championships for his efforts. He has every right to do what he feels is best for him and his family.

I think he's making a mistake (Miami is a shitty sports town; especially in the summer), but it's his to make.

The Cardinals need to do what they always did during the Jocketty days - offer the amount you think is the right amount and pull the chute if some other team is willing to be stupid. Do not allow the largess of an idiot owner to force you into making a foolish decision.

Thanks for the memories, Albert. Have fun playing #3 to LeBron and Wade down there; I hope you didn't get used to living in a baseball town because the fans will forget about you fellas the moment you don't win 95 games. Miami and Atlanta are the 2 worst sports towns in the country.

I'm sure Pujols isn't going to miss Stl.

The only reason to go to Florida, in any sport, is the lifestyle.

they will be trading them in a couple of years and go back to the youth movement.

It's just the way some small markets have to do it.


build your youth until you think you have the core to make a run ... then buy several more pieces to put you over-the-top. After you win, sell off all the expensive guys and start the rebuilding stuff over again.

The Royals countered with a 5 year 15 million dollar deal and offered him the "Keys to the city of Independence"

I think anyone would be stupid to go to Miami. They are "trying" baseball out in their new market, and are probably thinking they can dump everyone if they aren't selling out games. That's why the trade clause is the hang-up.

Anyone who signs there better be ready to have very little input on where they are traded after a year or so.

Mami isn't a small market, they were just hamstrung playing in Dolphins Stadium.

Does Pujols strike you as the cabanas and Cubans type?

Obviously I could be wrong, but I just don't see AP hitting the night-clubs and closing the bars with LeBron and the boys.

Besides, baseball's a lot different animal than most other sports when it comes to lifestyle decisions.

During the baseball season, you really don't have the energy to go out there and party all the time, not if you value your craft. You spend a hell of a lot of time on the road and when you're home you try to spend some time with your family (presuming you have one. Albert is, by all accounts, a family man). Baseball's a hell of a grind; you play every day and if you don't want to go out there with dead legs, you don't go hitting the club after your 10:30p finish.

During the offseason, you can play in St. Louis and travel to Miami for the winter if need be.

I get it for NBA players; living in Miami for a winter sport when you're going to spend 2/3 of your time in your home city is a hell of a deal. But there's a reason that hasn't extended to baseball players.

If he moves to the Marlins; it's purely for the money. It's his choice to make, but don't make it more than it is.

They're hamstrung by playing in a market that doesn't give a shit.

The no trade clause shouldn't matter. Nobodys going to take on that contract unless Miami pays for 80% of it.

Miami isn't exactly a new market. They've been around since 1993 and won two World Series. Changing the name to the Miami Marlins doesn't mean they are trying baseball out in their new market.

I'm not sure Pujols cares what people in Kansas City think of Miami as a sports town. $200 mill is $200 mill. (Actually more in Miami since Florida doesn't have a state income tax.)...

I'm not convinced its a bad sports town. The heat have plenty of support now that theory product is upgraded. The dolphins have good support. The Panthers don't but that franchise is run by a bunch of clowns. Miami as a sports town is probably about average. Then you add in money and lifestyle.

I don't follow the Cardinals - is he upset with the team? A player like this usually finds a place where he is king and doesn't leave.

There's more to Florida than clubs.

He jus wanna get a wing

REF - 23,000,000 per year

What does that come too, about 46,000 per at bat based on 500 AB's

Good grief...He makes more in a couple of minutes swinging a baseball bat than a teacher makes in a year.

Yeeeeah... Something tells me that Albert effing Pujols will be able to negotiate a no trade clause for himself... Just a hunch

And we aren't sitting here discussing every move a teacher makes.

Going from playing in front of one of the most passionate, knowledgeable baseball fan bases in the world to playing for the Miami Marlins? Ugh.

So again - why are the Marlins having to overpay like the Royals would to attract FA talent outside of the NBA?

After nearly 2 decades of existence, I have yet to see any indications that there are 'lifestyle' considerations that are driving forces to FA defections to Miami.

Maybe because they aren't considered a contender and have never kept a bank roll to be consistently in the hunt?

There's only a select few that have money as their #1 priority.

Most have winning as their #1 priority, but if the money gets so ridiculous that you can't pass it up... you take it.

They did pretty good their first ten years in the league and one time they were on alot of free agent lists. Being strung out with a piss poor lease and playing in Dolphins Stadium hurt them big time.

Are they going to demand proof of age before he signs that 10-year deal?

or to the OF.

There's only a select few that say money is their #1 priority.

Then the FA season starts and damn near everyone takes the highest offer, especially in baseball.

C'mon - you don't really buy the agent-speak do you? Mike Hampton went to the Rockies because of the school districts? Neil O'Donnel left the Steelers for the Jets because he wanted to win a championship? Albert Pujols left a World Series team that was getting it's CY caliber ace starter back in 2012 to go to a Marlins team that finished 30 games out because he wanted to win?

Give me a break - it's about the money. I don't begrudge them for it, never have. But I also don't care to hear them lie about it either.

They did well for those 10 years because in one of them they overpaid like crazy for guys like Kevin Brown and Gary Sheffield. After 2 seasons of being unable to sustain their payroll, they dumped them off and got some damn nice arms in return.

Those arms then fueled their 2nd run of sustained success over that 10-year period.

They're a slash/burn franchise. They'll make a massive FA splash, fan interest will wane after a year or two then they'll operate with a skeleton crew for a long time thereafter. They aren't going out there and getting underpaid marquis FAs knocking down their doors to play there.

Look at the history of FA movement in MLB. There are really only 2 kinds of contracts that make up 95% of all signings - 1) Hometown discount contracts and 2) Best $$ available. Now sometimes a player will take highest AAV instead of highest overall $$ (like Cliff Lee last season), but it still came down to money in some capacity.

he may get one, but what about all the other guys they are signing? Does he want to be left standing in the ashes after the rest of the team is dealt away?

You mean the ashes from the $100 bills he uses to light his cigars as he laughs his way into retirement?

Do you want to sit outside in 95 degree humid heat? I don't. That has to be why their attendance is so bad.

Exactly, when he starts feeling down he can go for a swim in his money bin.

Doesn't sound like Albert has many friends in STL as it is or they'd have some sort of hope to retain him.

That is a big thing as well. That is why they are building the rectractable dome stadium.

Cardinals fans all want to retain him, but few of them value Albert Pujols over the long-term success of the St. Louis Cardinals.

If Albert needs a 10 year deal for $230 million to fee respected; more power to him. That will cripple the Cardinals and they shouldn't offer it.

The Cardinals existed before him, they'll exist after him. I would prefer that he become my generation's Musial, but he doesn't appear interested in doing so. As such, I'll go back to hoping for success from the team I rooted for long before Albert Pujols donned the Birds on the Bat.

You sound exactly like my dad on this issue. Respect for AP but doesn't think the Cards should love him any more than he loves them.
Next man up.

2nd
not pissed at either side...it is what it is.
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Its because he is gifted with a skill very few people in the world posses and hes better at that skill than those few people. By comparison, almost anyone can teach. Dont flame......

Many people can say that. The difference is that his particular niche skill happens to be one that is extremely marketable.
Your statement that anyone can teach is ignorant at best and maliciously untrue at worst.

Anyone can teach....doesnt mean they are good at it. : )

Oh, yes. My bad. Could have used a good teacher to help me with my reading comprehension there.

You forgot the free "Sams Club" membership for life.

um, cause baseball is a monopolized "sport"

his final years are going to be a Albertross

jonmorosiJon Morosi


I'm no body language expert, but #Marlins looked rather smiley as Albert Pujols talks approach critical point.

Would anyone really be at all surprised if he wasn't in Stl?

He should come to KC :) Why wouldn't he stay in STL? Consistent winner, great franchise, etc.

Goold says that Pujols is pissed off at the Cardinals front office because he doesn't feel they negotiated in good faith (didn't move off their previous offer by much).

I gotta be honest - that's pretty damn petty if true. I'd hate to see him shit on the fans (because that's who will feel it the most) because he's made at the front office. I don't think he's really thinking that decision through very well.

At this point I believe he's gone and we'll know it by COB today. That said, the Cardinals will survive without him.

i'd be mildly surprised, but i've already decided that it's foolish to throw all those millions on one player at the expense of the teams future.

ap, imo is one of the greatest players i've ever gotten to watch, but i'd rather watch the whole team compete and win more than i want to watch one player stay w/my favorite team while it loses.

if he wants to go...bye. thanks for the memories ap. and thanks mo and bd for having the sense to let him walk.
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By simple virtue of inductive logic it has to be over $200m if its an offer that is considered something he might sign. He's not going to sign for less than a $20M AAV when he had an offer of supposedly around $22M AAV on the table for over a year.

Has Pujols started to decline yet? If not, how many more seasons before he is no longer the Pujos of old?

I'd say he's got 4 years of prime AP level success left and then a steady decline after that.

Seems like the Marlins know they need sometone big to launch their new stadium, to sell the box seats and get a season ticket holder base. And they are willing to overpay for him since it is an investment.

This was his 4th consecutive season with a declining OPS.

Now, 'decline' is a relative term; he was still spectacular through 2010. But in 2011 he was merely very very good. It was the worst season of his career and by a relatively decent margin. I'm not saying he was shit, but he's no longer at the peak of Everest.

Pujols is already declining. And the Pujols of old may never surface again (if it does, it will be similar to Berkman's last hurrah this year or Musial's 57 season; raw pride at work for a year).

Unfortunately all signs are that Mozeliak is simply going to take that money and throw it at even older, shittier players than Pujols (Jimmy Rollins and Mark Buehrle). So the Cardinals are going to leap out of the way of one bullet, right into the path of another.

Good going, fellas.

And 2 meth labs. Don't forget that. It sure sweetens the pot, IMO.

Wow. Marlins are going all-in for the now.

Looks like Stan Musial gets to keep the Cardinals home run record. I would hardly say the Cardinals acted in bad faith considering were a smaller market that is what they could afford to give. Just because he kept saying that isn't enough doesn't mean they can up that offer. With Albert the Cardinals become the favorite to win the World Series again considering Wainwright comes back. I wish he'd make up his mind. If Albert signs elsewhere the Cardinals should look to add another starter and an OF with Berkman going to first.

Kind of related but has anyone seen the dimensions of the new Marlins park? Here they are overlaid on Petco. http://cdn2.sbnation.com/fan_shot_im...scaled_php.jpg

With new stadium Marlins are willing to go from $80 million payroll to $120 which is how they can make these offers. Let's see how that works out in Miami. It may not be sustainable even with a new stadium.

Jon_HeymanJon Heyman

Pujols acquaintance guesses -- just a guess -- marlins need to be $40M over to beat #stlcards. That's $240M.


Jon_HeymanJon Heyman
Pujols has home, restaurants, charity in st. louis. Hard to see him leaving for extra $20M. 1 agent guesses $250M gives miami hope.

That makes sense.
Plus playing in a packed stadium full of knowledgeable, rabid fans instead of half-full grave yards of retirees and illegal aliens.

Jon Heyman is nothing but a mouthpiece for Scott Boras and whatever other agent wants to feed him information.

He has also said that the Marlins have raised their offer to 13 years, which is almost certainly 100% bullshit.

In order to maintain any degree of dignity or credibility, Heyman should probably just say that someone hacked his account. He's leaving SI for CBS soon anyway, so there's some believability to it.

If it's Heyman, just ignore it.

(EDIT: It appears heyman's old SI account has been hacked...so nevermind; Heyman's still full of shit, though)

I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but Pujols' agent is a raging d**kbag. I have no doubt he's advising his client to take the highest offer.

*gasp*

Even if Lozano wasn't a raging dickbag he'd be telling him that, he's started his own agency and is in direct competition with Boras/Fielder this offseason. Now if Albert is letting his raging dickbag of an agent make his decisions for him then, that's his own damn problem.

Hmm, the Marlins don't want to add a NTC. You have to be a genius to figure that one out.

I'd like to ask Marlins fans (both of them) the same thing I asked my Cub fan friends: who's your pitching rotation? After Johnson (who was injured most of last year), you've got a whole lot of ??????, not to mention Reyes is only good for 2/3 of a season, and Heath Bell is also declining.

I don't know, I still haven't lost hope that he regains his sanity and realizes STL, as a career choice, is still the better option.

But who knows; maybe they'll trade Sanchez or Morrison to STL, i'd take LoMo as my new 1b if I had to.

Same could be asked about the Cardinals, after Wainwright/Carpenter.

So is Albert taking his talents to South Beach?

Buster_ESPNBuster Olney

Cardinals are making it known to other teams that Lohse is available. To clear room for Buehrle? To clear room for Pujols? We'll see.

Not sure what they plan on getting for him. He doesn't seem like someone that would net much in the off season given his salary.

And has he even agreed to accept a trade?

Are you serious.


Garcia is a solid 3.

They have the top two ranked pitching prospects in the minor leagues.

Garcia, Lohse & Westbrook better than Vosted, Nolasco & whomever else they plug in, plus Lynn & Miller close to bigs.

I forgot minor league prospects started in the ML.

Annibel Sanchez is a nice young pitcher. Ricky Nolasco is a high-octane version of Kyle Lohse.

The problem with the Marlins rotation is that Johnson is never healthy. The Marlins rotation, when Johnson could pitch, was better than the one that the Cardinals just won a World Series with last year.

Their bullpen sucks and their 'star' is a surly prima-donna, but they have some pieces on that team that could do some damage. Logan Morrison and Mike Stanton are two very good OFers. If Reyes is healthy and Hanley isn't a tool, the Marlins offense would be the best in the NL.

Admit it. Even you realize that this was a stupid post.

Garcia, Lohse and Westbrook is not as good as the Vazquez, Sanchez, Nolasco, Volstead group they ran out there last season.

Even without Vazquez, Garcia, Lohse and Westbrook is pretty much identical to Sanchez, Nolasco and Volstead, with the latter 3 having a little more upside.