Pujols signs w Angels
 

per Dan Patrick Show

wow

10 years, $250-260MM.

Full no trade clause.

:eek:

10 years, $250 Million +? He'd have to have his head examined NOT to take that. Love you Albert, enjoy California, thanks for all you've done.

That contract is ****ing insane lmao

R

Wow. Good deal for Albert. Stupid move by the Angels. Works well for the Cardinals. They don't have to fork over $200MM, and they won't be blamed for not matching the huge offer.

morans

American League - he can finish out his playing days as a DH.
....But 12/20/2012 is coming up as well...the Royals should have offered 1 bazillion $'s over 40 years...

They did Cards a favor.

So when Pujols is inducted into the Hall of Fame... Will it be in a Cardinals uniform or an Angels uniform?

good riddance.....he has maybe 3 good years left

Very glad the Cards didnt do something stupid like match this contract.

Perhaps, I am just bitter now, but I hope his career goes to shit real soon.

Happy trails, you greedy bastard.

I am glad he went to an American League team.

hey...he wanted to be a cardinal his entire career, just like stan the man.;)
sec

Good for him, but the Cardinals would've been absolutely insane to match that.

Go after Fielder or just sit on the money. There's nobody else out there with spending significant coin on and there's always a new class of free agents.

Here's hoping they don't do anything stupid with Jimmy Rollins. They dodged a bullet on Buerhle.

250 million. How can you guys be mad at him?

In before LeBron James.

time to go out and sign Prince Fielder...still in his 20's.

I doubt he'd be really torn up about it if it did. Can't blame the guy, I'm sure those lovely St. Louis summers of 100 degrees and 90% humidity might have something to do with his decision.
Sucks for the Royals that he went to the AL.
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Damn - in even shitter news, Jeff Luhnow has left the Cardinals to take the Astros GM job.

Well that just about sucks right there; Luhnow's been largely responsible for rebuilding the farm system so we can handle the Pujols departure.

Pathetic. Like I said in the other thread, he's just another mercenary.

They should have tried to re-up him when he approached them three years ago, but a 9 year deal for a 32 year old player is more than fair.

It's sickening to see someone throw away a legacy for money.

Haven't the Cards come out and say that they intend to keep their salary right around $110mil? I doubt they go after Fielder.

Might see how the Angels part of his career goes first.

It is a job, grow up.

Much like Tony Gonzalez, I appreciate his time on my team, but now he's dead to me. Unlike Tony Gonzalez, I got a couple of championships out of him.

Perhaps he can afford English lessons now.

Thank God he's not a Cub.

He won a couple of Championships in Stl and became the best player in baseball, but unless his arm's fall off he'll be breaking records in LA.

haha

You really can't be mad at him, but I can't get myself to root for his success either.

If the Cardinals were just laundry and a paycheck, then he's just the guy that filled that laundry. When he leaves, he becomes just like every other overpaid superstar that I get a little bit of a kick out of seeing fail.

But the bottom line is the same as it ever was - when they say it's not about the money, it's always about the money.

I don't fault him for it, but I sure hate having it waived out in front of my face like that all the time. Sports get less fun to follow every year.

This. That was the one thing I couldn't have taken.

This will make the Angels scary for a few years, but wow, they better hope he can sustain some level of productivity. They already have Vernon Wells making 26 mil, not sure when that contract ends, but that's 40 percent of their team salary in two guys... And I think Torri Hunter is around 20 mil as well...

I pointed this out to a friend of mine, but the Cardinals evidently tried several times over the last 3 years to re-sign him and every time he said he wouldn't sign for less than A-Rod got.

Well if you sign him to that deal three years ago, you take an extra $9 million/season and apply it to him. What did Berkman make this year? Exactly - $9 million. Do we make the playoffs, let alone win the WS, without Lance Berkman? No, not even close.

So you can argue that we should've extended him 3 years ago if you'd like, but you have to also recognize that we probably don't win the World Series this year if we did.

The Cardinals did the right thing here, IMO. They extracted maximum value from his prime years and made a damn reasonable offer.

He took the money. They always take the money.

Wells is signed through 2014 at 21mil

This is Hunters final year at 18mil.

Didn't he always say how much he liked St. Louis because it was very community-based? Welcome to LA. LMAO

maybe he just thought st louis was a shit town. even winning world series wasnt enough to keep him around that hellhole

no shit frazhole, i just think its funny. he couldve signed with the mariners and i wouldve thought it was funny dumbass

The first lowlife troll to crawl out of the muck - not surprising that it's you.

Let's see....

1. Angels are not the Dodgers.

2. We got his best years, including two more championships. Two in the last five years.

3. Dodgers suck cock, haven't won anything in decades. Don't see that changing anytime soon.

4. You're still a loser douche.

Have a nice day!

I hope he enjoys LA. I also hope that the Cardinals never do anything for him once his career is over. No jersey retirement, no Pujols day, no statue. That's the cost of selling out.

I see your point. But just because he leaves after fulfilling his contract does that have to mean it was "just laundry and a paycheck"?

Not if they offered him the league minimum, no.

But by all accounts the Cardinals offered him a hell of a reasonable deal, one that trumped the Marlins deal anyway. All he did was use that to drive up the Angels.

He took the highest bid and left a city that would've revered the man in his wake. And why? So he can pass $150 million onto his children instead of $120 million.

He'll say it was about respect and wanting to feel appreciated - they always do. But in the end, the man that said he wanted to retire a Cardinal chased the money. He was given a reasonable offer and he still spit on it.

The Cardinals, despite all his words, amounted to little more than laundry and a paycheck. The Angels offered a bigger one, so he took it.

Really the angels arent the dodgers? You figure that out all by yourself there sparky?

The Cardinals offered him 9 years...

"Sources" say the only reason Pujols eliminated the Marlins was because they would not offer a NTC.

The number of years is ultimately trivial except for the fact that it ups the amount of guaranteed dollars.

'Years' has become agent-speak for dollars.

I think pujols was just done being there. Those annoying ass fans finally probably got to him. Even if the cards offered the same amount off money he would've told them **** you

The butthurt is strong in here.

Well, bye.

So is the penis envy.

I just knew someone would fold eventually and give him an A-Rod contract. This is exactly how the Angels got Torii Hunter. Swooped in last minute and spent way more than anyone else would.
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Do you know what California Angel fans and homosexuals have in common?

In the big picture, he took $4 million more per year and at the same time took a nice steamy dump on his legacy in the process. It's not like the Cards offered him $10 million per year, their latest offer was reportedly $22 million per year.

With all that said, I am glad the Cards aren't tying up 1/4 of their payroll on a guy in his declining years. Thanks for the memories Albert, now good riddance.

Everything?

It's like the reverse Mcgwire. Mcgwire wins the Title and does steriods in cali then goes to ST LOUIS to win jack shit but break records Pujols does the steriods and wins WS then goes to cali to break records.

wow greatest player in your lifetime and you say good riddance.

HAHA, he chose a better lifestyle over shit louis and its ridiculous pathetic fan base!!!

angels will make all the money back guaranteed, moreno isnt a dumbass

For the price he was demanding, hell yes good riddance. Southern California douchenozzles should never, ever, ever talk shit about fanbases.

Moreno traded Mike Napoli for the right to give Vernon Wells $100 million.

Moreno gave Torii Hunter way more than anyone else was asking.

Arte Moreno is a dumbass.

You should keep that admission to yourself.

What cracks me up is all the people who act line they wouldn't take the money. Sorry, another company offered me way more money but I will stay here.

Besides, 5 years from now this contract could be the baseball version of Joe Johnson here in Atlanta...a frachise crippling albatross.

I would love to see him retire here, but remember folks:

The Angels just gave a quarter of a billion to a guy that hit .299 with 99 RBI last year while hitting 3rd for the most potent offense in the NL. It was the 4th consecutive year that his offense had declined.

He'll still be a hell of a player for the next several years, but that decline phase everyone was wondering about started 2 years ago.

We got his best years and the Angels will be the ones that pay for them.

Now spend your money wisely, Mo. Fielder would be one hell of a good place to start.

really, that 250 mil he just invested will probably return him 500 to a billion.

you know how much he bought the entire franchise for? peanuts.

This just in. The Angels have just paid for Pujols' first year salary in jersey sales.

the cardinals couldve matched it and it wouldnt even mattered

Angels To Sign C.J. Wilson
By Tim Dierkes [December 8 at 9:56am CST]

Lefty C.J. Wilson will join Albert Pujols in Los Angeles, as the Angels continue a surprising free agent spending spree. The Halos completed a deal with Wilson today, an executive who spoke to the team told Joel Sherman of the New York Post. It's a five-year, $75MM deal, tweets Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Wilson, a 31-year-old Fountain Valley, California native, posted a 2.94 ERA, 8.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 0.64 HR/9, and 49.3% groundball rate in 223 1/3 innings this year. He added another 28 innings in the postseason. Including the playoffs, Wilson has tallied a massive 479 2/3 innings over 76 starts since being converted back to a starter in 2010. Wilson joins a stellar Angels rotation that includes Dan Haren, Jered Weaver, and Ervin Santana.

pretty sure that's not going to happen. a few years after he retires, everyone will welcome him back with open arms.

no shit.

those OC yuppies will sell out angel stadium and the luxury boxes will probably be the most expensive in MLB next to NY and it wont even matter. the money flows down there

That's a lot of jack for a guy as overrated as Wilson, but for some reason I'm actually surprised he didn't get more.

honestly after reading the responses by these cards fans im completely not surprised why he left.

you guys might be worse than cleveland cavs fans

$183 million.

He bought it at an incredible time, right before revenues really took off. He made a great purchase there.

Now tell me - did getting Vernon Wells increase the value of the Angels? No, no it did not. Torii Hunter? Nope. The value of the Angles increased as a product of excellent timing and little else.

If Pujols is the player he was last year, there's no way that contract will ever pay for itself. Fans, especially fans in LA, have the attention span of a rodent. If he's not winning MVPs and driving championship runs, the contract will be a bust.

Granted - there's a chance that he feels slighted and this contract drives him to kick ass. It could pay off for him. Then again, every other big-money purchase that Moreno has made over the last 5 years has blown up on him, so I see no reason to see why this would be much different.

:spock:

2.94 ERA in the AL is not something to laugh at.

That's all well and good - but how does it apply to STL's ability to extend him?

The Cardinals have already sold their Pujols jerseys. They've already built their brand. Re-signing Albert does nothing but maintain the status quo; not create an influx of revenue.

Perhaps the Angels will be able to recoup the investment. Maybe they'll be able to raise ticket prices to compensate for this contract. But that absolutely doesn't mean the Cardinals would have been able to do the same.

St. Louis isn't LA. The Cardinals have won by being smarter than the big-market teams with how they spend their money. It looks like that's how they'll have to keep winning. Such is life in a mid-market city.

Did albert live in stl? Where did he spend all his time?
Not taking about the cards or most of their fans, but stl is a shit city with shit citizens. I can see multiple reasons to leave. He won them titles and dominance. Now hegets to be happy in great weather away from the midwest. Also prolong his career in the al.

Again not talking about the cards, but the town itself.

Cleveland fans had a reason to hate.

Albert never did any of the shit lebron pulled.

He lived outside of St. Louis, I believe it was Bellville, Illinois.

But here's the problem - I agree that STL is a shit city. I pretty much hate it there. At the same time, Albert has always crowed about his Midwestern roots and how much he loves STL. He's always given the same song about how he's a Midwestern guy with quiet Christian values and Midwestern sensibilities.

He's essentially spent a decade telling us all about how much he loves the history of the Cardinals and the low key nature of the city.

And then he gives it all the bird for more money.

If this is Matt Holliday, there's no resentment. If it's Prince Fielder, there's no resentment. But this is a guy that's always sworn that he's 'better' than your rank and file money-grabbing superstar.

The bottom line is that he isn't. It was essentially all a lie. It's that sense of betrayal more than anything that has Cards fans a little somber today.

Again - this is a guy that hit .299 with 99 RBI last year. A guy who's defense is slipping a bit and who's legs have been fighting him for 2 or 3 years now. From a purely baseball standpoint, this is a GREAT thing for the Cardinals. At the same time, there's an emotional element there. Albert told the fans of St. Louis that he was someone he clearly isn't and the fans are fairly upset upon learning the truth about him.

He's just another ballplayer.

look im not an angel fan but that guy isnt a dumbass. hes an extremely smart businessman that deals in financial numbers that you or i just wont ever experience.

strictly from a baseball point of view vernon wells was stupid, yes. i agree that they shouldnt have gotten rid of napoli. i always wondered why they never gave him more of a chance behind the dish because of his offensive numbers were always better than the other catchers but i think scioscia values pitching and defense far more than how much a catcher will give you with the stick.

but he signed vladimir that was a great move that completely changed the face of the team and showed that the angels werent the dodgers little kid brother and theyre here to play with the big boys. you can say its way too money but hes already got it figured out. even if pujols sucks in five years that contract will have already been paid. guaranteed

His career ERA is 3.6 which isn't bad but he really is just above average and getting paid start $.

The Angels have way overpaid 2 players now. They will be ****ed and its going to be funny.

You know he is now a starter right?

4.57 ERA as a reliever.

3.14 ERA as a starter.

Good for him.

lol, wilson has been a full time starter for over two seasons now. gtfo out of here with that shit

I think he meant 'star' money.

Sorry, but I watched Wilson come unglued under the pressure of the World Series. He doesn't strike me as a 'money' pitcher.

The Pujols deal is defensible from a business standpoint because that money can be recovered to a large extent through jersey sales, sponsorship deals, etc...

The Wilson deal, OTOH, is a strange one. Wilson doesn't sell jerseys and he doesn't really qualify as a legitimate ace. With Weaver and Haren already in the fold, it seems like they needed Wilson about like they needed a third tit.

I wonder if this was more of a defensive move - getting him out of Texas - than it was one designed to help them out. I also wonder if the Rangers won't feel a push to pursue Fielder in response now. I know they like Moreland a lot, but Moreland's not a star. He's a complimentary player. He's probably not enough to keep the Rangers ahead of the Angels.

Rangers are talking with the Cubs for Garza now.

its almost the same amount per year miami payed for buerhle.

would you rather have buerhle for the next 4 or wilson for the next five for the same price?