Mark J. Rebilas/US Presswire
Is Albert Pujols disloyal for not re-signing with the Cardinals?
YES: HE DITCHED A BASEBALL MECCA FOR CALIFORNIA CASH
Before anyone gets it twisted, let me say that 96.3 percent of the time, I couldn't care less about loyalty in sports. It's overrated and rarely warranted -- loyalty is for suckers. But this Pujols thing has me feeling a little weird.
Everyone with a brain knows why he chose the Angels. He can extend his career playing DH; he can live in Newport Beach; he can become a deity for the huge SoCal Hispanic population ... he can make $250 million.
But are you really going to bounce on one of the best -- if not the best -- baseball cities in America to go reach milestones and possibly break records in plastic Orange County? Not to get all judge-y and romantic, but, where's the love?
Pujols gave the St. Louis Cardinals 11 mostly transcendent seasons -- three MVPs and two World Series. He doesn't owe them a thing. But look at it from the Cards fans' perspective. This isn't like the fair-weather louts in Cleveland who jumped on a LeBron bandwagon, then demanded blood because he wanted to play for a better organization with better teammates.
Cards fans have unconditional love for the Cards.
Pujols or no Pujols, St. Louis is a baseball town. And it spent the past 11 years in love with Pujols, riding with him. Cards fans are knowledgeable with a sophisticated grasp of baseball greatness and history. But when Pujols passes 3,000 hits, 500 home runs, then 600 home runs, then maybe 660 and, who knows, maybe even 714 or 755, he'll do it in an Angels uniform.
Oh, that's going to hurt. It's going to be excruciating for Cards fans, but I bet you it'll be a melancholy moment for Pujols, too.
There's rarely a set of circumstances that would warrant an athlete to leave about $50 million on the table, but, man, this feels like one.
NO: STAYING OR GOING IS HIS CHOICE -- AND THE AMERICAN WAY
If we have learned nothing about professional sports, we should know at least this: If a team allows a player to file for free agency, the chances are excellent that the player will change teams. The St. Louis Cardinals always have known this, and now Albert Pujols is a member of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
This isn't to blame the Cardinals as much as it is to state a simple fact of the free-agent world. The reasons it is an immutable fact can be broken down to a few simple concepts:
1. Maybe Pujols didn't want to stay. Maybe there was nothing the Cardinals could've done to keep him. Maybe that was why an extension didn't get done before last season or during it. Maybe the Cardinals could've offered him a billion dollars and he was leaving.
2. Players are competitive. They compete with opponents on the field, with fellow players in the wallet and with the front office come contract time. Letting a player reach free agency is daring him to find something better. It is the equivalent of walking the guy ahead of him to load the bases.
3. Once a player reaches the open market, it is just that -- open. That means the organization loses control, control over dollar amounts and the exclusivity that prevented a team like the Angels from swooping in and channeling its inner Tom Hicks.
None of this is news. We've seen it a million times before, from Mo Vaughn to Barry Bonds, to Reggie Jackson, Kevin Brown, Mark Teixeira and so on ...
Some guys like Barry Bonds and Derek Jeter stay, but even staying is a choice that belongs to the player. Choice is what free agency is all about. It is the rightful American way. The Cardinals chose to gamble, and if they aren't the least surprised party by today's result, they should be.
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