FOX Sports Jon Paul Morosi is getting signals from the Albert Pujols drama that the longtime St. Louis Cardinals first baseman could honestly go either way here at the MLB Winter Meetings — whether to resign with the Cardinals and play his entire career on a team that’s already proven it can win at the highest levels or go to the Miami Marlins and make a lot of money for a very long time.
Pujols is the best hitter in recent baseball history and even though he’s 31-years-old, he still warrants the sort of contract that only Alex Rodriguez can even know anything about. That worked out rather poorly for the Texas Rangers, who are only now competitive again after ridding themselves of the weighty contract. Maybe the Marlins are ready to compete year after year, but they have their doubters and making a splash like they have is sending a major message around the league that they believe they’ll have the money.
Yet the Marlins are also reportedly not willing to include a no-trade deal which might mean the entire deal is off. After all, why would Pujols want to sign a deal and then get traded after a couple of years to a place he never would have considered in the first place? The guess here is that Pujols is using this to squeeze some money out of the Cardinals and that he’s not going anywhere.