Good news from the St. Louis Cardinals, now that the Rams have exited, unceremoniously, the spotlight—John Mozeliak and company are now finally beginning contract negotiations with Albert Pujols in earnest, hoping to get a deal done before Spring Training, Pujols's cut-off date for contract talks.
↵The Post-Dispatch, which has been mum on things since the Winter Meetings meant that the Cardinals and Pujols agent Dan Lozano talked briefly about talking at a later date, are the ones to break this fine news. Look: I realize that the Cardinals will almost certainly have to overpay Albert Pujols. I realize they're taking a major risk toward the end of the deal, when Pujols and Matt Holliday will be old enough to remember when baseball players made reasonable salaries, and baseball cards came fifty for a nickel with a stick of bubble gum. But I need this to happen.
↵If not for the pleasure of watching a player who might really be the best first baseman who ever lived, for the pleasure of watching the St. Louis Cardinals do something else. Albert Pujols's contract negotiations and non-negotiations have dominated their offseason planning for so long now that I don't know what the rest of their plan could possibly look like. Once they cross "Re-sign the face of the franchise" off their to-do list, the Cardinals' front office can take a look at the rest of the team.
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