Albert Pujols was recently offered salary arbitration by the St. Louis Cardinals, and while it's possible that the most desirable free agent in Major League Baseball decides to accept a one-year deal at a price arbitrarily set by a salary arbitr—wait a minute—I think it's important that we prepare for the outside chance that Pujols decides, instead, to continue negotiating for one of the largest contracts in the history of baseball.
↵In that case, should the Cardinals fail to be the ones offering that large contract, they will receive two draft picks—even after the new collective bargaining agreement, which effectively banned the practice of offering Type-A relief pitchers salary arbitration and then laughing at them, very loudly, while they tried to find a team willing to sign them—and the sympathy of every other Major League Baseball team.
↵Look, I know Albert Pujols will probably agree to play for one more year at a salary determined primarily by the worst season of his Major League career to date, just because the Cardinals offered it to him and he's a very polite young man. But if it doesn't happen, it's important to know what happens next, is all.
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