The St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins, and Chicago Cubs all met with Albert Pujols's agent, Dan Lozano, on day one of the 2011 Winter Meetings, and depending on which MLB rumors aggregator you follow Pujols is either guaranteed to leave the Cardinals, all but ready to resign with them, or a thousand-year-old demigod who faked his age to get across the river Styx and attend high school in America. Here's what we do know about the Winter Meetings' first day and the Cardinals' first priority:
1. The Marlins and Lozano met—for 30 minutes, according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. We don't know anything more about this meeting, although the Marlins' avowed reluctance to offer no-trade clauses—because, you might remember, they love trading superstars—might come into contact with Albert Pujols's avowed desire to be treated with the respect he's due.
2. The Cubs and Lozano met, and Theo Epstein is a funny guy. Apparently he suggested the meeting was to resign Rodrigo Lopez, another Lozano client and staff ace of the 2002 Baltimore Orioles.
3. The Cardinals and Lozano met, although the Post-Dispatch notes that little more is known about the meeting at the moment. I expect we'll be hearing about a big multi-year deal for Rodrigo Lopez sometime this week.