The St. Louis Cardinals can't be accused of bowing out prematurely as the Winter Meetings contract maelstrom between them, the Miami Marlins, and Albert Pujols's gleeful agent continue into the night—according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals have gone all the way up to 10 years and "more than $220 million." Also worth clicking through for: The terrifying language from John Mozeliak, who is unwilling to guarantee or even think about guaranteeing anything.
The Marlins' constant meetings have produced a contract described elsewhere as creative—Strauss suggests the creativity comes in part through significant amounts of deferred money, which should be useful when Jeffrey Loria and the Marlins bail on contending after three years like they always do.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, can only wait: JIm Bowden of ESPN, if you're willing to overlook his stories career as GM, suggests the Marlins will have the better offer but the Cardinals will have Pujols, which would really be the perfect situation for Cardinals fans at this point, who've grown wary of Pujols's long-held positions that it wasn't about the money, that he'd like to stay in St. Louis, and that he demands competitiveness first.