The USA Today is reporting that Albert Pujols has rejected a contract offer from the St. Louis Cardinals and will enforce his self-imposed Spring Training negotiation deadline. It’s the first anyone’s heard of the Cardinals tendering a formal offer to Pujols, and the first attempt at confirming that the deadline will stand, in spite of its inherent absurdity.
Nightengale also suggests that Pujols is in fact seeking a 10-year contract, which he could be hard-pressed to find in free agency. But it’s still difficult to separate the newly sourced material from the amalgam of fact and speculation that’s attached itself to every tiny piece of Pujols news since the new year. In this article alone we have the Andy MacPhail hypothetical discussion; the Albertcountdown.com website; the Tony La Russa quote about spectacular distraction.
Regardless, it looks like we should know this week just how true the #Albertageddon hashtag will be. At least until Pujols realizes that this will only intensify the distraction that will inevitably surround him all season.