With the deadline a little more than an hour away, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that the St. Louis Cardinals will reach a contract extension with first baseman Albert Pujols.
Sources: Pujols contract talks are over. Deadline will pass without a deal. Have not been proposals swapped in last 100 hours or so
Buster Olney
Buster_ESPN
This is very bad news for Cardinals fans. It had seemed unlikely that a deal would be reached over the last few days or so, but at the same time, there was always a sliver of hope that the two sides would be able to reach a deal.
The fact that the two sides have gone 100 hours (which is kind of a weird way to express that period of time, if you ask me - why not just say four days?) does not bode well for a last minute deal. The two sides have reportedly been in contact the whole time, but neither side has been willing to show the other side their hand. I was hoping that the negotiations were going better than they apparently were. This is just bad news all around.