Albert Pujols’s long-time insistence that he won’t negotiate a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals during Spring Training is based ostensibly in the distractions it would cause during the baseball season. But so far the media has not filed any notice of their intent to stop distracting—in the Post-Dispatch we’ve already got an article about " teammates caught in the storm."
Jose Oquendo probably has the most astute analysis of the situation, one that makes me wonder what Pujols’s deadline has to offer in terms of distraction insurance: “He’ll say what he has to say early and then move on”, even though, as Goold notes, “the questions continue through spring training and into the regular season.”
Hopefully what he has to say is interesting and a little edifying—that’s all I can ask for at this point. If he has specific contract wants or needs I’d like to know even the vaguest generalities about them. In fact, that would be my question, if I had a press pass: “Hey, Albert, could you say something really vague about what you want from the Cardinals?” Next I’d ask the same question of John Mozeliak, who definitely isn’t getting any relief from distraction with this deadline.