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Albert Pujols' Religion Officially Dragged Into St. Louis Cardinals Contract Aftermath

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I was hoping we would be able to avoid this, however nuanced, but the Post-Dispatch's religion reporter has officially blogged about the role Albert Pujols' Christian faith plays in public perception of his contract negotiations with the St. Louis Cardinals, and it's... actually not that bad!

Tim Townsend gets a lot of mostly interesting comments from religious leaders and commentators and focuses on that instead of attempting to get inside Pujols' inscrutable head, which is a laudable decision. He also goes through the litany of charitable things Pujols has done since getting his $100 million contract in 2004, and the strange light that sheds on something that could otherwise be characterized as greed. 

Most importantly—for me, at least—he attempts to separate greed from the idea of the "fair deal," quoting Scott Lamb—pastor and author of this faith-heavy Pujols biography—as rejecting "any idea that a person's Christianity should cause them to step away from what the market would demand for them." If that were the case I think we would see considerably more owner-sponsored evangelism in MLB clubhouses...