Cardinals Under Contract: Albert Pujols

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Contract Terms: Albert Pujols is nearing the end of a contract signed in 2004. The contract was worth an even $100 million guaranteed over seven seasons with a club option for an eighth season.

2004: $7 million
2005: $11 million
2006: $14 million
2007: $15 million
2008: $16 million
2009: $16 million
2010: $16 million
2011: $16 million (Club Option - $5 million Buyout)

The Rationale Then: The Cardinals and Pujols signed his seven year contract to avoid arbitration in February 2004. Pujols had completed the most impressive three years to begin a career in recent history and his extension reflected those accomplishments. While the $100 million pricetag was the 7th highest for a position player in baseball at the time of signing, Cot's estimates that the deferred money involved in the deal reduced the present-day value at signing to just $90,276,957 million.

The Outlook Today: The Albert Pujols contract has been a beautiful partnership. Pujols has collected three MVP awards, annual selections to the MLB All-Star Game, three Silver Slugger awards, and one Gold Glove award. It is difficult to assign a dollar value to that kind of production, but the current contract is certainly a good value for the Cardinals.

Moving Forward: With Matt Holliday signed to a long-term contract, the Albert Pujols contract extension saga is the top storyline for most Cardinals fans. Pujols is under team control for another two seasons, but many members of the national media have questioned the team's ability to pay both Holliday and Pujols while fielding a competitive team.

The answer to that question will depend on whether Pujols has meant statements during the last two years about money not being the most important factor in his contract extension. If Pujols is willing to take a hometown discount, likely in the form of large sums of deferred money like his current contract, then it will give the Cardinals more payroll flexibility to field a team around him for years to come. My expectation is that a contract extension will be signed during this calendar year and that the amount of money involved will be lower than many national media personalities expect. Time will tell, but I expect to break down at least one more Albert Pujols contract on this blog before his Cardinal career is finished.
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