During an interview with a Domincan radio station, Pujols suggested that getting a contract extension at this time wasn't that important at this time, which signaled to the baseball world (perhaps through poor translation, or most likely, pre-fabricated, unnecessary media hype), that Pujols was going to test the free agent waters after the 2011.
Albert cleared all of that up today, when he said, “The fans know and the Cardinals know that I want to be a Cardinal for my whole career,”
Good. That's how it should be.
And if Bill Dewitt is listening, he should act, and act quickly.
No, not by giving Albert some 10 year, $350 million contract that Albert's new hitting coach thinks he may deserve. But lets do something different.
Let's give Albert Pujols 5-8% of the St. Louis Cardinals franchise and everything that comes with it. Part of the franchise that he is the face, the cornerstone, and from a business perspective, the bottom line of. Give him a piece of the team, the logo, the manager, the stadium, the ball park village that continues to be a softball field, and most importantly the Cardinal fanbase. Make the man a mainstay until the day he dies when we bury him in casket with the Cardinal logo.
Yeah, you can work out some monetary figure, say a $10 million salary, plus another $5 million if he hits .300 (almost a certainty) and another $5 million if he scores 100 runs or drives in 100 guys or eats 100 hot dogs. Who cares, a salary won't matter since he will be basically paying himself, sharing in the profits the organization continually pumps out year after year with a successful team (much to Albert's success) and a truly loyal fan base.
But give him part of the franchise. Make him different. Because he is.
I know I will be telling my Grandchildren just how special a ball player he is. Hopefully, I can tell them how special a St. Louisan he is too when I'm 90.
Cruddy
No comments:
Post a Comment