Fact: He wants a 10 year deal. He is a better player than A-Rod every was, and A-Rod is making $25M per year. Pujols has been underpaid his whole career.
Fact: Very, very few teams (maybe 3 or 4) can afford to pay him what he thinks he is worth. There are a lot of very, very good 1st basemen in MLB right now. Supply and demand economic factors are not going to be in his favor.
Fact: Scott Boras is his agent. Scott Boras likes drama and he likes top dollar deals. He will do anything (yes, anything) for his clients.
Opinion: This is not going to end well for St Louis unless they put a crowbar to their wallet or get very creative. He will end up with a large market team or a team that doesn't mind paying a luxury tax for an overall competitive team. I can only think of a few....the usual suspects less one (Boston) as they just got Gonzalez. Also, Teixeria is signed for a few more years, and he is pretty darn good. Comapared to what Albert will be asking, Tex may be a value bargain.
