"Angel" in the Infield

Money was at the forefront of Albert Pujols' mind when he signed his mega-deal to play for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this morning. Who can blame him? He's provided St. Louis with over a decade full of memories and has two World Series titles to show for it. But still....

Pujols' shiny new $254 million dollar deal pays him approximately $0.79 a second, $47 a minute, and $2851 an hour for the next decade. Only Alex Rodriguez' current $275 million dollar payday with the Yanks rolled in more cash than this agreement.

You have to questions Pujols' motives on signing this deal. Apparently the Cardinals offered him $210 million for the ten years, which was probably more than they could afford. In the end, though, the slugger chose to put money ahead of a stronger St. Louis fan base and his legacy.

Saying he wanted to remain a Cardinal for life as recently as this past season, Pujols exhibited having a short memory, not to mention being unable to resist an additional hefty wad of cash. To open up negotiations prior to last season with the Cardinals, he and agent Dan Lozano put A-Rod's deal as a baseline, saying he'd test free agency if the Cards didn't match that number. The bottom line in this whole thing is this: all Albert Pujols cared about was money.

He cared about money so much that he was willing to play for the Marlins, Cubs, Angels, or anyone else that could beat the Cardinals $210 million. What he didn't seem to care about is the city of St. Louis, one of the finest sports cities in the country with some of the greatest fans out there. He would have been willing to play in front of seven Marlins fans a night over a packed Busch Stadium chanting his name every at-bat. The fans in St. Louis thought he had at least a bit of compassion for them, but his eyes were only focused on the green.

And honestly, though, when you are making somewhere around that asinine amount of money, is there even a noticeable difference between $210 and $275? In my mind both would just seem unlimited.

Pujols didn't seem to do his homework regarding the money either. This article from CBS shows that Pujols would actually have a larger net worth in St. Louis, because of LA's living costs, etc. It also goes on to mention how in LA, Albert will be second-rate to not only the Lakers, but the Dodgers as well. Who else does St. Louis have to cheer for, the 2-55 Rams?

Through it all, though, the Cardinals probably ended up better off in the long run anyway. There's no way the Angels will get the bang for their buck they intended eight years from now on a 41-year-old Pujols. Watching Big Al's pursuit of Hank Aaron's home run record (I'm not counting Bonds' of course) will be a special, but if he does in fact go on to pass Bonds, the event will seem like it should have taken place under the Arch.

There is the other side to this: that Pujols owed nothing to St. Lou because of what he had already given them and that whole deal. It's just rather difficult to side with the greedy athlete over the diehard, respectable fans of St. Louis.