NLCS: Cards v Brewers

[dmiles2186]

Who is ready? 3 PM today on TBS...whoo!

[cardsfan04]

I'm incredibly pumped. I hate Nyjer Morgan so much.

[DaDitka]

WTF are they thinking putting the game up against the NFL?

Thus far, the playoff games have gotten lower ratings then preseaon football. What do they think is going to happen against regular season football.

I'm excited about the game, but I'll certainly be wearing out the remote.

[cardsfan04]

I will not be wearing out the remote. There is nothing more important than Cardinal playoff baseball.

[dmiles2186]

Ouch.

But I better not say that too loud or glen will get after me.

[cardsfan04]

That Pujols fella. He can hit a little bit.

[glen a richter]

That Pujols fella. He can hit a little bit.

Agreed. Washington will love his services next season.

[cprice12]

A split in Milwaukee, Carpenter going in game #3...Cards are in good shape right now. Just got to win at home now.

[thedoc]

I would love to see a sweep at home, but realistically I guess taking a 3-2 lead back to WI won't be that bad a situation.

[abc789987]

I love the title.

Pujols the king puts Morgan the clown in his place

[WaukeeBlues]

I'm just going to say... thank GOD that Pujols probably won't be able to do that every game.

FIVE RBI's?! Ouch.

If I were the Cards I would bend over this offseason and ask Pujols to tell me where to put it in order to keep him in STL. Dude is your franchise.

If the Brew Crew didn't have Braun locked up I would advocate us doing the same thing in regards to Fielder

[AlsWoodenStick]

I'm incredibly pumped. I hate Nyjer Morgan so much.

Gah, me too. He's normally out for batting practice in center, I was out there before first pitch for the game when he threw a hissy-fit against Carp and he was talking shit to the fans... Going to the game tomorrow, should be fun to see what kind of reaction he gets this time.

I'm just going to say... thank GOD that Pujols probably won't be able to do that every game.

FIVE RBI's?! Ouch.

If I were the Cards I would bend over this offseason and ask Pujols to tell me where to put it in order to keep him in STL. Dude is your franchise.

If the Brew Crew didn't have Braun locked up I would advocate us doing the same thing in regards to Fielder

I think the Cards can't afford to not have him back, so that might just be what they're gonna do. Any thoughts on where Fielder will end up if he doesn't re-sign? My money is on the Angels or Cubs, in that order.

[cprice12]

I'm just going to say... thank GOD that Pujols probably won't be able to do that every game.

FIVE RBI's?! Ouch.

If Milwaukee's pitchers keep throwing stuff over the plate to him, he will.
And I'd like to say, I'm looking forward to Marcum pitching again...if the series goes that far.

If I were the Cards I would bend over this offseason and ask Pujols to tell me where to put it in order to keep him in STL. Dude is your franchise.

If the Brew Crew didn't have Braun locked up I would advocate us doing the same thing in regards to Fielder

I'm torn on this.
I really want Pujols back...but I won't blame the Cardinals for not signing him if he insists on 8 years at 25-30 million per year.
That's just way too much money at this point in his career. The vast majority of fans feel this way as well...so the Cardinals won't suffer much in terms of fan resentment if he goes elsewhere for $30 million over 8 years.

If he were 27, I'd say ok...try to get an 8 year deal done. But he's 31. I don't want the team to be paying him $30 million a season when he is 39 years old. That's crazy.
I can't see any team giving him that. Their are only a few teams that can afford that, and the Yankees and Red Sox are set at 1B.
The Cubs? Maybe. But where would you rather play? In St. Louis for $20 million per year where you have a good chance of post season play, or in Chicago for $25 million per year where losing is the norm?

Pujols already has more money than he can spend. You'd think $20 million a year for another 6 years in St. Louis, where he can play in front of fans that worship him, and he can go to the post season frequently, would be more than enough for him.

The Cardinals will probably offer him part ownership in the team, or an executive job when he retires as part of the contract. That will help keep the money down a bit.

We'll see.

[DaDitka]

I'm just going to say... thank GOD that Pujols probably won't be able to do that every game.

FIVE RBI's?! Ouch.

If Milwaukee's pitchers keep throwing stuff over the plate to him, he will.
And I'd like to say, I'm looking forward to Marcum pitching again...if the series goes that far.

If I were the Cards I would bend over this offseason and ask Pujols to tell me where to put it in order to keep him in STL. Dude is your franchise.

If the Brew Crew didn't have Braun locked up I would advocate us doing the same thing in regards to Fielder

I'm torn on this.
I really want Pujols back...but I won't blame the Cardinals for not signing him if he insists on 8 years at 25-30 million per year.
That's just way too much money at this point in his career. The vast majority of fans feel this way as well...so the Cardinals won't suffer much in terms of fan resentment if he goes elsewhere for $30 million over 8 years.

Exactly.

Besides, this is the fan base that obsesses over Rex Hudler, Bo Hear, Spezio's flavor saver and now a squirrel and a tweeting turtle...

It doesn't take much to appease them.

Make the smart baseball move. 2.9 million of your 3.1 mill will show up no matter what you do and it will have little effect on your advertising income either.

It's not like he's all you have. You still have Wano, Carp, Puma, Holiday, and Freese to promote.

He's a great player, but don't screw the entire payroll structure up for years to retain him. I'd rather compete for pennants then simply cheer for Albert.

[thedoc]

I would make him the highest paid player in baseball. But only for 5 years and give him 2 extra years that are heavily incentive laden. IMO

[cardsfan04]

What he wants will be a bad contract, but I think letting him go will be worse than overpaying him. We have tons of money coming off the books next year (Berkman + Lohse + Westbrook = $30 million). Then Carp takes another $10.5 mil off in 2 years. That's $40.5 mil to work with. Obviously players leaving need to be replaced, so it's not like they can just dump it at Pujols, but they only need $8.5 mil/year to get his contract to the $23 mil that Pujols apparently wants (to match Joe Mauer).

Especially w/ people like Miller and Martinez coming up in the next couple of years that will make the league minimum, I think that taking $8.5 mil of that $40.5 and leaving $32 mil to replace those guys + give raises to Yadi/Waino and probably Freese (if we stay with him instead of Cox) is realistic. I mean, it won't leave a lot of wiggle room, but it's workable IMO.

[dmiles2186]

The length of the contract that Pujols wants is what bothers me. He will be 32 at the start of the deal. If he's wanting 8 years, that puts him at 40 when the deal is up.

A-Rod signed his latest huge deal in his 30's. He has 6 years and something like $142 million (or 124 million, I could be flipping the numbers) left on that deal. If he were a free agent now, no one would pay him that money on the open market. And that's the thing with Pujols, at some point, regardless of who pays him, his output will in no way match what he's being paid.

I will say, Pujols has been a bargain since '04 when he signed a 7 year, $100 million deal. Sure, 100 million is not a 'bargain' in anything other than sports, but he was arguably the best player in the game then and he got paid under market value. So I'm sure he wants to be rewarded for his loyalty.

I think in the end, he'll be a Cardinal. But I think the Cardinals will end up paying more than they would like, and Pujols will end up with a shorter deal than he'd like.

[cardsfan04]

I agree that there's a good chance he won't be worth his contract when he's 40 (although it's possible, Hank Aaron was still productive late in his career). But, let's say he wants 10 years/$230 mil as has been reported. If the Cards only want to give him 7 years, they would have to up the offer to around $30 mil per year I think. I'd take 10 years/$230 mil over 7 years/$210 mil. It's oversimplifying it, but the difference is basically adding on a 3 year/$20 mil contract to the end.

I wouldn't predict him to be worth $23 mil at the end of his contract, but it's really just a $20 mil difference over the entire deal. And, if we were to re-sign him again after a 7 year deal, it probably makes it a better deal to give him 10 years right now, because then it's not $20 million cheaper.

Also, $23 mil/year leaves $7 mil more to work with than $30 mil, which makes signing others more feasible.

[abc789987]

Preview for game 3...

[cardsfan04]

That's (Frank) gold.