Free-agent slugger Albert Pujols will join the Los Angeles Angels on a 10-year contract worth at least $250 million, according to reports Thursday morning.
Both Yahoo! Sports and ESPN reported that Pujols, who has spent his entire 11-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals, had agreed to the deal. Both organizations cited anonymous sources in reporting the deal.
Pujols has a lifetime batting average of .328 with 445 home runs and 1,329 RBI in his 11 seasons with the Cardinals.
The 31-year-old first baseman hit .299 with 37 home runs and 99 RBI last season as the Cardinals won the World Series.
The deal would be the second or third richest in major league history, falling behind Alex Rodriguez's deals with the New York Yankees and possibly the Rodriguez's earlier deal with the Texas Rangers, according to the Yahoo! report.
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he always wanted to live up the legend of stan the man. What a liar he is. The city of St. louis and cardinal nation has always supported him. Now he turns his back for a few million.
I totally agree. He was a god in St. Louis, and now shows he is just a mercenary like all the rest.
Pujols will likely become the best offensive player to have played the game . . . ever. He showed his love for St. Louis when he signed his last contract with them for the paltry sum of $100 MM. The guy was severly underpaid for being the best player in baseball. Now people are complaining that he is going for the money and he is turning his back on St. Louis. He is the best player and should be paid like the best. St. Louis was looking to get him cheaply yet again. They just didn't want to have to put a new statue next to Stan the Man's. Hopefully he will break every record as an Angel and retire into the HOF as an Angel.
A few million? How about $40 million? Big difference. You would do the same.
If all this is true I have lost all respect for that man and what he was suppose to stand for. I hope Angels are crippled by this move and they never win a series...I think it would be great to see the cards win 2 more series over the next 10 years and the Angels none...
Pujols is a by-product of the money culture. "Money above all else" is Pujol's motto; how could it be otherwise? If he was serious about playing baseball to win championships, he would have stayed in STL. Yep, Pujols is all about... money. Which is fine. When the media reported he was meeting with teams in Florida and California, his allegiance and motivations became all too obvious. To be fair, STL is not exactly the most thrilling place to live. Unless you eat, breath and sleep baseball. Like most Cardinal fans, I understand why he would prefer to live in a city that more accurately reflects the culture leanings of his heritage. Admittedly, no matter how long one tries, assimilating into a place like STL isn't an easy thing to do. The fact that Albert allowed himself to be sucked in by the money culture, the fact that he morphed overnight into an undesirable stereotype, maybe his character should have been suspect all along. Forget the fans he let down, forget the legacy he threw away; if one positive can come out of Pujol's decision to leave the Cardinals, it is this: he can NEVER (legitimately) compare himself to Stan Musial ever again... as if he ever could. Adios, Albert.
any person who is complaining that he is greedy is jealous and stupid. you wouldnt take 40M more if you had the chance? I hate ignorant fans who are jealous an stupid.
"A few million?" You say that like it's some paltry sum. Also, the cost of living is massively higher in LA than St. Louis. In adjusted dollars, this is a substantial pay cut.
Albert gets to finish out his career in gorgeous weather for a team that can move him to DH in seven years or so. Seems like a smart move on his part.
True Andrew.. But he will now be known as the Lebron of baseball
I agree. Great Player, Great Person going to play for a Great Manager. Smart move for LT career moving to DH on the tail end. If were in his shoes and objective on your decision how could you not make this move?
Whether you consider it a pay raise or a pay cut ($30 million more than STL offered), Albert may well be serving as DH before 7 years have gone by. He's not getting any younger, you know. In St. Louis no one would have grudged him aging and not playing as well over time. In LA no one is going to cut him any slack. As his abilities decline with age the LA fans are going to give him a really hard time. Although I wish Albert well, I just do not believe that ANYONE is worth that kind of money; not even the best player in baseball. We literally have thousands of children going hungry every night in this country and yet we can find a way to pay sports stars, movie & music stars and corporate CEOs these unbelievable amounts of money. There is something seriously wrong with our culture...
PAID!!!! Baseball has been very very very good to me!!
Signed,
Albert Pujols
When you can get a contract for $250,000,000.00, it's no longer about winning. It's about the money. It's sad to see him go, but at least they are losing him at a time when his skills appear to be in a serious decline and after they won their championship.
.299 batting average with 37 home runs and 99 RBI 2011 season with the Cardinals winning the World Series is hardly a decline.
To Play a game! I think all Sports players are over paid !!! I think they should be compensated well, but 250 million!
@Bill, shows what little you know about sports or business. The money is on the table and Pujols has every right to get as much as he can. If he is overpaid blame the owner, not Pujols.
Oh poo hoo you losers. Pujols is a business man, if St. Louis wanted him so bad they should of coughed up the $. At least you got a World Series, which is better than the losers in Clevland ever got.
Um they got 2 WS out of him. Now the Cardinals can focus on other players, put Berkman at 1st and get another WS! I hate to see him go, but this doesn't hurt the Cardinals all that much.
It was never about the dollars, it was about the years. Lifelong StL fan, but even I know (okay, strongly suspect) Albert is fibbing his age by a year or two. Crazy to pay a guy $25 million a year into his early 40's. Loved Albert, but not at that cost.
Agree 100%. how can anyone hate on Pujols for getting paid what the market says he's worth AND giving himself the DH option down the road. I agree athletes are paid a colossal amount relative to other fields....but the owners still make mega-bucks paying it and we all watch and love it or it wouldn't be viable. Albert is a class act and will remain one, regardless of the color uniform he's wearing. He's not even remotely a LeBron-didn't make a spectacle of it and, in fact, Cards could've signed him before the season if they'd chosen to do so. Good move for Albert and the Cards probably.
Good for you Albert. I guess if I was in your shoes I would take the money and run too. As for the Cardinals, they may be sad now, but, 5 years into this ridiculous contract, they will look that much wiser. Cardinal nation doesn't need a $25 million dollar a year contract being paid out to a player that will be a liability in the twilight of his career.
Well said!
Andrew is right. At the end of the day, it is a pay cut, and frankly, for St. Louis, it is probably a good thing in the long run, the massive annual payroll hit in the latte years of the contract, for a mid-late thirties player might have been a real bad move. Hate to see an icon move, but for St. Louis, I think this will end up being a win for them over the long term.
Please explain to me how it is a pay cut. You are talking about a 30 to 50 million dollar difference from playing in STL to LA. Yes the cost of living is higher out there (LA), but we are talking about a couple of thousand dollars a year. I would suspect that the 40 million should cover that and then some.
Also, as loyal Saint Louis fan, I am sad to see him go, i would have been sadder to see us pay him 250 million dollars over 10 years. I don't blame him, not one bit. The Cards and Pujols had two different views; they couldn't find common ground, that’s the nature of the beast.
FYI, I DO NOT want Fielder here. He can swing a bat, just not catch a ball.
Professional sports is not about winning. It's their careers. Can't blame him for wanting to make as much as he possibly can, as I do at my career. Who wants to work their entire lives?
are you folks crazy? you wouldnt take the money? please, hypocrites. lebron of baseball? have any of you fools ever taken a new job for more money? i hop so, cause if you havent you are less intelligent than we all think.
congrats Albert.
Thats it, I'm not eating at Pujols 5 Westport Grill any more, now whos going to wait the tables, I don't see Albert being able to play in California and cook/serve food at his bar & grill in St. Louis.
The "cost of living" is MEANINGLESS to a man who already has more money than he, his children, and grandchildren will ever need.
Gas is going to cost him $.25 more per gallon?????
So he has to spend 5 million on a house - that is three months pay
Plus he will get more endorsements in Spanish LA - endorsement money will wipe out any cost of living issue
No surprise money won out. The disappointment for we Cardinal fans is the fact that Pujols always touted he was not in it for the money. Hard to take your hero turning out a liar. Bet Stan is proud of you Pujols!
anyone who makes a sports figure a hero has much bigger things to worry about
Professional athletes aren't heroes. The young men and women that come home after losing limbs defending the nation and can't even find jobs are the heroes. Quit your complaining and help those people.
Please. The Cardinals existed for many years before Albert Pujols and we will be just fine without him. He has proven to Cadinal National that he is in it only for the money and that he has no loyalty to the team or the fans that put him on the map. Albert, don't let the Arch hit you on the way out. Good bye and good riddance.
I LOVE THAT..".Don't let the ARCH hit you on the way out"
HE put himself on the map, he Cardinals were just lucky to be the ones that OWNED him for so long. It's a free market. if someone offered you a giant pay raise, you'd take it and move, unless you're some kind of fool.
No the Cardinals didn't put Albert on the map but they sure helped. He was a late round draft pick that no one else wanted. He also played for great teams, a great manager and great fans. Puhols owes a lot to STL. If he had been drafted by the Pirates do you really think his career would be in the same place?
money money money money money.
I pretend, as a fan, that the hometown jersey means something.... but it just doesn't.