"Mozeliak met with the agent for free agent first baseman Albert Pujols late Tuesday night, according to sources familiar with the process. The Cardinals are believed to have modified last January's nine-year, offer of $198 million-$205 million."

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinals-pujols-agent-talking-at-gm-meetings/article_ece5a294-1085-11e1-81cc-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1du4CQwV7

"The Cardinals are believed to have modified last January's nine-year, offer of $198 million-$205 million."

In which direction, though?

A St. Louis radio personality is reporting that the Cardinals and Pujols have reached a deal that will be announced on Friday.  Mozeliak has specifically denied the rumor.

http://mlb.mlblogs.com/2011/11/16/mozeliak-denies-pujols-report/

Using Max's logic that the denial of the rumor proves the rumor (or something like that), we should have a happy weekend.

FWIW- Strauss is working overtime on Twitter debunking the rumor and the person is originated it.

artie_fufkin wrote:

"I am of the impression that Jocketty would have been taking the lead on personnel decisions during his tenure, leads that DeWitt could either approve or reject."

I assume that's a standard dynamic for any general manager/owner relationship. How much more input DeWitt has during the Moz era is something we really don't know. He seems to be more involved, but that may just be perception. And in any event it wouldn't surprise me because of Moz's relative inexperience.

"a major factor in why the demand for Pujols isn't higher is because Pujols himself talked down his value.  But rather than rewarding Pujols for that loyalty to the team, DeWitt intends to pocket the savings.  As an owner, DeWitt is not as bad as some, and is better than many, but that doesn't mean I will fawn over him, or even appreciate him the way I appreciate the guys playing on the field."

I guess the part where I depart with you is in that I haven't seen Pujols "talk down his value." Of course, I get most of my information from watching the games and reading the P-D. I don't have the opportunity to watch his interviews. But from what I've seen and read, he's tried to be a good teammate. And if he's sincere about his primary goals being team goals rather than financial goals, there's a cost for that.
(Aside: Because I can't pass up a chance at taking a swipe at Fat Ass, this is the part where I note Roger Clemens said in 1996 that he wanted to play closer to his home in Texas and for a contender, and then signed with a Toronto team that finished in last place in the AL East.)
Lastly, I don't think the comments over the years on this board toward DeWitt could be considered fawning. We've been as critical of his parsimony as anyone here, and maybe he is going into negotiations with Pujols looking to squeeze every last buck out of him. But whatever his motivation is, his methods seem to work.

Not sure if you read my opinion, but I stated that Fielder played the market from day 1, saying Milwuakee could not likely keep him and we would most likely go somewhere else when he became a FA.  This says: "I'm going to the highest bidder".  Pujols has said almost from day 1 how he hopes to remain a Cardinal for life and that money isn't the most important thing.  This says: "Put your checkbooks away, away I'm staying in St. Louis unless they totally fuck up."

artie_fufkin wrote:

"The Cardinals are believed to have modified last January's nine-year, offer of $198 million-$205 million."

In which direction, though?

As I wrote before, I would guess that DeWitt, the businessman would by calculating like this:

"Well let's see, he played another season, so we trim the offer to 8 years, and his estimated value last season was about $35 million, so we'll knock $35 million off of last year's $188, that's, er . . . what?  Oh yes, I stand corrected, last year we offered $198.  So, let's see, 198 minus 35 is  . . . five from eight . . . uh, yes, $153 million.  Hmm?   Oh yes, doggone it, my mistake again.  What value did you get?  OK, so, let's see, that's $163 million for nine years . . . agreed?"

forsberg_us wrote:

"Pujols has said almost from day 1 how he hopes to remain a Cardinal for life and that money isn't the most important thing."

Pujols never said this.  People sometimes hear what they want to hear

"pujols states he wants to be a cardinal for life"
Search About 1,580,000 results (0.19 seconds)

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=pujols+states+he+wants+to+be+a+cardinal+forlife&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&source=hp&q=pujols+states+he+wants+to+be+a+cardinal+for+life&pbx=1&oq=pujols+states+he+wants+to+be+a+cardinal+for+life&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=17515l17515l0l18276l1l1l0l0l0l0l185l185l0.1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=dc3b5f3742b25115&biw=1052&bih=614

forsberg_us wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

"The Cardinals are believed to have modified last January's nine-year, offer of $198 million-$205 million."

In which direction, though?

et tu, Artie?

It was more a criticism of how the sentence was written than about anyone's opinion here. "Modified" could mean the Cardinals threw in a season pass to Six Flags, for all the reporter informs us.

artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

"The Cardinals are believed to have modified last January's nine-year, offer of $198 million-$205 million."

In which direction, though?

et tu, Artie?

It was more a criticism of how the sentence was written than about anyone's opinion here. "Modified" could mean the Cardinals threw in a season pass to Six Flags, for all the reporter informs us.

Story updated to read that Cardinals did NOT modify their offer.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinals-pujols-agent-talking-at-gm-meetings/article_ece5a294-1085-11e1-81cc-0019bb30f31a.html

forsberg_us wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

et tu, Artie?

It was more a criticism of how the sentence was written than about anyone's opinion here. "Modified" could mean the Cardinals threw in a season pass to Six Flags, for all the reporter informs us.

Story updated to read that Cardinals did NOT modify their offer.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinals-pujols-agent-talking-at-gm-meetings/article_ece5a294-1085-11e1-81cc-0019bb30f31a.html

This just in ... Dewey defeats Truman

Max wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

You make this way too easy.

actually, if I had added "money is important" it would have returned about 100 posts by you!  You are the one has made the point time and again that if he turns down a reasonable offer from the Cards that it will put the lie to his statements that he isn't interested in money.

Actually Max, what I've said consistently is that if Pujols turns down a reasonable offer from the Cardinals to go to a mediocre/bad team, that it goes against his statements that he's interested in rings/championships, particularly after the Cardinals just won the World Series.  Big difference.  That's the reason I was concerned about the possibility of Texas entering into the bidding.

alz wrote:

So... just looking ahead, what are we going to fight about when Pujols situation is resolved?

Any thoughts? I came up with a list!

1) Whether the world will end in 2029 due to a meteor strike?
2) Who killed JFK?
3) Should Pete Rose be allowed back into baseball?
4) Will college football ever use a playoff?
5) Paper or plastic? Seriously?! Help a brother out!

1) No, I suspect that one guy will continue to predict the Rapture to happen about every 6 months and he can't be wrong forever--can he?

2) Oliver Stone

3) No, but let him in the Hall of Fame

4) No, but they should

5) Plastic.  Much easier to carry large volumes of groceries which is a pretty big deal these days having to feed an 11 year old male child.

alz wrote:

So... just looking ahead, what are we going to fight about when Pujols situation is resolved?

When it gets resolved we will fight about one of these:

1) How much money did Pujols leave on the table by resigning with the Cards.

or

2) How badly did DeWitt fuck up the situation, such that Pujols signed elsewhere.