"I'm going to pull an Artie"

Fine. But you'll hate yourself in the morning.

windwalker wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

I think we're finding out who the real megalomaniac is

I always thought Albert's wife would be hotter.

Apparently I'm not accruing more depth as I get older.

She's got a bigger ass than I expected. On the plus side, there's now part-time work as Humpty-Dumpty at one of the Disney theme parks, in case they come up short on the mortgage.

artie_fufkin wrote:

"The devil has overplayed his hand because I have Christian folk trying to throw the Word in my face," Pujols said.

What in the world does that mean?

Quotes from the Bible?

forsberg_us wrote:

Max wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

"2) after signing Holliday, the Cards should have gotten serious about extending Pujols, which they said they wanted to do" before Pujols had multiple elbow surgeries


Somehow you always leave that last part out and treat it like an incidental fact.

Not at all, Fors.  I treat it as a risk.  Another risk is not extending Pujols under those conditions and then discovering his free market value is far higher than what the Cardinals are comfortable paying.  DeWitt gambled, and he gambled that Pujols would not make it to his payday, and even if he did, he (DeWitt) wasn't going to meet the top offers, and just for good measure he wasn't even going to ask Pujols nicely to stay and play for less.  No warm fuzzies from DeWitt.  He gambled wrong and then couldn't even set his ego aside to say 'pretty please.'

So it's OK if Pujols hardens his stance and treats negotiations like a business, but if Dewitt does so, he's a megalomaniac?  Gotcha.

That's like saying:

DeWitt punches Pujols in the nose, Pujols puches DeWitt back.  So you ask: "why is it OK for Pujols to punch DeWitt in the nose, but when DeWitt does it, you call him a megalomaniac?

Are we still debating who the bad guy is?

alz wrote:

I gotta tell you, I thought it was exhausting waiting for AP to sign. The aftermath of this shit is worse. Everyone seems far happier. The Cardinals didn't have to bankrupt the franchise locking down 1/4th of the team salary on one player for a decade. Albert got his mon-- er "commitment".

Didi's moronic interview from Joy radio said the final straw was a mortally offensive 5/130 offer. Apparently that was just the dagger in the heart, and the Pujols' were mad at God for this "not working out". Apparently her kid isn't the only one who is retarded.

My measured response to this is that Albert and his wife are not professional public relations officers, but I have not the slightest doubt that DeWitt quietly hired a PR firm long ago to manage spin the news on this break up to turn Pujols into the bad guy, if need be.

Webstergrovesalum wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

"The devil has overplayed his hand because I have Christian folk trying to throw the Word in my face," Pujols said.

What in the world does that mean?

Quotes from the Bible?

I don't believe there is any reference to card playing in the Bible. I think this was a subtle slap in the face of what she perceived to be hypocrasy from her Christian pals response to what they felt was her and Albert hypocrasy. I'm certain that there were any number of "It's harder for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle then for a rich man to enter heaven" passages thrown in her face from her congregation (which included my irate boss by the way, he was seriously pissed at the Pujols' for this).

Funny thing about Christians, if something gets personal and heated, they will blame demonic/satanic influence as an automatic out. One time my mom (serious bible thumper in her day) tried to "rebuke and cast out" the demons that were clearly within me, because I didn't feel like listening to her bitching. So it's impossible for you to take real issue with another Christian because the demons of anger and strife are just sowing their seeds of dischord, and that's the real issue.

Of course you can see how this can be manipulated to do whatever the fk you feel like, and then spinning it right back on the people who took exception in a heartbeat. Not everything with Christianity is as perfect as you might think.

Everybody knows Pujols is closed book.  For fan meet and greets, he sucks.  For talking to the press and taking responsibility after a boneheaded decision in the late innings of a key game, he sucks.  For babbling on about what Jesus has done for him, he sucks.

Pujols is not Mr. Congeniality, and I concede that point.  On the other hand, I don't recall him ever criticizing a teammate, or much of anything else.  A man of few words and almost none of them negative would be considered a virtue by some people.

alz wrote:

You don't have to be the worst teammate to not be voted as the best.

Agreed.

Not sure it has anything to do with it, but it certainly seems as though recent Cardinals teams have had a lot of cliques.  Pujols and the other Latin players certainly seemed very tight.  In years past, the bullpen seemed to have a requirement of NRA membership and that you hunted during the off-season (think Springer, Franklin, Izzy, etc...).  Some of the groups crossed over (Pujols, Wainwright, Matheny and probably many others found commonality in their Christianity).  I found it ironic that the team seemed to have so many cliques under Larussa, but when he took over, one of the first issues that arose was reportedly that the team had become too clique-ish with Ozzie leading the black players.

Pujols doesn't strike me as a warm and fuzzy guy, and he certainly wasn't a guy who would join in at the hotel bar for a beer.  But I don't think he was necessarily a bad teammate.  I don't remember him asking for a separate clubhouse and home furnishings like Bonds.

FWIW, it's very common in my experience for expatriates to form little cliques.  Some guy from, say, Russia could show up at my house and our shared western culture might lead to a more interesting and intense conversation than with indonesian neighbors who I'd known for years.  But if there was a selection of western expats, it was common for the anglos to congregate (US of A, UK, Canada, Aus, NZ, U of SA), and the europeans to form a separate group.  So even among the hispanic players, I would expect little sub-cliques, perhaps: northern caribbean, mexican / central american, souther carribean / south american.

I got a Pujols jersey for XMass.

Cards...Bought before he left I suppose.  What a waste of 75$.  I am not much of a jersey wearer anyway.