I am suprised a deal got done honestly.  I think at face value it is very fair to both sides.  Wainwright might have been worth alittle more on the open market.  Still neither side got cheated.  It will be interesting to see if there are option years or deferment.

"AP source: Wainwright, Cards strike $97.5M deal"

The thing that surprises me is that, for the salke of marketing the deal alone, they didn't figure out a way to squeeze out another $2.5 M and call it a nine-figure contract.

This is why wainwright is worth 20 million a year.  This is understanding that going out and winning 20 games isnt all the club is paying you for.

"The young guys should be able to look to someone and mimic somebody like I had with Carp and Matt (Morris) and Woody (Williams),” Wainwright said earlier this spring. “Those guys were on a pedestal for me. When I was with Atlanta in the farm system they had (Greg) Maddux, (Tom) Glavine, and (John) Smoltz. I’m not putting myself in any category. I’m just saying that is a category of player that I hope I can live up to one day.”

APIAD wrote:

 I am looking forward to seeing just how the deal ks laid out.

 
$19.5M each season for 5 seasons.

$500K bonus for any year he finishes in the top 10 in the Cy Young voting

$50K for making the All-Star team, Gold Glove or MVP of the World Series, LCS or LDS

$25K for Silver Slugger

APIAD wrote:

So basicly wainwright will have a pretty good shot at pushing the deal close to 20 avv a year.  Props to the club for not back loading the deal.  I am alittle suprised there is no defered money tho.

Although it preceded your post, I think this helps to explain why it's not backloaded and why none of it is deferred.

forsberg_us wrote:

I'm really surprised that they were able to stay under $20M AAV.  The comparable that kept getting thrown out there was Lee who got 5/$120M at the same age as Wainwright.  Of course that was on the open market, and Lee wasn't coming off TJ surgery, but I'm surprised the Cardinals were able to stay that far under what other teams have been paying top starters.

And AP's comments, along with your own observations (open market, TJ surgery), might explain why the contract was low releative to Lee's:  Was lee's backloaded?  Was any deferred?  
 

APIAD wrote:

People pay more for freaks.

Well, supply and demand, anyway.  Lefties make up about 10% of the population, and you want them to make up about 20-25% of your pitching staff, so they should be able to command more money.

So the 1, 2, 3 of the Wainwright-Lee contract comparisons might be like this:

1. Wainwright was not a free agent.
2. Wainwright has still not proven he will get back to ace form post-TJ surgery.
3. Wainright is a non-freak RH pitcher.

Throw in a couple of other things:

4. Wainwright has spent almost his entire career as a Cardinal and they've treated him well.
5. Wainwright has experienced a lot of success with the cardinals, including 2 championships, and he might like the chances of more success (and playoff bonuses) if he stays here.

Does anybody know what the playoff bonuses for the players were in 2011?

Yeah, I think the way things are playing out make it look like Pujols let his pride get in the way of a good thing.  

And to keep the record straight, my issue was with the way the FO handled the issue, at least as far back as 2009, and possibly further.  If people keep a clear head about that, they would be wise to treat the Cardinals FO as very savvy businessmen with very little likelihood of allowing sentiment or someone else's standards of fair conduct to cloud their bottom line.