10 years $300 million? No Way!

Word on the streets is that Albert Pujols, who is a free agent after this season, will require a team to pay $300 million over 10 years for his services. There are three glaring problems with this number:

1) The number is being blown up by the Major League Baseball Players Union with the goal of increasing all future player contracts.

2) In 10 years, Pujols will be 41 years old. As an every day player, there is no shot in hell that in 10 years he will be half as productive as he is today.

3) $30 million a year is an insult to the sport and to the citizens of this country.

Apparently, Pujols has a goal of surpassing Alex Rodriguez as the highest paid player in the history of the sport. Before I get into the why that should not happen, is that even a goal that should be set by a professional athlete for himself?

Pujols is, statistically, one of the greatest baseball players who have played the game and he is hands down the best player in the game today. He is the ONLY player in the 130+ year history of the game to hit 30+ home runs and 100+ RBI in each of his first 10 seasons. He has made 9 All-Star games, won three MVP awards, a Rookie of the Year award and a World Series title. He has accomplished what most professional ballplayers can only dream of but according to him, "I don't play for numbers."(MLB.com 2009-09-24). Well Albert, if that was true, you wouldn't care about becoming the highest paid player in MLB history. You wouldn't be asking for 10 years $300 million. Instead, you would do what Joe Mauer did, you would take the "home town discount".

Before last season started, Mauer signed an 8 year $184 million contract. Fine, it is still an obscene amount of money but he took less money to stay with the team he came up with instead of going to a team like the Yankees or Red Sox, who would have happily paid him more money. Granted, Pujols gave the Cardinals the exclusive opportunity to sign him this offseason before Spring Training, but gratefully, they wouldn't succumb to his insane asking price (which was not 10y $30m yet).

When free-agency final comes at the end of the season, Pujols is going to make his decision based on one or two factors: Where can he win and who among those teams will pay him the most money?

Before Spring Training started, the St. Louis Cardinals were still a very powerful team in the National League. A team that would have competed for the pennant for years to come and because of this, I am confused as to why Pujols did not sign his contract then. However, now that Adam Wainwright, the Cardinal's ace, has gone down with Tommy John surgery, they are less likely to compete with the likes of the Phillies and Giants, both of which have stellar rotations.

I just don't know where Pujols thinks he is going to make that kind of money. The Yankees have a first baseman named Mark Teixeira whom they are paying $180 million. The Red Sox just extended Adrian Gonzalez for $154 million. Both of those teams are not in the market for a first baseman, who is in the market for one? Off the top of my head I can't think of any team who is in need of a Pujols type player AND is willing to spend the kind of money necessary to acquire him. If I were a betting man, I would bet that Pujols stays with the Cardinals and does NOT receive the $300 million he is asking for.

Don't get me wrong, Pujols is a once-in-a-generation type of talent. He is by far the best player in the league today, but under no circumstances is he worth $30 million a year. If I'm being blunt, he plays a game for 6 months a year and receives more money than men and women who work full-time busting their ass will see in a lifetime.

I'm not 100% sure how spending this kind of money is conceivable or even considered ok, but no matter what the formula is there is no way on Earth that a baseball player is worth that much money. A friend of mine said that the money they get paid is based off the amount of money that player brings into the team. Well, i have news for you, the team that brings in the most money, is the Yankees. Do you have any idea what their revenue numbers look like? They New York Yankees bring in $264 million a year based on this website...http://www.fantasybaseballcafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=238635...If my math serves me well, thats $36 million less than Pujols is asking for. Under no circumstances can you tell me that he brings in that much money on his own, no matter how you slice the numbers, they just don't add up.

In order to stop such heinous amounts of money from being thrown around to athletes who work 6 months a year, baseball needs to change something drastically, and fast. Ken Williams, the GM of the Chicago White Sox has gone on record and blasted the numbers of the contract Pujols is going to ask for. He has even gone as far as to say that if contracts continue to spike like they currently are, the MLB should, in its best interest, shut down for a year and restructure how contracts are given out.

I like that Williams has come out and blasted the Players Union but there is something that can be done which is a lot simpler, at least on paper. Create a salary cap for the sport. Not only will it stunt the insane growth of player contracts, it will also bring back a level a parody which has been largely missing for years.

I don't know what the league is going to do in the future, if it will quell contracts like this or not. However, what I do know is that no team should "bite the bullet" and pay this money. Teach these players that they can't do whatever they want. Teach them that the owners and the league are in charge and that they will get the money they are offered, not the money they ask for.