Schumaker nears deal and some Pujols thoughts

In other Cardinals news, Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch is reporting that Skip Schumaker is close to a two year deal. Reports suggest that his new contract would pay the veteran $3.1 million per season.

MLB Trade Rumors confirms that the Cardinals will receive cash in lieu of the three players to be named later as a result of this past summer’s Rasmus trade at the deadline.

Below the break, I offer some thoughts on Albert Pujols and Monday morning’s radio interview that his wife gave.

Thoughts on Pujols:
While I am sure that many of you, myself included, have read Bernie’s column on Monday morning, I just don’t buy into this silly-headed belief that Albert Pujols had no choice. He had a choice to remain a Cardinal but instead, he chose to take a higher paycheck and move out to Hollywood. When McGwire came over in 1997, he fell in love with the city of St. Louis–so much that he took a discount when he resigned with the team.

The Post-Dispatch posted excerpts of Dee Dee Pujols’ interview on 99.1. I have not had a chance to listen to it but it sounds rather interesting from just reading the excerpts. As of Monday evening, all records of the audio recording are not online on the JOY-FM website.

I can understand the family’s response to segment of the fan base opting to burn jerseys. If I were in their shoes, I’d be upset, too! After what Albert did for the organization, helping take the Cards to 3 World Series trips in the last 10 years, not to mention the other postseason trips.

From a personal point of view, I would not burn a jersey. When Jim Edmonds signed with the Chicago Cubs, I did not wear my Edmonds jersey shirt until after he departed the Cubs. I’ll wear a Pujols jersey shirt, maybe not when I go to games but I’ll definitely wear it.

I would have taken a 5 year deal for $130 million but again, that’s my perspective of things when you factor in the production decline as a player ages. I don’t view it as a low-ball of an offer as some reports suggest.

In the Cardinals’ defense, just take a look at the last few seasons that both Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn had. In Ripken’s case, he retired in 2001 at the age of 40. During the 1999 and 2000 seasons, he averaged 84 games played. He came back to 128 during his final year in baseball. That said, Ripken’s power was never the same after the 1996 season, when he turned 35.

Gwynn turned 37 in 1997, when he played 149 games. Until retiring following the 2001 season at the age of 41, his career began to decline in production. In 2000, when he played in 36 games, Gwynn’s salary was a reported $6.3 million!

Take a look at Jeff Bagwell’s stats as he aged, for instance. Sure he’s not the same as an Albert Pujols but Bagwell was only 37 when an arthritic condition in his shoulder started to hurt and he was forced to retire.

There’s no doubting that Pujols is a Hall of Famer. He gets in alone on the first 11 seasons of his career. Across the board, he was down this season in every category except for grounding into double plays.

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