What will it take to get Pujols?

Question

You are the manager of the Cardinals. You have received offers from the Yankees, Red Sox, and Tigers asking for Pujols plus any other player. Each team says all players on their teams are available. You can ask for anybody. What's a fair deal from either of these teams?

Answer 1

Part of the problem with valuing Pujols is that he has become the face of the Cardinals and a fan favorite. Not only has he become the best hitter in baseball at a young age but also he is supposed to be a good non drama guy. So the other team would need to give up much more to compensate. Also as Pujols will be making 15 million next year and is a mid market team, the other team would need to pick up a substantial part of the salaries of the other players coming back. The other team would also need to provide young players who can become the new face of the Cardinals and would be stars as long as Pujols is in the league.

The Red Sox- I don't think they could even put a package together because both Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are older players, and there is concern with the pending release of the steroids list. If Manny were younger and without issues, he could be packaged with Papelbon and Matsuzaka and a significant amount of cash so the Cardinals would only be on the hook for $15 million in salaries. This also assumes Papelbon would be a successful starter. Good pitchers are hard to find and this could rebuild the Cardinals rotation and replace the middle of the order production. The Red Sox have nothing much else in their farm system of value. I don't even think this package is enough for Pujols.

The Yankees- Jeter would become the face of the Cardinals. A Rod would provide the middle of the lineup production. The Yankees would need to contribute a large amount of cash so that the Cardinals would only need to pay about $15 of the $40 payroll that these two take up.

Another possibility for the Yankees would be top Yankees pitching prospect Philip Hughes, young starter Wang, Robinson Cano, prospect Jose Tabata, and then Jeter with a large amount of cash.

I don't think a package that centers around steroid players, prospects, or other players would be of value. Damon, Matsui, Posada, and Mariano Rivera are unfortunately too old to be considered as a centerpiece for a trade.

The Tigers have so many good young arms it might be possible. The problem is that they don't currently have the star power of Pujols so they would need to give up much more to compensate. If it were just a straight up trade according to talent it would not be so lopsided but it isn't. It would probably need to include starters Justin Verlander and Nate Robertson, flamethrower Joel Zumaya, and Fernando Rodney who can also close. This might not even be enough to get it done because of the high risk of injury to pitchers.

Of any scenario, the two most fair offers for Pujols would be from the Florida teams, because they offer the best combination of young and cheap stars and top prospects.

If I were the Cardinals I would consider a trade with Tampa Bay. They have the #1 ranked farm system and I would ask for Carl Crawford, Scott Kazmir, and then prospects Delmon Young, Evan Longoria, and BJ Upton. Although one of the prospects may not be necessary. Or Elijah Dukes and Joel Guzman instead of Young or Upton. This allows top major league proven starters and stars for the future. Both Kazmir and Crawford are included because of Kazmir's injury risk and Crawford isn't quite at that superstar level. It might not take this much to get fair value for Puljols though.

The Marlins would offer Miguel Cabrera who is almost as good a hitter as Pujols and is also younger and much cheaper, and starter Dontrelle Wills.

Another option would be Cabrera and middle infielders NL Rookie of the year Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla, who are also good, young, and cheap. Or a combination with Annibel Sanchez and Jeremey Hermida replacing wither Ramirez or Uggla.

Answer 2

Cardinals won't trade Pujols at all. No matter what the offer is.

Maybe in 6-8 when he's older they might. Depends on how productive he is at that stage of his career. Hopefully he'll still be too productive for them to wanna trade him.

His contract is very manageable (only about $14 million a year) so financially they would never need to unload him.

I think any teams' best chance at aquiring Pujols (aquire, not trade for) would be to hire the world's greatest kidnappers. And then hire the world's greatest plastic surgeons. It wouldn't be any good to kidnap him if everybody can recognize him. And some brainwashers to make him forget he was kidnapped.

Anything short of that and Pujols remains a Cardinal for life.

Answer 3

I don't think the Cardinals will ever trade Pujols. I don't think anything would be worth it. Besides Pujols' great skill, the city and team also love him. Trading him would be complete foolishness. Therefore, the question is moot. As of right now, barring a terrible decision by the management, he'll be a Cardinals until 2010, when he'll be 30, although they might extend his contract more in the next few years. He makes $15 mil next year.

Answer 4

Albert is in a great position,He just Won a WS,has a MVP trophy,Gold Glove,plays in the greatest baseball city in the USA(bar none),Has started his career like no other in the history of the game.The Management of the St. Louis Cardinals will not let this guy wear another uniform other than The Birds on the Bat.

Answer 5

Pujols is untouchable. So I would think a damn good team would have to give up all 5 of their starters and the top 3-4 pitchers in their farm system.

Answer 6

Wow! That's tough! I would pick Jeter, Cano, Mussina, Wang, and Abreu from the Yankees. From the Bosox, I'll take Ortiz, Manny, Beckett, Daisuke M., and Schilling. From the Tigers, I'll take Verlander, Bonderman, Ordonez, Guillen, and probably Rogers or Monroe.

Answer 7

Wow. That would be a really bad trade for whichever team they're trading for. If they said ANY players, then the Cardinals could easily take Jeter, Abreu, Giambi, Rivera, Wang, and Mussina from the Yankees.

Answer 8

Id trade Ortiz for Pujols.

Answer 9

To get Pujols.. all you have to do is drink a six pack, take a sleeping pill and hope to dream of it happening. Cause that's the only way you will ever see him in any jersey other then St Louis's till his contract is up.

Answer 10

some prospects and whos ever playing 1st baseman 4 the yankees to get him hes a great player