SocraticGadfly: Will 'Sign Pujols' movement work?

April 28, 2011

Will 'Sign Pujols' movement work?

As Yahoo's Jeff Passan reports, a small group of St. Louis Cardinal fans has come up with a creative way to try to keep Albert Pujols in St. Louis.

These fans have created a website where Cards fans can buy a high-quality, facsimile-autographed, pencil-sketch picture of Prince Albert and the downtown skyline. Proceeds benefit the Pujols Family Foundation, which, as Passan notes, helps the impoverished in Pujols' native Dominican Republic and families of children with Down Syndrome.

The idea is that, by demonstrating fan loyalty to Pujols, it will persuade him to show his loyalty back by signing a new contract.

Well, unless Bill DeWitt and John Mozeliak's lowball offer of last offseason was only a "placeholder," it's going to take more than the charity efforts of Ron Heinz and other fans to keep The Machine in St. Louis.

The Cubs, for revenge and savior factor options, still stand as the No. 1 alternative home for Pujols in my mind. The Angels are No. 2, still. Now that Brandon Belt has been sent back down to the minors, the Giants may be in play again. For that matter, the Dodgers may be, if the McCourt(s) vs. MLB fight gets settled soon enough. The BoSox are out, with Adrian Gonzales getting locked up.

I still say the Braves are a good outside possibility. Low payroll now, and Chipper Jones won't play, probably, more than one year past this one, freeing up more money and creating more need. His contract runs out after next year, though there is a low-budget vesting option for 2013.

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