St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols signs autographs
for fans at the Cardinals' annual Winter Warm-Up event Monday
in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
A lot has happened since the season ended for the St. Louis Cardinals in October. At the Winter Warm-Up on Monday, star slugger Albert Pujols broke his silence for the first time, addressing a wide range of topics to the media.
On his contract
Though there has been plenty of talk in the offseason about how much it would cost the Cards to keep their No. 1 player, Pujols reiterated that the ball is their court.
"Would I want to be here for the rest of my career? Yes," Pujols said during a news conference. "I can speak it. But that's a commitment the Cardinals organization has to make, and myself, coming to an agreement. Whenever they're ready to talk, me and my agent, we're going to be ready to talk."
Pujols also said once again that his desire is to remain in St. Louis and raised the possibility that he may be willing to offer a hometown discount in order to do it.
"When that time comes, if it's taking a discount to make this organization better, I want to have a great organization to be in [free agency], then that's fine," he said. "That's the decision that they decide to make, and that's it. Do I want to become a free agent? No, but if it happens, then I have to deal with it. I want to play baseball, so I have to deal with my free agency and go play either here or somewhere else."
One thing Pujols doesn't want is for contract talk to distract from the season. He made it clear that all discussions and negotiations will cease once the season begins.
"Why [don't I] want to bring that distraction into a season?" Pujols said. "Because my job in the season is to concentrate for six months and hopefully longer than that, get to the postseason for a seventh month. I don't want that distraction."
On Mark McGwire
Pujols revealed what he told Mark McGwire on the morning that his new hitting coach revealed to him that he had used steroids.
"I'm pretty sure the last five years have been tough on him," Pujols said. "Before, he had to hide under a shade but now he is free to come out and not have to face anything else. I told him I'm proud of that. I just gave him some encouraging words. He doesn't have to face us. He has to face somebody higher than us, and that's Jesus Christ. It's not for me to judge. It's not for you (media) guys to judge."
Pujols seemed to tire of all the McGwire talk, however.
“Go talk to Mark; I think he cleared up everything. He closed the doors,” Pujols said to reporters. “If you want to reopen those doors, I know the right guy. Go talk to Mark about it. … There’s 300,000 people that just died in Haiti and you guys just want to concentrate on Mark McGwire. Come on, give me a break.”
He instead seems ready to focus on what McGwire can bring to the team.
“I’m pretty sure I’m going to learn a lot from Mark,” Pujols said. “If he says something I don’t agree with, I don’t use it, I go out there and take my own plan. … But I’m open to hear from my teammates, from my hitting coach, manager, coaches—that’s how you get better in this game.”
On Matt Holliday
It was no secret that one of the big reasons the Cardinals pursued Matt Holliday was because Pujols viewed Holliday as a key to the team remaining competitive, and Pujols was pleased that his wish was granted.
"That's a big commitment," he said. "Matt had a great contract. I'm really excited to do something together, do some damage and help the organization to win. That's our goal."
The star definitely isn't resentful of the fact that Holliday has now surpassed him as the Cards' highest-paid player.
"People are talking now about (my contract) like it was a bad contract," Pujols said. "Back when I signed, the Cardinals did not have to do that and they did. Right now, you can compare it with Manny Ramirez and (Mark) Teixeira and it looks bad. They were free agents. I wasn't. I had only three years in the league. The Cardinals pretty much did me a favor when they didn't have to."
On Jim Edmonds
As for all the buzz surrounding former Cards' star Jim Edmonds's request to return and play for minimum play? Pujols would gladly have the veteran as his teammate again.
"That would be great having him back, but I don't make those decisions," Pujols said. "If he's in good spirits to come back and in good shape, I think we definitely can use his help in our lineup."
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