New Things We Have Learned Since Last Winter About the Albert Pujols Negotiations

Yeah, ok, it’s supposed to be funny.

But really, have we learned anything new? I submit that we have not.

Jayson Stark writes an article for ESPN that is full of conjecture and retelling stories and “heard this’s” that we’ve all seen already.

Buster Olney writes that Albert Pujols won’t accept a trade if we get beyond Pujols’ imposed Spring Training deadline without a new contract – but is any of that fact, or just common sense being portrayed as “sourced?”

Brian Walton wrote a great post yesterday in response to Olney’s piece about why it only makes sense that Pujols wouldn’t accept/approve a trade – what does he have to gain from it?

Dan Moore has the situation pegged – that regardless of news or none, national sportswriters are having a good run with hearsay and churning up old bits of information.

It occurs to me that for once a team and a player are both holding to their guns to keep negotiations out of the public, and being that it’s on one of the biggest stories in baseball in many years, the national scribes are going nuts trying to keep their editors happy.

I’ve maintained that I expect any (real) news of a Pujols deal to be sprung upon us all very unexpectedly, as the Cardinals have done with other big news in recent years (the Matt Holliday trade and re-signing were fairly quiet until imminent as well).

So until then, read with caution. Read between the lines. Keep a level head. We’re all rooting for you.