Cardinals ante up offer to Holliday (by offering more than what Pujols makes)

[missionhockey21]

I'd love to have Holliday. I am sure Cardinals fans would too. Would I want to pay him more than Albert Pujols, therefore setting a standard that Prince Albert would likely demand $20 million per when his contract is up? Probably not. Would I want to pay him 16 million when he is 36, 37, etc? Definitely not.

And yes, I realize that Pujols has said he would give a hometown discount. But pride is at stake too and this isn't exactly a deal for a year or two. For Pujols and Holliday to play side by side for years, and Pujols make an inferior wage, as perhaps the greatest player of all time... that seems odd. In other words, if this goes down, the Cardinals should be prepared to loosen up the purse strings even more in the future.

By Alden Gonzalez / MLB.com

12/15/09 8:41 AM EST

The Cardinals want Matt Holliday back as their left fielder, and according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, they're willing to commit about $16 million a season for the next eight years to make sure it happens.

That's what the newspaper reported on Monday, saying general manager John Mozeliak "tweaked" his previous standing offer to the Type A free agent, from an unknown figure that was tendered Wednesday to easily the most lucrative deal ever offered by the Cardinals.

Mozeliak wouldn't go into specifics, but he did confirm to The Post-Dispatch that there has been renewed contact with Holliday's agent, Scott Boras.

...

For now, St. Louis' current offer to Holliday trumps the seven-year, $100 million extension Albert Pujols got in 2004, which was valued at a little more than $14 million a season.

Cardinals up their offer for Holliday | MLB.com: News

[missionhockey21]

And I know Pujols really isn't about the cash, like most players are, I just think even the best of men have an ego. Pujols willing to take less to keep Holliday might be good for that first half of the contract, but the second half? Uh...

[realmofotalk]

And yes, I realize that Pujols has said he would give a hometown discount. But pride is at stake too and this isn't exactly a deal for a year or two. For Pujols and Holliday to play side by side for years, and Pujols make an inferior wage, as perhaps the greatest player of all time... that seems odd.

Yes, it did seem odd that Pujols had been making an inferior wage relative to his talent for all these years...until we learn his agent was nearly broke and desperate at the time Pujols signed his extension.

Dan Lozano: Albert Pujols's Superagent, "King Of Sleaze Mountain"

Albert Pujols was the best thing that ever happened to Dan Lozano, who by 2004 was nearly broke, colleagues say. A source familiar with the negotiations says the Cardinals knew of Lozano's money issues (as did many GMs around baseball), and they knew he was desperate to get a contract extension signed as soon as possible.

"How can you handle your client's finances when you can't handle your own?" asks a rival agent.

The result: eight years at $14.5 million a year. One executive called it "the best owner's contract in baseball," according to a baseball source.

If it wasn't full market value, but it was money right when Lozano needed it.