Albert Pujols is considered the best player in baseball, and the Cardinals’ first baseman wants to be paid like it.
Though exact details of Pujols’ contract negotiations aren’t known, ESPN.com reports that the “scuttlebutt from other clubs” indicates he’s asked for a 10-year contract worth $300 million.
Such a deal would be the biggest in the history of the sport. Alex Rodriguez earns $27.5 million per season until 2017, beating his own average of $25.2 million per season from 2001-10.
Pujols, 31, would be younger at the end of a 10-year deal than Rodriguez will be at the end of his (A-Rod will be 42 in 2017). At 31 years old, though, A-Rod had 350 more hits, 110 more homers and 273 more RBIs (but to be fair, Rodriguez also played in 346 more games).
Pujols is heading into the final year of the contract he signed in 2004, a seven-year deal with an option for 2011 that paid him $14.5 per season. Pujols has quite clearly performed better than that, but is he really worth $300 million? We might find out within the next month.
