Yesterday was a very sad day for the Cardinals organization.  Why, you ask?  Because the Phillies just overpaid Ryan Howard.  While I can see its great news for Phillies fans from two standpoints, first they show they are committed to keeping their core players together, and second they show they are just plain willing to spend money, they have indeed overpaid for Ryan Howard.

He can hit righties no doubt.  He can the ball very very far, too.  But he isn’t as good against lefties, he doesn’t walk and well, no matter how hard he works at it he is not a good defender.  Yeah, I know, he’s trying- but not sure that qualifies him to make the second highest salary in MLB.  Also not sure he is the member of the Phillies that you want to have the most money invested in.  Paul Hagen writes why this is good right now but could be dangerous down the road for Philadelphia.

But, St Louis are the folks that this is dangerous for right now.  While I have no doubt they were already planning on offering Albert Pujols an Alex Rodgriguez type contract to stay with the team, they now have to up that offer.  As an all around player, Howard and Pujols are not even in the same conversation.  Howard doesn’t even win when it comes to the off the field stuff, the leadership stuff.

St. Louis, with the new stadium providing the support, could perhaps meet a $25 million price tag on Pujols.  And while it is everyone’s hope that Pujols can stay with the Redbirds until he retires, that may not be in the best interest of the Cardinals.  To attempt to meet the Howard deal, the team might have to give more years as well as more dollars- and that is where a deal could be their undoing.  Sure Albert is phenomenal shape- but at some point he will break down.  And while in the short term, the Cardinals can afford to spend money on a Matt Holliday to provide protection for Pujols, would they still be able to do that in the waning years of a 10 year+ deal?  And if not, what kind of player would Pujols be then.

This one will be a tough one for the Cardinals.  There will be discussions that are fueled by passion, and doused with practicality.  The Cardinals, it would seem, should be getting a player actually worth the $25 million price tag at least through the next 5 years, and perhaps longer, if players like Ryan Howard are getting that much through that same period of time.  But the practical part of any smaller market- and those getting paid to make the right long-term decisions- will want to feel confident that the money going to Pujols won’t hamstring them when it comes to players surrounding him.

I know the new stadium is a cash cow.  The question is whether it has enough cost certainty built in to let those front office types confidently proceed.  I think the answer is yes. The other bit of good news is that the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox both seem to have pretty good first basemen playing for them for the near future- so no one will be running up the price tag bidding against them unless a team like the Angels or perhaps the Mets gets in the mix.  Still, Cardinals fans might want to spend this year appreciating Albert Pujols.  It may be his last in the uniform.