Things Are Not Looking Good...........

USA Today is reporting that the Cardinals did offer Pujols a contract offer recently. Well team Pujols rejected the offer. It is also being reported that he will cease all talks with the Cardinals on Wednesday(16)

Is it possible to get the contract talks done by the 16th?  I say no. This situation doesn't look to good to me.

Here is the USA article:

All-Star first baseman Albert Pujols has rejected a contract proposal from the St. Louis Cardinals, and unless a dramatic change is made, will announce Tuesday he's ceasing contract talks for the duration of the season, a person close to Pujols told USA TODAY.

Pujols, 31, eligible for free agency after the World Series, is seeking a 10-year contract, according to the person who requested anonymity because of the sensitive state of the negotiations.


Pujols, trying to avoid distractions, has no intention of addressing the contract talks when he reports Wednesday to the Cardinals' spring-training camp in Jupiter, Fla. Manager Tony La Russa told reporters Sunday he will also encourage his players to avoid the issue.


"This is a spectacular distraction potentially," La Russa said. "We won't allow it to be."


Even if Pujols continues his silence about his future, it won't squelch the firestorm that has already been created in St. Louis. Newspaper columnists are picking sides. The phrase "#Albertageddon" is gaining popularity on Twitter. And a Web site — albertcountdown.com — is counting down to when he arrives at spring training and terminates negotiations.


"I read that he's looking for $30 million a year, and I just can't see how that's going to happen," said Andy MacPhail, Baltimore Orioles president of baseball operations, during a Q&A at the Baltimore School of Law Sports Symposium.


Pujols, a three-time MVP and perhaps baseball's best player, also could have an effect on Milwaukee first baseman Prince Fielder and the rest of the upcoming free-agent class. Pujols will make $16 million this season in the final year of his eight-year, $111 million contract.


"Alex Rodriguez to Texas was the worst signing in the history of baseball in my view," said MacPhail, referring to the 10-year, $252 million deal signed in December 2000. "There is this assumption that because this guy got (a huge contract) and this guy got (an even bigger contract), Albert Pujols has to get (more than both). Well, what if there are no bidders? What if the music stops and there are no chairs?"

Then again, Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt says, there is no one quite like Pujols. "He's one of the greatest players to play the game," DeWitt said last month. "You can't go out and find an Albert Pujols."

Source: Bob Nightengale