From the moment Albert Pujols declined to sign an extension with the Cardinals by his self-imposed deadline, thus (theoretically) ensuring his ascendency into free agency after the season, we all knew an Obsessive Watch was coming. So here we are. That said, Pujols feels like he deserves something special, on the order of OMG Brian Roberts. I’ll be thinking about it, though suggestions are welcome. We have plenty of time.
Ok. Enough meta. Inevitably, current Cubs will be asked about Pujols, and the prospect of playing with the superstar next year. For his part, Aramis Ramirez was impressively diplomatic in his response to just such a question.
Chicago Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez knows Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball.
But when asked about speculation that Pujols could be a Cub next year, Ramirez politely declined to discuss it.
“How many major leaguers are there, like 300?” he said. “If you ask all of them, everybody wants Pujols on their team. At the same time, we’ve got Carlos Pena here. You’ve got to respect your teammates. You can’t be talking about that stuff when you already have a first baseman here. But to answer your question, anybody would like Pujols.” Chicago Breaking Sports.
Ramirez deftly showed respect for his new teammate Carlos Pena (I imagine that the words would have been a bit warmer had Pena been his teammate for more than a few days) while being frank about Pujols.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that front office types have discussed the matter with Cubs players, and suggested ways to respond to a season’s worth of Pujols questions. If so, we might receive little more than these kind of pre-programmed, polite responses from players; in which case, here’s hoping someone pushes Carlos Zambrano on the subject just a little too hard – otherwise, we might not get anything worth discussing.