Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch took a minute to analyze the impact of the Mark Teixeira signing on the contract situation of another hard-hitting first baseman, Albert Pujols.
Pujols signed a seven-year, $100MM deal back in 2003. At this point, as Goold states, "he’s been a bargain." A very, very solid bargain. Pujols, 28, could potentially become a free agent in 2011, two years from now, and has accomplished a few feats that Teixeira, also 28, has not. El Hombre has two MVPs, won a World Series in 2006, and has a higher career batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage than Tex.
Goold describes Pujols’ free-agent value as simply "mind-boggling" and asks whether Albert will become baseball’s first "$30-million year man."