Nov. 24, 2009

Pujols' goal of catching Jeter might be tough in St. Louis

By Danny Knobler | CBSSports.com Senior Writer
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He's still not 30, and already Albert Pujols is nearly halfway to Barry Bonds.

And nowhere near Derek Jeter.

Albert Pujols won his sole World Series ring in '06, but wants 'as many as Derek Jeter,' who has five to his name. (Getty Images)

And no real chance of approaching Jeter, the modern pace-setter with five World Series rings (along with Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada).

Jeter has never won an MVP (he finished third this year, and second to Justin Morneau in 2006). But it's Jeter -- and not Bonds -- who Pujols has labeled as the gold standard.

"I always make a joke that I have 10 fingers, so I want nine more rings," Pujols said Tuesday, after winning his third MVP. "I want as many as Derek Jeter."

There are those who will read that and figure that Pujols will eventually leave the Cardinals, who can keep him for just two more years under his current contract. Perhaps, although there was no suggestion of that Tuesday -- or even any suggestion that Pujols cares to put public pressure on the team to commit more and more money to try even harder to win.

"This organization, it's always been about winning," he said.

To be sure, the Cardinals have averaged 91 wins in Pujols' nine seasons. They've been in the playoffs six times and in the World Series twice, winning in 2006. In Pujols' time in the big leagues, he has exactly as many rings as Jeter.

Even this year, when the Cardinals made an embarrassing three-game first-round exit against the Dodgers, the Cards won 91 games, had the unanimous MVP and two of the top three finishers in the Cy Young and made one of the biggest and most significant midseason trades by acquiring Matt Holliday.

But in this winter where the Cardinals are far from a sure bet to retain Holliday -- if they don't keep Holliday they seem unlikely to spend that money on a big-name, big-money replacement for him -- it's fair to wonder whether they'll be as good in 2010 and into the future.

It's the same question we've been asking a lot the last couple of weeks, because none of the winners of the big awards came from traditional big-market teams. We wondered if Zack Greinke will ever win with the Royals, whether Tim Lincecum's back-to-back Cy Young Awards will inhibit the Giants from building a team around him, whether the Twins will get around to signing Joe Mauer to a contract extension.

With Pujols, though, the question feels different, and not just because he already won once with the Cardinals.

It's different because of who he is, now firmly established as the top player in the game today. He's the first unanimous MVP pick since Bonds in 2002, and the first player ever to finish in the Top 10 in MVP voting in each of his first nine seasons.

He's a back-to-back MVP now, the first of those since Bonds won four straight from 2001-04. He begins every year now as the favorite to win again, even in a league where, as he said, there are outstanding players like Ryan Howard and Hanley Ramirez, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun.

But it's also different because of who the Cardinals are. There aren't many towns left where baseball is the clear number one sport, but St. Louis certainly qualifies. The Cardinals matter there as much as any baseball team matters anywhere.

They have resources, as much as any team in middle America could. Pujols is a bargain under his current contract -- he made $16 million this year and will make $16 million again in 2010, with a $16 million option for 2011 -- but the Cardinals are a team that could and no doubt plan to pay him what it takes to keep him after that.

As owner Bill DeWitt told SI.com in September, "We want to make sure Albert's a long-term, lifetime Cardinal."

If Pujols wants market value, he has to be in Alex Rodriguez country, no? That means $30 million a year, or nearly a third of what the Cardinals' entire payroll was in 2009.

Rodriguez takes up less than a sixth of the Yankees' payroll. Jeter, whose contract runs out after 2010, takes up only 10 percent.

Obviously, it's not fair to compare any other team to the Yankees, in terms of resources or the payroll that can be supported. Just as obviously, teams can win the World Series with payrolls nowhere close to the one the Yankees carry.

But the question will linger, as long as Pujols is in St. Louis. The question will linger this winter, as long as the Cardinals are negotiating with Holliday.

"The whole city of St. Louis wants Matt back, and I want him back, too," Pujols said. "I don't like to get involved. But he was a great teammate, and hopefully he'll still be a great teammate."

It's fair for Pujols to express confidence in the front office, after a summer where the Cardinals made all the acquisitions they seemed to need, from Holliday to Mark DeRosa and even to John Smoltz and Julio Lugo.

"They made every move that was possible," he said.

But at this point of the year, the questions are always more about the future.

We can look ahead and predict more MVP awards for Pujols. Maybe he gets to seven and ties Bonds. Maybe he gets to eight and passes him.

At this point, how could we doubt him?

But if what really matters are the rings, it's easy to doubt. The Cardinals won before, and they could win again, but will Pujols ever win like Jeter has won?

It just doesn't seem likely.

"I think we have the ballclub, and we're going to have the ballclub next year to accomplish what I want, which is winning," he said. "I'm blessed to be with an organization that wants to do that."

He thanked his teammates for helping him win the MVP again. He'll need a lot more help from them to get to his real goal.

No, Albert Pujols said, he doesn't want to be Barry Bonds.

He wants to be Derek Jeter, and for him, that goal is going to be a lot tougher to achieve.