Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals were not able to agree on a new contract. The superstar is eligible for free agency at the end of the season, raising the possibility -- OK, fantasy -- that he might sign with Kansas City.
Pujols in Royals blue is not the craziest idea. The slugger attended Fort Osage High School and met his wife, Dee, here. The Royals have the payroll flexibility -- i.e., no old farts signed to bad contracts -- that a play for his services would require.
Of course, it's much more likely that Pujols gets what he wants from the Cardinals or breaks the heart of everyone who has even visited St. Louis and joins the rival Chicago Cubs. There's talk that Pujols wants a deal worth $300 million. Royals owner David Glass says he can't imagine paying Pujols, Thor or anyone else that kind of money.
Also, there's the not insignificant issue that Pujols plays first base, which is also the position that Billy Bulter and dreamy farmhand Eric Hosmer play.
So, yeah, chances are remote. But the notion of Pujols joining the Royals doesn't make the Plog sports desk laugh out loud. Because thanks to The Kansas City Star, we've seen what a completely implausible baseball transaction looks like.
Step back to 2008. It was Trey Hillman's first season in Kansas City. The Royals were running out stiffs like Brett Tomko and Tony Pena Jr. in the course of a season that ended with 87 losses and a fourth-place finish.
That summer, Cleveland traded CC Sabathia, the reining Cy Young winner, to Milwaukee. Shortly after the deal was made, former Star writer Jeffrey Flanagan asked Royals GM Dayton Moore if the Royals had considered making a run at the big lefty.
Moore was kind to Flanagan. He didn't say, "You know, that's maybe the dumbest question I've ever heard. We're in fourth place. Trading a bunch of prospects for a pitcher who is under contract for three months would be a mistake of such magnitude that my name would be linked with incompetence until the day extraterrestrials become our masters and make baseball illegal."
Instead, Moore said, "It just wasn't going to be a fit for us."
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