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Before Ryan Howard ever got his mammoth extension, it was widely assumed that Albert Pujols would command a pretty penny, either from the Cardinals during contract extension negotiations or on the free-agent market. Now that Howard's five-year deal, worth $25 million annually is a sort of benchmark to base Pujols' contract on, it seems only logical that the player that most consider to be the best hitter in a generation will command somewhere north of $30 million a season. You can firmly put Pujols' agent, Dan Lozano, in that camp. He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Pujols is "on an island all by himself."
That's the sort of opinion you'd expect an agent to hold about one of his clients, but when the player in question is Albert Pujols it's awfully hard to argue with Lozano.
If we use Howard's career as a benchmark, it's true that he averages more homers and RBI per 162 games (48 and 141 compared to 42 and 129), but don't let counting stats fool you. Pujols' career on-base percentage outstrips Howard by more than 50 points, .427 to .373, and he outslugs Howard by a similarly wide margin .628 to .582. Pujols has drawn 826 walks and struck out only 585 times in nine-plus seasons, which is nearly the inverse of Howard's 899 Ks and 411 walks in his six-plus years.
It's no big secret that Pujols is a better hitter than Howard and everyone else on planet Earth, but his agent saying he's on an island is a pretty strong indication that that's how he thinks Pujols should be paid.
That has to be a bit worrisome for the St. Louis brass; they'll obviously want to do everything in their power to keep their superstar and judging by these statements, the hometown discount they were probably hoping for might be a lot tougher to obtain.
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