"When Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak arrived in Dallas a few days ago for baseball's annual winter meetings, it didn't take long for him to discover that hot stove league activity regarding tree-time MVP slugger Albert Pujols had risen from a rather slow simmer to a rapid boil.

By Tuesday, the pursuit of baseball's most coveted free agent was positively scalding. Within hours, Pujols' agent Dan Lozano was holding two rather significant contract offers in his hand — a 10-year, $200-million deal from the rather serious Miami Marlins, and a similar offer from a "mystery" team. There's also still an undisclosed offer from the Chicago Cubs. So after months of sitting idly by, the Cardinals were finally forced to react to the suddenly aggressive marketplace with their own new counter offer late Tuesday afternoon that everyone in Cardinal Nation ought to hope isn't too little too late.

"I suspect (a response) is going to come quickly," Mozeliak told the Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold on Tuesday afternoon. "That would have to come from that camp. ... In this situation we're participants. I don't think we're dictating anything."

Funny how that worked out, isn't it?"