"The best player in baseball is gone, and now the people who run the Cardinals are singing a phony chorus of lament, regret and frustration because they keep telling anyone who'll listen, gosh darn it, they really, really, really, really wanted to keep Albert Pujols in St. Louis.

"I would like our fans to know that we tried our best to make Albert a lifetime Cardinal," team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said.

"I think we did everything we could," said general manager John Mozeliak.

Of course, I can't hear what they're saying because their actions have drowned out their words.

Their actions tell another story entirely. Their actions seem to suggest the Cards allowed a once-in-a-generation, three-time MVP, future Hall of Famer and franchise icon to slip away without much of a valiant or sincere fight.

Their actions seem to suggest that Pujols' departure to the Los Angeles Angels for a stunning, 10-year, $254 million contract was, as best as I can figure, the result of only three possible scenarios:

1. The Cardinals grossly underestimated how high his asking price might soar once Pujols reached free agency.

2. They arrogantly underestimated what sort of human touch would be required to successfully court a prideful man and the best hitter of his generation.

3. The Cardinals simply decided a long time ago that they never had any intention of re-signing Pujols and allowing him to retire as a local treasure, but opted for image purposes to put up a carefully constructed facade of a "negotiation" to mislead Cardinals fans into believing an earnest pursuit of Pujols was going on.

I am leaning hard toward No. 3. This entire episode feels too much like a long, dragged-out bogus courtship. Imagine DeWitt, using his best inside voice and whispering in a windstorm — "Hey Albert … come … back" — then shrugging his shoulders with a sheepish grin and telling us "I guess he didn't hear me.""