"The Cardinals and Albert Pujols confuse me.

If the Cardinals are offering Pujols a 10-year contract worth more than $200 million, it's a big risk. A foolish risk, even. Even if the St. Louis proposal is nine years, with an option to kick it to 10 years, the Cardinals are suspending caution.

Didn't Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak say the team would base its offer on forward projections instead of paying for past performance? Something changed.

Unless Pujols can reverse the aging process and sustain his production through his late 30s and early 40s, this large investment could turn rotten and grow into a heavy burden.

The only thing more puzzling than the Cardinals' largesse in length of contract is Pujols' refusal, so far, to accept it. At this point I don't know who has gone more loony-tunes in this craziness: the Cardinals for offering the contract or the superstar that won't agree to it."