Albert Pujols

Marlins president David Samson says their offer to Albert Pujols was just over $200 million, not the $275 million that had been reported.

Thus, their offer was in the same ballpark as the Cardinals’, but the Marlins were likely relying on their lack of state income tax to sway Pujols in their direction. The Angels, of course, eliminated that chance when they blew both the Cards’ and Marlins’ offer out of the water with a proposal exceeding $250 million that also included a no-trade clause. Samson also confirmed that the Fish are not considering Prince Fielder.

Albert Pujols will be introduced as a member of the Angels at a press conference Saturday in Anaheim.

Pujols agreed to a 10-year, $254 million contract with the Halos on Thursday morning. That deal also includes a full no-trade clause. He’ll have an opportunity Saturday to explain how the negotiations went down and what factored into his decision to leave St. Louis. Our guess is it had something to do with the nearly $50 million gap between the Cardinals’ offer and Anaheim’s. Albert will also take a pre-signing physical within the next couple of days.

Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports that Albert Pujols will earn $254 million over the life of his 10-year contract with the Angels.

It will be the second-largest contract in MLB history behind Alex Rodriguez’s current 10-year, $275 million deal with the Yankees. It comes in just north of A-Rod’s previous 10-year, $252 million deal which was originally signed with Texas. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Marlins were actually the highest bidders for Pujols, checking in with a 10-year offer worth $275 million. However, he ultimately opted to go to Southern California. The Angels have confirmed the signing of Pujols, which is still pending the completion of a physical.

According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, Albert Pujols’ new 10-year contract with the Angels does not include an opt-out clause.

Alex Rodriguez famously opted out of his 10-year, $252 million contract in October of 2007 before signing a new 10-year, $275 million contract with the Yankees, but that won’t happen with Pujols. The Angels should reap the benefits of having the best hitter in the game for the next few years, but we think they’ll eventually wish they were the ones who had the ability to opt out.

Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports reports that Albert Pujols will sign a 10-year deal with the Angels worth between $250-260 million.

That certainly qualifies as a shocker. Everyone was talking about the Marlins as the biggest threat to sign Pujols away from St. Louis just 24 hours ago, but the Angels came out of nowhere with what will be one of the biggest contracts in MLB history. According to Brown, Pujols made up his mind Thursday morning and the contract includes a full no-trade clause. Stay tuned for more details.