I’m letting go of Albert Pujols. He can have his fun, sun and money in southern California. It takes nine guys on a field to win a baseball game. Although Pujols is a game-changer, his 11 seasons in St. Louis were treasured.

One of the reasons the Cardinals won the 2011 World Series was a trade made in late July just before the trading deadline. Rafael Furcal came over from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a trade that also got a handful of relief pitchers to bolster the ailing pitching staff.

Now Furcal has a two-year, $14 million contract in hand. ESPN reports he just underwent an appendectomy but will ready in time for spring training. Furcal’s signing is bittersweet for the club as there are good and bad points to the veteran shortstop.

First is that he’s 34 years old. You have to have an experienced player at shortstop. He’s probably past his prime in the batting department, but 12 years on the middle infield is what the Cards need to have on the defensive end. That being said, Furcal had a slew of errors the end of September that very nearly cost the Cardinals a shot at the postseason. He only bat .195 in the playoffs.

Furcal isn’t the best hitting shortstop in baseball. He is a career .282 hitter who hit .255 with the Cardinals in 2011. With great bats around him such as David Freese, Matt Holliday, Lance Berkman and (eventually) Allen Craig, the Cardinals clearly got him for his defense.

Plus the Cardinals were able to afford him. That’s the good thing that came out of the Pujols situation. St. Louis has so much more wiggle room to get players they need to fill gaps. Heaven for fend if St. Louis paid megabucks for Pujols and then he goes down with an injury, the team would be toast because other staff were gutted to bring keep him in St. Louis.

Furcal will be a welcome addition to St. Louis. He needs to focus and forget about the errors and his horrible postseason batting. Now that he has new life for the next two years in Major League Baseball, Furcal and relax and simply play baseball. He needs to be a defensive shortstop and let other batters around him take over and drive in runs.

William Browning was born in St. Louis and is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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Jeffrey Loria quickly marched down the hallway with his team president and hustled into a meeting room with a labor lawyer from Major League Baseball.

Having already made the biggest splash at the winter meetings, the Miami Marlins owner was trying to reel in Albert Pujols and perhaps other big-name free agents with the newfound riches from their new ballpark.

“He’s not the only guy,” Loria said about 20 minutes later.

Baseball’s new Big Fish were the talk of the winter meetings Tuesday, with teams wondering how close the Marlins were to an agreement with Pujols on a deal that could be worth $200 million or more over 10 years for the three-time NL MVP.

St. Louis said it submitted a new offer Tuesday to keep Pujols with the Cardinals, a team he’s already led to two World Series titles in the last six seasons. No specifics were available.

Traditional big spenders such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox were reduced to spectators.

“They have a new stadium. They’re excited about it, and it’s good for baseball,” former Marlins and current Yankees manager Joe Girardi, an East Peoria native, said. “Our roster is pretty set. We have a lot of guys that are on long-term deals. That’s why maybe there’s not a lot happening for us.”

Having already reached deals with All-Star closer Heath Bell ($27 million for three years) and All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes ($106 million for six), the Marlins’ interest in Pujols is real. What’s unclear is whether the first baseman is prepared to go to Miami or whether his talks with the Marlins are an attempt to push the Cardinals higher.

“I know the ownership group is putting their best foot forward and trying to do everything that they can to make this possible,” new Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said, “but I also know it’s a complicated decision on both sides. There’s a lot going on, a lot that I’m not even involved in, but I think it’s clear to say that St. Louis Cardinals would love to have Albert, and we’ll see how it all plays out.”

By Sports Direct

POSTED: 11:06 am MST December 5, 2011UPDATED: 11:08 am MST December 5, 2011

Read More: Albert Pujols (1B – STL), St. Louis Cardinals, Florida Marlins

According Jon Heyman, the Miami Herald suggested this morning that the Miami Marlins believe Albert Pujols may have lied about his age:

@SI_JonHeyman: Dan lebatard writes in miami herald, marlins believe pujols is older than 31. me: wonder if they asked him that question (doubt it)

A free agent this offseason, Pujols has long been one of the league’s most durable and effective first baseman. He has played over 140 games in every season starting in 2001, collecting an impressive 445 home runs to go with a .328/.420/.617 slash.

Albert Pujols has played each of his 11 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, but several teams, including the Cards and Marlins, have been courting Pujols. According to the league records, Pujols was 21 when he entered the league in 2001, making him 32 at the beginning of next year.

Reports of the Marlins’ suspicion have yet to be confirmed.

Stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis for more information, and for in-depth analysis on the St. Louis Cardinals be sure to visit Viva El Birdos. Visit Baseball Nation for more news and notes around the league.

If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Luckily the adage refers to the St. Louis Cardinals. After winning the 2011 World Series, many players and coaches will be back to try to repeat the performance. Even though Tony LaRussa retired just days after the championship, the Cardinals hired former catcher Mike Matheny to succeed him.

Less than a week after hiring Matheny, it was announced all but two coaches will remain with the team. That means Dave Duncan, a longtime friend and right-hand man of LaRussa, will be the pitching coach. Mark McGwire is still the hitting coach and Jose Oquendo will still be in the coach’s box at third base.

The only two coaches who will move on to other duties within the organization are first base coach Dave McKay and bench coach Joe Pettini. Chris Maloney, who was considered for the manager’s job, will be at first base after spending five years as the manager of AAA Memphis.

Matheny and general manager John Mozeliak are both wise to keep as many coaches on from last year as possible. With a new skipper in the dugout there needs to be as much familiarity on the team as possible. Matheny already knows many of the players from when he was with the Cardinals from 2000 to 2004. Having the coaches stay on the team can only help.

The one thing that may seem a little weird is that Matheny will be younger than most of the coaches under his watchful eye. Duncan is 66 years old. Oquendo is 48. Matheny will already be one of the youngest managers in MLB next season at age 41 by the time Opening Day rolls around.

Now the only missing piece to next year’s puzzle is going to be whether or not the Cardinals can sign free agent Albert Pujols(notes) back to the team. The Miami Marlins have already made an offer to the slugging first baseman. Hopefully the coaches that remain in St. Louis can help convince Pujols to stay. Fans of the Cardinals will find out within a month whether he stays or goes.

St. Louis has done everything else right so far this offseason. They need to get the Pujols deal done next.

William Browning was born in St. Louis and is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. LOUIS — With hundreds of fans cheering and many urging him to stay, St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols watched the unveiling of a 10-foot statue of himself Wednesday and then said he wasn’t yet sure where he would wind up next season.

Pujols did not mention free agency during his speech as he stood near the 10-foot, 1,100-pound bronze likeness of himself outside his restaurant. He dodged the issue later with reporters.

“Just like my wife says, we’re going to be praying about it and whenever the time comes we’ll make that decision,” Pujols said.

One reporter noted that “you can’t pack the statue with you,” and wondered if the Pujols Family Foundation would remain in St. Louis if Pujols signed elsewhere.

“Hopefully I don’t have to make that decision,” Pujols said. “We’re just going to see where God takes us. I don’t want to get ahead of God’s plan and say ‘Oh, we’re going to be here,’ and then something happens and I look bad. Whether it’s here or wherever, I believe our foundation is going to help the city of St. Louis.”

The 31-year-old Pujols is a free agent for the first time after spending his first 11 major league seasons with the Cardinals. The two sides did not discuss a contract extension during the season, which ended with a World Series championship last week.

Funds for the statue were provided by an anonymous donor two years ago. The sculpture has religious overtones depicting a familiar pose with Pujols raising his arms skyward while crossing home plate. It was made by Harry Weber and is similar to Weber’s work on Cardinals Hall of Famers outside Busch Stadium. One of the Hall of Famers, Lou Brock, attended the ceremony with his wife.

“There’s going to be a lot of people asking, ‘Well, why is he not swinging the bat?”‘ Pujols told the crowd during his speech. “That’s to remind me it’s not about me, but it’s about Jesus Christ who gave his life so we can have eternal life. It’s really easy to lose focus when you have millions of people telling you how great you are.”

There are no statues of Pujols outside Busch Stadium, at least not yet. Only the team’s Hall of Famers are honoured, and there are two Stan Musial statues.

“That statue is unbelievable,” said Pujols’ wife, Deirdre. “For somebody to even want to do something like this, it’s pretty humbling.”

“Unbelievable job,” Albert Pujols said. “Look at that!”

The Cardinals won their second World Series of the Pujols era on Friday. Pujols said the days since have been “probably the best week of my life.”

Pujols said he spoke earlier Wednesday with Tony La Russa, who retired this week after 16 seasons with the Cardinals and 33 years overall. He said La Russa was “kind of down.”

“He wanted to make sure I was OK, and I was like ‘Yeah, I’m all right,”‘ he said. “I was asking, ‘Are you OK?’ What a way to go out.”

Pujols said La Russa has been a father figure for him.

“He’s been a mentor the last 11 years,” Pujols said. “Just because he’s not going to be here to manage, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop that relationship.”