Pujols' Christmas List: A Halo and $254 Million

Albert Pujols to the...Angels?

Wait, that can't be right, let's try it again.

Albert Pujols to the...Angels?

Hold on, hold on, third time's the charm.

Albert Pujols to the...Angels.

Seriously?

And so it is, during this angelic time of year, that Albert Pujols adorns a halo over his head. Not like he's a saint or anything, mind you. Greedy superstars who chase the green stuff and neglect loyalty entirely should end up on Santa's naughty list. Except this year Arte Moreno donned the red hat and the white beard.

Pujols now has 254 million reasons to be joyful this Christmas season, while bewilderment continues to set in everywhere else. How does an owner who never bites on big free agent contracts in the winter all of a sudden pull a rabbit out of his hat and give it #5? You can't explain it without using words like bizarre, random, strange, puzzling. This kind of spending has never been the Angels' MO...maybe they were in an especially generous mood this holiday season. Come on. No player is worth $254 million, are you kidding me? And that's not even the biggest contract Pujols saw! The crazy Marlins were offering him $275 million! A team changes their name and in a flash they're throwing New York Yankee-sized contracts out on the table. Baffling.

No one can argue Pujols' accomplishments to this point in his career, but this deal is ludicrous. Not to mention he's leaving the best baseball city with the best fans in the country for more cash. The sad truth in sports these days is that, for players of Pujols' caliber, home is where the money is. Whatever happened to loyalty and traditionalism? The Cardinals were offering Pujols $198 million over nine years. But that was an old toy. Like any kid opening presents on Christmas morning, Pujols wanted the best and newest, and he got it, from perhaps the most unlikely of sources.

And so it is, that with the signing of Pujols and former Texas Rangers ace C.J. Wilson, that the Angels appear to be on the rise to prominence once again. It might be the greatest exhibition of Santa Claus going broke that anyone has ever seen.

I don't think Pujols really cares much. After all, he's wearing the halo.