There have been reports that the Marlins had an offer into Albert Pujols, but until now, there wasn't any word on what that offer might be. Could have been a one-year/$14 million offer. Could have been an offer to check out that new burger place. Some baseball folks were skeptical.

But in an article titled "Is Cy Young winner Verlander a fit for MVP?", Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports leaves this little tidbit:

The Miami Marlins aren’t messing around. Their standing offer to Albert Pujols is believed to be for nine years. With a competitive average annual value (say $25 million), that’s $225 million, minimum, and that’s more than what the St. Louis Cardinals are believed to have offered in the spring.

Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post mentions the heartwarming tidbit that the contract would cost the Marlins more than their new stadium, which was heavily subsidized by taxpayers. What sort of nerd-child actually wants to learn music, anyways?

Even though the contract offer is believed to be larger than what the Cardinals offered in the spring, it's still in the same general area, so we should probably hold off on pre-writing those Pujols-to-Marlins articles. Still, that's a lot of clams for a franchise that isn't used to spending. Here's a perspective chart:

Now, 642 Andy Larkins might not appeal to you, but imagine if they were all playing the field at the same time. Chris Volstad's BABIP would be .001. Also, the money that would go to Pujols could be used to invent Andy Larkin-cloning, as well as money to bribe Bud Selig to change the rules of baseball.

The idea of Pujols on the Marlins still hurts the brain, but it might be an idea that we have to get used to.