Most reports on Tuesday claimed that Albert Pujols would sign with either the Cardinals or Marlins, with the signing possibly complete by late Tuesday night. That didn’t happen, although Jayson Stark added to the mystery by tweeting:
#Marlins offer to Pujols includes provisions that would link him to team beyond playing career.
Intriguing. But late Tuesday, many tweets indicated that a third “mystery” team had entered the bidding. Who could it be? Ken Rosenthal tweeted that he knew:
Sources: #Angels pursuing Pujols. Ongoing conversations. #MLB
Other “folks” did too, according to Jon Heyman:
folks believe the #angels are indeed the #mystery team. Good organization but would require change of leagues for pujols.
And Danny Knobler added his tweet to the chorus:
Mystery team on Pujols is believed to be Angels, as @Ken_Rosenthal reported
Okay… Angels. Kind of makes sense, even though, as Rob Neyer wrote in this stream Tuesday night, the Angels are already fairly loaded at first base. Arte Moreno has made big moves like this before, when he signed Vladimir Guerrero in 2004.
But wait! Jerry Crasnick tweets it might not be so!
I just talked to two #Angels people who seemed shocked by report that they’re the Albert Pujols “mystery team”
Spoke to one prominent AL GM, whose response to #Angels’ rumored pursuit of Pujols was: “No way.”
Tim Brown adds agreement and yet another “mystery team”:
Angels are definitely not in on Pujols. Cubs have made contact. Beat goes on…
Don’t you just love Twitter? Finally, Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in a non-tweeted report, says the Cardinals have upped their offer to approach $220 million. As always, we await further tweets reports developments.