As the Winter Meetings begin, I thought that it would be fun to involve VEBers in the Albert Pujols free agency sweepstakes. Bernie Miklasz of the P-D put in his vote yesterday, suggesting that the Cardinals and AP accept a 5 year/$140 contract for $28 million per year. So, since there are so many astute Cards fans here, I was wondering what you think AP will eventually get? Initially, I thought that I would ask 2 questions, what do you think he is really worth in this market, years/total $, and then what do you think he will actually get? However, what he actually ends up receiving is in essence what he is worth in this market, so I will keep it simple, and just ask what do you think he will receive in contract years and total value of the contract? I will keep track of the answers, and once AP finally signs, I will post the average of all of your submissions. It will be interesting to see how close the average VEB estimate comes to the actual contract. I will start things off (Bernie's suggestions is not included in this) with my guess, which is 7 years/$182 million. This is shorter than the original 9/$198 supposedly offered by the Cards, but does increase the average annual value from $22m per year to $26 million, which would not surpass A-'Rod's average annual value of $27.5 million, but I think may reflect the current market, assuming that the Yankees and Red Sox are not in the market for AP, and given the economic climate as compared to when A-Rod signed in 2008. Looking forward to your views!