Ballad of the Bandwagoner: Are the Miami Marlins Insane?

Today, the Marlins offered Albert Pujols a ten year deal that includes around $350 million I'm hearing. The Marlins have been the most active team in free agency this year and if they can ever land Pujols, they would spark major interest around Major League Baseball. But I have two questions about this. One, are the Marlins offering too much money and two, would the signing of Pujols make the Marlins World Series contenders?

Now, we all agree that Albert Pujols has consistently been the best player in baseball over the past couple of seasons. He deserves to be the highest payed player but is $350 million dollars worth it. In 2011, Pujols had a "down season" for his standards, but still was the best player on a team that won the World Series. Pujols is 31 years old and has had some injury problems of late. 10 years is ridiculous. Is Pujols really going to be a lights out player until he is 41? No, unless he is on roids, then maybe. But seriously, Pujols is not worth committing ten years too. I don't think the $35 million dollars a year is that insane because the Marlins need to make a splash and Pujols is one of the greatest of all time. I would offer six years for $210 million.

Now, my second question. Would the signing of Pujols make the Marlins a serious contender. They already have Hanley Ramirez and Mike Stanton from last years team as the core offensive guys and they have Josh Johnson returning from injury. When healthy, Johnson is one of the best in the game. Add those three to the additions of Jose Reyes and Heath Bell. If you put Pujols in that grouping of players you have a really, really strong core. They would be prolific offensively, although not very deep as well as pretty stable in the pitching staff with one of the elite closers in baseball. If you look at how Miami would match up to the other teams in the NL East, they are probably already better than the Washington Nationals and New York Mets without Pujols and the addition of Pujols would put them right with the Braves. I don't think it would put them in the same conversation as the Phillies because that would mean the Marlins would have to win around 100 games, and I don't see Pujols having that kind of impact.
In conclusion, with Pujols, I believe the Marlins would be a serious contender to make the playoffs. Once in the playoffs, the Marlins would need to solidify their middle relief, find a legitimate number three after Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez and then hope the Phillies don't play to their full potential. If that happens, I wouldn't be surprised if Pujols is playing in the fall classic for the second year in a row, although in a beautiful and sizzling new ballpark in Miami in 2012.