By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Eight years ago today, on Monday, March 15, 2010, a rumored trade involving first basemen sluggers Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols took over by storm not only their respective spring training camps, but arguably the entire league.
The rumor was ignited by ESPN's Buster Olney, whose sources at the time relayed that the Philadelphia Phillies' organization internally "kicked around" the idea of a Howard-Pujols blockbuster swap with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Olney writes:
It's not fully clear whether the Phillies actually have approached the Cardinals with the idea, and even if St. Louis were to seriously consider such an offer, executives with the Cardinals would have to swallow very hard before dealing Pujols, a player widely regarded as the best in the sport.
To put into context, the Phillies were coming off of back-to-back World Series appearances: winning in five games over the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, while falling short in six games to the New York Yankees in 2009.
Ruben Amaro Jr. was entering his second full season as the Phillies' general manager. Amaro acquired many players that offseason in an effort to improve the roster, including: right-handers Danys Baez, Jose Contreras and David Herndon, catchers Dane Sardinha and Brian Schneider, third baseman Placido Polanco, shortstop Juan Castro, outfielder Ross Gload, and utility infielders Cody Ransom and Wilson Valdez.
Who could forget Dec. 16, 2009? Almost exactly three months prior to this rumored Howard-Pujols swap, the Phillies exchanged aces in their starting rotation by dealing southpaw Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners, while acquiring arguably the game's top pitcher from the Toronto Blue Jays, RHP Roy Halladay.
If the Phillies were somehow able to acquire both Halladay and then-eight-time All-Star in Pujols during the same offseason, a third straight appearance in the World Series would be deemed all but inevitable for the Phillies.
Not everyone was on board to this proposed trade, however.
A Press of Atlantic City poll asked Phillies fans if they would pull the trigger and deal their franchise player for that of the Cardinals' franchise player in Pujols. Of the 460 total respondents, 60.4 percent rejected such notion.
And for those that would be affected directly by the trade, the Phillies, Cardinals, and Howard and Pujols themselves, the rumor was almost immediately shot down and refuted. Wording and adjectives such as "lie," "stupid" and "abusive" were used by Amaro, Pujols and Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, respectively, to describe Olney's report.
"That's a lie. I don't know who you're talking to, but that's a lie," Amaro Jr. told Olney.
"There's people, stupid, that like to write something when it's not the truth, and that's all I have to say about that," Pujols told reporters a day later. "If I'm getting traded, they need to come to me. That's not my job to go to them. I've been saying all along I want to be here, but whatever, it's not up to me. I just think somebody tried to be funny, but it's so stupid when somebody takes something like that serious."
"To come up with that one is abusive. To the extent that anybody takes it seriously, it could distract the Phillies, it could distract here. I am pretty sure neither is happening," La Russa said. "Our organization plans on making Albert a player to start and finish his career here, and Albert has said he wants to stay here, so why would anybody want to start speculating?"
For Howard, he said it was not the first time his name was brought up in recent trade talks, so he was used to handling such a distraction as he was preparing for his seventh big league season in Phillies spring training camp.
"I really don't have anything to say about it," Howard said. "Truthfully, I can go back to all the stuff that happened when I was in Double-A, all the talk about trade rumors. I don't know anything about anything. I'm not really focused on it. If that were the case, I don't know if it is or not, it is what it is. You just keep going out there and doing your thing. If you get a call saying you're traded, then you're traded. Until that happens, I'm still a Phillie. I'm still here. Let's ride it out."
If this trade were to occur, would have it been ideal for both the Phillies and Cardinals? Below, Howard and Pujols' stats and accomplishments leading up to and after this March 15, 2010 rumor are compared:
Before Rumor
- Pujols Total Accomplishments, 2001-2009: National League MVP (3X), National League Rookie of the Year (2001), All-Star (8X), 2006 World Series champion, Gold Glove (2006), Silver Slugger (5X), National League Batting Title (2003), National League Championship Series MVP (2004), The Sporting News Major League Player of the Year (3X)
- Top-20 MVP Finishes: 9
- Howard Total Accomplishments, 2004-2009: National League MVP (2006), National League Rookie of the Year (2005), All-Star (2X), 2008 World Series champion, Silver Slugger (2006), National League Championship Series MVP (2009), The Sporting News Major League Player of the Year (2006)
- Top-20 MVP Finishes: 4
Both players were about the same age at the time of the rumor, for Pujols, 30 years and 58 days, and for Howard, 30 years and 116 days.
Pujols had the benefit of debuting three seasons prior to Howard, as he did not have a player in the likes of future Hall of Famer Jim Thome blocking his pathway to the major leagues. And yet, Howard was not too far behind in the power numbers categories. Pujols had 144 more home runs than Howard at this point, playing in 667 more games. Howard was homering at a pace of .303 per game, while Pujols was produced .261 home runs per game. The Phillies' "Big Piece" was expected to catch and surpass Pujols' already-impressive production in the imminent future.
By 2009, Pujols had already accomplished a slew of awards, including the Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times, and the Silver Slugger five times. Howard's one and only career MVP and Silver Slugger came in 2006.
After Rumor
- Pujols Total Accomplishments, 2010-2017: All-Star (2X), World Series champion (2011), Gold Glove (2010), Silver Slugger (2010)
- Top-20 MVP Finishes: 4
- Howard Total Accomplishments, 2010-2017: All-Star (2010)
- Top-20 MVP Finishes: 2
The Phillies assured Howard would stay in red pinstripes through the 2016 season on April 27, 2010, by signing a five-year, $125 million contract extension with a $23 million club option and $10 buyout for 2017.
The contract seemed to bode well for both parties in 2010 and 2011. Howard produced his fifth and sixth-straight 30-plus home run, 100-plus RBI seasons, and slugged four doubles in the 2010 National League Championship Series and a home run and six runs-batted-in during the following year's National League Division Series.
The Cardinals are surely thankful, in retrospect, that they did not entertain and follow through with swapping Pujols for Howard. Before their own eyes, on the final play of the 2011 Division Series, the Cardinals witnessed Howard tearing his Achilles tendon while desperately trying to reach first base and keep the Phillies' playoff hopes alive.
The injury was essentially a career-ender for Howard. He would return from the injury to only play 71 games in 2012 and 80 games in 2013. He had just 25 home runs in 609 combined plate appearances between the two seasons, and failed to produce MVP-caliber numbers as in seasons past, prior to the injury.
Howard did slug 23 home runs and 95 RBI in 2014, but he slashed only .223/.310/.380 with a Major League-worst 190 strikeouts.
After defeating the Phillies in the NLDS, the Cardinals would go on to best the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 in the NLCS, and the Texas Rangers 4-3 in the World Series to capture their 11th championship in franchise history.
In Olney's reasoning for a Howard-Pujols trade, he writes that with Pujols' contract needing, it is believed he would ask for a record-setting salary figure to "rival" Alex Rodriguez's contract with the New York Yankees:
The logic for a Howard for Pujols swap, as discussed within the Phillies' organization, could fall along these lines: Pujols, 30 years old, is eligible for free agency after the 2011 season, and early conversations about a contract extension have not led to any long-term deal. The expectation within baseball is that Pujols may ask for a deal that would rival, in annual value, the record-setting 10-year, $275 million deal that Alex Rodriguez negotiated with the Yankees in fall 2007.
Pujols would ultimately leave the Cardinals after 11 seasons following the 2011 World Series championship. Both sides discussed a contract extension in spring training earlier that year, but failed to meet the deadline and reach an agreement. Pujols rejected the Cardinals' 10-year, $210 million deal ($30 million deferred) and instead signed a 10-year, $254 million pact with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim that included a no-trade clause.
Pujols did not quite match Rodriguez's $275 million contract signed with the Yankees just three offseasons prior, although he came close. Regardless it was still the the second-highest contract in baseball history, and only the third top $200 million, notes CBS News.
Today
- Pujols Total Career Accomplishments, entering 2018 season: National League MVP (3X), National League Rookie of the Year (2001), All-Star (10X), World Series champion (2X), Gold Glove (2X), Silver Slugger (6X), National League Batting Title (2003), National League Championship Series MVP (2004), The Sporting News Major League Player of the Year (3X)
- Top-20 MVP Finishes: 13
- Howard Total Career Accomplishments, entering 2018 season: National League MVP (2006), National League Rookie of the Year (2005), All-Star (3X), 2008 World Series champion, Silver Slugger (2006), National League Championship Series MVP (2009), The Sporting News Major League Player of the Year (2006)
- Top-20 MVP Finishes: 6
Pujols is still playing today as the designated hitter for the Angels, a team that has almost always been considered a contender since the outbreak season of perennial All-Star outfielder Mike Trout in 2012.
Howard, meanwhile, has not played in a big league game since Oct. 2, 2016, appearing in just 27 combined games last season with the Triple-A affiliates of the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves. The Phillies declined Howard's $23 million option after the 2016 season and instead paid the slugger a $10 million buyout, ceasing a 13-season bond. While Howard has not called his career quits yet, he is now focusing on life beyond baseball through partnering with SeventySix Capital, a sports technology firm.
Perhaps the Phillies really did have internal discussions about submitting a Howard-for-Pujols trade proposal. Clearly both sides would refute the notion of the trade publicly, as they did at the time, but perhaps St. Louis would have considered getting at least something in return for Pujols, who would ultimately jump ship two years later to join the Angels.
The La Russa-led Cardinals were a team always in contention and on the brink of a World Series run, however. They ultimately did just that in 2004, 2006 and 2011. Keeping Pujols and his clutch slugging abilities was a no-brainer.
The Phillies would likely have to offer a lot more on top of Howard to get the deal done, too. Pujols was simply the better, more-experienced and accomplished player than Howard. A top five list of top 2010 Phillies prospects that could have been dealt: Domonic Brown, Trevor May, recently-acquired Phillipe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez in the Lee trade, and Anthony Gose. May, Ramirez and Gose still remain under contract today heading into the 2018 season. The Phillies would later trade May to acquire Vance Worley, release Ramirez, and deal Gose to acquire three-time All-Star RHP Roy Oswalt.
Pujols is preparing for his 18th big league season this spring. He is just one of nine players in MLB history to hit 600 home runs with 614. Pujols needs just 17 to pass Ken Griffey Jr. for sixth on the all-time list.
While trading Howard, a St. Louis native, seemed like the perfect calling sign for Amaro and the Phillies to act upon and propose the trade, there simply was no separating one franchise player to replace another entering the 2010 season.
