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Below are two excerpts of that wide-ranging interview, which can be found in its entirety at the STLToday.com website.
On having financial flexibility at the non-waiver deadline (July 31):
Q: So how would you describe your financial flexibility to make a deal relative to the personnel you have to deal?
DeWitt: We have financial flexibility. We're positioned to take on payroll if it was something that would improve the club. In terms of creating a deal, we do have some prospects we would make available. My sense is that we would tend to shy from a "rental" deal that requires us to give up a ton of talent. Dollars is one thing; talent is another. Talent is harder to get. Everybody wants young talent that is either close or is already big-league ready. Those kind of players are hard to get and hard to give up.
DeWitt: We have financial flexibility. We're positioned to take on payroll if it was something that would improve the club. In terms of creating a deal, we do have some prospects we would make available. My sense is that we would tend to shy from a "rental" deal that requires us to give up a ton of talent. Dollars is one thing; talent is another. Talent is harder to get. Everybody wants young talent that is either close or is already big-league ready. Those kind of players are hard to get and hard to give up.
Q: As the trade deadline approaches, you likely are reaching a point of no return regarding your ability to trade Pujols, if you desired. He wouldn't clear waivers after July 31, and he achieves enough major-league service time to veto any deal after this season. How do you see that in addition to the urgency for negotiating an extension during the upcoming offseason?
DeWitt: That's one of the easiest decisions we've ever had to make. Would we ever contemplate trading Albert: absolutely not. It's not even a consideration. The consideration is that he's got one more year left on his contract beyond the current season. There were some brief conversations during spring training, and it was eventually agreed upon that it wasn't appropriate to carry talks into this season.
I think the word that applies to the upcoming offseason is "optimal." That's the best time for us to negotiate something to keep Albert in town for a long time. Those negotiations aren't easy for a player of Albert's stature. It remains to be seen what we can do. But we'll make every effort to see where it goes. I don't have a crystal ball to say if it can get done in 24 hours or if we would go the entire winter without getting something done. It's tough. The market can change in either direction.
DeWitt: That's one of the easiest decisions we've ever had to make. Would we ever contemplate trading Albert: absolutely not. It's not even a consideration. The consideration is that he's got one more year left on his contract beyond the current season. There were some brief conversations during spring training, and it was eventually agreed upon that it wasn't appropriate to carry talks into this season.
I think the word that applies to the upcoming offseason is "optimal." That's the best time for us to negotiate something to keep Albert in town for a long time. Those negotiations aren't easy for a player of Albert's stature. It remains to be seen what we can do. But we'll make every effort to see where it goes. I don't have a crystal ball to say if it can get done in 24 hours or if we would go the entire winter without getting something done. It's tough. The market can change in either direction.
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