Albert Pujols is dead to St. Louis Cardinals’ fans this evening.

Today, Pujols surprised everyone by signing a 10-year, $254 million contract with the Los Angeles Anaheim California Angels, spurning the Cardinals’ own 10-year offer.

Pujols, at a stated age of 31, will allegedly be 32 when the first season of the contract begins. By the end, he’ll be 41. Of course, rumors about his age being inaccurate have long surrounded him. If he’s fudged that by a couple years and is actually 33–starting 2012 at 34–he’s going to be one mightily overpaid 43 year-old.

I can’t help but thing that the Angels did the Cardinals a huge favor here. And I mean huge. Pujols has had key stats trending downward over the last few years, and he’s unlikely to change that in the future. Being saddled with that contract–with that expensive of a barely above average player in just a few years–would have been horrible for the Cardinals and wonderful for the Cincinnati Reds.

I was hoping the Cardinals would resign him. I saw how hamstrung the Reds were during the time Ken Griffey Jr was with the team. It’s taken years to overcome. Heck, they’re probably still paying him deferred money. The chance to see the Cardinals shoot themselves in the foot like that would have been thoroughly delicious.

As it is, Reds fans will simply have to take comfort in the fact that one more whiny bird has left the building. It really is a changing of the guard in St. Louis. Unfortunately, now they’ll have money to throw around, while the Reds squander away their time and talent.

I’ve been hard on Cincinnati Reds’ General Manager Walt Jocketty for his lack of doing anything other than sitting on his thumbs during the 2011 season. Perhaps the best example of this was how he did nothing with soon-to-leave catcher Ramon Hernandez before the trade deadline.

Everyone knew Devin Mesoraco was the catcher of the future, and Ryan Hanigan would be a more-than-capable backup. This left Hernandez, a free agent at the end of the year, the odd man out. So of course, Jocketty twiddled his thumbs and let the deadline pass, apparently happy with the Reds’ mediocre march to 3rd place.

Well, Hernandez, as expected, is no longer a Red. He signed a two-year deal with the Colorado Rockies today. I wish him well. He did better than I ever expected him to when the Reds traded Ryan Freel for him 3 years ago.

Jocketty’s failure wasn’t a complete loss. Thanks to the new collective bargaining agreement, the loss of Hernandez will get the Reds a supplemental first round draft pick in the 2012 draft. And once that player’s ready for the majors in 3-4 years, I’m sure he’ll come in very handy for the stretch run of 2011.

At the end of last week, the Chicago Cubs hired their new manager.

Instead of the obvious choice of fan-favorite Ryne Sandberg, or the probably correct choice of Pete Mackanin, the Cubs instead selected the Milwaukee Brewers’ hitting coach Dale Sveum. (I’ve heard it’s pronounced Swame, but I’m pretty sure Dale’s wrong about that. So I’ll keep pronouncing the “V.”)

Sveum was one of the more desired candidates, as the Boston Red Sox were also interested in him. Perhaps damaging the Red Sox–the former team of Cubs General Manager Theo Epstein–took precedence over hiring the better candidate? Sure, I’m biased, but I liked what I saw from Pete Mackanin when he was with the Cincinnati Reds. And I look forward to him getting a real chance to manager. Of course, it’s probably best for him that he wasn’t picked by the Cubs. No one can win with them.

The St. Louis Cardinals won the race among baseball teams to pick their new field manager, deciding on former catcher Mike Matheny to replace Tony La Russa. They beat the Chicago Cubs to the punch, although they had quite a head-start since La Russa told the GM back before the season was up.

It’s a departure for the Cardinals. General Manager John Mozeliak is going against what has proved successful for St. Louis for the last three decades.

Each of the team’s past three full-time managers, La Russa, Joe Torre and Whitey Herzog, had previously made the playoffs as a manager before being hired. The last man who didn’t fit that profile was another former Gold Glover in St. Louis, Ken Boyer, who managed from 1978-80 after winning five Gold Gloves as a third baseman with the Cardinals.

Matheny is a former catcher, which is so often a prerequisite for managers these days. And he’s one the Cardinals thought highly of, despite his lack of any offensive ability. Matheny was a good defensive catcher, though, and spent some time mentoring and teaching Yadier Molina as he broke into the majors for the Cardinals.

Since retiring, Matheny has served as a catching instructor and a special assistant for St. Louis. This considerable promotion will be announced in a press conference on Monday.

At the beginning of October, the Cincinnati Reds announced they would be using this off-season to convert Aroldis Chapman to a starter.

Originally, the plan was to have Chapman build up arm-strength in Goodyear, AZ before sending him to Puerto Rico for winter baseball. After two appearances in the Arizona Fall League, that plan has changed.

“We’ve decided against sending him to Puerto Rico,” GM Walt Jocketty said. “He’s on a strength-and-conditioning program in Arizona. He’ll go to Florida after that and continue to work out.”

Of course, the immediate concern is that Chapman is injured, but Jocketty denied that. Instead, the Reds simply decided the risk of winter ball was too high for the reward. “Unlike the [Arizona Fall League], Winter Ball is not a controlled situation and it is very competitive.”

Given Chapman’s tender status, I can’t argue with being more cautious. It’s only November. There should be plenty of time to get in shape to start by next season.