Tony La Russa would not give Josh Hamilton more than a six-year contract

Former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has had the pleasure of managing Albert Pujols for over a decade, watching the future Hall of Fame slugger put up MVP numbers year in and year out.

Even still, La Russa agrees with St. Louis' decision not to give Pujols a 10-year contract -- and he sure wouldn't give Josh Hamilton more than a five or six-year contract.

La Russa appeared on ESPN's First Take to talk baseball on Wednesday, and said this of Hamilton:

"If I'm an executive, whether it's Josh or whether it was Albert last year, I don't know that I would risk more than five, six years on anybody," said La Russa, who retired after leading St. Louis to last year's World Series title as a wild-card team.

"It's one of the dangers in our game when an organization is pushed beyond something -- five or six (years) is a big commitment -- when you go longer I think it's scary and dangerous."

If La Russa wouldn't even give Albert Pujols a 10-year contract, there's no way anybody should consider going more than even five years on Hamilton.

Heck, I'm not even sure I'd give Hamilton more than four years. I highly doubt that Rangers general manager Jon Daniels will offer more than a four-year contract with a vesting option for a fifth year, based on games played or something to that effect, and consequently, I think we're looking at the last month of Josh Hamilton as a member of the Texas Rangers.