Cardinals principal owner Bill DeWitt Jr. said Sunday that the team did its best to re-sign first baseman Albert Pujols. Pujols left St. Louis to sign a 10-year contract with the Angels. "I think [Cardinals fans] realize that you can only do so much for a given player and compete year in and year out," DeWitt said at the team's annual fan festival. "It's not, is he worth X, or X times two? It's how much can I afford to pay one player and put together a team that's going to be competitive? That's the whole jigsaw puzzle that all teams have. Some teams have more capacity. I don't think there's any secret, [the Angels] at their own press conference thanked FOX for their new [television rights package]. That certainly had a hand in it." DeWitt disputed the suggestion that the club did not go all-out to sign Pujols. "I think the good thing about the process in the end was that we did have conversations with Albert and Deidre with [agent Danny] Lozano on the phone," he said. "'Mo' and I both made it clear to him how much we wanted him back. As you know, I've done on occasion, talked about the great history and tradition of this franchise, and how important a part he has been in the success we've had and the continuity of his time here. We did convey that message directly. "You do get to a certain point financially where you get to certain limits, where it can be hard to manage. But having said that, we hoped he would take our offer and come back. And it was a very strong offer, as you all know, but one that we felt we could still compete with over a long time. And that's the bottom line."