Why does Pujols have to be traded NOW?

At the water cooler, on sports radio, family gatherings, heck even my sports-hating wife has weighed in  about the subject.  If you live in St.louis, right now you probably have a good idea about what your beloved Cardinals should do about the Albert Pujols contract.  The extremist says trade him now and get what you can, and the loyalist says lock him up no matter the cost.  Perhaps there is more space for another argument.  What most people do agree on is that the deal should reward Pujols for time already served but not hinder the club in the future as Pujols' age rises and production declines.  This would lead one to believe that the ideal contract would be between 7 to 8 years at a rate of $27-30 million per year.  One of the local radio stations held a poll last week and asked whether or not fans would blame the Cardinals for not signing Pujols should he demand an outrageous asking price such as $30 million for ten years.  In a landslide, fans voted that "no", they would not blame the orginization.  Okay, I guess I agree with that.  But what about doing both?  The Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are the only two teams projected to have the kind of spending power to pay a player that much without seriously crippling the rest of the team.  The only problem: The Yankees already have a firstbasemen locked-up long term in Mark Texeira and Adrian Gonzalez just arrived via trade to the Sox.  For some reason, people have it in their minds that a sports contract is for life and their is no wiggle room should either party want to get out of it.  This is simply not true.  What I suggest is that the Cardinals answer his demands but realize the door could be open later. The Texas Rangers did something very similar in 2004 when they decided the $250 million Alex Rodriguez contract  was not worth three consecutive losing seasons and an unhappy player. The Cardinals should lock him up but not throw away the key.  Many things will change during the contract.  Maybe the Cardinals will keep raising the payroll to keep the "winning tradition". Maybe the world will end next year. No one can predict the future, but letting Pujols walk away now would be a mistake that would haunt the franchise. They would need to win the World Series during those ten years to validate their decision. Even when his production slips in a few years (it is inevitable), he will still be reaching a MLB milestone every few months.  Classy orginizations like the Red Sox and Yankees will line-up to overpay for the best baseball player in the modern era, perhaps as their new DH.