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Not that an announcement was needed, but there was a brief period last night when Albert Pujols’ woman declared this coming season, the last of his illustrious career. She did her best to backwards later, because that’s how these things tend to be.
But it’s the easiest 2 + 2 in baseball. Pujols is 41 years old and this is the last year of this gargantuan 10-year contract he signed with Anaheim / Los Angeles. It’s been five years since Pujols was even a decent hitter, and nine years since he was a star. It’s hard to imagine a team that will give him much of anything in 2022. Maybe a minor league contract and an invitation to spring training, but that’s the best he can hope for. ‘he wishes to continue playing.
It’s hard to remember for many baseball fans that Pujols was the game’s most feared hitter for a decade. It’s the product of modern sport these days, where players are known more for their contract than for what they’ve done on the pitch, especially if they go to the bathroom long before the deal was made. That can’t really be helped, even in a sport like baseball that doesn’t have a salary cap. Pujols’ contract has kept the Angels from doing much over the past few years, like finding a real ace or letting Shohei Ohtani be a full time DH or the huge brewing efforts they had to make when Pujols couldn’t play anymore. field. (which was pretty much on arrival). But it’s not like Pujols is going to walk away from the rest of this contract. He’s still paying $ 30 million this year. And he certainly did not force the Angels to offer him this contract. Work pays what it pays.
It’s pretty hazy to remember the seasons when Pujols would hit 0.330 with 40 home runs and yet crossed out in less than 10% of his AB. It was like he could get down to basics when he wanted to, and he probably could have if he didn’t also have to strike for power, which he did regularly.
What fans remember the most about Pujols’ heyday is that he never seemed fooled, never off balance. He never stretched out on court, was never up front, and his stridel swing always seemed perfectly balanced and weighted between his two legs. It was as if he knew. Probably because he did it. I know from experience – too much of an afternoon watching him take on the Cubs mercilessly – that the ball sounded different from his bat than any other player. It was a thud. Not a crack, but a thud. The sound of land dying on its bat.
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Pujols was also one of the smartest players in the world – he was stealing bases at the right time when the pitchers fell asleep on him and that was pretty much the most boring thing in the world. I almost needed stitches when he was doing it regularly, as planned, against Carlos Marmol to lead to another failed save at Great Red Enemy. He was also more than an acceptable first baseman when he finally landed there after stints at third and left.
He’s a Hall of Fame member in the first round, though it’s hard to think of another Hall of Fame player who has spent most of a decade harming his team. Willie Mays as a Met is still used as a symbol or a metaphor, but he was only there two years and put together a 158 OPS + at 40. It was a tough and long comeback for sure.
The second act of Pujols is the ghost / boogeyman story that all GMs are told when they are kids, and why almost everyone is terrified of giving anyone over 30 a contract.
Watch your budget or The Pujols will cost you your job.
His first act deserves more than that, but that’s the way it is.
As expected, the president of the Mariners Kevin Mather must have fallen on his sword yesterday after saying all the quiet parts out loud at a Rotary club meeting. There was no other way it could end, although the speed was a little surprise.
It’s always funny to hear Mariners president John Stanton say that Mather’s comments “don’t represent our organization’s feelings on the players, staff and fans” when he was, you know. , the president, and that he defined the policy of the organization. If he had gone completely rogue, that would have been a different story. At least when it comes to their prospects for sustaining and not starting the contract, we know that’s what most teams want to do. We know the television deals kept them afloat during the pandemic.
The Mariners are hopeful that Mather’s resignation will be enough for everyone, and that the new guy will have the common sense not to release the team’s secret files. Will there be an institutional change? You can forget about it. This is how baseball is now. You just aren’t supposed to draw attention to it.
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