Home › The Cardinal Nation Forums › Open Forum › Albert Pujols
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June 21, 2020 at 8:08 am #131095bccranParticipant
What will be really interesting is to see which team AP goes into the HOF representing. Or does his Angels personal services contract answer that question?
June 21, 2020 at 9:24 am #131098Good discussion on the greats of the game. Hard to say exactly how the greats of yester-year would fare in today’s game. The one thing I think you can say is great players would be great no matter when they played. Some guys who have crossed eras show that, Musial and Williams for example. Their careers covered some big changes in the game, and they marched on no matter who they faced. Stan got a hit in his last at bat against a guy who threw about as hard as anyone in Jim Maloney.
Anyway, in the way Dizzy Dean used to say it, Albert may not be the greatest player ever, but he’s amongst ‘em. Here is a guy I did not see on cranny’s list, Jimmie Foxx, career slugging .609, career OPS 1.038, career OPS+ 163. When Albert was with us, I used to think “This must be what it was like to watch Jimmie Foxx in his prime”.
June 21, 2020 at 11:39 am #131102bccran asked:
What will be really interesting is to see which team AP goes into the HOF representing. Or does his Angels personal services contract answer that question?
Check back in seven or eight years, when that decision will be required. Things could change in the interim.
But if I had to guess today on Albert’s preference on the three choices, I would put the odds like this:
Highest: Angels
Medium: No logo
Lowest: CardinalsAn impartial observer of his impact on the game would completely reverse the order. So there is a chance that logic will prevail.
June 21, 2020 at 1:48 pm #131117If Pujols goes into the hall as an Angel, that is a travesty. He built a vast majority of his HOF credentials as a Cardinal. None of his career as an Angel makes him HOF worthy.
June 21, 2020 at 2:44 pm #131122Continuing my comp to Jimmie Foxx with Albert, and thinking about HOF cap, there are some similarities. Foxx is shown in a Boston cap, but played 11 years with the Athletics and 7 with the Red Sox. He was better as an Athletic, played in 3 World Series with them, and none with Boston. The A’s hat would seem more appropriate, but he was no slouch with Boston. He had a 170 OPS+ with the Athletics and a 156 with the Red Sox.
Albert played 11 years with the Cardinals and has 8 with the Angels. Ironically he also had a 170 OPS with St. Louis, and played in three World Series, winning 2 (Foxx also was on 2 Series winners with Philadelphia). The big difference is Albert has fallen to a 110 OPS+ in LA.
Rightfully Foxx should be in an A’s hat, and Albert should be in a St. Louis hat. But it is not a big stretch to put Foxx in a Boston hat. Pujols is a big stretch, but will likely have the Angels hat on in his plaque, IMHO.
June 21, 2020 at 5:51 pm #131137I think the list mentioned was STL players of which Foxx was not. I don’t think Hornsby was on it though.
As to the HoF issue, credentials be damned, a lot more of his career money came from the Angels, so that settles it.
September 19, 2020 at 11:41 am #140863September 19, 2020 at 12:20 pm #140870bccranParticipantAsterisks should probably be put next to designated hitter numbers. While other players are running down flies (or chasing down doubles and triples) in the outfield,
maybe running into walls or fences, etc. and infielders are chasing down high fly foul balls or going deep in the hole, the DH is sitting in the dugout “resting up” for his next at bat. Makes a big difference. Especially when the elements are at play – hot and humid 3+ hour games in the sun, drizzly days when they want to get the game in, etc.September 19, 2020 at 1:43 pm #140873Sounds really spiffy until you get into the darned details. How many PAs is ok and when does a player cross the line between ok and not ok? How would that be anything but arbitrary? Going forward with the universal DH, pretty much every MLB player will have some stats at the position.
September 19, 2020 at 2:12 pm #140876It hurt seeing Albert leave at the time, as we had just won our second World Championship with him on the team, and players like him rarely come along. But in hindsight his signing with the Angels probably worked out best for all involved.
So is this article saying that 10-year personal services part of Albert’s original deal has been cancelled? The wording was a bit odd on that, so I cannot tell if that is no longer in play or is still viable.
Regardless, if he wants to be a spring training coach, and club ambassador for either the Cardinals or Angels I am sure each organization would welcome him. If he stays with the Angels, the Cardinals should retire the number 5, but in honor of Johnny Keane. 🙂
September 19, 2020 at 2:12 pm #140877bccranParticipantIt won’t be possible. But comparing guys who played with a heat index of 120 degrees and field Astro Turf temperature in excess of 130 degrees to Albert sitting in the dugout most of the game doesn’t seem quite fair.
September 19, 2020 at 3:33 pm #140881His personal services contract stands, but MLB has banned further use of such contract terms.
“since-abolished-for-others” is the wording.
December 7, 2020 at 3:15 pm #148971Pujols currently has 662 home runs… Over his most recent two full seasons, he hit a total of 42.
Gee, if he comes back in 2022, he and Yadi could do their farewell tour together. Maybe Waino, too!
.@VictorRojas tells #Scoops w/@DannyMacTV he would not be surprised if Albert returned to play another year with the #STLCards if he was close to 700 homeruns.
Podcast: https://t.co/dQgYN7mLjf pic.twitter.com/HDn7GM5m3l
— 101 ESPN St. Louis (@101espn) December 7, 2020
February 23, 2021 at 9:34 am #154761DeeDee Pujols again got out in front of her interference. On Instagram yesterday, she announced this is Albert’s last season. Later, she had to back off, since Albert’s official answer is that he is undecided.
https://theathletic.com/news/albert-pujols-retire-angels-wife/f2vb5G5AwC4g
February 23, 2021 at 4:22 pm #154808Maybe she and Bengie Molina could form their own PR firm.
February 23, 2021 at 5:25 pm #1548091982 willieParticipantAlbert for a time was the best offensive player I have seen during my lifetime for a certain time period. He had slowly started fading even before he left st louis due to injuries and I believe trying to hit homers instead of letting them come to him. But he’s not over Stan who I did not see. Stan was consistent to the end, and seemed to be a hell of a person. Some people posting those stats should really go into hornsby far as his numbers. He was a great hitter, one of the best from a pure standard but he also didn’t get a lot of at bats during his career. He was a player/ manager a lot so you have to give that some consideration when comparing him to some players who got lots of at bats.
February 23, 2021 at 5:30 pm #154811bccranParticipantMusial is still the face of the Cardinals.
Probably always will be. Nicest man you would ever want to meet.February 24, 2021 at 9:32 pm #154848For Albert to play here again, at least in order to get regular ABs, there would have to be the DH in place.
It would be cool to see him hit #700 as a Redbird if things could be worked out.
February 25, 2021 at 5:43 am #15485110 year personal services contract at $1 million per year post retirement…
February 27, 2021 at 1:12 pm #154966Negotiable.
March 3, 2021 at 8:57 pm #155219A nice article/interview by Nightengale with Albert. Worth a read, he has some very nice things to say about St Louis and the fans. I wish it had worked out that he could have stayed in St Louis and remained great. What a bat he had in his prime. Perhaps he will get to return to St Louis with some fanfare some day soon.
March 7, 2021 at 10:03 am #155343Wow, really good Q&A. Albert was being very honest in his answers.
He said he feels good and is mentally ready for a good year. I think he will have a pretty good season – sort of a season like Lou Brock did when we came off a terrible ‘78, and showed some of the youthful Lou in his final season.
Albert may keep going if he has a good year, but if he can hit say close to .300, slam 25 homers, and the Angels compete, then it would be a perfect time to hang ‘em up.
A season like that though and he would likely try to play again though and get to 700 big flies.
March 7, 2021 at 10:29 am #155344bicyclemike said
I think he will have a pretty good season
The last time he had an OPS+ above 100 was 5 years ago in 2016. That would have been his age 39 season probably. His OBP has been over .300 once since that time.
March 7, 2021 at 10:31 am #155345stlcard25, of course he is saying nice things about STL, he is nobody in LA, and more importantly, Didi is Mrs. Nobody. It must be terribly insulting.
March 7, 2021 at 1:02 pm #155360I take it that they have matured a lot since the time right after leaving the Cardinals. Time tends to mellow a person, and wisdom takes control over emotions.
That is how I read it. Albert was honest and open, and made no excuses or comments about being “disrespected” – that sort of thing.
But my take may not be totally true, or true at all.
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