Albert Pujols was arguably one of the two best hitters to ever play for the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s against baseball etiquette to imply that a current player is better than a Hall of Famer, and since I am not old enough to have watched Stan “The Man” Musial play, I will give the all-time great his due.
Pujols, however, is the arguable number two. But while his former team has had a solid start to the 2012 season, Pujols has moved on to Los Angeles, where he is on a severe homerun drought, having gone zero-for-April in that category.
The Angels, meanwhile, are a little south of heaven and very far south of the Texas Rangers in the standings.
While it’s early, he’s certainly not resembling any of the greatest Angels of all time, most of whom include Tim Salmon and great players signed from other teams. If it were just Pujols’ homeruns that were lacking, nobody would be saying the sky was falling. It would likely just be “a matter of time” before everything would be okay. And given his track record, it probably is just that anyway.
But this is Albert freaking Pujols. And he’s batting .226 with four RBI for the entire month of April. This is arguably the best hitter in the game – a generational kind of superstar who is showing signs of having gone the way of Jim Rice.
I bring up Hall of Famer Jim Rice because he was a monster force in baseball until all of a sudden he wasn’t. There wasn’t a slow decline. With Rice it was a light switch. If this is the case with Albert Pujols now… would he be a Hall of Famer?
My guess is that if the poll were taken today, he would be enshrined. But he’s got 10 years and $254 million worth of criticism coming. If he were to retire today he would forfeit the remaining nine years. There’s no one that proud to walk away from that kind of money.
I’m getting way ahead of myself on that train of thought, but if you compare Rice and Pujols and take into account the eras in which they play, there’s a scary similarity. It’s a tough topic to consider, but because of that contract’s longevity, Pujols may be the first player to ever play himself out of the Hall of Fame.
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I tend to think that his start may be further proof that the NL is just AAAA ball compared to the AL? He’ll come around eventually, but his days of .330 with 40+ HR might be done.
He’s a career .348 hitter with 39 HR in about 143 interleague games. But over 1/3 of those are against Kansas City (.375, 16 HR), which might as well be in the NL. Will be interesting to see where he plateaus in the AL…
I wrote this as a huge fan of Jim Rice, and as a fan of Pujols. I do not want to see him suffer simply because he got paid well like a lot of Americans do.
I expect him to bounce back this season, and he is playing against Minnesota again tonight so it’s tempting fate to say that he goes this series without hitting at least a homer. My guess is he hits two of them, and comes back.
Will he be a .320 and 40 homer guy this year? almost assuredly not, but I’ve seen Pujols have weeks where he hits 6 homers and 15 RBI, and not even get noticed so it’s at the very least still a long shot that he is at the Jim Rice stage of his career.
It does worry me though because I’d like to see Pujols break Bonds’ homerun record.
I do think that we should add a 5th option to that first poll… will he earn his contract… I think it’s only fair even though most of us assume that years 8-10 of that are going to be a golden parachute.
But for his ego and an agents desire for more money, he would have stayed in St. Louis. He should have stayed where he was held in high regard by the community no matter how he might be playing at the time. His time in LA will be unpleasant, as newspaper stories, blogs, and public comments have already borne out.
he was done last year. so glad st louis did not resign him. he has at best 3 yrs left at some value but not 20 mil per yr. he had a horrible world series. take out 1 game and he did nothing.
As an NL fan and Phillies employee, I’ve seen lots of Albert. Based on his numbers through last season, yes, he’s a HOFer. Now, I have to allow that I have not seen one AB by him as an Angel. I can only assume that his bad April is a combination of changing leagues, the contract weighing on his mind, and the opposing pitcher bearing down extra hard on him. I will predict that when he pops his first homer, a flood will follow. But there were whispers about Pujols the past few years, either that he was using enhancers, or that he misrepresented his real age. I also see him flaming out way before his contract is up. The Angels could quite easily have bought a pig in a poke.
Then again, most of the free-agent signings of 2011-12 have been lacking production so far, Reyes is batting .208 in Miami, Fielder is doing just ok in Detroit, Aramis Ramirez hasn;t been all thatr in Milwaukee, and Pujols,,,,,the only big money guy working out so far is Papelbon, 8 for 8 in saves for the Phils. We should revisit this at the all-start break!
I want to see him fail and he’s doing a great job to date. He was on roids in STL and Larussa helped him hide it. Now that Larussa’s gone(could not be happier about that as well) he had to stop taken them or be exposed and boy his stats show it! Never was a fan of his and knew he was taking roids to do what he had done. He can’t speak english, he’s just a thug from DR,a liar,slacker,by no means a leader and now a LOSER. Sorry Angels fans but thanks for taking him off our hands.
Sports fan that I am, I don’t believe any of these players (in any sport) are worth the big bucks they’re getting. I still don’t blame Albert for trying to get top dollar, though. Hope ‘m’s’ comments are just the sour grapes they sound like and Albert has a decent run for the rest of his career.
That’s a lot of bitterness M. Where was all the steroid accusations before he took the big money? I can’t say it would shock me in any real way if he were enhanced, but I won’t make that accusation.
Michael, the age issue is interesting. He wouldn’t be the first or the last. I know there is almost no way he can earn the end of his contract, but having him allows the angels to charge more for tickets, and sell a ton of merchandise now. With a 3 billion plus tv deal looks to me like the Angels did what they have almost always done. Bought veterans at the end of their careers. Reggie Jackson, rod Carew, Bert Blyleven and countless others throughout the team’s history.
I’m drawing a blank as I type this but I cannot think of a single Angel hall of famer.
I agree with you though that when he hits no. 1 the flood gates will open. Say what they will about steroids that swing is like BONDS in that it was perfect before or after injections
Personally I’m enjoying the great start from Derek Jeter who is hitting .404 as of today. As far as Albert goes,he’ll bounce back…just at not at St. Louis numbers.
And who the hell is Jim Rice?
Spoken like a true Yankees fan. I’m not sure that’s a compliment. Jeter is hitting well this year far better than I’d have ever given her credit for. Sharing rounds with arod?
Stupid iPhone! Sharing roids with Arod?