As Albert Pujols nears 500 HRs, does anyone even care?

[yk9001]

Ever change jobs because of a 30% pay increase?

 

Well, if he was down to his last dollar or two, I can see needing the pay raise.  If his 30% pay raise took him from incredibly wealthy to spectacularly incredibly wealthy, then I hope it was worth it for the lack of attention he gets here, the fact that fans here don't give him the benefit of the doubt when he starts slow, moving his kids, etc.

 

He had it all, he was king in St. Louis.  He's so far down the So Cal pecking order of athletes that he's looking up at probably 4 or 5 dodgers.

 

Hey, maybe that was the plan.  If his plan was to become invisible in the so cal landscape, then its Mission Accomplished.

[Blarg]

The Cardinals offered Pujols a 10-year contract worth 210 million.

The initial offer was 5/$130 which poisoned the well. After that the 10 year contract was tossed out there to save face with the fans but the damage was done. They knew Pujols was packing his bags for a better deal.

Daniels pulled this bullshit with Hamilton initially making a token one year deal then acting surprised that a month later after making no attempt to sign him. Josh takes a deal somewhere else. Then he has the gall to say he never gave the Rangers a chance.

The Cards didn't want make the commitment and their PR department did a great job making it look like they were earnest in their negotiations.

[Blarg]

YK the Cards low balled him by about half. He signed for 30% more than their PR offer after that.

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

I care, I'm excited for him. Its an awesome career accomplishment and despite his struggles last year (personally, I was fine with Pujols' 2012 line), Pujols has been the best player in baseball the last 10 years, so seeing him hit 500 will be awesome.

[Blarg]

If you are a fan of baseball you look forward to #500. If you are a fan of Moneyball then you snear at it.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Eric Notti

[yk9001]

YK the Cards low balled him by about half. He signed for 30% more than their PR offer after that.

 

 

Who's the smart one?

 

And I love the term "PR offer" - because god forbid, a party on one half of the negotiation throws out a number the other side doesn't like. 

 

Like that never happens in 'real' job negotiations, car buying, house buying, haggling with your cable company, or even a stupid craigslist sale.

[Troll Daddy]

Arte cares ... so do I. Wondering if Cardinal fan cares?

[fan_since79]

$250 million to play baseball in beautiful, sunny Southern California? Sign me up right now.

 

The humidity in St. Louis in the summer is terrible, by the way.

[jangel7]

Im old so certain baseball numbers still give me excitement. 500 hr,600 hr., 3000 hits, 60 hr, 300ks, and 56!! which is still my fav. baseball number.

[fan_since79]

I like some of the Ruth/Gehrig numbers. They're ridiculous.

 

177 runs scored by Ruth in 1921

184 RBI by Gehrig in 1931

Ruth's 457 total bases in 1921

 

All records to this day (modern era). Gehrig's is an AL record, as Hack Wilson had 191 RBI in 1930 in the NL.

Edited April 17, 2014 by fan_since79

[Blarg]

Who's the smart one?

And I love the term "PR offer" - because god forbid, a party on one half of the negotiation throws out a number the other side doesn't like.

Like that never happens in 'real' job negotiations, car buying, house buying, haggling with your cable company, or even a stupid craigslist sale.

They pushed him out the door with the five year offer. They knew what they were doing just like Bavasi and claiming he could replace Ryan with two pitchers. He insulted him right to Huston so he didn't have the legacy if being the first GM to pen a million dollar a year contract to a pitcher. Dumbass of the decade and it doesn't take hindsight to see that.

Maybe you like where you work and suck up a small cost if living increase every couple years but then again I doubt your a superstar accountant so you have less options. If you are then why cheat yourself since there are plenty of good places to work with great staffs, company picnics and stock options to negotiate. Or is being the local water cooler hero good enough?

[Blarg]

I like some of the Ruth/Gehrig numbers. They're ridiculous.

177 runs scored by Ruth in 1921

184 RBI by Gehrig in 1931

Ruth's 457 total bases in 1921

All records to this day (modern era). Gehrig's is an AL record, as Hack Wilson had 191 RBI in 1930 in the NL.

Was Blanton pitching back then?

[Homebrewer]

Ernie Banks hitting #500 was a great day. A great player reaching a huge milestone after many long years with mostly bad teams.

I won't feel anything like that when Albert hits #500.

 

Yeah, I'm old.

[Blarg]

You won't feel it because you and YK wanted to be pissed over nothing.

[Inside Pitch]

Baseball is going to change, is already changing, to extol the virtues of more well rounded players ala Mike Trout. Great pitchers are getting the big money out of colleges, sandlots, and foreign countries.. and the hulking HR hitter is going to be a thing of the past when this transformation is complete. Won't be many more 500 HR guys to join this club.

 

it's changing alright.... it's becoming harder and harder to hit the ball.  The AL batting average is .242, the lowest it's been since 1972 -- thats notable because offense was deemed so hard to come by the AL decided to go with the DH in 1973..   If offense continues to nosedive and power becomes hard to obtain, HRs will become much more valuable..... again.

[Ohtaniland]

Ok so if any of you were to be so lucky to actually catch Albert's 500th HR ball what would you ask for if he wanted it back? He has lots of $$$ so???

[Inside Pitch]

Ok so if any of you were to be so lucky to actually catch Albert's 500th HR ball what would you ask for if he wanted it back? He has lots of $$$ so???

 

Id give it back and ask him to let me take a picture of him punching Scott in the face to reverse the jinx....

[OregonLAA]

I care, I'm excited for him. Its an awesome career accomplishment and despite his struggles last year (personally, I was fine with Pujols' 2012 line), Pujols has been the best player in baseball the last 10 years, so seeing him hit 500 will be awesome.

Perfectly said. He deserves the recognition. Even with the Cardinals I marveled at his ability. 500 should be an awesome moment

[OregonLAA]

Ok so if any of you were to be so lucky to actually catch Albert's 500th HR ball what would you ask for if he wanted it back? He has lots of $$$ so???

I would ask to meet him. The end

[ten ocho recon scout]

I never understood people caring about Reggie's 500th when he was an angel, and of course I don't care about this one.

Nice if a homegrown did it, like Salmon or GA. But to parachute in for the last 50, and do it as an Angel? Meh.

thats kind of where im at. Lets say it was someone like a glaus that we left, and came back to do it. Id be more interested. But being that I didnt really follow the first 450....

But ill be happy for him

[ten ocho recon scout]

Id give it back and ask him to let me take a picture of him punching Scott in the face to reverse the jinx....

pujols would probably let you keep the ball as long as he could get a copy of the picture.

[yk9001]

They pushed him out the door with the five year offer. They knew what they were doing just like Bavasi and claiming he could replace Ryan with two pitchers. He insulted him right to Huston so he didn't have the legacy if being the first GM to pen a million dollar a year contract to a pitcher. Dumbass of the decade and it doesn't take hindsight to see that.

Maybe you like where you work and suck up a small cost if living increase every couple years but then again I doubt your a superstar accountant so you have less options. If you are then why cheat yourself since there are plenty of good places to work with great staffs, company picnics and stock options to negotiate. Or is being the local water cooler hero good enough?

 

 

You kind of went off the deep end there , so you lost me.

 

I am not sure why a five year contract to a 30 something year old is 'pushing him out there door' - that contract ends at 35.

 

Sounds like a win-win.  Cards are happy, Albert is happy, there are some fans ecstatic to watch #500.  Definite win for everybody.

[fan_since79]

I would ask to meet him. The end

 

You're a better man than I.

 

I would ask for 10 grand, at least.

[Ohtaniland]

I never understood people caring about Reggie's 500th when he was an angel, and of course I don't care about this one.

Nice if a homegrown did it, like Salmon or GA. But to parachute in for the last 50, and do it as an Angel? Meh.

I was there for Reggie's 500th homer. They sold t-shirts that said "I was there for Reggie Jackson's 500th Home Run. I wonder if they will have shirts for Pujols HR?

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

I think juice and the probability that Bonds, McGwire and Sosa have highly inflated tots brought down the magic of HRs. The smoke and mirrors of that were reveale and HRs are so-do. What I think people will get back to are the 5-tool one of a kind guys like Trout. This is mantle mays and DiMaggio again. It feels good to see that Troit could end up with 500 bombs, but also 4,000 hits without being a jacked up Dave Kingman clone.

In today's instant gratfication/fantasy baseball world it seems like fans aren't interested in the milestones as much anymore. We all know these folk heroes typically have baggage and there's no Damon Runyon or Ring Lardner around to protect it.

TMZ will busy these guys. I used to be a Home Run junkie. I was at Reggie's 500th an as a kid could recite everyone in the 500 club by order and total. Now I appreciate a guy like Trout an amazing guy who does a whole hell of a lot more than hitting a ball over the fence. The guy is lightning. And he does it with a smile, day in, day out.

Maybe Albert hits 600. Who cares. I always wanted Arod to break Bonds record so it would be clean. I don't care anymore. Thank God for Mike Trout and my altered perception of the game. I may enjoy it less frequently, but admire it a lot more.