The official Pujols Important HR thread

[Glen]

Without Pujols we'd probably have a lock on next year's #1 draft pick right now. 

[tdawg87]

Another reason to hate Pujols 

[Troll Daddy]

Most players will tell you the game is 70% mental. That part of game isn't talked much about around here ... #ignorance. 

[tomsred]

The five real reasons CALZONE hates Pujols:

1.  He uses all our financial resources.

2.  He knocks in too many runs, thus eliminating protected draft picks.

3.  He has a ten year personal services contract, CALZONE does not do "personal services."

4.  Mike Trout likes him.

5.  He has his own tote board, and CALZONE's jealous.

 

[Troll Daddy]

2 minutes ago, tomsred said:

The five real reasons CALZONE hates Pujols:

1.  He uses all our financial resources.

2.  He knocks in too many runs, thus eliminating protected draft picks.

3.  He has a ten year personal services contract, CALZONE does not do "personal services."

4.  Mike Trout likes him.

5.  He has his own tote board, and CALZONE's jealous.

 

 

[Stradling]

9 minutes ago, tomsred said:

The five real reasons CALZONE hates Pujols:

1.  He's rich

 

[yk9001]

My sister in law, a huge angels fan, said last night, "the Angels stink right now, but I'm really enjoying watching Albert pass all these milestones".

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, yk9001 said:

My sister in law, a huge angels fan, said last night, "the Angels stink right now, but I'm really enjoying watching Albert pass all these milestones".

You should hook her up with TD.  

[Dick B Back]

On August 27, 2016 at 9:23 PM, tomsred said:

The five real reasons CALZONE hates Pujols:

1.  He uses all our financial resources.

2.  He knocks in too many runs, thus eliminating protected draft picks.

3.  He has a ten year personal services contract, CALZONE does not do "personal services."

4.  Mike Trout likes him.

5.  He has his own tote board, and CALZONE's jealous.

 

#6 He's jealous of his mangness.

[fan_since79]

from Buster Olney:

Updated: Hank Aaron through his Age 36 season -- 592 homers. Albert Pujols through his Age 36 season -- 589 homers. And counting.

 

[totdprods]

35 minutes ago, fan_since79 said:

from Buster Olney:

Updated: Hank Aaron through his Age 36 season -- 592 homers. Albert Pujols through his Age 36 season -- 589 homers. And counting.

 

I don't think he has much of a chance at surpassing Aaron, much less Bonds, with his health, but I could see him making it to 700. 

The biggest thing he has going for him is he really has been pretty consistent as an Angel, in terms of racking up the counting stats. With all of his struggles and injuries, he's had no real drop off since he got here -.250, 30, 100 and a .750ish OPS - and I think he can maintain that pace at least another couple years. He hasn't had any years where he had a severe drop-off.

I actually think he has looked better this year at the plate than he did either of the last two. He seems to be seeing the ball better, going the opposite way more often, not as homer happy, drawing more walks, not excessive groundouts to third. 

Fingers crossed he has accepted the fact he's a DH now (I don't think he had quite accepted that fate yet) and that's enabling him to stay a little healthier, and it's put his focus back on hitting, to where he's getting back at the approach mentioned above.

Pujols second half: .303/.330/.562/.892 over 188 PAs.

[eligrba]

On 8/27/2016 at 9:18 PM, Troll Daddy said:

Most players will tell you the game is 70% mental. That part of game isn't talked much about around here ... #ignorance. 

 

What will the other players say?

[eligrba]

32 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I don't think he has much of a chance at surpassing Aaron, much less Bonds, with his health, but I could see him making it to 700. 

The biggest thing he has going for him is he really has been pretty consistent as an Angel, in terms of racking up the counting stats. With all of his struggles and injuries, he's had no real drop off since he got here -.250, 30, 100 and a .750ish OPS - and I think he can maintain that pace at least another couple years. He hasn't had any years where he had a severe drop-off.

I actually think he has looked better this year at the plate than he did either of the last two. He seems to be seeing the ball better, going the opposite way more often, not as homer happy, drawing more walks, not excessive groundouts to third. 

Fingers crossed he has accepted the fact he's a DH now (I don't think he had quite accepted that fate yet) and that's enabling him to stay a little healthier, and it's put his focus back on hitting, to where he's getting back at the approach mentioned above.

Pujols second half: .303/.330/.562/.892 over 188 PAs.

Who is Bonds?  Hammerin' Hank is the one to catch.

[arch stanton]

By the end of 2018 he should have past 600 HR, 600 double, 3000 hits, and 2000 RBI. At that point it would probably be his health that determines if he keeps going.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

43 minutes ago, totdprods said:

I don't think he has much of a chance at surpassing Aaron, much less Bonds, with his health, but I could see him making it to 700. 

The biggest thing he has going for him is he really has been pretty consistent as an Angel, in terms of racking up the counting stats. With all of his struggles and injuries, he's had no real drop off since he got here -.250, 30, 100 and a .750ish OPS - and I think he can maintain that pace at least another couple years. He hasn't had any years where he had a severe drop-off.

I actually think he has looked better this year at the plate than he did either of the last two. He seems to be seeing the ball better, going the opposite way more often, not as homer happy, drawing more walks, not excessive groundouts to third. 

Fingers crossed he has accepted the fact he's a DH now (I don't think he had quite accepted that fate yet) and that's enabling him to stay a little healthier, and it's put his focus back on hitting, to where he's getting back at the approach mentioned above.

Pujols second half: .303/.330/.562/.892 over 188 PAs.

 

No real drop off except the ENORMOUS one he had the day he signed with us?

A brand new Scion is probably nice to drive, but when you pay for a pimped out Range Rover, you're a little disappointed when the Scion rolls up.  

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

11 minutes ago, eligrba said:

Who is Bonds?  Hammerin' Hank is the one to catch.

Bonds is the HR King. 

[eligrba]

4 minutes ago, SoToSpeaks said:

Bonds is the HR King. 

Bobby did not hit more home runs than Hank.

[totdprods]

3 minutes ago, SoToSpeaks said:

No real drop off except the ENORMOUS one he had the day he signed with us?

A brand new Scion is probably nice to drive, but when you pay for a pimped out Range Rover, you're a little disappointed when the Scion rolls up.  

Over that. Vintage Pujols isn't coming back and looking back now, that's been obvious now since before he signed with us.

Angels Pujols hasn't had any real year to year drop off since he signed here, and I think that's encouraging. 

He's overpaid, but that's the way this works, and it's been stated his signing helped secure the broadcast deal and his contract hasn't been a burden on the Angels payroll.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

4 minutes ago, eligrba said:

Bobby did not hit more home runs than Hank.

Yawn 

[Angel Oracle]

Only needs 126 HRs to pass Ruth.

That is questionable, but doable.

Aaron is out of reach.

Needs 22 rbis in 26 games to pass Kingfish for 2nd spot on the Halos single season rbis list.

BA since April 24 is now in the .290s range.   That is more like the Pujols we want to see for the next 2-3 seasons hopefully.  Anything beyond that is gravy.

[totdprods]

6 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Only needs 126 HRs to pass Ruth.

That is questionable, but doable.

Aaron is out of reach.

Needs 22 rbis in 26 games to pass Kingfish for 2nd spot on the Halos single season rbis list.

BA since April 24 is now in the .290s range.   That is more like the Pujols we want to see for the next 2-3 seasons hopefully.  Anything beyond that is gravy.

I'm sure someone can pull out spray charts and prove me wrong, but it seems like he's done a much, much better job of hitting the opposite way this year. The shifts on him don't seem as extreme, and the groundouts to the left side, which were comically frequent the first couple years, seem to have dropped big time. 

[Stradling]

@totdprods I posted a spray chart in one of the many Albert threads a few weeks back.  Yes he is still hitting a ton of ground balls to the left side, but he has a fair amount of hits to right field this year, so I agree with you.  When Albert is locked in, like he is right now, he can and will be pull happy and he will hit a bunch of homers.  Unfortunately what will happen is when he comes out of the "zone" he will take awhile to go back to the approach of hit it to the right side if it is offered to you.  

[totdprods]

52 minutes ago, Stradling said:

@totdprods I posted a spray chart in one of the many Albert threads a few weeks back.  Yes he is still hitting a ton of ground balls to the left side, but he has a fair amount of hits to right field this year, so I agree with you.  When Albert is locked in, like he is right now, he can and will be pull happy and he will hit a bunch of homers.  Unfortunately what will happen is when he comes out of the "zone" he will take awhile to go back to the approach of hit it to the right side if it is offered to you.  

It seems like a lot of the groundouts to third have turned into flyouts to left. Overall, I feel better about him though. After those first couple of years I thought we were in for a really hard decline really fast, and that hasn't been the case.

[Angel Oracle]

Update since April 24:   .290/.345/.501/.846  with 27 HRs and 100 rbis (and only 53 Ks) in 449 at bats

Definitely his 2nd best season here, so far, and overall 2016 OPS is up to .794.

[tomsred]

1 hour ago, Angel Oracle said:

Update since April 24:   .290/.345/.501/.846  with 27 HRs and 100 rbis (and only 53 Ks) in 449 at bats

Definitely his 2nd best season here, so far, and overall 2016 OPS is up to .794.

That's impressive for someone 36 years old with injured and slow legs.