Albert Pujols is approaching a big milestone, very quietly

[tdawg87]

Gross.

[Rico]

So he is not going to the Hall as an Angel?

[ScruffytheJanitor]

17 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

When I read the thread title, I thought it was going to be about this. He should become the all-time leader next year.

Holy statistics, Batman. There are some impressive names on that list.

[stormngt]

8 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

No.

Signed,

SJWs

Sorry for my ignorance but who is SJW?  

[Blarg]

Storm, you really need to work on a sense of humor and get a little dose of current events running through your brain.

SJW is not a person it is an acronym for Social Justice Warriors. Look it up.

[Palomar]

22 hours ago, Angels N Skins said:

Trout aside, the only people that care about anything Angels related are the Angel fans. The media and the rest of the country have no interest in this team

Which is the same thing that can be said about 75% of the MLB teams out there.

[yk9001]

When I read this column in the LA Times site, it had all of one comment afterwards.

More a refection of Pujols' place in the LA sports landscape than Dollar Bill's writing.

[mtangelsfan]

Claude is still bitter because Albert wouldn't sign a ball for him 6 years ago.

 

Yk is just grumpy.

[Jobu]

Fire Hatcher. 

[gurn67]

I know he gets no love on this board, but Albert is now only 2 behind Encarcion in RBI's. He's batting .326 with an OPS of .961 with runners in scoring position. Whereas, Encarcion is batting .242 with an OPS of .802 with runners in scoring position. Hitting in a lineup that is 10th in the league in runs scored, that's impressive.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Agreed. Rbis is obviously a flawed stat, but give credit where its due. Hes overpaid, but hes still producing (among things hes not doing well), and he should be recognized for doing it.

[arch stanton]

At least he's making teams pay for pitching around Trout fairly often.

[totdprods]

I actually wondered today where we would be without Albert Pujols. Even with his struggles, inconsistency, and overall underwhelming play, what would the offense have looked like? Guessing we would have just kept Trumbo, but that wouldn't have brought in Skaggs or Santiago. We would have relied on Hamilton even more. A 3-4-5 of Trout, Hamilton, and Trumbo might have been even more of a disaster, albeit a cheaper one. How would it have affected Trout's development if he was carrying the offense even more? 

I'm hopeful that mang has really been slowed by injuries as an Angel, affecting him more than just natural decline. I think he rushed back a bit this year from surgery and it affected him the first month. I think transitioning, and finally accepting, that he's more of a DH now has affected his play this season. 

Fingers crossed that this year was a needed experience for him to adjust to life as an everyday DH, and coupled with the surgery, he remains healthy enough to stick to a .250/25-35/100 type line for at least another two or three years. He's at least managed to stick pretty close to that through half his time here.

[yk9001]

[Ohtaniland]

When Albert is done as an Angel I hope he goes back to play two more years in St Louis just like Henry Aaron did when he returned back to Milwaukee. 

Would be fun to watch.

[Angel Oracle]

With a strong September, he has an outside chance at being only the 2nd Halos hitter ever to drive in at least 130 runs.   He needs 31 over the remaining 36 games.

[Blarg]

He is probably not going to reach Don Baylor's 139 back in 1979.

[Angel Oracle]

And those 139 will always be known as Runs Baylored In.

[TroutCron]

Obviously, the contract is a burden but a relatively healthy Albert is an asset to any lineup. 

As for his batting average, very few players increase their batting average as they age into their mid 30s. Generally, you have to start your swing sooner because the reflexes are a little slower. Power hitters especially tend to become extreme pull hitters. When Albert was mashing for the Cards he would use the whole field. Those days are long gone, hense the shifts are way more effective now. He still remains a very productive hitter relative to his age and health. 

Of all the Angels' problems Albert is way down the list. 

[Angel Oracle]

Can't ask for anything more on his RISP BA, hence the 99 ribs already (behind only Encarnacion?).

[totdprods]

For what it's worth, the Angels have also repeatedly mentioned that Pujols' contract hasn't deterred them or been an obstacle financially. They had no problem extending Trout or signing Hamilton after the fact. Hamilton's contract was the killer.

Money is money either way, but I think the idea that Albert's contract has hurt the org is really played up by the fans.

[Troll Daddy]

What's done is done ... I happy with Albert. This player is giving the team everything he has in the tank. He's turned me into one of his big fans. I'm rooting for him! 

[tdawg87]

Pujols needs 129 HR to pass Ruth. Let's say that by the end of the year he'll need 123. That's just under 25 homeruns a year for the rest of his contract. If he stays "healthy", I think he'll do it. 

[well_red]

i hoped he'd be so good during the first 5 years that the last 5 could be chalked up to the price of doing business.  why did they backload the contract like this?  does the hit to the luxury tax threshold use the average salary per year, or the actual salary for each year's calculation?  $30M in 2021?  the problem just compounds every year....

[tdawg87]

It uses the overall average salary.