CBS Sports "The Angels have an Albert Pujols problem heading into the 2018 season"

[Tank]

say what you want about RBIs, but he's only the second major leaguer to drive in 100+ for 14 seasons. that's not insignificant.

[Ohtaniland]

[IEAngelsfan]

He looks thin in the first pic.  The last pic, not so much.  The middle pic may explain the reason.

[yk9001]

Since becoming an Angel, he's led the league in a batting category exactly twice.

GIDP in 2014 and 2017

 

But those ribbies, though

[tomsred]

7 hours ago, yk9001 said:

Since becoming an Angel, he's led the league in a batting category exactly twice.

GIDP in 2014 and 2017

 

But those ribbies, though

Why would you expect a 37 year old to lead the league in yearly offensive categories?  Might I suggest the problem is with the expectation, not the performance.  Oh yeah, because he makes a lot of money, he should.  That is not how the program works, players like this are never paid for what they are doing now, but for what they once did.  It's up to a GM to weigh paying for reputation and what a player like this can bring to marketing the team and to the community vs. pure performance toward an objective, like a championship team.  I'm not on Pujols' case at all, I'm on the two dumb GM's who were here before Eppler.  They didn't have the balls or the smarts to sell Arte otherwise, and Arte didn't have the smarts to realize they didn't.

One other thing, at least give Pujols some credit for the effort.  I think he's honestly tried to soldier on despite significant injuries, yes some for personal gain, but also because he realizes the glory is in chasing another championship and because he thinks he can help with his experience in a variety of ways.  Hamilton doesn't even come close to that kind of performance.  He was a total bust for us.  

[GrittyVeterans]

28 minutes ago, tomsred said:

Why would you expect a 37 year old to lead the league in yearly offensive categories?  Might I suggest the problem is with the expectation, not the performance.  Oh yeah, because he makes a lot of money, he should.  That is not how the program works, players like this are never paid for what they are doing now, but for what they once did.  It's up to a GM to weigh paying for reputation and what a player like this can bring to marketing the team and to the community vs. pure performance toward an objective, like a championship team.  I'm not on Pujols' case at all, I'm on the two dumb GM's who were here before Eppler.  They didn't have the balls or the smarts to sell Arte otherwise, and Arte didn't have the smarts to realize they didn't.

One other thing, at least give Pujols some credit for the effort.  I think he's honestly tried to soldier on despite significant injuries, yes some for personal gain, but also because he realizes the glory is in chasing another championship and because he thinks he can help with his experience in a variety of ways.  Hamilton doesn't even come close to that kind of performance.  He was a total bust for us.  

That's not true at all. The problem is absolutely the guys performance. No one is expecting St. Louis Pujols at this point, people just want a respectable hitter out of him and for 24 million a year that is not asking for too much. We can talk about why he sucks all day. The injuries are not a made up thing, the guys body is literally falling apart. He's probably 20 pounds overweight. He may or may not be even able to physically train in the offseason, who knows? 

But the performance is still the main problem, doesn't matter why he isn't performing.

Agreed that the main guy to blame for the whole debacle is Arte, though

[tomsred]

3 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

That's not true at all. The problem is absolutely the guys performance. No one is expecting St. Louis Pujols at this point, people just want a respectable hitter out of him and for 24 million a year that is not asking for too much. We can talk about why he sucks all day. The injuries are not a made up thing, the guys body is literally falling apart. He's probably 20 pounds overweight. He may or may not be even able to physically train in the offseason, who knows? 

But the performance is still the main problem, doesn't matter why he isn't performing.

And you sir are letting Arte and Dipoto off way too easy.  They should have recognized the probability of the potential problem that came to be.

[GrittyVeterans]

4 minutes ago, tomsred said:

And you sir are letting Arte and Dipoto off way too easy.  They should have recognized the probability of the potential problem that came to be.

Of course. But that doesn't mean we have to be OK with Pujols being the worst player in the league for the next 4 years, making comments like "I'll take 100 RBIs anyway of the week". He should show some humility and admit he had a poor season and needs to clear his head and train in the offseason. That would make less Angels fans dislike him

 

[Puget Sound Angel]

Albert needs to go back on the juice.

[Stradling]

13 hours ago, yk9001 said:

Since becoming an Angel, he's led the league in a batting category exactly twice.

GIDP in 2014 and 2017

 

But those ribbies, though

Good post Clod

[yk9001]

7 hours ago, tomsred said:

Why would you expect a 37 year old to lead the league in yearly offensive categories?  Might I suggest the problem is with the expectation, not the performance.  Oh yeah, because he makes a lot of money, he should.  That is not how the program works, players like this are never paid for what they are doing now, but for what they once did.  It's up to a GM to weigh paying for reputation and what a player like this can bring to marketing the team and to the community vs. pure performance toward an objective, like a championship team.  I'm not on Pujols' case at all, I'm on the two dumb GM's who were here before Eppler.  They didn't have the balls or the smarts to sell Arte otherwise, and Arte didn't have the smarts to realize they didn't.

One other thing, at least give Pujols some credit for the effort.  I think he's honestly tried to soldier on despite significant injuries, yes some for personal gain, but also because he realizes the glory is in chasing another championship and because he thinks he can help with his experience in a variety of ways.  Hamilton doesn't even come close to that kind of performance.  He was a total bust for us.  

He was "32" when he signed here.

[yk9001]

The best argument that the Pujols apologists have come up with is that he is not as bad as Josh Hamilton. While technically correct, he is not as bad as the biggest turd in the history of the franchise, that is a pretty low bar to set for a quarter billion dollar player.

[Angelsfan1984]

4 hours ago, yk9001 said:

He was "46" when he signed here.

Fixed

[Angelsfan1984]

Ok he drove in 100 rbi's. Given the same opportunity a better hitter would drive in 130-140.

I'll take the better hitter.

[HaloNArizona]

Here is my hope, he gets 3000 hits (32 more hits) and calls it quits.

Worse case scenario, MS goes the way of Dave Roberts and sits AP.

[Stradling]

10 hours ago, yk9001 said:

He was "32" when he signed here.

Yes and he was a 5 WAR player his first year here.  

[Stradling]

10 hours ago, yk9001 said:

He was "32" when he signed here.

Really quick yk, explain to me how he is older than he says he is?  You give me your explanation and I will give you my explanation.  

[AngelsLakersFan]

4 hours ago, HaloNArizona said:

Worse case scenario, MS goes the way of Dave Roberts and sits AP.

That isn't anywhere near worst case scenario. Worst case scenario is that he takes another step back from this season and Scioscia continues to bat him in the middle of the lineup.

[arch stanton]

worst case scenario is 4 more years worth of threads crying about Pujols

[gurn67]

8 hours ago, HaloNArizona said:

Here is my hope, he gets 3000 hits (32 more hits) and calls it quits.

Worse case scenario, MS goes the way of Dave Roberts and sits AP.

2000 RBI's is also within reach if he stays relatively healthy next year and bats behind Trout and possibly Upton.

[yk9001]

14 hours ago, Stradling said:

Yes and he was a 5 WAR player his first year here.  

I found the top 10 at baseball reference and 5 war doesn't come close.  

[yk9001]

14 hours ago, Stradling said:

Really quick yk, explain to me how he is older than he says he is?  You give me your explanation and I will give you my explanation.  

As quick as I can:

[Inside Pitch]

3 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

As quick as I can:

Okay -- that's pretty funny...   even with the misspelled Spanish.

[Stradling]

Yea it is kinda funny, but no he’s not older than his stated age.  

[IEAngelsfan]

I bet yk has Obama's real birth certificate.