Pujols says he has lost 12-15 pounds since last season

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

19 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Ohtani needs to be eased in, as NO ONE has played both ways in MLB since 100 years ago.

Ohtani, has only in Japan.

[Second Base]

Albert looks great.

But really, if we're looking at the root cause of his offensive nosedive, it's probably a combination of factors. The first are his legs obviously. His hasn't had a fit man base to work from, and now he does.

But the other two factors are a noticeable decrease in bat speed and a pull heavy approach. 

Has he found a way to fix those? Torii Hunter moved away from a power approach later in his career for a BA/OBP oriented approach. He knew his time as a power hitter ended with advanced age and changed his game which extended his effectiveness as a major leaguer by 2-3 years.

I'd like to see Pujols start using the whole field again and working his way on. A .286 OBP just doesn't cut it.

[JarsOfClay]

18 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

I'd like to see Pujols start using the whole field again and working his way on. A .286 OBP just doesn't cut it.

I'd like to see that too. But he's all about chasing milestones right now.  And he doesn't have much opposite field power so no reason to hit the ball there.

[Stradling]

2 hours ago, rottiesworld said:

And you are a jack fucken ass!! Maybe you have aids. I’m a disabled veteran with a spine injury, of course I’m out of shape asshole as I can barely get out of bed and walk. I would be happy if I could get up and run, play baseball, and basketball, or bowling with my family and kids, go out to family gatherings, but I can’t because of my injury. I regret defending our Country for idiots like you.  I hope one day you wake up and have the same problems as I have and let see what kind of jokes you come up with then. There are a lot of military men and woman that are badly injured, missing legs and arms and then an asshole like you walks by and makes fun of them. You should be thanking our veterans for what we sacrificed for our country as I did, and now my 2 sons who are in the Navy.

Ok, my bad for not guessing your situation.  I should have assumed that you talking shit on Albert and talking about your weight loss was related to you being a disabled veteran.  Thank you for your service. 

Edited February 17, 2018 by Stradling

[Warfarin]

With Pujols, I guess I'd just like to see him operate with more humility and be less defensive than he portrays himself to be.

The general feeling I get from listening to him speak to the media is some iteration of "you all doubt me, but I'll prove you wrong like I always do, look at my history" .. etc.  I mean I get it, it sucks to have people challenge you and question your abilities, but there are definitely elements of truth in the analysis of others.  Instead, I'd like him to acknowledge that he's having some issues, but see him also say "but I'm trying to do XYZ" to get back to where he was.  Seeing him operate with humility and grace will go a long way towards fans being on his side vs ripping him.  Obviously the most important factor is production, as even being humble won't save him if he's playing terribly, but at least fans would be willing to sympathize with his plight a bit more and more willing to extend him some leeway.

As an extension of this, when he was hitting really poorly and hitting into a ton of DPs, it would have been ideal had he just gone to Mike and said hey, I'm just really struggling right now, maybe I shouldn't be hitting 3rd daily and trying to protect the best player in the game for now, maybe drop me to 5th/6th as I work on some things and re-discover my stroke.  I'm sure Mike would have complied, and then we could see that he's willing to objectively accept criticism and acknowledge how he's currently playing.  Instead, we hear reports of the fact that he's unwilling to be dropped in the lineup, etc...