A Salty Take on Albert Pujols

[Lou]

1 minute ago, GrittyVeterans said:

Winning cures all

Replacing Albert with Marte, Valbuena or Thaiss isn't the different between winning and losing 

[stormngt]

5 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

Matt Thaiss waves hello

But yeah, I see what you are saying.  Still, it should be about upgrading our team, and it wouldn't take much to put an upgrade at 1B/DH.  Ideally, we could just replace him with Thaiss, and use the DH on non-Ohtani days as a place we can slot other guys into in order to provide them some rest.  

So as part of this, I'd ideally call up Thaiss sometime later this year, give him a trial run and see how he performs.  If he shows he's able to be a competent 1B and post average numbers, then I would be okay moving on at that point.

Lol...where was Thaiss last year? You have no idea if he would do better or worse than Pujols.

[Warfarin]

2 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

Winning cures all

I agree.  I know I have seen people say we have to be careful with Richards because he and Trout are BFFs, and be careful with Pujols because Trout has a lot of respect for him, but in the end, it's a business.  If we can create a winning team that goes deep into the playoffs year in and year out, I am sure Trout would prefer that scenario.  Trout is a very competitive dude, and I imagine it must be killing him to have not won a single postseason game yet in his career.

[GrittyVeterans]

2 minutes ago, Lou said:

Replacing Albert with Marte, Valbuena or Thaiss isn't the different between winning and losing 

I know that. I'm not talking about this year. Like I've said, the org needs to get real about fielding the best possible 25 players on the roster this offseason and not worry about people's egos or friendships or getting their feelings hurt. This is an organization that has missed the playoffs 7 out of the last 8 years.

Fielding the best roster gives you the best chance of winning ballgames.

Pujols is going to play the rest of the season. Its just how it goes. But there is zero excuse for him to not be riding the pine most nights next year

[bloodbrother]

What if the Angels are purposely adding horrendous hitters to make Pujols look better? Makes you think

[Warfarin]

1 minute ago, stormngt said:

Lol...where was Thaiss last year? You have no idea if he would do better or worse than Pujols.

I do not, this is correct.  This is why I said we should give him a trial run and see how he performs.  Obviously if he posts a Calhoun-esque OPS, then perhaps it is worthwhile to continue to hold onto Pujols until we can find a legitimate answer.

[Stradling]

6 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

Winning cures all

Respect means everything, and he can win in other places as well.  

[Lou]

3 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

I do think there is a gracious way to go about this.  I don't think it's just an unceremonious release.  I think there could be a way to do this where Albert retains his dignity (so to speak) and the Angels don't look like they're just canning them.  I trust Eppler to be able to pull something like that off.

Well said. 

It will take Arte, Billy and Mike sitting down with Albert and working out a gracious exit. 

[GrittyVeterans]

3 minutes ago, stormngt said:

Lol...where was Thaiss last year? You have no idea if he would do better or worse than Pujols.

Storm, it's about giving someone with upside a chance. We know what we're getting out of Albert Pujols and it isn't pretty

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, bloodbrother said:

What if the Angels are purposely adding horrendous hitters to make Pujols look better? Makes you think

No

[GrittyVeterans]

Just now, The Boogie Man said:

Respect means everything, and he can win in other places as well.  

I'm not sure what you are arguing. You want to show Pujols respect by continuing to play him the rest of his contract because Trout might get his feelings hurt if we don't? Sorry, that's absurd

[Lou]

2 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

I know that. I'm not talking about this year. Like I've said, the org needs to get real about fielding the best possible 25 players on the roster this offseason and not worry about people's egos or friendships or getting their feelings hurt. This is an organization that has missed the playoffs 7 out of the last 8 years.

Fielding the best roster gives you the best chance of winning ballgames.

Pujols is going to play the rest of the season. Its just how it goes. But there is zero excuse for him to not be riding the pine most nights next year

I'll worry about this offseason during the offseason. 

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, GrittyVeterans said:

I'm not sure what you are arguing. You want to show Pujols respect by continuing to play him the rest of his contract because Trout might get his feelings hurt if we don't? Sorry, that's absurd

No, you quoted my post that said they have to handle it perfectly.   Don’t put words in my mouth.  

[GrittyVeterans]

Just now, The Boogie Man said:

No, you quoted my post that said they have to handle it perfectly.   Don’t put words in my mouth.  

So explain to us what the perfect way of handling it is. Don't be vague

[Lou]

Let's pump the breaks a bit on Thaiss. He's played a total of 46 games above A level and only 6 of those in AAA. 

[Dick B Back]

5 minutes ago, bloodbrother said:

What if the Angels are purposely adding horrendous hitters to make Pujols look better? Makes you think

[Lou]

btw, how the hell is his last name pronounced ? 

[Stradling]

6 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

So explain to us what the perfect way of handling it is. Don't be vague

I don’t know what the perfect way to handle it.   What isn’t the perfect way is to release Albert unceremoniously for the likes of a minor leaguer.   In other words don’t try to solve it the reactionary way most people on here would want to solve it.   The problem lies in having Albert and Ohtani and then finding a good enough player with enough flexibility to keep Albert on as you reduce his playing time.  

Edited May 29, 2018 by The Boogie Man

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, Lou said:

btw, how the hell is his last name pronounced ? 

Thice I think

[GrittyVeterans]

2 minutes ago, The Boogie Man said:

I don’t know what the perfect way to handle it.   What isn’t the perfect way is to release Albert unceremoniously for the likes of a minor leaguer.   In other words don’t try to solve it the reactionary way most people on here would want to solve it.   The problem lies in having Albert and Ohtani and then finding a good enough player with enough flexibility to keep Albert on as you reduce his playing time.  

Well, in my opinion that's why they should have had a conversation with Albert this past offseason about his future with the club. They should have told him they will give him a chance to bounce back from his poor season last year but if the results were the same he would have to either retire or they need to move on from him. 

The Angels don't owe this guy some Kobe Bryant or Derek Jeter type ceremony. They're showing him plenty of respect already. At some point it has to be about results

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, GrittyVeterans said:

Well, in my opinion that's why they should have had a conversation with Albert this past offseason about his future with the club. They should have told him they will give him a chance to bounce back from his poor season last year but if the results were the same he would have to either retire or they need to move on from him. 

The Angels don't owe this guy some Kobe Bryant or Derek Jeter type ceremony. They're showing him plenty of respect already. At some point it has to be about results

And we have no idea what kind of conversations have taken place.   

[Lou]

10 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

Well, in my opinion that's why they should have had a conversation with Albert this past offseason about his future with the club. They should have told him they will give him a chance to bounce back from his poor season last year but if the results were the same he would have to either retire or they need to move on from him. 

The Angels don't owe this guy some Kobe Bryant or Derek Jeter type ceremony. They're showing him plenty of respect already. At some point it has to be about results

How on earth do you know what conversations took place this past offseason? 

[Warfarin]

10 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

Well, in my opinion that's why they should have had a conversation with Albert this past offseason about his future with the club. They should have told him they will give him a chance to bounce back from his poor season last year but if the results were the same he would have to either retire or they need to move on from him. 

The Angels don't owe this guy some Kobe Bryant or Derek Jeter type ceremony. They're showing him plenty of respect already. At some point it has to be about results

I do think this is something we can consider this coming offseason.  He worked out, lost weight, etc, but it's clear he just doesn't have it anymore.  Then again, if he is indeed actually 40 as the reports indicate, this should not come as a surprise at all.

So perhaps this offseason, Arte, our FO, Albert can all get together and discuss the future.  A "medical retirement" on the account of his foot, perhaps?  And an honorary role made for him in the FO, something to do with Latin outreach, serving as an ambassador of some kind for us.  This way Arte can continue to connect with the Latin community, Albert has a philanthropic-sounding role, and we can move on from seeing him on the field.  Seems like a reasonable option?

[Lou]

24 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

So explain to us what the perfect way of handling it is. Don't be vague

Who should be in the lineup every day instead of Albert? Don't be vague. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

If we move on from Albert, we still need to pay him, as long as he won't retire. In that case he needs to be replaced by a prospect making minimum salary to $2M. That way we could still afford to fill some important positions.