When will the Angels DFA Pujols?

[Vegas Halo Fan]

When I see Pujols, I remember what my late father used to say about one-dimensional power hitters: "He has to hit the ball out of the park to get on." I don't know how many times I have seen him hit infield grounders, and he is barely in frame by the time that the throw reaches the first baseman.

It has been over for a long time for Pujols. Unfortunately, he has chosen to play out the string and if his wife is to be believed, he is "undecided" about playing after this season. 

The rest of MLB isn't so undecided.

1 hour ago, AngelsFaninGA said:

Also Pujols would never have been an issue if we'd had a functional pitching staff at any point during his years here. 

To put a finer point on it, Pujols would never had been an issue if Tony Reagins had gotten off his duff and signed Adrian Beltre, or if Kendrys Morales hadn't broken his ankle after a game winning grand slam in 2010.

[failos]

They need to DFA Maddon

[robblin17]

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

No I’m not defending him I’m just not buying your bullshit.  

Bullshit? If you can’t see how badly Pujols hinders this franchise then it might be time for an eye exam. 

[eligrba]

41 minutes ago, robblin17 said:

Bullshit? If you can’t see how badly Pujols hinders this franchise then it might be time for an eye exam. 

Lol. Pujols is one of many problems on this team. Blaming Pujols for the shit show known as the Angels is like blaming the guy who arranged the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[eligrba]

2 hours ago, Φαήλος said:

They need to DFA Maddon

Explain, please.

[Blarg]

What I have seen is his fielding, that was unquestionably superior to anyone else on the bench, has decayed along with his hitting making fewer and fewer reasons to put him in the field or as DH. His reflexes and mobility is no longer at par with any other replacement player. By midseason, when minor league players have some games under their belt, he should be replaced in the lineup. 

[Stradling]

56 minutes ago, robblin17 said:

Bullshit? If you can’t see how badly Pujols hinders this franchise then it might be time for an eye exam. 

Would you prefer gross exaggeration?  I just cut to the chase and called it bullshit. It’s a bad contract.  Did it “kill the franchise”, nope.  

[rageous]

2 hours ago, Stradling said:

Would you prefer gross exaggeration?  I just cut to the chase and called it bullshit. It’s a bad contract.  Did it “kill the franchise”, nope.  

You call it a bad contract, everyone says its the worst contract in the history of major league baseball.

Talk about an understatement.

[Angels Never Die]

It's a shame, I really didn't want to remember Pujols like this. 

[Lou]

Albert's OPS is 162 points higher than Fletcher's.

[Stradling]

7 hours ago, rageous said:

You call it a bad contract, everyone says its the worst contract in the history of major league baseball.

Talk about an understatement.

The point is it didn’t “kill the franchise”. 

[Stradling]

5 hours ago, Lou said:

Albert's OPS is 162 points higher than Fletcher's.

Fletchers new contract killed the franchise   

[tdawg87]

Josh Hamilton killed the franchise.

And a fan in center field.

[thebloob]

The franchise is in Los Angeles with a super rich owner.  If anyone,blame the owner.  In baseball you can spend your way out of bad contracts.  If they had wanted cole they should have offered a Pujols like contract that blew al others away.  Moreno won’t spend. 

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, thebloob said:

The franchise is in Los Angeles with a super rich owner.  If anyone,blame the owner.  In baseball you can spend your way out of bad contracts.  If they had wanted cole they should have offered a Pujols like contract that blew al others away.  Moreno won’t spend. 

Funny you mention the Albert contract and compared it to the Cole situation.  The Angels signed Albert despite not offering him the most money.  The Angels are rumored to have the second highest offer for Cole, just like with Albert, but in Coles case it wasn’t enough. 

[T.G.]

14 minutes ago, thebloob said:

The franchise is in Los Angeles with a super rich owner.  If anyone,blame the owner.  In baseball you can spend your way out of bad contracts.  If they had wanted cole they should have offered a Pujols like contract that blew al others away.  Moreno won’t spend. 

All the owners are "super rich." 

Moreno spends plenty - he just hasn't always spent wisely.

But yes... you can blame the overall failures on Arte. 

[thebloob]

In the world of really rich guys there is also rich and really rich.  If the owners in Milwaukee sign a really big contract and it doesn’t work they are hosed.  The owners aren’t as rich and most importantly the tv deals are not as lucrative.  They can’t go to 230 million dollar payrolls.  The angels could if they wanted.  They don’t. 

[Docwaukee]

Let's be generous and say that Albert would have needed to produce an additional 2 WAR/Wins per year in order to have offset the expected production from a FA contract relative to what he was paid.  

Not having 2 more wins per season over each of the last ten seasons did not kill this franchise.  

Our average payroll over the last ten years is about 150 mil or more.  So even if you say the Angels payroll has been about 130 mil after taking Albert's money into account.

This franchise hasn't done well over the last decade because of a lack of focus on what works to make good baseball teams.  A lack of focus on the farm system and player development.  Using payroll to try to build your team instead of using money to supplement whatever gaps you have.  

In baseball, you don't actually build around a guy.  You build because of them.  In other sports like basketball and football, you add other players to complement your star because they impact him and he impact them in a huge way by how those games are played.  In baseball,  there is almost none of that.  So in baseball, you really don't have to do anything other that create your process to make the rest of the team good.   Yes, it could impact timelines for how you let stuff happen vs. how you try to make it happen.  

Regardless, the buck stops with Arte.  He is ultimately responsible.  

[tdawg87]

Arte has been the only constant through this stretch of awfulness.

Just saying.

[oldguy]

9 hours ago, Angels Never Die said:

It's a shame, I really didn't want to remember Pujols like this. 

I didn't watch him play much with the Cards, so I really have no choice in how I remember him.  10 years is a long time to be a dissapointment.  

[thebloob]

31 minutes ago, oldguy said:

I didn't watch him play much with the Cards, so I really have no choice in how I remember him.  10 years is a long time to be a dissapointment.  

He was trout which hit .330.  Didn’t have the speed and defense trout had early so war numbers not quite as high but just look at his offensive numbers for 10 years.  

[robblin17]

13 hours ago, Stradling said:

Would you prefer gross exaggeration?  I just cut to the chase and called it bullshit. It’s a bad contract.  Did it “kill the franchise”, nope.  

It was a huge factor in it. Call it whatever you want. Pujols has fucked us and didn’t even say thank you. 

[Angels Never Die]

1 hour ago, oldguy said:

I didn't watch him play much with the Cards, so I really have no choice in how I remember him.  10 years is a long time to be a dissapointment.  

Dude owned the strike zone, he had no holes in his swing. He was such a towering hitter.

[oldguy]

1 hour ago, Angels Never Die said:

Dude owned the strike zone, he had no holes in his swing. He was such a towering hitter.

When I first saw him play for us in spring training I said, "Jesus, he's a right-handed Barry Bonds!".  Unfortunately....

[Vegas Halo Fan]

4 hours ago, Stradling said:

Funny you mention the Albert contract and compared it to the Cole situation.  The Angels signed Albert despite not offering him the most money.  The Angels are rumored to have the second highest offer for Cole, just like with Albert, but in Coles case it wasn’t enough. 

Cole wanted a chance to immediately contend or a World Series, and that wasn't happening here.