Pujols hits #700

[budice0]

 

[Chuck]

6 hours ago, Erstad Grit said:

12.8

 

Is that bWAR or fWAR?

[Dtwncbad]

Albert was a symbol of pure greatness as a Cardinal.

Albert was a symbol of pure mediocrity and underachieving as an Angel.

Cardinal fans should love him.

Baseball fans should marvel at 700 homers.

Angel fans have every right to be completely irritated by him.

All of these things can be true.

[eligrba]

Don't care how many milestones this self-centered and self-absorbed baseball player achieves.  He represents a major reason reason why the Angels never made the playoffs during Trout's prime years.  And now it's clear it was never about the Angels, it was all about Albert.

[Jay]

[ten ocho recon scout]

Good for him.

Also, f*ck him.

Either he was set up to do this (maybe, but doubt it), he's on the gear (maybe, possibly), or he just wasn't even trying ehile he was here (most likely).

This guy is one of the key reasons we sucked for so long..... if number 3 is true, there's no reason to applaud the guy.

[Slegnaac]

Isn't he the all-time leader in GIDP?

[Angel Oracle]

ONE Halos season above .800 OPS!

ONE!!!!!!

OPS this season is even higher than in 2012!

OPS/OPS+ pre-Halos: 1.030/169

OPS/OPS+ with Halos: .758/108

No one does what he’s done in 2022, approaching their mid 40s!

If this isn’t PED’s,

I refuse to acknowledge someone who totally let down this org for over half the time here, and was an alleged clubhouse divider.  All for $250 million (probably $350 million in today’s $)!

Edited September 24, 2022 by Angel Oracle

[RenoHalo]

57 minutes ago, Slegnaac said:

Isn't he the all-time leader in GIDP?

Yes he is. By a lot. 
1. Pujols: 426

2. Cabrera: 351

[robblin17]

Fuck this piece of shit. Retire and go away.

[TheLordofOuts]

Maybe the Angels have a giveaway night to commemorate Pujols’ achievement by giving away ski mask

[AngelsLakersFan]

13 hours ago, Blarg said:

Given the last seven years of rapid decline with the Angels I cannot view his current accomplishments being possible without breaking MLB rules. There is no way this dead cat could bounce this high just by returning to the Cardinals. 

It's what happens when a guy finally finds a way to motivate himself after a decade of not giving a shit.

I loved listening to this interview with him a few days back. When asked about chasing 700 homeruns he said, "Hey I never chase anything mang." Then when asked about his "power surge" this year with the Cardinals he said, "what, like I've never hit homeruns before? Come on mang." 

[Angel Oracle]

Consider also that this is a reduced offense season throughout most of MLB.

[tdawg87]

I will not celebrate or even acknowledge any of this. If other people want to, that's perfectly fine. But as far as I'm concerned, he can go fuck himself.

[cals]

My theory is that he’s finally free of his cheating wife and he’s feeling like a new man and playing like it.  For the last decade she weighed his ass down.

I find it pretty messed up you guys blame him.

[Jason]

1 hour ago, cals said:

My theory is that he’s finally free of his cheating wife and he’s feeling like a new man and playing like it.  For the last decade she weighed his ass down.

I find it pretty messed up you guys blame him.

This obviously sounds misogynistic but it does make sense and is entirely plausible. 

[disarcina]

As a Cards (and Angels) fan - I am very happy for Pujols.

Pujols' 'relationship with the Angels and Angels fans is complicated.

I know that I was very excited when the Halos won the 'bidding war' to get Albert some 10/11 years ago.

He got off to a terrible start with the Halos that echoed throughout his Angels career which got dubbed from the first three months as 'a failed, expensive free agent signing'. -- it was expensive but not failed. Pujols put up some pretty good stats with the Angels for about seven of his nine-plus seasons.  He. did get hurt and was hurt. His production never reached the stratospheric levels of his ten years with St. Louis -- but - let's be honest - when the Halos signed him no one expected that to continue and everyone understood the back side of that multi-year/ ten year deal was going to be tough the last year or two.  He did help mentor a young Mike Trout. He put up good, although not great stats for the Halos, he did kill a lot of rallies with GIDPs -- and - from his Halos time, it's hard to realize that Albert was once a three time gold glover at 1B with the Cardinals.  His defense in Anaheim was average at best.  

The Cards won big time all around on Albert's deal . The got his most productive seasons from rookie year to peak of his career; at the point in time when they would be required to pay for 'past performance and his great 10 year stats' - the. Cards got outbid in free agency by the Angels.' for the next ten years Albert's stats /production were about half of what his first ten year in St. Louis and he got off to that terrible start which from a perception ('perception is reality) perspective framed his entire career here as one big Arte mistake.  It became a self-fulfilling prophecy although Albert's Anaheim numbers are pretty good but. not HOF superstar spectacular.  Now the Cards get a hometown hero fan favorite back at a bargain rate for a farewell season that has exceeded all expectations and for the second half of the farewell season, Albert has suddenly regained some of his prior St. Louis years prowess - so it appears.  Good for the Cards - total win for them - the Angels were the ones tagged with paying for his past performance.

Most of my Halos fan friends don't like Albert and are upset because there is some perception he didn't like it here and let his attitude about that impact his numbers.  Hard to say. Fair criticism, I guess.

I always liked Albert and thought what Arte and the Angels did to unceremoniously release him was an unforgivable slight to a HOF ballplayer of Pujols' stature. I indicated that at the time in posts here.

Today -- I just wish the Angels front office/ PR department would do something to acknowledge Albert's great achievement in joining the 700 club of legends, congratulate him and wish him well -- that would be the classy thing to do.

Other teams have done so -- but so far, unless I missed it - and I may have - because the ANGELS are just so hard to watch these days and the club ownership is in limbo -- I have seen nothing coming out of Anaheim and the Angels to congratulate Albert.

He deserves that - at a minimum.

[AngelsLakersFan]

2 hours ago, disarcina said:

it was expensive but not failed.

You must’ve been following the Cards exclusively over the last ten years.

[tdawg87]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

This obviously sounds misogynistic but it does make sense and is entirely plausible. 

"This sounds misogynistic but I basically agree with you."

[cals]

5 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

"This sounds misogynistic but I basically agree with you."

You don’t think it’s plausible that he’s been in a terrible relationship for years and that had a mental and psychological effect on him?  And that being out of that relationship and a fresh start could translate to success on the field?  You do realize these are human beings playing baseball, right?

[cals]

And it’s not misogynistic.  It goes both ways.  Ever watched How Stella Got Her Groove Back?

[Jay]

1 hour ago, cals said:

And it’s not misogynistic.  It goes both ways.  Ever watched How Stella Got Her Groove Back?

no.

[cals]

27 minutes ago, Jay said:

no.

Oh Jay, you really should watch it.

[Angel Oracle]

17 hours ago, cals said:

My theory is that he’s finally free of his cheating wife and he’s feeling like a new man and playing like it.  For the last decade she weighed his ass down.

I find it pretty messed up you guys blame him.

There might be some truth to this.

But, guys approaching their mid 40s do not put up an .868 OPS, even if only platooning, without some sort of enhancer.   And especially not in a down year offensively throughout MLB (worst one since 1968)

[notherhalo]

He had a ton of warning track HRs that would have been HR in STL

I think we never really discuss park factor, and it would have made a pretty decent difference

 

How many games do you remember where Pujols "almost got that" - seems like every other game

Also, it didnt contribute for a win (like most of his big hits) but he did have a 2HR off of Cole Hamels in game 162, which might have gotten us into the playoffs (but we lost the game)

Im all out of nice things to say about Pujols and his time here