This is Albert Pujols’ fifth (!!!) season with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
I’m not sure which is more sad… the fact that Pujols is currently batting .190 and becoming a catalyst for (silly) talk about trading Mike Trout or that any mention of the greatest baseball player I’ve ever seen in person inevitably leads back to his contract within 20 seconds – not to any of the superhuman stats he put up for a decade plus.
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I can’t imagine the Angels are happy with their ROI in Pujols.
They’ve only made the playoffs once (2014) since El Hombre arrived. And with a 13-18 record in 2016 (plus a spate of injuries to key players) ‘the productive years’ of his massive 254 million dollar deal are doing little to assuage Angels fans that happy days are coming soon.
The Cardinals, on the other hand? While they haven’t won the World Series since Pujols left, they have made the playoffs each year and have tallied the most wins in baseball the past 4+ seasons.
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It wasn’t like they didn’t make a serious effort to keep him.
The Cardinals offered Pujols 10 years and 210 million dollars, which, despite it being 44 million less than he eventually signed for, would still probably rank as among the worst in baseball today if it had been consummated.
And I can’t help but play a game of ‘what if’.
What if Albert Pujols would have taken the hometown discount and was still on the Cardinals roster today?
Like it or not, the Cardinals are in more danger than they’ve been in for the last two decades. Maybe you’re in denial about the Cubs – but they’re loaded. And with several blue-chip prospects still in the farm system, they’re set up to make moves on a dime if things start to go sideways.
The Cardinals may or may not make the playoffs in 2016. But even if they do, hell even if they win the World Series, they’re still going to need to have a focused plan to compete with the Cubs for the next 10 years.
Hard to reload in a mid-market with a 20M+/yr contract on the books for another 5 years that isn’t producing elite outcomes.
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It’s better to be lucky, than good.
As the Angels figure out a way to maneuver around Pujols’ remaining 5+ years, the Cardinals have a different set of challenges ahead. Ones that Pujols couldn’t help solve.
While Cardinals fans (rightfully) will take the time to look back fondly at the (numerous) good times that Pujols provided, it’s officially safe to say that NOT signing Pujols is a multi-decade inflection point that the franchise ended up on the right side of.
Mr. Pujols may not be the first one to admit it, but he’s once again helped the Cardinals compete for championships. And in the process saved fans from lots of uncomfortable conversations and ‘what ifs’.
Photo: Missourinet
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