Angels to release Albert Pujols

Max Power

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That's a bummer. It's amazing how his career took a nosedive the second he signed with the Angels. You would have figured he'd have one more bounceback year in him after he went there, but after his first season he never put up an .800 OPS.
 

BoSox Rule

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When he left the Cardinals he had a career OPS+ of 170 and 86.6 bWAR. He’s probably done with a career OPS+ of 145 and 99.4. Incredible fall from grace he had.
 

Was (Not Wasdin)

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Great career and a certain Hall of Famer, but almost prohibitive favorite for worst contract/free agent signing ever.

10 years, $240 million, 12.8 WAR, one trip to the playoffs.
 

Average Reds

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That's a bummer. It's amazing how his career took a nosedive the second he signed with the Angels. You would have figured he'd have one more bounceback year in him after he went there, but after his first season he never put up an .800 OPS.
Good God. That is up there for the worst contract ever. I mean, shit, even Sandoval's contract was only for five years.
 

mauidano

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The Angels have made some horrible signings that have prevented them from growing. Josh Hamilton before Pujols. This is the right thing to do but it is always so sad to see the great ones become mortal.
 

worm0082

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I think he finishes out the season with Cardinals or La Russa brings him in then retires
 

mauidano

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Good God. That is up there for the worst contract ever. I mean, shit, even Sandoval's contract was only for five years.
Miguel Cabrera is on deck and coming to the plate. 0 for his last 26 and due about $75 million through 2023.
 

Melrose Diner

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Not only was the production bad within the duration, the contract handcuffed the organization's ability to build around the greatest player of the generation which to me makes it exponentially worse
 

NYCSox

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Had to be done. Maddon kept putting him in the lineup so this was kind of like Beane trading away Pena so Howe would stop playing him over Hatteberg. :)
 

Dduncan6er

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I wonder if his age will ever be confirmed. I know there's been questions about it and looking at his aging curve it certainly looks like he may have been older than reported when he came to the US.
 

Max Power

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I wonder if his age will ever be confirmed. I know there's been questions about it and looking at his aging curve it certainly looks like he may have been older than reported when he came to the US.
When you put it that way, he's a pretty good hitter for a 57 year old.
 

Caspir

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I wonder if his age will ever be confirmed. I know there's been questions about it and looking at his aging curve it certainly looks like he may have been older than reported when he came to the US.
Yea, his numbers are a lot more respectable if you think his actual age is 45-47 years old. That would paint him in a different light, but man is that Angels contract an all time cautionary tale. He was incredible with the Cards.
 

CarolinaBeerGuy

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I wonder if his age will ever be confirmed. I know there's been questions about it and looking at his aging curve it certainly looks like he may have been older than reported when he came to the US.
This is a good question. My best friend is a die-hard Cardinals fan and one of the biggest Pujols fanboys imaginable. He's convinced Albert is 3-4 years older than his listed age.
 

Was (Not Wasdin)

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Miguel Cabrera is on deck and coming to the plate. 0 for his last 26 and due about $75 million through 2023.

Miggy's could end up being worse because of the dollar amount/length, but Detroit got fair value (and more) early on. His numbers with the Tigers alone are borderline H of F, and he won two MVPs and also finished 2nd, 4th and 5th. four straight trips to the playoffs, including a world series. what sucks for the Tigers is having to pay the tail end, when they'd like to be rebuilding but are stuck with this albatross of a contract. But for his first 7-8 years in Detroit, he put up great numbers. Pujols never did anything in LA.
 

worm0082

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Whos the oldest regular player non pitcher whos age is completely verified? Rose? Fisk? i think they were 45. Henderson 44. Not
Counting Minoso stunts and other pre 1950 one offs.
 

Kliq

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The thing about the Pujols contract was that at the time, while it was a giant deal, but he was pretty much seen as the best hitter in the world and someone who was worthy of the contract. Then he went to LAA had fell off a cliff. He was the best bet in baseball to be consistently great, but as soon as he got into his 30s (reportedly) he was done.

His run in St. Louis was freakish in its consistency. Over 11 seasons he averaged 155 games a season, 40 homers and 121 RBI with a slash line of .328/.420/.617 and an OPS+ of 170. An MVP performance for 11 straight seasons. Then went to LA and it was over.
 

Jungleland

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I despise the Cardinals but have to hand it to them, just an all time great non-move letting him walk. Absolutely unbelievable player for them and the timing couldn't have worked out better.
 

johnmd20

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His OBP with LA was .311.

Ye Gods. Pujols definitely got paid. And earned about 48 dollars of it. Good for him, though.
 

JimD

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The Angels have made some horrible signings that have prevented them from growing. Josh Hamilton before Pujols. This is the right thing to do but it is always so sad to see the great ones become mortal.
Don't forget Mo Vaughn signing a then-record 6/80 contract after the 1998 season with LAA, then tumbling down the dugout steps chasing a pop fly on the first game of the 1999 season.
 

ColdSoxPack

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From the paragon of journalism that is the NY Post:

Pujols was “upset” that he was excluded from Wednesday’s lineup against the Rays, “and that the decision to bench him came from [the] front office, not [manager] Joe Madden,” according to a tweet by Los Angeles Times beat writer Mike DiGiovanna.
 

ColdSoxPack

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A better source, the LA Times:

According to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly about it, Pujols was upset that he was not in Wednesday night’s lineup to face Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Ryan Yarbrough, a left-hander that Pujols had gone six for nine with two homers, two doubles and seven RBIs against.
The person said that the decision to bench Pujols on Wednesday night was made by the front office and not Angels manager Joe Maddon.
“It wasn’t Joe’s call,” the person said, “despite the success Albert has had against Yarbrough.”

Pujols was playing a lot since the Angels have injuries. He did hit 5 homers and 14 RBIs so despite his BA and OPS 6this is eyebrow raising.
 

SoxJox

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It's crazy his career is ending before that ball he hit off Brad Lidge in the 2005 NLCS lands.
Ssssssppppppllloooooooge. Coffee splattering on the wall.

Something I just noticed (maybe this should be in the "Things I Learned Recently" thread). I noticed the Cardinals were the visiting team and their jerseys had "Cardinals" on it. To my knowledge, in most pro sports, the home jerseys have the nickname, and the away jerseys have the city/state/region. So I checked it out and, sure enough, "Cardinals" is on both home and away jerseys. Probably other exceptions.

Anywho, enjoy.

View: https://youtu.be/GuB3HgM9LMw
 

glennhoffmania

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The most amazing thing about Pujols while he was with the Cards was that every season other than his rookie year he struck our fewer times than he walked. He struck out between 50 and 70 times per year while hitting 40+ homers. I can't think of another player with that kind of K/BB ratio while hitting for power like that.
 

ifmanis5

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The Angels have made some horrible signings that have prevented them from growing. Josh Hamilton before Pujols. This is the right thing to do but it is always so sad to see the great ones become mortal.
Not to derail but every time I see Hamilton's name I can't help but think of Cafardo's weekly jabs at the Sox for not being a serious franchise until they emptied their wallets for him.
nick.jpg
 

PC Drunken Friar

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Besides Pedro and Manny, my 2 favorite players of all time are Pujols and Frank Thomas. I think Pujols had the better peak, but did Thomas have the better career?
 

moondog80

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Pujols was 179 hits over .300 for his career at one point; Bill James speculates that nobody else has been that much over .300 and finished below.
 

scottyno

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Miggy's could end up being worse because of the dollar amount/length, but Detroit got fair value (and more) early on. His numbers with the Tigers alone are borderline H of F, and he won two MVPs and also finished 2nd, 4th and 5th. four straight trips to the playoffs, including a world series. what sucks for the Tigers is having to pay the tail end, when they'd like to be rebuilding but are stuck with this albatross of a contract. But for his first 7-8 years in Detroit, he put up great numbers. Pujols never did anything in LA.
The horrid part about Miggy's was that it was 100% unnecessary and almost guaranteed to always end terribly, and everyone said it the second it happened. They gave him an 8-244 extension (with 2 vesting options that will never vest at this point) when he still had 2 years left on his deal. Maybe they end up giving him a lot of money anyway, because he was still really good those last 2 years, but he's 4+ years into the extension and he's put up a grand total of -1.3 bwar.

At least Pujols deal made sense at the time
 

RG33

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Playing major league baseball at 52 years old is hard.

Best of luck to him, amazing hitter in his prime, first-ballot hall of famer, and seemingly and all-around great guy.

OPS in 11 years with Cardinals: 1.037
OPS in 10 years with Angels: .758

Yikes.
 

cannonball 1729

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I despise the Cardinals but have to hand it to them, just an all time great non-move letting him walk. Absolutely unbelievable player for them and the timing couldn't have worked out better.
The Cards did offer him 8 years and $200 million, so the Angels may have saved the Cardinals from themselves, but St. Louis was right not to push their offer to Angels' levels.
 

phrenile

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The most amazing thing about Pujols while he was with the Cards was that every season other than his rookie year he struck our fewer times than he walked. He struck out between 50 and 70 times per year while hitting 40+ homers. I can't think of another player with that kind of K/BB ratio while hitting for power like that.
It probably goes without saying, but Barry Bonds walked more than he struck out for 17 of his 22 seasons. He didn't hit 40+ homers for all of those, but neither did Pujols for almost half his St. Louis seasons.