Spending money wisely

dad43,

Most of the experts I heard and read said that the Angels overpaid for him based on his age and expected productivity (5 years of great productivity and 5 years in decline). I don't think anyone expected a productivity drop-off this big right away. Something just isn't right with him this year, and I'm not sure what it is. I would expect him to bounce back (to his great level) as he has been great for many, many years. BTW....286 avg, 30 hrs and 105 is a pretty good year for just about every MLB player except Pujols. Possibly, we're expecting too much and the change was too big going from 10 years in National Legaue St LOuis to American League Anaheim? I dunno.

quote:

Originally posted by fenwaysouth:
dad43,

I don't think anyone expected a productivity drop-off this big right away. .

A lot of people in St Louis saw it coming with Albert. (could be sour grapes) His numbers have been in a steady decrease for the last three years. The first few years of this contract wont be too bad for the Angels. The last few are going to be rough for them to swallow. I think the Mike Trout story and his season has taken a lot of talk away from Albert.

The big discussion here now is whether Albert goes into the HOF as a Cardinal or an Angel, and whether his 10 year "public service" contract after his retirement will keep him from coming back to St Louis to be honored in some way.

It does look like the cards did the right thing in not trying to top the Angels offer, they did offer a boatload of money....looks like they were luck he did not give them a hometown discount.

After age 31, I wouldn't give Babe Ruth a ten year contract, much less anyone else!

I'm sure Pujols can use his millions and WATCH the World Series from the stands.

Pujols to the best of my knowledge has always conducted himself in a good way. I think he is an amazing baseball player and will continue to be for a long time. Some of his drop of could be attributed to the change in leagues to the American West....a pretty competitive league with 3 teams including the Angels over .550. I would expect him to have big year next year when LA when it feels like home rather then everything being new.

Best of luck to Albert but not the Angels! I will be watching the A's play the Rangers today and hoping for the small payroll, s****** team of over achievers to come out on top!

Pujols will to me be one of the best players ever.My son and his teamamtes got to meet him at their college,and watch him hit and take BP.My son said he is just a class act.He is a Christian and its real.Half way throught them watching him hit off a tee,he turned and asked them"what you dont have any questuins"? Then he proceeded to talk to them about the game and his routine,they watched his BP,my son said he just hit bombs off the light poles out to LF and that is a shot there.He took pictures in the club house and signed autographs.

My son was very impressed with him as a man.His shoes had WWJD written across.For those that dont follow that means 'What would Jesus do".he gave the glory for his life and blessings to his creator to the boys.He said he would be nothing without the love of God,his family and friends.

Class act.And one of our favorites.

Its always hard to watch great players begin their decline as physically its going to happen.I think the bigger guys probably experience this sooner.JMO

Fan, excellent points. Perhaps what the Angels get over the length of his contract is the benefit of his presence in the club house and how his behavior and work ethic effect the younger guys around him. Albert Pujuls or others like say Barry Bonds...easy to pick that one.

As an Angels fan I enjoy seeing Pujols in an Angels uniform. I'm not too worried about the long term consequences of the deal even though I recognize there are going to be long term consequences.

The problem this year was that the Angels got Pujols at a position that was already occupied by decent players who weren't at the top of their value from a trade standpoint. That also ended up delaying getting Trout in the lineup and Trumbo into the lineup full time. It also probably hurt Callaspo early in the season. They really would've had to trade Trumbo this season to get additional pitching to have a better shot at winning and I can understand why they'd be hesitant to do that. As much maligned as Vernon Wells has been his swing looked much better this season and I think that he'd have been a 30 home run, .250 to .260 hitter this season if he had played full time. Going forward the Angels aren't going to be able to trade Wells and they aren't going to get full value for Bourjos after this season so they are either going to have to clear up space by not signing Hunter or try to trade Trumbo for pitching.

Overall they had excellent hitting and defense this season and if CJ Wilson hadn't had to battle bone spurs they probably would've won the division. Next year's success will most likely be a function of their ability to sign Greinke, and though some may disagree, sign Santana and replace Haren.

I find the comments here very interesting.

Keep in mind that Albert and his wife felt slighted that they wouldn't give them what he wanted, everyone thought they offered him a tremendous amount but not for the time frame he wanted. In order to keep the team competitive, there was no way the cardinals could afford to give him what he wanted. I know some die hard fans who won't even mention his name, they feel slighted, kind of like those in Cleveland feel about LeBron.

I think that the 2011 season took it's toll on every player that went deep into the post season. It's evident by the amount of injuries sustained by both teams that played in late October. He may be having an off year and also, keep in mind that he is one year older. There has been more and more speculation that he is older than he claims to be.

I am wondering if the spotlight on Trout and a few others didn't take some of the wind out of Alberts sails. FWIW, Albert prefers being the #1 guy in the spotlight. That is what he thrives on.

That was very nice of Albert to be so kind to those players watching him put on his personal show. I have heard, from someone who has been involved with the STL ML clubhouse (in a different capacity other than a player) for many many years, that Albert wasn't always that way in the clubhouse with teammates, if you spoke his language and embraced his beliefs he embraced you in his inner circle. Everyone else was just everyone else. Can't tell you if it is that way in LA.

Albert was not the glue that kept the clubhouse together.

A couple things...

Albert Pujols is an amazing hitter. sure fire first ballet HOFer.

That said... St Louis won the World Series last year and Albert had his worst year as a Big leaguer.
In fact it was the only year he had not had more than 100 RBI, though just barely missing it. It was the first time he hit under .300, though barely missing that too. His on base %, SL%, and OPS were the lowest he has ever had. Lowest number of hits and doubles ever.

His stats this year were close to last year's stats. Even his walk totals have been way down the past two years. I suppose he could still come back and have a few great years, but he could also continue to fall back.

TPM is right... There are still people in baseball who think he is older than 33. But you hear that a lot about Dominican players, even the ones like Albert that moved here in high school. They do a much better job of checking that stuff now days than they did even 5 years ago.

The age (even if he were older) doesn't take anything away from his accomplishments, but it sure could make a difference at some point in how long he is productive.

Personally I think he should have stayed in St Louis. He was going to be filthy rich, in a place where people adored him, where he was comfortable, and on a team that just won the championship.

Is it better to be loved and have $200,000,000 or be disliked and have a few more millions?

Maybe both the Angels and Albert made a mistake. Maybe not! It did work out well for the agent!

Gotta be a bit careful with made the playoffs vs didn't make the playoffs. The Cards are 2 games behind the Angels from a WL standpoint and had the Cubs and the Astros in their division. The AL West was probably the strongest division in baseball this season and the Angels figured they had to spend to stay competitive with the Rangers. Who could have figured the A's would do what they did?

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
Gotta be a bit careful with made the playoffs vs didn't make the playoffs. The Cards are 2 games behind the Angels from a WL standpoint and had the Cubs and the Astros in their division. The AL West was probably the strongest division in baseball this season and the Angels figured they had to spend to stay competitive with the Rangers. Who could have figured the A's would do what they did?

Last I checked, the Cardinals and Angels not only are in different divisions, they are in different leagues. Comparing records means nothing. Bottom line, one of these teams will be playing Friday night and the other will be watching. The Cardinals won 83 games in 2006, when they won the world series. I still think they got a full size trophy and a full winners share of money for doing so. I dont want to sound rude, but your post sounded like sour grapes.

Albert likes to be the main guy. It wont be long before he tires of Trout's act and complains to Moreno to do something about it. He absolutely hated it when Matt Holliday got any attention.

I think what he meant was that the cardinals are in an easier division but only two out from each other.

However you are right, not the same division and not the same league.

You kind of have to wonder if things would have been different in the division if Albert was in STL. You do have to give them credit, without carpenter, waino returning from TJS, puma out most of season, furcal out, Beltran having a bad season, that they actually got a wild card bid. Not bad considering a rookie manager.

Agree, wonder how long it will be before Albert gets tired of not being the main man.

Congrats to the A's, remarkable season and to win the division.

What I meant was that only the Brewers played a weaker schedule than the Cardinals and only the Mariners played a stronger schedule than the Angels. The Angels were #6 in RPI while the Cardinals were #14. The Angels were a good team who had an extremely tough schedule while the Cardinals were a mediocre team that had an extremely weak schedule. The last place team in the AL West was ranked just above the Cardinals.

The Rays were ranked 1 spot ahead of the Angels and probably deserved to be given that they were in the AL East.

Obviously, the Cards chance of winning the series no matter how slim is better than the Angels but there's no question that the Angels were a far better team this season.

When the Red Sox signed 29 year old Carl Craford to a seven year contract I figured they were paying for the benefits of the first three or four years before his game (speed) started to deteriorate. I figured his contract would be a losing propsition in the latter years of his contract.

It just doesn't make sense to sign extensively long term contracts to players who will most likely be in decline on the second half of the contract. I guess the teams signing these players are calculating the time value of money against future projected revenues.

The Rockies are even second guessing the long term signing of Tulowitzki to a contract that should only cover his prime playing years. Rumor is he was placed on waivers to find out who might be interested in acquiring him during the offseason.

I remember years ago the Indians signed Wayne Garland to a very long term contract. It was a very expensive contract for the day. He hurt his arm and never delivered. The cry was a pitcher should never be signed for more than three years. That's all gone out the window with these new insane contracts.

Even the Yankees are saddled with two aging superstars (ARod and Texiera) with long term contracts.

Will be interesting to see what Rangers do with Hamilton this off season.

I think they let him walk and likely let Andrus walk the year after next.