Pujols to the Angels

[Valen]

[quote:ad0e163d95]As probably the best player in Baseball for the last decade[/quote:ad0e163d95]
Wisest words I have read in this thread and clearly expressive of the baseball knowledge of the poster. :D

It is not every day you have the opportunity to obtain the best player in baseball. Congratulations to the Angels.

[the splinter]

Money, loyalty etc...all those issues aside...this prolongs Albert's career. It is a smart move for any NL player to go AL at this point in their career. DH'ing will add to his productivity over the years. LA is an excellent climate that almost never rains out home games. Albert will net an extra season or two of high productivity by going to the AL.

[nels52]

Okay i'll admit that quote (which is being taken out of context) by me was a little extreme....

I never said that this deal was/wasn't good for the Angels. Now I'll say: It's absolutely great for them!! In the immediate future, the Angels are absolutely serious contenders.

Pujols is ONLY 31 so barring injuries he certainly has a whole lot of monster years in him (maybe not 10 but a lot).

Unlike you, I never pretended to have a perfect understanding of Superstaronomics. I'd definitely agree that Pujols should increase their revenue greatly but still I don't think the Angels are or ever will be the Yankees.


Great points by splinter, but will the Angels win more games over those 10 years than the Cardinals would with Pujols?

[wavygravy2k]

I wonder if the DH rule will last for another 10 years, though.

[doug_tucker10]

IMO In the context of major league baseball Albert is worth the money. Baseball while still a great game isn't the game that was played by Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle. Some crazy owner offers me $254 million for 10 years i'd be leaving St Louis too. In a fairytale it would be nice to think of Albert Pujols as a career Cardinal but you can't blame him for accepting the Angels offer.

[PotKettleBlack]

Considering that his top 10 comparables lasted an average of 8 years from their age 31 season on, 10 years is excessive for a player over 27, much less 31. 4 of his comparables went into year 10 or beyond, with Hank Aaron leading the way, productive into his 40s. 6 of them were done in under 8 years, with Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle leading the short brigade (ALS and Alcohol doing their things). Man Ram is another comp, who is out before doing 8 years. Foxx as well, his best comparable.

This was the only way to get him to move to a higher tax state, make him a godfather offer. I wouldn't have turned it down (I probably would have taken the Marlins offer though... no income tax, great weather, fun place), and neither would pretty much anyone I know.

I'm not mad at him. I'm sad for St. Louis. And I'm mad at a particular Cubs fan I know who thinks this puts the Cubs over the top (like Musial's retirement did... oh wait. That didn't happen?).

[Stoney18]

Valen, thank you for your well written posts. Albert has been a stand up guy his whole career and doesn't deserved to be dogged for making a decision where he is going to work. Viewpoints are totally different as fans and as employees.

For those bitter Cards fans - you've had the best there was of Pujols. The next few years he will still be great but age catches up with all of us.

Paraphrasing one of the ESPN guys - It's like you had the Beatles and Anaheim gets the solo acts. Still good but not the same.

[gfg001]

Albert Pujols has put up amazing numbers in his first ten years, numbers easily worth 250 million dollars, but he is being paid 250 million dollars for the next ten years.
Pujols has all ready peaked. Despite having all star caliber stats, this past year has been his worst: Batting avg first time below .300, ops at .906 is lowest ( I know it is comical thaT .906 OPS is his worst), under 100 rbi for first time, obp at .362 his lowest ever, least hits ever, lowest slugging....I know his numbers are still excellent, but the trend is downward and will continue downward dh or not.In 3-4 years at 35 it will be more obvious , and this contract will look worse and worse... and become a financial mill stone.

As an example look at Frank Thomas' 1st ten years compared to his last 8 years.

[JohnnyBlazers]

Congrats to Pujols for getting the big contract from the Angels - I don;t think anyone can really begrudge him for going after the money. My opinion on this is that he should have stayed with St. Louis where he already is an icon and have one of the best fan bases in the game - the guy is rich enough as is but I guess he wanted to maximize his earning power and there is nothing wrong with that.

Congratulations also to the Cardinals for not financially wrecking their franchise for a hall of famer who has clearly peaked and who probably is 35 yrs old (31 yrs old? yeah right! :roll: )

The Angels become contenders for this season with their pitching and Pujols in the middle of the lineup but I have a feeling that unless the Angels, who are a free-swinging team, get on base more often, Pujols will be walked a TON and his RBI opportunities will dwindle. The Angels will contend for the next few years, but after that, the law of diminishing returns takes over and Pujols, who has that fat gene lurking if you look closely, will breakdown.

[apolivka]

As a Brewers fan, I guess I'm happy he's in the AL. He absolutely feasted on Brewers pitching. I doubt many Angels fans will be super happy with this contract when Albert turns, say, 36. Oh, and bye bye, Prince. Super guy and I will absolutely miss him, but these multi-year monstrosities are just silly for a small market team.

I actually do wonder what were the Tax consequences of going to California vs. Missouri vs. Florida. I'm pretty sure his agent was heavily pushing for the highest dollar amount, but I wonder if Albert might have actually made more real money elsewhere. State Taxes are no joke in California!