Prince Albert Pujols, he reigneth

scandal: albert pujols' wife diedre says cardinals fans truly are "best in baseball", it's like they never left, and that the HR ranked as the greatest moment in his career.

he passed pete rose for 8th place all time in total bases with that HR

just a little guy named steve sax up next on that list

jk, next up is babe ruth

2019 is almost in the books.

wrC+ 98, .249/.310/.449, -0.1 fWAR.

since the start of the 2015 season, he's been worth +0.1 fWAR overall, with his 1.6 WAR 2015 season balanced out by his -2.0 2017, and near-zero value for the other 3 years.

only 2 years and $59M left on his contract.

Prince Albert Pujols, he collecteth.

One key factor is the owners’ increasing use of analytics—sophisticated statistical metrics—to calculate a player’s value to the team and negotiate his salary accordingly. While many players believe that analytics can help improve their on-field performance, others remain skeptical.

“Put a computer on the mound and see if it will throw strikes, or put it at the plate and see if it can hit a fastball,” said future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols in the Los Angeles Angels’ locker room after a Labor Day weekend game.

https://www.thenation.com/article/mlb-moneyball-labor-unions/

not sure if he realizes that pitching machines are computerized, or that a computer-controlled bat with motion sensors could probably hit a fastball, if someone bothered to make it. not that is has anything to do with the point he was trying to make

Pitching machines have no soul

As a player whose career has essentially disintegrated in parallel with the rise of advanced analytics... I'm empathetic of his criticism of the advances. But then I remember dude is making zillions so then my empathy turns to straight up ROFL.

prince albert pujols turned 40 last week.

his ZiPS comp for 2020 is 1996 Eddie Murray

(trout's comp is 1960 mickey mantle)

only 2 years and $48M left on the contract

https://i.imgur.com/otHLPTe.png

According to my math, he'll earn $29M for the 2020 season.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/zips-time-warp-albert-pujols/

Name	G	PA	WAR
Chuck Klein	196	525	-1.6
Jim Bottomley	312	1146	-1.2
Larry Doby	39	124	-1.0
Willie Keeler	316	1288	-0.8
King Kelly	20	73	-0.5
Roberto Alomar	196	788	-0.4
Lloyd Waner	235	592	-0.4
George Kelly	64	226	-0.3
Bill Mazeroski	34	72	-0.3
Albert Pujols	731	3093	-0.2
Joe Tinker	7	12	-0.1
Ray Schalk	7	3	0.0
Jim Rice	191	770	0.0
Hughie Jennings	4	9	0.0

Thirteen Hall of Fame hitters played replacement-level ball or worse starting at age 35. Pujols stands out for the amount of ineffective baseball we’ve seen from him, with the rest of the players on the list retiring either voluntarily or non-voluntarily when it was clear they could no longer contribute in the majors. With guaranteed money and no apparent motivation on either side for a buyout that would lead to a graceful retirement, this has led to an unfortunate secondary result in which we’ve seen Pujols at his worst longer than any other great hitter.

ouch. but then szymborski goes on to ask the tough questions, like, what if pujols had not sucked so badly with the angels? turns out, that would have been pretty awesome!

oops [code] mess-up there on the column headers, my bad

on a rate basis, though, damn Larry Doby age 35+ was fucking awful!

According to my math, he'll earn $29M for the 2020 season.

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, January 22, 2020 5:13 PM (seven months ago)

...and $30M for 2021.

but just think of that thrilling chase for the RBI record!!!

lol, i was joking about that, but that would be a true nightmare scenario for angels fans - an extra incentive to give pujols as many RBI opportunities as possible

am i right in thinking he was never the same after developing plantar fasciitis?

Surprised Ichiro isn't on that list.

If you use bWAR, Ichiro is -0.5 for his last 449 games/1071 PA (-1.3 if you limit it to offense).

I think Fangraphs missed him--using their numbers, Ichiro is -0.1 for the same time frame, which would put him with Joe Tinker.

oh, i think that list was comparing pujols to hall of famers, only (although ichiro is obv a hall of famer)

which is stiff competition, of course, but i think they were just trying to make the point that out of elite players, pujols has been uniquely awful in his later years

Yeah, I missed that. Reserve a spot for Ichiro, and Cabrera too.

honestly, selfishly, as a cardinals fan, i have to admit that there is something cathartic and comforting about being able to compartmentalize his career to just his years in STL. virtually all of his good times were there. all of them, i think? (unless you count reaching big counting stat milestones like 500 HR etc)

am i right in thinking he was never the same after developing plantar fasciitis?

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand)

yeah, it was already apparent in the last parts of 2010 and especially in 2011. he was noticeably slower in 2011, obviously playing through something. he's been playing through it ever since, i think

Biggio crossed my mind--I remember him hanging on for what seemed like forever in pursuit of 3,000 hits--but he was actually only terrible his final season, age 41; he was just barely above replacement at 40, and his age-season was pretty decent (26 HR).

"his age-39 season"

as bad as pujols has been, he's still more or less replacement level. i mean you'd like to get more out of $30m or whatever, but he's still playable. which is more than you can say for justin upton, whom they still have two more years of.

i'm curious how rendon will fare. he's been great this mini-season, but . . .

LUKEWARM TAKE: Pujols' decline was simply related to the increase in testing.

From Muscle & Fitness (May 2007):

https://www.muscleandfitness.com/athletes-celebrities/news/swing-king/

At 6'3" and 240 pounds, Albert looks more like a football strong safety than a first baseman. Sporting a sleeveless T and shorts for his shoot with M&F, he speaks on his weight training as knowledgeably as he might on hitting. But like many ballplayers, he was initially reluctant to subscribe completely to a regular weight-training program, fearing that he might get too tight or that his swing might suffer. "I grew up in the Dominican [Republic], but I never lifted weights there," he says. "I didn't do anything crazy until I started working with Chris Mihlfeld in 1998, when I was 18."

Mihlfeld, now Albert's full-time personal trainer (and training partner), remembers a young player with more potential than presence. "He was around 205 pounds, long, lanky, but a little soft around the middle with some baby fat," says Mihlfeld, who coached Albert for a short time at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City, Missouri. "He had good natural strength in his hands and forearms, but he didn't have any weight-training experience at all." That changed in 1999 when Albert was signed in the free-agent draft and contacted Mihlfeld to help him get stronger for The Show. "We took small steps," Mihlfeld says. "He wasn't very strong with the weights at first, but in the last three years, we've really started to go heavy. In the beginning, he was doing dumbbell bench presses with 35s and 40s. Now, he's throwing around 100s like cupcakes."

Chris Mihlfeld was outed by Deadspin* as one of the redacted names when Jason Grimsley got busted for an impressive regime of HGH/Steroid cocktails. Mihlfeld had been fired from his position of Strength & Conditioning Coach by the KC Royals shortly after Novitsky's investigation:
https://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/sports/pitcher-spills-steroid-speed-secrets

*https://deadspin.com/so-weve-got-some-affidavit-names-179400

which is the more controversial take, this ^ or the age one

2019 is almost in the books.

wRC+ 98, .249/.310/.449, -0.1 fWAR.

since the start of the 2015 season, he's been worth +0.1 fWAR overall, with his 1.6 WAR 2015 season balanced out by his -2.0 2017, and near-zero value for the other 3 years.

only 2 years and $59M left on his contract.

― Sally Jessy (Karl Malone), Wednesday, September 18, 2019 10:50 AM (one year ago)

let's do the 2020 update.

wRC+ 79, .224/.270/.395, -0.1 fWAR in 39 games.

in his first 5 years with the angels (2012-2016) he put up 9.0 fWAR, 119 wRC+, .266/.325/.474.
in his last 4 years (2017-2020), he dropped to - 2.7 fWAR, 85 wRC+, .242/.291/.406.

only 1 year and $24M left on his career.

Assuming that's it, Cardinals fans take solace: 11 seasons in St. Louis, 10 in L.A.

Is this new? Feels like an old story (or was it just suspicion?).

https://www.insider.com/albert-pujols-lying-about-his-age-2021-3#:~:text=David%20Samson%2C%20who%20served%20as,Angels%20following%20the%202011%20season.

widely suspected but samson is also an attention-getting radio guy so i don't put extra stock in his word

A James tweet today:

Albert Pujols with the Cardinals was 179 hits ABOVE .300. His career average is now .299. I would be surprised if there was any other player in history who ever went from 179 hits above .300 to finish under .300.

There's actually a perfect split there: first 10 years all over .300, next 10 all under .300 (first one .299, but still).

2001-10: .332
2011-20: .262

retiring at .299 would irritate the shit out of me

tell it to mickey mantle

Players who did:

Frank Demaree
Carl Furillo
Hardy Richardson
Dustin Pedroia
Bake McBride
Rico Carty
Jack Doyle
Matt Holliday
Kenny Lofton
Frank McCormick
Sam West
Harry Rice
Joe Start
Dante Bichette
Buck Jordan
Shane Mack

(.298 for Mantle.)

Anyway, I don't know how many AB it will take--probably no more than 50-100--but anything beyond that and it's probably safe to say Pujols won't be finishing up with a career .299 average.

I doubt Pujols has carried a .300 OBP across the past 6 seasons.

I peeked at his 2021 projections on Fangraphs, yikes.

THE BAT X has him with a .587 OPS. ZIPS has him at -1.1 WAR (not a career worst fwiw!)

I doubt Pujols has carried a .300 OBP across the past 6 seasons.

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, March 11, 2021 12:26 AM (thirty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

close - he's at .301 over the past 6, .299 over the past 5

Because he's rounding up right now--he's at .29855--he'd actually have to get 30 hits in his next 100 AB to stay at .299; anything less, he's down to .298. So he'll probably be off .299 forever fairly quickly--his first few AB, probably.

I know it won’t happen, but I’d like to see him traded back to the cardinals for some of those last plate appearances (but please, not more than 30 or so, please)

Just read that LaRussa had him walked intentionally, tying his season totals for 2019 and 2020 (2015 was the last time he reached 10 IBB). I can only assume I was on deck at the time.

Will ground into his 400th double play this season, the first player to ever do so.

Was intrigued by the IBB, so I looked it up:

Bottom of the 8th, Angels down by a run; two out, Trout on first, José Iglesias on deck. Pujols had homered earlier in the game.

I don't know Iglesias at all (sorry Andy K), but in a small sample last year (142 AB), he hit .373. Seems like a terrible move situationally: Pujols has to homer again to put L.A. ahead, a double from Iglesias will do it. As someone on the MLB site put it, La Russa still has his head in 2011.

It worked, though.