A bombshell of a tweet came out this afternoon: Angels are releasing Albert Pujols. Technically, they designated him for assignment, which he will likely be released. Already in his final year of his 10 year contract that he signed prior to the 2012 season, this ends his Angel career prematurely. Sure, it didn’t go as well as he had hoped, but I think they should have at least held on to him through the end. Maybe they think they could compete for a division title without him now? He hasn’t been a great producer the past few years. Injuries hampered his production early in his deal. However, this decline could be seen even before he signed.
Many Cardinal fans wanted Pujols to return after winning the 2011 World Series. By not re-signing him, they dodged a major bullet. The last few years, he had been relegated to DH for the most part until the signing of Shohei Ohtani. That meant Pujols would have to play the field. So what is his Angel legacy? I think it’s “what could have been.” I think the Angels didn’t handle their team properly at all. Many would agree. Pujols, handed the reigns of best player in the game to teammate Mike Trout. In the time Pujols has been an Angel, the team has made the playoffs only one time in 2014. The Angels did not build pitching at all, which ultimately cost them. Pujols’ injuries and declining production is what many people will remember his tenure by.
So what now? He has some options. He could say, this is it and just retire. Speculation about his retirement started earlier this year when his wife made a post on Instagram indicating that he was entering his final year of playing. She later edited it to say the final year of his Angels contract. I wouldn’t be surprised if he retires, however I think this is unlikely. It sounds like he still wants to play. Could he return where it all started? Does it even make sense? I know how I feel about the whole situation but I wanted to see what others thought. I reached out to members of the Facebook group Cardinals Nation 24/7 to get their opinion.
What will Albert Pujols do? Retire or Sign with a team? Over 85% said that he would wind up signing with another team rather than retire. I would have to agree. I think he wants to continue playing. The Angels made it sound like he wants to continue to play 1B. Many teams already have a solid 1B so if he is truly wanting to play, his options may be limited.
Where will Pujols sign? It was split between the Cardinals and White Sox. Those were the first 2 teams that came to mind. However, playing issues would occur with both. The Cardinals have Paul Goldschmidt plus no DH this year so there’s no place to play Pujols unless he would agree to be a bench player. That would then give the Cardinals two lackluster bench options, the other being Carpenter. Pujols would essentially take John Nogowski’s role prior to his injury. The White Sox have reigning AL MVP Jose Abreu at 1B, plus leading Rookie of the Year Yermin Mercedes at DH. The obvious link here is Tony LaRussa is now managing the Sox. Would TLR shift things around so he could put Pujols in the lineup? I really don’t know. The 3rd most popular answer was the Kansas City Royals. Former teammate Mike Matheny is managing them and there could be a connection there. Kansas City is only a few miles from where Pujols grew up. The Royals just signed Carlos Santana this offseason to play 1B. They have also had Jorge Soler split time at DH and RF. If Pujols is looking to play 1B, this could be an option. They could have Soler play RF full-time, shift Santana to DH so Pujols could play 1B. I don’t think that would be a great move, but it’s something they could do.
Do you want the Cardinals to sign Pujols? This was the question I was curious about how the results would turn out. 55% want the Cardinals to sign Pujols. Of the 45% that said no, a few had a caveat of signing Pujols to a 1 day contract.
So what do I think will happen? I think Pujols truly does want to continue playing. He is close to 700 home runs. If he DHs, I think he would be satisfied. I think he is going to focus his choices (if he has any) to the AL. I give him 3 options, all contenders: Kansas City, Boston, & Tampa Bay. Of those, I think Boston might be his best bet if he is wanting to play 1B. They have Bobby Dalbec who hasn’t been exactly setting the stage on fire and Marwin Gonzalez, who is more of a utility player than a 1B. Pujols could come in and likely start right away.
Now, do I want the Cardinals to sign him? Yes and no. I hope the Cardinals don’t sign him for the remainder of the season because that’s going to hurt our bench. With that said, I do believe he will wind up retiring as a Cardinal, whenever he decides to hang up his cleats. I think he will wind up signing a 3 day contract to play 1 final series with the Cardinals so fans can thank him for all he did for St. Louis.
While this certainly won’t be the Pujols sweepstakes of 10 years ago, I for one am going to be keeping a close eye on where he winds up signing.
