The Angels surprised their fans Thursday by reminding them Albert Pujols was still around.
The best right-handed hitter since Henry Aaron was practically invisible by the time the Angels designated him for assignment.
Pujols has played 63 games since the end of the 2019 season, with 37 RBIs. The Angels waited until they were sure Jared Walsh wasn’t just some September figment, and when Walsh began the season by hitting .333 with a .988 OPS, they pulled the ripcord. Walsh was 12 when Pujols won his first National League Most Valuable Player award.
Thus, Pujols came within 133 games of fooling the pundits and finishing his 10-year contract with the Angels. It wasn’t pretty but Pujols walks away with 222 Angel home runs, and only Mike Trout, Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson have more. He is fifth on the Angels’ RBI list.
Five years from now he will no longer resemble a Cadillac on blocks. He will be celebrated. He is the all-time RBI leader among right-handed hitters and his 667 home runs are fifth. He was worthy of first-ballot Hall of Fame election even if he had retired on Dec. 8, 2011, the day he signed the $254 million deal with the Angels, and three days before he was paraded around Angel Stadium like the gold shipment arriving in Mayberry.
The tipoff was the reaction in St. Louis. The Cardinals had won a World Series five weeks beforehand. Most of their fans seemed to think the ballclub had artfully offered Pujols just enough money to turn down, and that a 10-year deal would be at least six too many. That was about right. The Cardinals got back to the World Series in 2013, the second of their six playoff appearances without The Machine.
It wasn’t Pujols’ fault that the Angels played only three postseason games when he was here and won none.
And Pujols did drive in 119 runs five years ago and 101 four years ago, and hit 40 home runs in 2015. His 500th and 600th home runs and his 3,000th hit all came in Angels clothing and were duly celebrated.
But the milestones became millstones when he was on the bases, and he wasn’t on them nearly enough, with a .311 OBP as an Angel. Pujols once hit .359 in St. Louis and won a batting title. Here, he hit a composite .256.
In some ways, Pujols’ contract was a plus. His signing coincided with, and maybe cinched, a new Fox broadcast contract. His community work was unmatched. Even though he clashed with Torii Hunter and others in his early, scuffling Angels days, he quickly accepted the imminence of Mike Trout. He probably saw a bit of himself in Trout’s incessant production and dedication. He realized there was no torch to be passed.
So don’t ask why Pujols didn’t reverse the aging process. Ask why the Angels let his final days go unredeemed.
Ask why the Angels would trade for pitcher Zack Greinke in 2012 without knowing they could sign him long-term. Ask why they fired scouting director Eddie Bane and have been scrambling to restock ever since. Ask why they let their bullpen hemorrhage in 2012 and 2013, or why they splurged for C.J. Wilson, who returned far less value than Pujols did.
Ask why they went to the expense and trouble of signing Josh Hamilton without giving him the type of support he’d gotten in Texas.
And ask why the answer to everything is to make a big cannonball splash in the offseason, guaranteed to pay beyond the player’s ability to play.
They paid Justin Upton but not Kole Calhoun. Maybe this is the year Shohei Ohtani provides something beyond occasional amazement, but it’s also his fourth year here.
There’s no reason to think Anthony Rendon won’t be an All-Star third baseman again when healthy, since he had a .915 OPS in his first Angels season. But when he is 36 the Angels will be paying him $38.6 million. Between now and then, how many times will they tell us they can’t afford to bolster their bullpen, can’t get involved in trade deadline deals?And how many more will spend their back-nine years with the Angels, the same way a grad transfer uses a college basketball team? Rickey Henderson, Dave Winfield, Mo Vaughn, Dave Parker, Eddie Murray, Ian Kinsler, Tim Lincecum, Freddie Patek and Gary Gaetti are just the preface to that story.
So Pujols’ Anaheim years end with the Angels in last place and with the world champion Dodgers in town, an example of how little power one man, even one machine, can possess. He rode in like the Lone Ranger and rides out on a bleak news release, neither problem nor solution.
Ten years is a long time without an imprint.
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Whicker: Albert Pujols’ time with Angels had moments, but few memories - OCRegister
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