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 Spedito - 13/07/2022 : 05:48:02
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Because of all the variables involved from day to day, month to month, and season to season, numerical trends in baseball are hardly ever linear. The challenge for analysts is to sort through the statistical noise and figure out what is really happening. Then, there is Albert Pujols.
In 2008, playing first base for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pujols had an unbelievable year. He hit .357 with a .462 on-base percentage, a .653 slugging percentage, 37 home runs, 116 RBIs and his second National League MVP award. The next year, the slash line slid .327/.443/.658 but the homer and RBI totals of 47 and 135 represented career highs. Pujols won his third MVP.
ANGELS 2014:
Those upticks in home runs and RBI represent just about the only statistical blips in Pujols favor since that 2008 season. His WAR also was slightly up in 2009, from 9.2 to 9.7, going by baseball-reference.coms computation. Since then, its been straight downhill 7.5 in 2010, 5.4 in 2011, 5.0 in Pujols first season with the Angels in 2012, and 1.5 last year, when Pujols was limited to 99 games by a foot injury.
Every meaningful indicator of Pujols performance has gone straight down, year by year, and his standing among the games best players has slipped along with his numbers. After his back-to-back MVPs, Pujols finished second to Joey Votto in the 2010 vote, fifth in 2011, 17th in 2012, and got no MVP votes last year.
These are indisputable facts, just like the fact that Pujols is 34 years old and has a backloaded contract that will see him make $23 million this year, then get a $1 million raise each season until he takes home $30 million in 2021, at the age of 41. This structure means that in order to come even close to providing value for money, Pujols must find a way to turn back the clock, and fast.
YearWAR BA SLG OBP OPS OPS+ HR RBI wOBA wRC+ 20089.2.357.462.6531.11419237116.45918420099.7.327.443.6581.10118947135.44718020107.5.312.414.5961.01117342118.41916420115.4.299.366.541.9061483799.38414720125.0.285.343.516.85913830105.3613220131.5.258.330.437.7671161764.329111FANTASY SOURCE:
He feels great, and hes moving as well as he has for four or five years, Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. He feels good at first base, hes been in every drill, and in games, hes been fine.
Carrying World Series expectations into last season, the Angels skidded to a 78-84 record as Pujols got hurt, Josh Hamilton struggled, and the pitching staff posted a 4.23 team ERA. There is only so much that https://www.justdocardinals.com/arizona-cardinals-pet-gear any one person can do to lift the Angels back into contention, but Pujols bears a high burden of responsibility.
My job is to be in the lineup, to help this organization to win, he said. Im gonna do whatever it takes to do that, whether its at first base, whether its at DH, or taking a day off here and there.
Those days off are a big deal. Pujols has famously been a gamer, playing through pain to keep his bat in the lineup for the Cardinals and then the Angels. In his first 12 seasons, Pujols never played fewer than 143 games from 2001-12, the only major leaguer to play in more games than Pujols was Ichiro Suzuki, and over that stretch, Pujols 475 home runs and 1.022 OPS led the majors.
When hes got it, theres really not much you can do, other than put him on first, said Yankees infielder Brendan Ryan, who was Pujols teammate with the Cardinals from 2007-10. To see him come up, all those years in St. Louis, and do it in the big moments, the biggest, game-changing moments, consistently, its something Ill never forget.
Being that unforgettable and indispensible player for the Cardinals came with a price. Pujols may have been nicknamed The Machine, and appeared as a cyborg in television commercials, but he attributes some of the decline in his numbers to having been occasionally unwise about the level of rest his human body needed. That is why Scioscia talking about how fresh Pujols looks is important, as is Pujols new willingne s to sit from time to time.
If I need a day off, Ill take a day off, Pujols said. I wish I would have done that earlier in my career, because the last couple of years, because Im trying to be Superman and play 162 games, its obviously cost me the last couple of years.
While Pujols numbers have continued to slide since his arrival in Anaheim, Mike Trout has become the Angels candidate for MVP, finishing second in the American League to Miguel Cabrera each of the past two years. Trouts emergence has meant that Pujols has gone from being unquestionably the best player in baseball to playing second fiddle on his own team. When Pujols signed as a free agent, the Angels put up billboards calling him El Hombre Pujols did not like the advertising campaign, and publicly bristled at it out of respect for both God and Stan Musial. Now, hes just un hombre, albeit still a very important one for the Angels.
Mike Trout, Albert Pujols (AP Photo)
MLB 2014: | |
Youre talking about one of the best players of all time, Angels outfielder J.B. https://www.justdocardinals.com/pat-tillman-jerseys Shuck said. If we can have him healthy, hitting behind Trout, thats two of the best hitters in the game. Thats a huge boost to the lineup, to the team morale, to everything. Its a big help.
When it comes to talking about Trout, though, Pujols can be touchy. A question about whether Trouts performance pushes him to keep up with his own hitting provoked a harsh reaction from Pujols.
I dont need to keep up with anybody, buddy, Pujols said. Just look https://www.justdocardinals.com/aeneas-williams-jerseys at my numbers. My job is to stay healthy and go out there and play. I dont need anybody to motivate me to play this game. My job is to be out there and give 110 percent. Thats what Ive been doing the rest of my career, if youve been following me. Thats what Ive been doing. I dont think we need anybody as motivation to do our work. Our job is to go out there and play and help this organization to win. If theres somebody in the locker room that needs motivation from a player to work, theyre in the wrong clubhouse, because they should be motivated. This is our job, and we need to take it real seriously.
A few days later, Pujols still was irked, and .
Can you imagine someone saying that to me? Pujols told Bob Nightengale. I felt like saying, Come on, are you serious? Are you really asking me that? Check out my numbers. I know what Mike Trout has done in his first two years is pretty special, but will you look at my numbers? Ive been doing this for almost 14 years.
That actually was almost exactly what Pujols said when asked the initial question.
The only guy in baseball who can match the numbers Ive put up is Barry Bonds, and someone is actually asking if I can put up numbers like Mike Trout? Pujols continued to USA Today. Are you freaking kidding me?
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Its not a matter of kidding, nor is it a matter of disrespecting all that Pujols has accomplished in the game. He is eight home runs away from reaching 500 for his career, has two World Series rings, and is one of four players, along with Ted Williams, Joe Morgan and Cabrera, to be in back-to-back seasons. Not even Bonds did that. But when Pujols implores you to look at the numbers, what you see is the steady decline since the MVP years.
The question is about how Pujols plans to try to get back to those Pujolsian heights, to the levels of performance that are a matter of expectation with his stature and his salary. It is not uncommon for teammates to talk about how they can motivate one another, although more often it is pitchers who talk about wanting to match the good outing of the previous days starter. Maybe Pujols doth protest too much about the effect of playing with Trout, but the question remains, what is it that drives him?
Oh, I know where he got his drive from, Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright said. Albert and I share the same faith and believe in the same God. Hes continued to prove that to me and to his teammates, that hes out there playing with a purpose because hes been given a set of talent and tools that he doesnt want to waste.
That mirrors something Pujols said that otherwise might have seemed worthy of an eye-roll, the way that many athletes pay lip service to a higher power.
I know how to hit, thats something I can tell you, Pujols said. Ive been really ble sed by God out there to give me talent and ability to play this game, and if I can stay healthy, I know what I need to do, to do that.
How all of this fits together for Pujols is something that only he truly knows, but Ryan did his best to put it into perspective.
Id say its not a stretch or reach to know or see that his faith is No. 1, https://www.justdocardinals.com/jonathan-ledbetter-jerseys his family is No. 2, and being the best hitter in the game is probably No. 3, Ryan said. Theyre probably not far off from each other. Having watched him in the cage, and seen him dripping in sweat, he knows where he needs to get, and hes starving to get to that place, each and every day.
There is no question about Pujols desire, nor about his work ethic. The question is whether Pujols can reverse a downward trend so acute that there is no room to debate it. The Angels season depends on the answer, because back-to-back years of near-MVP performance from Trout have not been enough to get Los Angeles to the playoffs in the absence of Pujols expected contributions.
I dont get caught up in numbers, man, Pujols said. I know if Im healthy, my numbers are going to be there. I dont have to prove anything. The last couple of years, with one leg, I hit 30 homers and 110 RBI. Thats without taking the month of April or the month of September, that I didnt hit any homers. I could have easily hit 40 homers (in 2012), if I had a decent month in April or September. Last year, it was just bad luck. I was hitting the same way, going to drive in 100, and probably hit 30 home runs again, and it was just bad luck, which sucks. Its something I just want to stay healthy and go out there and play every day and help this organization to win. The numbers, I think, are going to be there at the end. |
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Albert Pujols seeks return to MVP form r
