Pujols and the Yankees: a match made in heaven?

On the eve of Game 1 of the World Series, all anyone seems to care about is Albert Pujols’ impending free agency. Or is that just me? As I don’t care who wins, my focus is on how the Yankees can improve for next season. Their first step must be to sign CC Sabathia and then fill out the rest of the starting rotation (another World Series participant CJ Wilson may be an option). But the intriguing question of whether to go after Pujols, who after a slow start most blamed on the break-down of his contract negotiations hit .299 with 99 RBIs, remains. Here are my thoughts in no particular order.

Pujols is the first player in MLB history to bat .300, hit 30 homers and drive in 100 runs in his first 10 seasons making him far and away the best player in baseball. Of course, the same could be said of Alex Rodriguez when the Yankees signed him to a ridiculously long-term contract, essentially out-bidding themselves as no other team had any intention of paying  out that much money. The difference with Pujols is that he has a proven post-season track-record with one World Series title already in his possession. This time around, he’s batting .419 which A-Rod can only dream of!

The other issue is that Pujols is a first baseman and the Yankees have already handed out another hefty contract to Mark Teixeira to play that position. I know Tex had another rough post-season but he’s not going anywhere, nor is he moving to DH as he is great defensively.  I doubt a player of Pujols’ caliber will agree to DH at this point in his career as he has many good years left.

In sum, while it may be tempting for Cashman to go after the biggest name out there, buying a collection of star players does not automatically lead to a championship. Of course, the wild card in all this is Hank Steinbrenner who is dying to make his mark on the team and has already over-ruled Cashman by signed Raphael Soriano which, as we all know, didn’t work out too well. Hopefully, common sense will prevail but this being the Yankees, I expect some drama this off-season!

AP Photo / Albert Pujols

 

Was there an earthquake in St. Louis?

No, that’s just Cardinal fans shaking at the prospect of losing the current best player in baseball Albert Pujols to free agency NEXT season (that’s the extent of the panic). His agent decided to play nice and extend the artificial deadline for contract talks one more day to not distract from Cardinal legend Stan Musial being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. How nice of him. Here comes my rant – I understand that Pujols has put up monster stats for the Cards and won a World Series to boot but $300 million over 10 years is completely outrageous. He and his agent must understand that in maybe 5 years time max, he will not be the best player anymore. Evan Longoria, Hanley Ramirez or Joey Votto may be the heirs to that title. That is the nature of sports – athletes grow older and their bodies start to fail. Obviously, baseball is reasonably non-contact, with the exception of pitchers and catchers, so the average playing span is longer than say for football players but the inevitable will happen.  Exhibit A: Derek Jeter whom, as a Yankees fan, I have nothing but respect for but there’s no arguing the decline in production last season. There’s a stat box on ESPN’s website that implies Pujols has actually been underpaid relative to A-Rod’s monster contract but why can’t common sense enter the equation instead of simply just number crunching stats?

To that end, St. Louis is a great baseball town whose fans have put Pujols on a pedestal not seen since the heyday of Mark McGwire. The team is almost always competitive and logically, there are very few teams that can afford such a long-term contract. The Yankees are obviously one but they’ve locked up power hitting first baseman Mark Teixeira who certainly wouldn’t become a permanent DH as he gives the team gold-glove caliber defense. There’s the Red Sox but  they just traded for 5-tool first baseman Adrian Gonzalez who (unfortunately) will put up massive numbers for Boston. The Mets suddenly have some fiscal issues as their owner has been implicated in the Madoff mess. That leaves the Cubs as a possibility but I think this would be a horrible move for Pujols. Why would he leave a secure situation in St. Louis for all the pressure that comes with winning a long overdue World Series for the Cubbies?

Pujols says he wants to remain a Cardinal and I take him at his word. I just hope he isn’t swayed too much by his agent and accepts a shorter term deal that would still make him the highest paid player in the game. That’s fair right?

 

Albert Pujols on the cover of Sports Illustrated (cnnsi.com)