Albert Pujols Watch

streeter88

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Apr 2, 2006
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Let's face it, as a Red Sox fan this year is pretty much a lost cause. So why not watch Albert's quest for 700 HRs and other cool milestones? I created a table to track his progress as at end of day today (August 24), and will update it weekly at minimum - or more often if Albert has another crazy week like last week.

After today, the Cardinals have 38 games left. Albert needs 7 HR for 700, or just 4 more to pass ARod. Let's go!

54647
 

radsoxfan

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Aug 9, 2009
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Is he going to retire after this year if he ends at like 698?

Can't believe he has an 0.881 OPS this season....highest since 2011 with the Cardinals!

He might OPS at age 42 higher than any season with the Angels. What an insanely bad contract that ended up being.
 

jon abbey

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He said again last week he is one hundred percent retiring no matter the numbers.
 

streeter88

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Second that re retirement. But let's see how it shakes out if he does end up on 698. Would be an interesting comparison vs. what befell ARod and Bonds in their final seasons. While ARod's career ended with a whimper in 2016 after posting a .598 OPS with 9 HR in 240 PA, Bond was (IIRC) forced to retire as no team made an offer for 2008 after he put up a 1.045 OPS in 340 PA in 126 games -- including 28HR and a whopping 132 BB (43 were IBB). Bonds ended up stranded on 1,996 RBI and 2,935 hits as a result.
 

Marciano490

Urological Expert
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Nov 4, 2007
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Credit where it’s due, but Simmons’ revelation that Pujols is pronounced Poo Holes was one of the best laughs of my life. Sorry for the frivolity, but we may not get to laugh at Poo Holes much longer.
 

streeter88

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Is he going to retire after this year if he ends at like 698?

Can't believe he has an 0.881 OPS this season....highest since 2011 with the Cardinals!

He might OPS at age 42 higher than any season with the Angels. What an insanely bad contract that ended up being.
In an alternate universe, Pujols stayed in St. Louis and ended with 771 HRs. All he'd have needed to do was average 30 HRs over those 10 years vs the 23 he did put up in LA.
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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I forget where I saw this and hope it wasn't on SoSH; but someone said it would really be funny if at the end of the season he was just like "Alright guys, I'm actually 49."
 

Gdiguy

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I forget where I saw this and hope it wasn't on SoSH; but someone said it would really be funny if at the end of the season he was just like "Alright guys, I'm actually 49."
'I'm retiring because I need to start getting social security disbursements'

(of course that age thing only makes his current year performance even more impressive; it's remarkable how even with a clear decline, the top players still can retain some specific aspect (e.g. for him, hitting lefties) at a pro-level for years and years)
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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'I'm retiring because I need to start getting social security disbursements'

(of course that age thing only makes his current year performance even more impressive; it's remarkable how even with a clear decline, the top players still can retain some specific aspect (e.g. for him, hitting lefties) at a pro-level for years and years)
For a lot of the greats, their declines weren't necessarily a degrading of their skills so much as a decreasing ability to recover and perform as often as they used to. Like for Pujols, I'm sure retirement holds more allure than being a part-time lefty-masher next year because retirement means he doesn't have to deal with the aches and pains and effort to be game-ready anymore. David Ortiz talked about knowing it was time to retire when he spent more time getting himself ready to play (whirlpools, ice treatments, massages, stretching, etc) than actually playing the game.
 

Euclis20

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For a lot of the greats, their declines weren't necessarily a degrading of their skills so much as a decreasing ability to recover and perform as often as they used to. Like for Pujols, I'm sure retirement holds more allure than being a part-time lefty-masher next year because retirement means he doesn't have to deal with the aches and pains and effort to be game-ready anymore. David Ortiz talked about knowing it was time to retire when he spent more time getting himself ready to play (whirlpools, ice treatments, massages, stretching, etc) than actually playing the game.
I remember the same but this makes me laugh a bit - as a DH, Ortiz actually "played the game" for at most 15 minutes a night.
 

ledsox

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Nov 14, 2005
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I just want him to pull a real miracle and hit a triple. He has zero in the last 8 years and 1 since 2011.
 

GrandSlamPozo

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May 16, 2017
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In an alternate universe, Pujols stayed in St. Louis and ended with 771 HRs. All he'd have needed to do was average 30 HRs over those 10 years vs the 23 he did put up in LA.
How many players in MLB history do you think have managed to hit 300 homers between their age 32-41 seasons? From a quick check on the all time leader list, the only ones I see that pulled that off are Aaron, Ruth and a handful of roiders. (Including Mark Mcgwire, despite the fact that he only actually played 6 seasons and had ~2500 at bats in that window)
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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How many players in MLB history do you think have managed to hit 300 homers between their age 32-41 seasons? From a quick check on the all time leader list, the only ones I see that pulled that off are Aaron, Ruth and a handful of roiders. (Including Mark Mcgwire, despite the fact that he only actually played 6 seasons and had ~2500 at bats in that window)
The answer to the question is six.

Also, Nelson Cruz is a roider?

Here's the full list of players who've hit 300+ home runs from their age 32 season until the end of their careers:

Bonds 428
Ruth 358
Aaron 357
Palmeiro 336
Cruz 329
McGwire 306

Interestingly, if you bump it to age 31 through end of career, the list expands by only three players: Mays, Thome, and Ortiz.
 

streeter88

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In my alternate universe - which is by definition completely separate from reality, Pujols would have stayed healthier by staying in St Louis. But in addition, there are park effects - both home and away - as well as learning a new league of pitchers, which would no doubt have impacted Pujols, who seemed to really lose steam after moving to Anaheim - especially in his age 32 and 34 seasons (age 33 was impacted by injuries).

This article predicted decline from Albert moving leagues - but more from lineup than park effects although it cited all of the NL Central homer friendly parks as opposed to the AL West. Interesting read 10 years later especially how prescient it ended up being.
Bleacher Report 3/1/2012: Albert Pujols' Impact with the Angels: A 10-Year Mistake?
 

BaseballJones

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He’s provided more WAR to the Cards this year than he did the last six years combined.
The Cards handled all that correctly. Got 12 amazing years out of him (460 hr, 1,369 rbi, .327/.418/.614/1.032, 170 ops+, 88.0 bWAR), including 2 World Series championships. Then they let him go when he signed a MASSIVE contract with the Angels, who haven't won diddly squat with him over 10 seasons (as he hit .256/.311/.447/.758, 108 ops+, 12.8 bWAR). Meanwhile, the Cards continued to be really good, went to another World Series, picked up another stud to play 1b (Goldschmidt), and then got Pujols back and all he's done for them this year is slash .277/.351/.532/.882, with an ops+ of 151, and give them 1.4 bWAR in just 79 games.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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My girlfriend is a huge Pujols fan. She's going to the game on 9/16--she's even buying a shirt that says "My heart belongs to Pujols" for it. I just got her an authenticated Pujols autographed card.

Anyway, he has 10 games before that one. She has a chance to see something special.
 

streeter88

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I hope she gets her wish @DJnVa - what a thrill that would be - frankly for all of us, if Pujols were to get to 700. These last trips to various cities are so important for building lifelong fandom, so I hope he gets to play even every day (or as much as his 42 year old body can handle) once the Cards clinch.
 

scottyno

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Dec 7, 2008
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He's still only playing against lefties, so I'm guessing he's going to end up coming up a bit short of 700.

The good news is the cardinals aren't too far from wrapping up the central, and then at that point they probably start forcing him into the lineup every day he can regardless of the pitcher. The bad news is he's had less than no power against righties this year so that might not help much.
 

Mueller's Twin Grannies

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Dec 19, 2009
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He's still only playing against lefties, so I'm guessing he's going to end up coming up a bit short of 700.

The good news is the cardinals aren't too far from wrapping up the central, and then at that point they probably start forcing him into the lineup every day he can regardless of the pitcher. The bad news is he's had less than no power against righties this year so that might not help much.
There's like 30 days left in the season and he's hit 7 in the last few weeks. If he just needs 5, he can hit one every 2-3 games and still have games left on the schedule after the celebration.

That said, 9/16 might be a little bit of a long shot; he'd need to average one every two games and I'm not sure that's going to happen.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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He's still only playing against lefties, so I'm guessing he's going to end up coming up a bit short of 700.
He has started 28 games against RHP and 31 against LHP. It's not really an "only" situation.
 

streeter88

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And he’s starting today vs RHP. Been seeing him increasingly in the lineup lately. Not every day, but close to every other day. Looks like he started 13 games in August.
 

streeter88

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Apr 2, 2006
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Let's face it, as a Red Sox fan this year is pretty much a lost cause. So why not watch Albert's quest for 700 HRs and other cool milestones? I created a table to track his progress as at end of day today (August 24), and will update it weekly at minimum - or more often if Albert has another crazy week like last week.

After today, the Cardinals have 38 games left. Albert needs 7 HR for 700, or just 4 more to pass ARod. Let's go!

View attachment 54647
Everybody is watching the 700 HR chase, but Pujols is very quietly within 4 of 2200 RBI and 1400 XBH as well.

Edit: The only guys above him are Aaron and Ruth (RBI) and Aaron and Bonds (XBH).
 
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Pitt the Elder

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Sep 7, 2013
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Given the forgettable Sox season, following Pujols down the stretch is my favorite thing in baseball right now.

In that vein, I picked Pujols up off the waiver wire in my fantasy league for one of my bench spots. He's not getting a ton of AB, but when he plays he's been about as good as anyone in the last month. It also tickles me that I have him on my roster 20 years since I first started playing fantasy baseball in the spring of my freshman year of college. I haven't had him in my roster very much over the last 20 years, either because he was a hot commodity and was taken off the board before I got him or he wasn't very good and I didn't want him anyway. It's fun to have him on my roster as a valuable player in the last few weeks of his career.