What is up with Pujols?

Tomi

This guy has gone from one of the best ever to a average player. I expect players to put up lesser numbers as they get older, but this is pretty bad considering what he has accomplished.

esebille

No more roids I guess, wasnt there someone awhile back boasting how great of an investment a 6 or 7k card of his was.

yankeeno7

Increased random testing?

ThoseBackPages

i still do not believe he is 33 years of age

Albertdidit

I have no idea

Tomi

<< <i>I have no idea >>



Your user name says you know.

CubsKiller99

<< <i>This guy has gone from one of the best ever to a average player. I expect players to put up lesser numbers as they get older, but this is pretty bad considering what he has accomplished. >>



I think he's doing pretty well for a 37 year-old.

Screw him, and the horse he rode in on too.

hyperchipper09

Early June, still got time to get hot. Of course if he does, and puts up big numbers in the second half the juicing questions would rise again. Albert's in a no win situation in many ways. Have big years, get questioned. Have a down, though still good year last year, get questioned. Slow start this year, get questioned. No win. Such is life for the big time players these days

jwgators

Worst contract since ARod.

Cubby

"Albert's in a no win situation in many ways" Nahhhhh, he won big with that contract.

vols1

I think his injuries and age(probably a year or two older) have caught up with him. He had offseason surgery repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, has also had a bad inflammation in left foot this spring. In the past couple of off-seasons he has underwent nerve transposition surgery on his right elbow, and surgery to remove several bone spurs from his elbow. Plus a fractured wrist.

elsnorto

Somewhere out there Fandango weeps as he scrawls all our names on his ever expanding "list".

Snorto~

tigerdean

Doesn't really matter. As much as I hated that he left the Cardinals, He has put up enough numbers already to be in the hall of fame. I think those who invested in the
$6 and 7k cards will lose but those who bought the less expensive auto rookie cards will probably make out pretty well. He will continue to pad his numbers until the Angels can trade him or just have to cut him loose because of no production.

TheCARDKid

I haven't followed baseball in years, really since the middle or late 90's. The news with Arod, Manny Ramirez, etc makes me very suspect of baseball, post 1998 or 2000.

-Looking at Pujols statistics.....how do you go from hitting .320, .330, .350 early in his career (10 seasons over .310), to now .280 and .240. Guys who are .320 hitters usually do that for a career (i.e. Gwynn or Boggs). He's "only" 33, not ancient by baseball standards.

Maybe it says more about baseball. The statistics got so high in the early and mid 2000's, any drop off and you wonder whats wrong.

hyperchipper09

<< <i>I haven't followed baseball in years, really since the middle or late 90's. The news with Arod, Manny Ramirez, etc makes me very suspect of baseball, post 1998 or 2000.

-Looking at Pujols statistics.....how do you go from hitting .320, .330, .350 early in his career (10 seasons over .310), to now .280 and .240. Guys who are .320 hitters usually do that for a career (i.e. Gwynn or Boggs). He's "only" 33, not ancient by baseball standards.

Maybe it says more about baseball. The statistics got so high in the early and mid 2000's, any drop off and you wonder whats wrong. >>




Frank Thomas, I think it was 1998. Slid over the cliff a bit with the .265 average. Very low according to Frank's previous standard. Punched the BA back up over .300 the next couple of years and then never got close to .300 again in a season I don't think. While Pujols is at what, .240 now, in that range. I believe he'll finish somewhere between .270-.280.

bobbybakeriv

<< <i>

<< <i>I haven't followed baseball in years, really since the middle or late 90's. The news with Arod, Manny Ramirez, etc makes me very suspect of baseball, post 1998 or 2000.

-Looking at Pujols statistics.....how do you go from hitting .320, .330, .350 early in his career (10 seasons over .310), to now .280 and .240. Guys who are .320 hitters usually do that for a career (i.e. Gwynn or Boggs). He's "only" 33, not ancient by baseball standards.

Maybe it says more about baseball. The statistics got so high in the early and mid 2000's, any drop off and you wonder whats wrong. >>




Frank Thomas, I think it was 1998. Slid over the cliff a bit with the .265 average. Very low according to Frank's previous standard. Punched the BA back up over .300 the next couple of years and then never got close to .300 again in a season I don't think. While Pujols is at what, .240 now, in that range. I believe he'll finish somewhere between .270-.280. >>



I truly hope he wasn't on the juice. I'm no fan of his, but I am of baseball. Why do you guys keep bringing up his age? Sorry for my ignorance, but I haven't a clue. I thought he grew up in Kansas?

itzagoner

marine layer.

epatmythes

17 posts in, and nobody has mentioned what is "actually" wrong with him. He's been playing the majority of the year through a bad case of plantar fasciitis!

Seriously people... do you only look at the statistic pages and not actually follow the game???

I don't know if any of you have ever had that, but its, when bad, a very painful event just to walk... let alone run, field a position... god forbid, stand at the plate, plant your feet and try to hit a 90 mph baseball with a wooden stick!

The only real cure to have it go away, or lessen enough to not be a hindrance... is rest, often in the form of months. Unfortunately, the Angels are playing well below expectations, Albert is a prideful (if not stubborn) guy... so he's playing, even though he's playing more DH than I'm sure he'd like recently.

The average isn't there right now, but it's only the first week of June... and he's still on pace to have a shot at 30 & 100.

TNP777

<< <i>Somewhere out there Fandango weeps as he scrawls all our names on his ever expanding "list".

Snorto~ >>

jeffcbay

I get plantar fasciitis often, so I feel his pain. It's prevalent with big people who are active (I'm 6'5" 285 lbs. with size 15 feet). I play softball 8 months out of the year. I stretch my feet pregame and every time before I'm up to bat. I've managed to last about two years without a flareup. It SUCKS, I can attest. You would think those trainers could control that for him, but maybe he's too stubborn to listen.

otwcards

<< <i>Somewhere out there Fandango weeps as he scrawls all our names on his ever expanding "list".
>>

orioles93

People were saying the same thing about him last year when he had a slow start and he ended with .285 BA, 30 homers, and 105 rbi's. Thats a very good season. Did anyone really think he was going to keep playing through his 30s at the same pace he did early in his career? That would be insane to expect that of him.

Also just a little side note for a comparison. At age 34, Hank Aaron had a "down year" when he hit .287, 29 homers, and 86 rbi's. All of his previous years he hit well over .300 most of the time while usually having more homers and many more rbi's. You dont hear anyone crying out that its probably because he stopped taking roids that year. So basically, its not like Albert Pujols is the only great hitter to have a down year. It's unfair to just assume its because he "no longer on roids or whatever." Plus he's been playing hurt all year which doesnt help. Its still early and he could bounce back to have a great season just like he did last year. Dont be so quick to jump to conclusions about players.

mlbfan2

<< <i> >>

lanemyer85

<< <i>17 posts in, and nobody has mentioned what is "actually" wrong with him. He's been playing the majority of the year through a bad case of plantar fasciitis!

Seriously people... do you only look at the statistic pages and not actually follow the game???

I don't know if any of you have ever had that, but its, when bad, a very painful event just to walk... let alone run, field a position... god forbid, stand at the plate, plant your feet and try to hit a 90 mph baseball with a wooden stick!

The only real cure to have it go away, or lessen enough to not be a hindrance... is rest, often in the form of months. Unfortunately, the Angels are playing well below expectations, Albert is a prideful (if not stubborn) guy... so he's playing, even though he's playing more DH than I'm sure he'd like recently.

The average isn't there right now, but it's only the first week of June... and he's still on pace to have a shot at 30 & 100. >>



that's part of the reason, but he was already transitioning to old man skills before these foot problems. His walk rate has dropped in half from 2009. He's chasing much more (22.9% out of strike zone swing rate in 2009 up to 36.4% in 2012 with his overall contact rate also dropping 8% over that period). His HR to fly ball rate dropped 5% last year and is down 10% this year which coincides with his isolated SL% dropping off a cliff down 110 points in his first year in SoCal and you can't blame in on the park. Both are pretty equal. It's not even a matter of him cycling off the gas. It's just natural age decline. You're seeing it with guys like Paul Konerko over the last calendar year as well. K rate goes up, walk rate drops, guys lose bat speed and have to start their swing earlier to cheat in order to turn on anything inside thus one begins swinging at more balls out of the zone. It doesn't mean he's going to become completely useless, but I think he's going to struggle to post a .850 OPS from here on out....bum wheel or not. As you can see with Brandon Phillips hitting behind two guys with .400+ OBP%s, any yob can tally 100 RBIs hitting in the middle of the order. So I wouldn't be gauging Pujols' value on his RBI output. He accrued 670 ABs last year to barely scraped together 30 HRs. I don't like his chances to repeat either number from here on out. Even if the Angels bury him at DH over the course of his career.

ClockworkAngel

<< <i>Worst contract since ARod. >>



I think the Angels can boast the top 3 with CJ Wilson, Josh Hamilton, and Albert Pujols all a tied for first for the worst contracts.

Everyone saw it with Pujols a mile away

GB5HOF

Well, God must have wanted it this way. He's in control! Nothing you can do Albert.

So glad the Tigers signed Fielder and not Pujols during that frenzy...A guy that's 4 years (or more) younger, never misses a game, for less years, and less money.

Tomi

Whatever the case may be, it's just a perfect example of investing in vintage and pre-war and not modern.

Foo3112

I don't see the problem. He's right where he should be. As a player gets older, they should be declining. He still produces and hits bombs but his body is pretty much done aside from hitting. His legs are completely gone. Look at Mantle, his last productive year was in 64. All Pujols has to do is just stay clean (which he has never been linked to any PEDs, only speculation because the man is so damn good) and he will no doubt be a first time Hall of farmer.