Who Jumps first? Glen or Woy? Pujols AND CJ to the Angels!

[Villain]

For Votto. Great post.

LOL

[NAHSTE]

Joe Posnanski really got to the heart of the matter with Albert, and it's just kinda sad.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51937226/ns/sports-baseball/

The thing that’s strange – the thing that’s sad – is how little excitement there is now when he comes to the plate. Let’s go to a moment in Sunday’s Angels-White Sox game. The count is 3-0, and Albert Pujols has the green light. There should be an electrical charge buzzing the air. Only … really … there isn’t a buzz. There isn’t a charge. There isn’t anything at all. The thrill-o-meter is at zero.

So strange. So sad. It used to be one of baseball’s great thrills to watch Albert Pujols hit. Whether you were a Cardinals fan or not, you would find yourself marking the pace of games by Albert Pujols' at bats.

Pujols just hit, so he probably won’t come up for another two innings, let’s get a hot dog.

St. Louis is down two, but Pujols is scheduled to hit fourth in the eighth.

Hey, the Cardinals avoiding the double play means Pujols will get up one more time before the game’s over.

Stuff like that. Here are the top five players in baseball history after 10 years in Batting Wins Above Replacement – so, perhaps, the five best hitters after 10 seasons (the slash statistics are batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage):

Ted Williams: .347/.484/.633 with 366 doubles, 323 homers, 1,261 RBIs, 1,273 runs.

Albert Pujols: .331/.426/.624 with 426 doubles, 408 homers, 1,230 RBIs, 1186 runs.

Lou Gehrig: .343/.440/.640 with 321 doubles, 267 homers, 1,143 RBIs, 1,075 runs.

Stan Musial: .347/.431/.584 with 373 doubles, 206 homers, 923 RBIs, 1,044 runs.

Babe Ruth: .346/.477/.701 with 271 doubles, 305 homers, 932 RBIs, 969 runs.

Now, Ruth was a pitcher for much of his early career, and Pujols played in a better offensive era than many, but let’s not get too technical about all this. In his first 10 years, Albert Pujols hit more homers than any player ever, and also more doubles.

But the thing that was most striking about Pujols is that he was always exactly as good as he had been the year before. He never had a bad year. He never had anything RESEMBLING a bad year. They called him “The Machine.” If you take the WORST statistical totals he had those first 10 years – that is, the lowest batting average he had over those 10 years, the fewest home runs he hit, etc. -- you STILL come up with this season:

.312 average, .394 on-base, .561 slugging, 33 doubles, 34 homers, 117 RBIs, 99 runs.

Repeat: Those are his WORST numbers in those first 10 years. The guy was a first-ballot Hall of Famer on his worst day.

And he was thrilling to watch hit. He stood at the plate with that wide stance – he looked so sturdy and immovable, like he was magnetically connected with the batters’ box. He was like a marble statue up there.

The pitcher would throw a ball just off the plate, and Pujols would not only refuse to swing, he would look down and kick at the dirt as if the pitch had never happened, as if it was not even worthy of his disdain. Then, when the right pitch came, his pitch, he would unleash with such ferocity you could almost see the cartoon exclamation points dancing around the collision of bat and ball. Everyone has a Pujols example. He was always one swing away from inspiring awe.

That made him exciting, riveting, one of those athletes who could stop time … and now it’s just gone. It isn’t just that Albert Pujols is hitting .241, slugging about 200 points below his career average and striking out more than he’s walking again. By now, we must have gotten used to Pujols slow starts.

Through May 3, 2011: .231/.298/.419 with seven homers.

Through May 14, 2012: .197/.255/.275 with one homer.

Through May 19, 2013: .241/.313/.418 with seven homers.

Each of the last two seasons, he hit well enough the last four-plus months of the season to end up with strong numbers. Last year, for instance, after May 14 he hit .312/.374/.589 with 42 doubles and 29 homers. You have to believe that he will start hitting again at some point.

But, even assuming he does again find the range, even assuming he has a few more productive years, the truth is that Pujols has entered a different phase of his career. After years of being the best player in baseball, Pujols is now sort of beside the point.

[Villain]

Angels fans have little love for Albert. It's kind of a shame. I only see Trout and Hamilton jerseys the majority of the time. I feel bad for the Hamilton fans.

[Woy]

Yeah, I read that article earlier today. Even though last year's slow start was funny, I wanted to see Albert succeed in Anaheim, and what he's reduced to now is sad.