Unsurprisingly, Angels first baseman/designated hitter Albert Pujols has no plans to retire prior to 2020 or ’21 – the final two seasons of his 10-year, $240MM contract. Pujols, who will turn 40 during the upcoming offseason, told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register: “Whether it’s tomorrow or in spring training, if I feel one day the fire is not there, it doesn’t matter how much money is left on my contract, it’s time to go. But I don’t see that happening. Because this year this is the most fun I had because I was healthy and I was able to do things I wasn’t able to do in the past.” Pujols underwent multiple surgeries a year ago, causing his season to end in August, but the future Hall of Famer has hung in there from start to finish in 2019. While his overall production hasn’t been good, Pujols has managed to hit 23 home runs, leaving him four short of tying the legendary Willie Mays (660) for fifth on the all-time list. If healthy, Pujols may have a shot at reaching the hallowed 700-HR mark sometime before his contract runs out. He’ll earn $59MM during that two-year span.
Elsewhere around baseball…
- Still just one game up on the Brewers in the NL Central, the Cardinals might not even make it to the NLDS this year. If the Redbirds do get that far, though, it’s “unlikely” injured right-hander Michael Wacha will factor into their plans, according to general manager Michael Girsch (via Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Wacha, who suffered a mild strain of his pitching shoulder Wednesday, won’t be able to pick up a ball for at least five to seven days, per Hummel. Fortunately, Wacha doesn’t have any structural damage, nor is this shoulder injury related to previous issues he has dealt with in that area. Manager Mike Shildt is optimistic Wacha will pitch again this season, but it appears that will require the Cardinals to advance to the NLCS.
- Yankees slugger Edwin Encarnacion still hasn’t returned from the left oblique strain he incurred Sept. 12, and it doesn’t look like a sure bet he’ll play in either of the team’s last two regular-season games. Encarnacion said Friday that he’s not “mentally over” the injury, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News relays. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to overcome the issue by the time the Yankees’ ALDS matchup against the Twins starts Oct. 4.
- The Phillies have folded in back-to-back years under manager Gabe Kapler, leading to speculation that the club could fire him at season’s end. Kapler spoke about his status Friday, telling Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer and other reporters: “It’s not something I’m thinking about right now. It’s not something I’m worried about and haven’t had any conversations about it.” Kapler at least “seems safe for the weekend,” Breen writes, but the Phillies could choose to go in another direction after that. The Phillies finished 80-82 under Kapler in his rookie campaign as a manager in 2018, and even after an incredibly active offseason, they’ll wind up with an almost identical record this year. They’re an even 80-80 with two games remaining.
14th In AL in rbi. I’d say his overall production has been solid.
The biggest criminal act of analytics has been to downplay the RBI. For many reasons it is clear this is a fallacy.
Like global warming?
ha!
Hahahaha.
Elaborate. What are a few of these many reasons?
I would like to hear the “many reasons” as well
Exactly. People claim the RBI is useless as a stat because it is dependent on other factors, but so is almost everything else that happens in a game. Even the so-called three true outcomes are dependent on other factors. For a batter to get a walk, he has to depend on a pitcher not hitting the strike zone. For a pitcher to get a strikeout, he has to depend on the batter not being able to make even weak contact. Even a home run depends on you being in the right park when you hit it.
RBIs are somewhat dependent on teammates getting on base, but that’s only true of multiple RBIs. A player has an opportunity to get a single RBI every time he steps to the plate regardless of what his teammates do.
Is RBI a perfect stat? No, of course not but neither is anything else.
But since that is the only reliable portion of RBIs, that makes HRs a superior stat for that purpose.
Hiflew your post is a better argument of why RBI is an overrated stat
Agreed.
It’s not inconceivable to come up with a suitably adjusted RBI stat that takes into account the number of baserunners (including, technically, himself) a batter could have driven in over a season, say, (raw RBI)/(total base runners). in fact, I am sure such stats have been calculated–too obvious a concept. I do wonder why people do not make more of stats like this, rather than just dismiss RBI as a concept completely. In the end, driving in runs win games, at least as far as hitters are concerned. So being successful at deiving in runs is of critical. Maybe some people get more chance and their RBI totals are padded, but that’s not a fatal flaw as adjusting stats for them should easy.
So RBI would be a useful statistic if it was a different, more in-depth statistic. Great.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of articles out there breaking down why the RBI is an overrated stat. Reigniting the same argument in a comments section doesn’t change the facts. Thank you for your contribution, however it’s irrelevant.
Just curious why you think it’s a good stat? It’s been proven time and time again it’s a stat that is heavily influenced by your teammates.
It’s not a great stat because of its dependence on having base runners but it’s a solid stat for showing how often a batter takes advantage of runners on base. Advancing a runner from 2nd to 3rd is great but driving him in is better.
More advanced stats can indicate consistency of driving in runners from each base versus how often a batter had that opportunity. But, as a basic stat, it allows younger/newer fans get a sense of how “good” a hitter is when runners are on.
But even that is dependent on lineup construction, speed/skill of the baserunners, in-play assessment of the 3rd base coach, etc. A hit that moves a runner from 2nd to 3rd and one that scores a runner from 2nd could be essentially identical with all those other factors being difference-makers.
The hitter with the RBI didn’t do anything better than the hitter without one. Both players did their job. . The first hitter can have his fun stat. I don’t begrudge anyone wanting to have fun stats. It’s just not a stat that tells you much about him as a hitter.
Rerogers no it does not. So if a leadoff hitter as 65 RBI and cleanup hitter has 100 how does a young fan get an understanding of how you hit with runners on base by RBI stat?
The proper stat is hitting with RISP.
Leadoff man could have higher RISP but if you look at RBI it would not show it. Your argument is not supported by facts
Who is more effective at driving in runners– a guy with 91 RBIs, or a guy with 67 RBIs?
Now, what if I tell you the guy with 91 RBIs is a #3 batter following two guys with .360-.380 OBPs; and the 67 RBI guy bats leadoff in the NL?
wordonthestreet just made the argument that RBI is an important stat by using a very important stat to showcase RBIs. Thank you.
“Heavily influenced by your teammates.” I guess MLB should stop with this team stuff and make this an individual sport.
Let’s play a game of would you rather:
Scenario 1: 1 out, runner on second, batter walks, next hitter grounds into a DP.
Scenario 2: 1 out, runner on second, batter hits a single, runner on second scores, next hitter grounds into a DP.
Hits>Walk. Every single time. No pun intended. Here’s another one:
Scenario 1: 1 out, runner on third, batter walks, next batter hits into a DP.
Scenario 2: 1 out, runner on third, batter taps the ball to second, runner scores, next batter grounds out.
Scenario 2 wins this one too. That darn RBI keeps beating that all-important walk! Bottom line is every team needs a Joe Carter. JD you are supposed to be a Jays fan. You should know full well that a team needs a Carter to help drive in an Alomar.
If only either of those scenarios had anything to do with anything. Literally no one is arguing that runners scoring via hits is a bad thing or that something else is preferable. The discussion is about the usefulness of RBI as a stat. Conclusion: not all that useful.
Just imagine how many more Alomars score with a Tony Gwynn hitting behind them.
RBI is basically batting average with runners on times the number of runners. A .250 RISP guy with a lot of chances will beat a .350 RISP guy on a bad team.
That’s why it’s s crap stat.
That said, Pujols did obviously change his approach with runners on this year and went opposite field a lot. I can admire that team first approach.
Halos – Gwynn would be the lineup’s Alomar, not Carter. Then again Gwynn would drive in over 100 if he did. But if you think Gwynn sucks that’s your opinion.
OntariGro – Those two scenarios actually happen in the big leagues, believe it or not. There is a reason why managers look to walk guys with a base open with two outs or less to put on the force or set up the double play. Here’s another scenario:
Scenario 1: runner on second, none out, batter hits the ball to 2B, runner on second advances to third, next batter hits a fly ball, runner on 3rd scores.
Scenario 2: runner on second, none out, batter strikes out, next batter walks, next batter hits into a double play.
Score runs. Drive in runs. RBI is not the useless stat you’ve been lead to believe.
“Those two scenarios actually happen in the big leagues, believe it or not.”
…again, literally no one is arguing that runners scoring via hits is a bad thing or that something else is preferable. Scoring runs is good. Batting runs in is good. Nowhere have I stated any different.
You can continue presenting “scenarios” that lead/don’t lead to runs being batted in, they’ll all still have nothing to do with the discussion of RBI’s usefulness as a statistical measurement of a player’s skill/performance. You can differentiate between the events of a game and the resulting statistics, right? That they’re not the same thing?
Pretty sure having Trout bat in front of you for most of the season helps you get that high RBI total.
Upton and Ohtani have been hitting behind Trout the last 2 seasons. Upton hit directly behind Trout all last season and still could only get 84 RBI against 30 HR because Upton had a down year w/ RISP at .199. Meanwhile, Albert has managed to continue producing at over a 100 RBI pace relative to the number of games played because he’s still able to hit with runners on. Probably because of factors like less shifting than when there’s no one on base.
Pujols batting anywhere behind Trout helps his RBI total. Yes, he does have a .294 BA w/RISP, but I’d rather look at that than RBI’s.
Hit nearly .300 with RISP. Slugged .550.
Now obviously a lot of credit goes to Trout and the others ahead of him. Big bats.. But AP is more than a .245 hitter!
Batting average means nothing if you can’t hit when it counts.
I only disagree with the last sentence. It implies that a hit is essentially worthless if no one is on base, but how are you gonna get someone on base without a hit or a walk? I’d say that, unless its a blowout game or something, every base hit comes at time when it counts. It can be the spark of a big inning or a 2 out rally or it can simply make the SP throw more pitches which could help later on in the game.
RBIs are a result of the luck of how runners you have on in front of you, therefore RBI is an incomplete statistic. This is obvious, and I’m sure even Babe Ruth understood it.
The old boy put up a .913 OPS with RISP (163 PA), and an .856 OPS with runners on base (253 PA).
With the bases empty he had a .640 OPS in 286 PA.
I think they should try to get more guys on base when Albert bats.
Unfortunate about Pujols. The Halos are stuck paying him….. their best interest would be to cut him and move on from one of the worst contracts in MLB history.
Why? They’d still owe him the money.
he didn’t know that.
Do people come to baseball games to see Pujols anymore? I don’t think so. For 2 more years of playing below league average it wouldn’t be unreasonable to either eat the $59 million over the next 2 years in order to give a younger player a shot. The Angels with Pujols suck.
No. I go to a lot of games and can usually count the number of Pujols jerseys on one hand.
Trout, Ohtani, and local spark plug Fletcher are all much more popular.
The halos paid for him so they cash on his record breakers
Exactly!!! So the Angle’s hat will be on him in Cooperstown.
I fail to see how Pujols will he wearing an Angels hat on his plaque
Pujols is an all time great player and already has a guaranteed contract. If he wants to keep playing, that is his choice. The Angels can’t complain now that they were willing to overpay to get him just because he had the EXPECTED decline they knew would occur at the end of that that contract.
Pujols “ has hung in there” are you kidding me. Who wouldn’t “ hang in there” for that kind of cash.
are you telling us pujols is lying? tell him that in front of him!
The article says that he hung in there in the context of playing without getting injured. He never went on the IL, as opposed to 2018.
Lots of cash for a “40” year old. I’d love to know his real age.
I could be wrong and he might actually be turning 40 but his historical stat trend definitely doesn’t follow someone his age, it follows someone closer to 42.
I’d bet he’s closer to 45. It’s been rumored since he came up.
he went to high school in Kansas city and it was not like he was some man child there. I doubt his age is different than what it says. he has no feet anymore and when that happens he should be playing more like he is 52 not 40. In baseball, once you lose your legs you lose most of your game.
His “historical stat trend” has been completely skewed by injuries. This argument is ridiculous.
RBI has been the most garbage stat of my entire life. It seemed dumb when I was an 8 yearold and it was confirmed dumb as soon as I grasped slightly higher math as a HS kid. stop with the RBI nonsense.
If your math was only “slightly higher” in high school than it was when you were 8, I don’t think you are the expert you seem to believe you are.
Lol
Exactly. I mean, who wants Runs to be Batted In amirite?
Everybody wants a Win too and it’s an even dumber stat…
Lol true
Tell Nolan Arenado that RBI don’t matter. It’s no perfect stat, but there’s something to be said for guys that drive in 100+ runs every year, especially the ones that come with 2 outs. I agree that there are better ways to assess players, but completely dismissing it as a stat is pretty ignorant.
“there’s something to be said for guys that drive in 100+ runs every year”
Yep, it’s “they often come to the plate with men on base (who are often the faster baserunners in a lineup).”
RBI is fine as a sort of bookkeeping stat (who started the chain of events that eventually led to a run(s) scoring). It’s not totally useless but the statistic itself tells you so little about the hitter’s skill/performance relative to other stats that I don’t really see the point in using it in discussion.
Isn’t the point of the game to score runs? So if you bat them in….
Love this comment. I’ll take a guy that consistently drives in 100 YOY.
Tell that to “Wins”.
“Encarnacion said Friday that he’s not “mentally over” the injury …”
Suspicious.
Not suspicious. I tore an oblique swinging a bat in high school and it took weeks after it healed to trust that I could take a swing without it hurting. These guys are humans, not machines.
Angels signed him to that stupid contract, good to see them stuck with it. Pujols isn’t going to improve in his last 2 years and he’s not going into the hall as an angel either. I guess the fans will get to see him break a couple records or so but that’s about it.
I think part of his contract states that he has to go into the HOF as an Angel. I’m not 100% sure about that, but I remember reading something about that at the time of the signing.
After Winfield went in as a padre the hall I believe stopped completely allowing players to pick. It’s a consideration but if it’s clear they did more with one team that is likely the hat they are wearing.
Pujols will be a cardinal.
No different then Griffey with reds
The hall cracked down on that after discovering that Reggie Jackson and Wade Boggs all had similar clauses in last contracts of their careers. That’s why the hall has the final say while still taking the player’s choice into consideration if the choice has enough historical accuracy.
that brilliant contract netted the angels extra billion in tv contract.. and look at vladdy . he went in as an angel even though he may have had a bigger impact as an expo.
Pujols is one of the greatest players of all time and you people are digging him like he’s a garbage player. Probably cause you all type this garbage from your parents basement in between Xbox games. If you don’t appreciate what Pujols has done you aren’t a baseball fan.
Nobody is trashing Pujols.
They are trashing the economic system in which players are paid exorbitantly when they are no longer productive rather than paid fairly in their most productive years. If Pujols was making $29M when he was 23 and the major league minimum now, nobody would be complaining.
He is a garbage player now. A great career, but garbage player now. Put up 0.6 WAR this year. That’s hard to watch from such a formerly great hitter.
It’s not hard to watch for me. Because I don’t foolishly expect him to put up vintage Pujols numbers, and because big contracts like that are just part of the game and a poor excuse when evaluating why a team like the Angels has struggled to get to the postseason. The Yankees have the Stanton contract, with Giancarlo missing most of the season, something that has never come close to happening to Albert with the Angels. But the Yankees rebuilt their farm system and have been able to bring up a lot of talented youth to overcome a similar amount of injuries as the Angels have endured. Every high market team is going to have that dead weight contract no matter what.
2012 is the last year Pujols played at an All-Star level.
That will mean he will rack up 9 years of mediocrity at the end of his career.
Yeah…his 20 year career.
“I was able to do things I wasn’t able to do in the past.”
Like what exactly?
Jog to first at 3 mph instead of 2 mph.
look at vladdy. he went in as an angel. pujols will, too!
He probably won’t.
stay healthy
I’m still trying to figure out why Barry Bonds didn’t win the 1996 & 2000 NL MVP awards. Haters gon hate.
credit where it’s due for the 93 RBIs. if he was on a more affordable contract he could still be a desireable piece.
At this point Pujols is 43 years. Pretty sure he is not the age he says he is. And he is performing as he should.
are you ready to state the same thing in court?
He admitted it himself. Slipped up a few times.
you must have not blurted erroneous things ever in your life!
I’ve never blurted out I was three or four years older than I am.
The biggest issue I have with Albert is that he has no market pull.. people in St. Louis care more about him. His decline has been normal. With exception to his running. But no one cares. Trout and Otahni go out and who pays to see Albert? No one. Difference between stars like him and guys like Bonds and Arod are they were made to be hated. Albert is not polarizing enough to care about. Of course I believe he’s one of the top 5 hitters of the last 30 years. But he’s gonna fade away. And compile #’s that no one cares about.
This is not true. I am a Tampa Bay Rays fan and I always go out to see Albert Pujols when he comes to town. He has done well here. Hit a HR in June against us.
his jerseys were number 2 sellers before ohtani came. his still sells well!
When MLB takes the juice out of the ball next year Pujols will be unplayable. This year he is hitting a home run around once in every twenty five plate appearances. Next year it will likely drop to one in forty. Combine that with the double plays and ever decreasing mobility in the field and the Angels will be in the same position the Yankees were at the end of A-Rod’s career.
He’s not in top 20 in any jersey sales.. the guy has no market… great player very similar situation to Arod in 2016. He should step down while he’s still doing something at the plate.. so should Miggy..
his was number 2 among angels fans.
$24mil/yr…..
I would not walk away from that either.
He’s not going to walk away from $29M or $30M either.
As an angels fan I love pujols but I wish his cost wasn’t so high on our payroll I’d love him to restructure but not a single person on the planet would do that I guess the angels will ride out the rest of his contract.
Mentally Over
Brett Gardner 2019 post season stats 2-15. Average .133
You’ll still be begging the Yankees to sign him,.
Post Season DUD
you, cards trolls are a weird bunch. pujols is older than he is. he is a druggie(on angels site when you could.) greedy and all that. and he is going to choose the cards when he will be elected to hof? dream on!
The HOF will have allot to say what team he represents when he goes in. Truth is his HOF career came from his years as a Cardinals not what he has done as a Angel. When they signed him to that horrible contract it was based on what he had done as a Cardinal. They overpaid thinking they were going to get the same player. It’s obvious that never happened. So I think there is a very small chance he will be wearing a Angel’s hat when he goes in.