Deirdre Pujols, wife of Angels first baseman Albert Pujols, suggested on Instagram on Monday that this will be the final season of the 41-year-old’s storied career. However, she quickly amended her post and made it clear that he won’t necessarily retire after 2021. Indeed, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times was among those to report that Pujols hasn’t made a decision on his future beyond this year. But as someone who has struggled immensely over the past few seasons, it doesn’t seem likely that the future Hall of Famer will land another guaranteed contract even if he wants to play in 2022. Regardless, he’ll earn $30MM this season on the 10-year, $254MM deal he signed with the Angels entering the 2012 campaign.
- The Brewers were among the teams that tried to sign reliever Trevor Rosenthal before he inked a one-year, $11MM guarantee with the Athletics, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. The Braves were also known to be in the mix, and they made the right-hander a back-loaded offer for two years, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Trevor Rosenthal ultimately chose the A’s back-loaded proposal (they’ll pay him through 2023).
- Outfielder Brett Gardner re-signed with the Yankees for a $5.15MM guarantee, but at least a few other teams considered prying him out of New York. The Braves, Angels and Blue Jays all showed interest in Gardner during his long stay in free agency, per Heyman. However, Gardner’s goal was to remain a member of the Yankees. A 2005 third-round pick who made his big league debut in 2008, Gardner is easily the Yankees’ longest-tenured player.
- Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who underwent Tommy John surgery last October, said that he has been “medically cleared” for all spring training activities, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays. It’s not certain whether Hoskins will be in the Phillies’ lineup on Opening Day – that will depend on how many reps he gets this spring – but it’s not “out of the picture,” he stated. After a somewhat disappointing 2019, the 27-year-old slugger enjoyed a major rebound last season, when he slashed .245/.384/.503 (140 wRC+) with 10 home runs in 185 plate appearances.
I think Poo Holes would be a great pick up for the A’s next year at DH
jessaumodesto –
Are you a fan of one of the A’s rival teams? You must be, otherwise why on earth would you want your favorite team to sign a 41+ year old DH who hasn’t even had a league average OPS+ for 4 years in a row now and will presumably be even worse next year? His cumulative WAR over the last 4 years is in the negative. The guy has been washed up for half a decade now. Did you just wake up from a 10 year nap or something?
He’s actually 43 years old. That is why he was drafted 402 nd. Teams didn’t know how old he was. He should have retired after his 3,000 th hit. His contract has been such a burden for Anaheim. They had another stinker of a contract with Josh Hamilton.
He should have retired? I’m curious how many would have walked away from over 100 million dollars in that situation. I’m guessing you wouldn’t have.
The angels should have cut him years ago though and accepted the money as a sunk cost
I doubt he’s on welfare. I am guessing he is set.
This is so incredibly factually inaccurate lol. He was drafted that late because he struggled picking up English when he first came here and decided to stay an extra year in high school so that he could fully learn English. In doing so, he lost the interest of quite a few scouts. He then went to a junior college because they were the only ones he could find who were interested in him, and scouts looked down on that because the competition was at a lower level.
Pujols either do a one day deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, or a minor league deal so he can get maybe like a third of an inning at first base or take one plate appearance and retire on the field as a Cardinal.
Any chance that Cards just wanna take him back now?
They would probably trade Carpenter for Pujols and some money
Pujols, the player to be named later from the Fowler deal, so he can retire a cardinal with yadi and waino.. seen stranger things haha
Exactly what I thought when the Fowler deal was announced.
That way him, Molina and Wainwright all can retire together!!
What is with the wives being given a platform on MLBTR? Mrs Kershaw Mrs Seager Mrs Pujols. What is the reason for interest on this?
It’s in the name. RUMORS.
@RunDMC: the wives aren’t spreading rumors. They’re inciting speculation and pseudo-gossip.
Yes, that is a rumor. I’d trust them over Jon Heyman everyday.
A major burn on Jon Heyman, and a well-deserved one at that!
Why not? The wives are the closest people to the player. They’re not being given a platform on MLBTR, they have their own platforms elsewhere and those are being reported on.
It depends on the player. Many times the girlfriend has the better relationship, and she usually makes the road trips.
I would have to disagree with ya on that. It’s usually the players agent who has the best relationship with them.
ikr? Bro, women don’t deserve to be platformed, especially when it comes to sports. /s
Why not, Audrey? Women are smarter than men.
idk if this is bait but I did note in my post I was being sarcastic.
Prunella –
I’m not gonna touch that one with a ten foot pole. You are free to believe whatever you want.
It’s relevant because plenty of athlete’s wives have very active social media accounts with huge followings. They’ve become part of a player’s brand image by extension. This is especially true in basketball.
The word “brand” is way overused with athletes. For all that the media talks about how brilliant Trevor Bauer is with social media, and how he has such a following and is so next level with his social media …….. exactly how many endorsement deals does Trevor Bauer have????? Anybody seen this guy on a commercial for anything??? This stuff with brands, etc is way overblown. Just because a guy is active on social media …… it doesn’t mean that he can actually sell product …. In basketball, Chris Paul has State Farm, a few dudes have Gatorade. Jimmy Butler got a Michelob commercial. None are selling product with their social media other than LeBron. Instagram is the platform of choice for NBA players. One thing they do use Instagram for is dating. All the dudes in the NBA are dating straight out of their Instagram DM’s.
@very Barry – don’t overlook accounts that have 500,000 followers that charge for advertising pop ups and number of hits drive the selling price for ad space. We now return you to your show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
YankeesBleacherCreature9 hours ago
It’s relevant because plenty of athlete’s wives have very active social media accounts with huge followings.
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Never heard of her. In fact, I don’t have the foggiest idea of whom any of the players’ wives are.
@brady
Ever hear of Kate Upton? Verlanders wife!
VeryBarry –
Bauer = Curt Schilling in training. Way to controversial for any company to use him as a representative. There is a certain type of person who will follow him, but the masses are not impressed.
If Bauer = Schilling, 30 teams should be bidding for his services in-case they back into October baseball. Schilling might be the most clutch pitchers of the last 25 years.
World Series flags don’t see the controversy you speak of.
Heard of her?? We have sex every weekend,,unfortunately she doesnt know it
Pete, the rumors reported on come from much less reliable sources than player wives most of the time.
Exactly, “rumors” is even in the name of the site we’re all on here…it’s not MLB facts.com!
But also, players brothers or fathers gossip and people listen, but their wives say something and all you little boys have a problem with it?
I’m a dude, but even I’m sick of the blatant sexism im seeing in this discussion
But they said nothing.
Mrs Kershaw complained about how hard it was to get the kids to Los Angeles
Mrs Seager complained that she didn’t want to move.
Mrs Pujols gave confusing statements.
What’s the point of repeating this on MLBTR?
Agreed!!
PeteWard89 hours ago
But they said nothing.
===================================
Exactly, that’s why they can be used. Someone who apparently has no idea of what her husband is doing, is saying maybe he will, and maybe he won’t.
They could’ve called me up for the same rumor.
Not exactly the scoop of a lifetime.
You know what Frank Thomas would say about retirement, SHE’ll LIKE IT TOO!
His name is Albert, not The Machine.
ldoggnation –
Yeah apparently “The Big Hurt” still brings the wood to the plate
I feel like this was sarcastic but started a a whole bunch of yelling in the comments anyway.
WAGS contribute precious little to the discussions about the sport of MLB. Most players’ social media is also devoid of real sporting information and this is especially true for NBA and NFL. Bauer actually gets into real sports related discussions (spin rates etc.) and is worth the read more often than not.
I think he has some personal service contract for the Angels that runs after his playing contract.
He does and it’s for another 10 years.
Begging the question – which 10 year stretch will be more productive.?
Miaow….
A’sfaninLondonUK –
That’s hilarious, but sadly a legitimate question LOL
I understand the “he’s a cardinal” thing to some extent.. but he’s play almost as many years with the angels as he did the cards and made his money doing so. To me, I will remember him in both uniforms… it won’t be just the cards.
I think down the road hes remembered as a Cardinal. He hasnt done much in Anaheim that’s memorable. One of these players that if he retires then he’ll get a glowing reappraisal. 15-20 years ago he was our Mike Trout level star. 1st Ballot Hall of Famer..and if he isnt the Hall is more of a joke than I even thought.
30 mil off the Halo books next year! Thank goodness it’s almost over. Albert should gracefully bow out this spring. It’s hard
to watch a legend lose his mojo.
Albert Pujols hasn’t had any mojo in 5 years, neg war.
3 years of bwar over 2.0.
14.1 bwar over 9 years.
It’s the contract that keeps giving, to the rest of the AL west.
The A’s, M’s, Rangers, and Astro’s should all pitch in and sign Albert to another 10 year contract to play for the Angels.
It has been a really tough act to watch the past 4 or 5 years. Borderline brutal. He got paid big. Now nobody outside of St. Louis has any recollection of what this guy used to be. That image is replaced by Albert the Bum.
…and yet he drove in 93 runs in 2019…
As someone who suffers with a lot of foot pain, it’s no joke. Albert is at the end of one of the most impressive consistent run producing careers in the game’s long history.
Forget on base, slugging or any other stat, if you need a clutch rbi, I’d trust him to get a hit over most guys 10 years younger. Dude needs respect.
If Arte Moreno has proven anything, he’s proven he’s not beyond signing Pujols to another 10 year deal.
There’s always been question of his actual age and was even when he played college baseball as a no one.
And let’s not forget his obvious steroid use that was only overlooked because he was the son of a major leaguer, came in secretly older than everybody and was already using as a teen and in the minors before it was officially banned. His body and head were already so big from juicing before he entered the league that we didn’t notice a change like with Big Mac or bonds
I can’t believe he gets so little grief over this, no one’s stats have ever been so insane and consistent right out of the gate. I mean he had nearly exactly the same season over season stats for almost a decade…not even bonds was THAT consistent
But then you see how his numbers cratered after testing became prevalent and he couldn’t juice anymore = he’s one of the worst players in the league
If/when he makes the hall will be a complete travesty if bonds/clemens can’t
The son of a major leaguer? Are you referring to Pujols? If so, then no.
He is not related to Luis pujols if thats what you’re trying to say..you think tv would have said something over the last 20 yrs??
Jack clark accused him of roid use..pujols threatened him a lawsuit or a beating without proof,clark quickly apologized and rescinded it.
he has a 10 year $10 mil service contract with the angels. don’t know what happens to it if he signs with another team. anyway, manfraud really threw him a wrench by playing only 60 games in’20.
Future coach?
Pujols’ holds that option and only becomes active after he offically retires.
It’s still in effect once he retires. Although what I read below kind of confuses me, because it suggests it only takes effect when he retires (meaning he could technically resign with another team), but it also says he couldn’t don a Cardinals hat until 2032.
“According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, this contract addendum, which begins when Pujols retires from baseball, will reportedly preclude him from reconnecting with his former franchise until it expires. That means, if Pujols fulfills all 10 years of his playing contract with Los Angeles – and with an annual salary paying him $25.4 million per year, you can bet that he will – the earliest Albert could show his face with a Cardinals cap sitting atop his head is the year 2032 when he’s 52 years old.”
good call!
Damn, the angels found a way to give him, another 10 year contract.
Who cares? He doesn’t!! He got paid!! He ain’t worried about putting on no St. Louis Cardinals hat. He ain’t worn it for 10 years. He is finishing up getting paid $254 million reasons to erase St. Louis from his memory bank. He is gonna make more than twice the combined salaries of Molina and Wainwright this year despite being one of the worst players in baseball.
he still spends time in god owful st. louis raising money for charities. he may be the worst current player which is doubtable but he is thousand times a man you are.
Yikes….great, Pujols has a great rep for what he does. But he has a platform. No need to call out any other persons value. Comment section kills this site. Wish MLBTR would figure that out and that the increased page hits arent helping with actual ad revenue.
Vizionaire –
Do you know both men personally or are you just talking out of your a**??
show-me dumba**!
Are you a Cubs or Royals fan? Probably Royals, as a Cubs fan wouldn’t use “ain’t” twice in one post.
Was hoping somehow someway Hoskins would’ve gotten Wally Pipped
by the great Darick Hall!
@Hoskins is super underrated because of a horrific 2nd half in 2019. Other than that, he’s been solid. He’s an on-base machine with a lot of pop. When he went down last year, the entire lineup suffered drastically and the team fell apart.
Poo hos wanting to play another season is a joke. How much $$$ can he steal? Gardner at $5.15 million is a JOKE
Now I agree yes he is making too much money but he is also doing a lot of good things with his millions. I did read he is using it to open a hospital for the sick
Stubby, that’s much better than opening a hospital for the well.
Would that just be a spa?
(And no I didn’t stutter and mean to say spa-ghetti)
At some point we’re going to look back and remember Albert Pujols and Mike Trout were on the same team for years and accomplished nothing in the post season. Two or our modern legends.
The Pujols contract was stupid when it was signed…and widely panned.
Got the angels an extra 1/2 Billion dollars in their contract negotiations with FoxSports. I’d say it was a win for Artie, a loss for fans.
Retiring after this year may not be Pujols’ choice. The MLB teams will make that decision for him.
im sure he coulf land a gig in Japam
*Japan
Not to be picky but it did make me laugh when I saw you corrected Japan and not “coulf”.
im a mess and will readily admit that
DarkSide830 –
Being a mess myself, I can admire a guy who can admit he’s not perfect LOL.
Pujols has had 1 season (2012) with .800 ops or better since with angels. The team has made 1 playoff appearance since trouts been a major leaguer ( 2014). They’ve really wasted the seasons of pujols back half of his career and an early chunk of trouts career. Although with pujols contract off the books, they’ll probably make a huge splash in free agency next year
you’re saying they are wasting Pujols’s Angels years but also that he’s only cracked .800 in one of them? that doesnt make much sense.
I think the guy meant to say that Pujols wasted the Angels time but got a little confused. The biggest problem is that the Angels signed him assuming he was 32 years old. I call for a carbon dating test!
The entirety of Albert Pujols deal shows that it’s not about making a big splash in free agency for the Angels. They’ve been in on practically every free agent the past 15 years and have given out large commitments to C.J. Wilson, Josh Hamilton, Justin Upton, and Anthony Rendon along with taking on Vernon Wells’ contract. They’ve also missed on some smaller deals like Julio Teherán and Joe Blanton.
So, yes. Not paying Pujols tens of millions of dollars a season will be nice. And they may even make a splash (history says they will try). But there’s no reason to suggest they’re ready to begin a prolonged stretch of winning.
Well it would help to actually have a farm system. I haven’t followed them lately but for awhile they had the worst rated farm in MLB. It’s pretty difficult to spend your way to a title through free agency.
The struggle to find a competent GM post Stoneman has really set back the franchise. Other teams spend and lose first round picks for it, but still have successful farms. The GMs post Stoneman have been terrible.
I hope Pujols plays well enough to earn another guaranteed deal for ’22 should he decide to play. The guy was a total beast in his prime. He also has a 10-year $10M personal services contract with the Angels after retirement should he decide to opt-in. It’s hard to see him sign with another team and then go back repping the Angels again.
Play well?? Pujols?? You OK??
Who else misread the end of the first sentence as “the 41-year-old’s steroid career”? LOL
41..LOL
I’d guess at least 45
Guilty.
Maybe MLB should let players over 40 take PEDs.
Bring back Clemens!
I swear that’s what I thought it read too. I sat straight up and had to reread it. Lolol.
Finally someone’s talking about how his whole career was steroid fueled until he mysteriously started to suck coincidentally around the same time universal testing was implemented
albert pujols at 41 or 45, depends on who you ask, retire when his contract is up?
THese relavations are just shocking.
Albert and $50,000,000 to the A’s for Fowler.! The A’s have a major cash flow problem. This is different than other years for all of the real and not so real reasons. They used the Andrea/Davis money to get Rosenthal and Moreland.
Albert should officially announce his retirement after the season, have his farewell tour and wait for the Hall of Fame to call because unless he has a monster year or the NL adopts the DH next year (and returns to the Cardinals) he will likely be unceremoniously retired by the league anyway
I wonder if she’ll spill the beans on his real age too?
Pujols is Ali 1981.
In complete denial of his deteriorated skills and physicality. A punchy 46 year old has-been. Too insulated by his mythology to realize that he just plain sucks donkey deeks at beisbol . Meanwhile, your obese contract completely paralyzes the Angels. AlBATROSS PUJOLS is thy name
Arte Moreno, you’re a moron!
Username checks out.
All these 4 mentioned have draw backs
1)Pujols- 1 more year, albatross
2)Gardner- if he doesn’t get his walks, not good.
3)Rosenthal- inconsistent/ over pay.
4)Hoskins- TJS/ just another power hitting 1b.
Gardner is a very good LF, but I get the criticism about his hitting. Too many Ks and inconsistency. Most of his ’20 was brutal.
Little surprised the Braves supposedly were in on Gardner… sounds like fake rumor to me .. lol if such a thing can exist
The relief pitcher market it crazy, Rosenthal throws 18 great innings last year and lands 11million a season. When in 2019 he had a era of 13.50. Meanwhile other relievers/set up guys who have been very steady over the last few seasons and ended up signing minor league contracts
How come pujols can’t acquire the old man strength trait of Nelson Cruz
They learned from all going to the same guy last go-round
Nervehammer –
Because he’s roughly 5-7 years older than Nelson Cruz.
One has a PED suspension in their career and the other doesn’t.
Pujols won’t have to make a decision. The market will make the decision for him.
That Albert was a bad contract was obvious from the first day they signed him, although I doubt that the Angels anticipated he would decline so rapidly. The overall body of his work makes him an easy Hall of Famer. I wish some of the outrage directed at aging over-paid former stars were redirected towards greater equity for minor-league and early-in-their-career players. Look at it this way: One year of Albert ($24M) gives 1000 minor leaguers $24,000 increases in salary.
It is amazing to me that so many overlook the obvious detriment a player like this has on the team so he can simply ride out his contract, underperforming, to collect over twenty million per year. Yet, they vehemently criticize ownership for any and all decision-making within their purview, that offsets this sieve and saves the organization money.
This is why the newer guys are under control for comparatively low amounts of pay when they’re arguably deserving of more. But, even then, their arbitration amounts have risen significantly, so they’re still millionaires through the arbitration process, just not quite as rich as they’d like to be….
I remember arguing with Angels’ fan in here when they were so gleeful about signing him. He had already dropped to a .900 OPS, but they thought he’d have a 1.000 OPS forever.
So what did we learn here?
We learned that Pujols’ contract is so bad that if offsets the talent of the best player in the past 30 years, with maybe the pre-PEDs Bonds being up there. Or, in terms of $$$, over the past three years, if they traded Trout & Pujols, and got Joe Brady in return, they’d have been better off.
I doubt that Pujols would be willing to take a cheap enough contract for this to be realistic, but if the NL gets the DH next year I (as a Cards fan) would not be opposed to signing Pujols for a farewell season. It would have to be like a $3 million deal though.
Wasn’t it Dierdre Pujols who came out and stated that she prayed when Albert was a FA and God told her he should sign with the Angels? (Not that it had anything to do with them offering the most money or anything…)
I think Mrs. Pujols potentially cost her husband the big statue across from “the man” @ the stadium.
He’s the player, he signed the contract, he plays the game and he made the decision. Don’t blame his wife.
You must not be married
he’ll sign next offseason with Tampa Bay and be World Series MVP
Hopefully Hoskins will be full go for the start of the season..although I’ve not been a fan of his hitting in the two hole..Of course, my name is not Joe Girardi and I don’t get paid to make those decisions..I do expect the Phillies to score lots of runs again..again, it’ll come down to “that” pen…
I’ll be relieved whenever the whole Pujols debacle is over for the Angels. Any other big market team would have eaten the contract and moved forward a long time ago. But, he still has marketing value…..so, there he sits in our lineup.
Poor guy can’t even get up to jogging speed anymore….it’s really pathetic to watch the defense take their sweet time getting the lead runner knowing that they’ll still have plenty of time to get Puljos at first (and it still won’t be close). At least his career GIDP numbers look untouchable….he’s at 399 and Cal Ripken Jr. is second with 350.
I wonder if Angels’ realize Pujols averaged 94 rbi a year in his full years with the team? And that total leads the team during that time, even more than that centerfielder they have. His career has been legendary. It’s a shame his body, especially his feet, have failed him. That kind of pain is horrible. I’m amazed he was still able to take the field and manage to drive in almost 100 runs in 2019. I hope he can get them taken care of before walking up to the podium and his HOF speech.
Why Cardinal fans love Albert Pujols….
10 years with the Cards:
– Averaged 8.6 WAR per season.
– Averaged $9M per season.
Why Angels fans are less enthused…
9 years with Angels:
– Averaged 3.3 WAR over first four seasons..
– Averaged 0.2 WAR over last five seasons.
– $24M per season
I get it that the guy, in his prime, was one of the greatest to put on a uniform. But he’s been an albatross for the Angels, especially over the last five season.. And I don’t blame Pujols at all. Who in their right mind would turn down that kind of money?
So rumors have devolved into female gossip hour? Why not simply tune into daytime soaps, crappy Oprah, and the witchy view?