Remember when some Cubs fans were willing to bet the farm to sign Cub killer Albert Pujols to become a killer Cub?
Instead, Pujols signed a massive contract with the Angels, who in retrospect may have wished they did not.
Early on this season, Pujols, 34, was healthy and looked pretty close to his old, MVP-winning self,
playing every day for the Angels and hitting .302 with 10 homers and a
.965 OPS through 32 games.
Unfortunately his production has slipped and now he’s hurt again,
sitting out Saturday and shifting to designated hitter Sunday because of
back soreness after hitting just .217 in the previous 40 games.
Pujols’ power has remained strong throughout his overall struggles
and his 16 home runs rank eighth among AL hitters, but that comes with a
lowly .255 batting average and .315 on-base percentage. And after a
decade of walking more often than he struck out for the Cardinals he’s
whiffed 36 times compared to just 23 walks in 72 total games.
He’s been better than he was last season, but just barely, and
overall Pujols looks nothing like the all-time great hitter he was in
St. Louis. The Angels are stuck with another seven seasons and $189 million left on his contract.
Pujols had a good first year in LA: 30 HR, 105 RBI, 4.8 WAR. But since then, he has dropped to 2013: 99 GP, 17 HR, 64 RBI, 1.9 WAR and this season: 72 GP, 16 HR, 44 RBI, 1.4 WAR.
So the Cubs by not signing Pujols dodged an expensive bullet.
