Pujols has been terrible

[Troll Daddy]

Unfortunately, there are hitters in the lineup that are less dependable ... his bat needs to be further down in the lineup. Moving him into the six/seven spot would work for me. 

[Blarg]

There is not one single thing dependable this year about Pujols at bats. That player finished his legacy over a year ago. He is no longer a MLB level player. It's over Trolldaddy, his career was great but it's over.

[stormngt]

I find it very funny you guys keep bitching about this.  He is going to play until they bring in a better option.  

I do think Pujols will try to have a bounce back year next year.  If he does not improve I believe he will retire.  His legacy is worth a lot more than his contract.  Anyone with pride and the money of Pujols would worry more about the legacy.

Plus I believe the Angels are preparing to move on from Pujols.  Why else would they give him so many days off.

[AngelsLakersFan]

5 minutes ago, stormngt said:

I find it very funny you guys keep bitching about this.  He is going to play until they bring in a better option.  

Shouldn't be too hard... maybe we can bring back Espinosa?

 

[m0nkey]

3 minutes ago, stormngt said:

 

Plus I believe the Angels are preparing to move on from Pujols.  Why else would they give him so many days off.

He's played in 21 of 23 second half games.  On the year, 104 of 115 team games (90.5% of games)

[ten ocho recon scout]

Unfortunately, we will see similar next year (maybe he gets better over the offseason, maybe worse, maybe lower in the order, etc).

But i cant imagine another year of this he says hes got three more in him.

Again, its not something people like us who need money can understand. But lets say any of us here invested well, house paid off, kids left for college, your company paid for your medical insurance, etc. Would you keep going to work if your job was in the public eye, people openly mocking you, your coworkers making you lool bad at your job, kmowing youre pissing them off by sticking around, knowing youre also due a mill a year (fun money) when you hang em up just so they can use your name, but you really dont even have to go to work and now you have all summer with your kids for the first time in your adult life?

I just dont see him wanting to stay in the situation. It could be a bullshit injury or whatever, but i dont think hes enjoying 2017...let alone 2019, 20...

If anything, benching him might make him want to pack it up even more...

[Troll Daddy]

5 minutes ago, Blarg said:

There is not one single thing dependable this year about Pujols at bats. That player finished his legacy over a year ago. He is no longer a MLB level player. It's over Trolldaddy, his career was great but it's over.

No argument from me but that really doesn't solve anything. 

[Blarg]

5 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Shouldn't be too hard... maybe we can bring back Espinosa?

 

Someone should take Carlos Gonzalez out behind the dumpsters and Old Yeller him for being worse than Pujols in a hitters paradise.

[AngelsLakersFan]

2 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Someone should take Carlos Gonzalez out behind the dumpsters and Old Yeller him for being worse than Pujols in a hitters paradise.

He's technically been sliiiiiightly better the Albert (see wOBA column). The park effects are reflected in the wRC+ and WAR columns. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

https://www.google.com/amp/www.mensfitness.com/sports/baseball/14-fittest-mlb-players-2014/amp

3 years ago...

[Blarg]

34 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

He's technically been sliiiiiightly better the Albert (see wOBA column). The park effects are reflected in the wRC+ and WAR columns. 

I don't care how wObbly he has been, he is on the bottom of the pile of crap and should consider sepukku.

[ten ocho recon scout]

17 minutes ago, Blarg said:

I don't care how wObbly he has been, he is on the bottom of the pile of crap and should consider sepukku.

Could a sword fit that far out in front at this point?

[JarsOfClay]

13 hours ago, VariousCrap said:

His lifetime batting average is now down to .306.  If he plays out his contract he is really going to lower that number.

Hmm, maintain a .300 career batting avg or forfeit 85 million.  what an incredibly tough decision.

[Redondo]

4 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

 I'd like to suggest he try and get himself in decent shape just to see if he still has something left in the tank, lord knows he has the natural talent.

+1 Lose some weight to see if it helps his feet and running which may translate to better at bats.

[GrittyVeterans]

I don't think he's just going to walk away from the money but I also don't think he's going to play the next 4 years of his contract. 

 

Arte needs to do the right thing and start talking to Albert about some kind of a buyout where we can retire and still be paid half the money he is due or something. That conversation should happen immediately after the season is over. You can tell him we'll let you get your 3000th hit but after that we think it's time to move on. I mean even if he says no to a buyout, the team is better off eating the contract for a few seasons while he sits at home than trotting out a worthless hitter everyday at DH. It's no different than what they did with Wells or GMJR for a couple seasons. It's not like Arte's never paid a player crazy money to sit at home or play for a different team. Really what this comes down to is Moreno's ego. Can he admit he made a huge blunder 5 years ago and accept what's best for the franchise? We will see.

 

What is asinine about the entire situation right now though is Scioscia. We're in August...Simmons is in MVP talks...why is he not hitting 3rd? 

This team needs to find a way to bring in a bat that can put up a .850-ish OPS to hit behind Trout next season. I'm all for getting Justin Upton if we can -- he's young enough where he can still be good for a few more seasons

[Stradling]

5 hours ago, JarsOfClay said:

Hmm, maintain a .300 career batting avg or forfeit 85 million.  what an incredibly tough decision.

To you maybe.  

[zenmaster]

47 minutes ago, Stradling said:

To you maybe.  

Exactly. Slipping below a .300 lifetime BA was one of the biggest regrets of Mickey Mantle's life in his words. If you already have generational wealth, wouldn't foregoing money be worth it to not have that regret?

[Stradling]

Just now, zenmaster said:

Exactly. Slipping below a .300 lifetime BA was one of the biggest regrets of Mickey Mantle's life in his words. If you already have generational wealth, wouldn't foregoing money be worth it to not have that regret?

Yep.  He's not Allen Iverson where he will go bankrupt.  

[stormngt]

9 hours ago, m0nkey said:

He's played in 21 of 23 second half games.  On the year, 104 of 115 team games (90.5% of games)

Then why the he'll were so many bitching about him getting so much time off?

[stormngt]

9 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Shouldn't be too hard... maybe we can bring back Espinosa?

 

Cron has started to get hot.  

Calhoun numbers are improving but he has really struggled. 

Valnobueno?

Simmons....just last year most thought he was a below average hitter.

 

And all of those evaluations come from you guys on the board.

[Blarg]

30 minutes ago, stormngt said:

Cron has started to get hot.  

Calhoun numbers are improving but he has really struggled. 

Valnobueno?

Simmons....just last year most thought he was a below average hitter.

 

And all of those evaluations come from you guys on the board.

Actually, Storm, the evaluation of Simmons hitting came from four consecutive years of sub league average stats. This is his first season in five his OPS+ is above 100 and so far beyond his career average it just may be a fluke year or a breakout but we won't know until next season if he can come close to this seasons production.

There has to be more than one swan in a pond of ducks to change the name of the watefowl area. So far Simmons is splashing and making noise in a duck pond.

[DMVol]

4 hours ago, GrittyVeterans said:

....Arte needs to do the right thing and start talking to Albert about some kind of a buyout where we can retire and still be paid half the money he is due or something.

You can do a buy out but it isn't going to save the Angels any money and it won't help against the salary cap.....nobody, including you and me, would forfeit half of the money owing on a huge contract....and the Players Union wouldn't let him do it if he wanted to.....it was a dumb deal in 2012 and it's a dumber deal now....you don't get a do-over, we are stuck with him and the contract....

[Blarg]

Removing Pujols from the roster is not about cost savings. His salary is a sunk cost, his presence in the lineup is the real negative.

[VariousCrap]

8 hours ago, JarsOfClay said:

Hmm, maintain a .300 career batting avg or forfeit 85 million.  what an incredibly tough decision.

 

I agree he is playing out his contract, but he also has a huge ego when it comes to career in the MLB.

[yk9001]

Preserving this mythical .300 number that is going to make Albert retire is one of the more farfetched ideas I've heard.